Flaxseed - good or bad?

[5CatDraw]

Would like to hear opinions on flaxseed in cat food. There is a lot of conflicting info out there, with some sources saying flaxseed is very beneficial to cats and other sources saying that cats are unable to convert the ALA in flaxseed to EPA and DHA, which are the Omega 3s they need.

I tend to think fish oil is a safer bet, but it seems to be increasingly common to see flaxseed in cat foods – including brands that I think are pretty reputable. I can’t decide whether to be concerned about it or not.

I have also read that it is a source of cyanide (but probably not so for flaxseed oil), but it probably takes quite a bit of flaxseed in a food before it becomes harmful. ??? Thoughts?

 

[Biomehanika]

Yes unfortunately it’s quite common nowadays. I mostly avoid it, BUT I will make exceptions for it sometimes. For example, if a wet food has good ingredients besides the flaxseed I am OK feeding it once in awhile, because as you said I believe the problems with it mostly come when you feed it regularly/in large amounts. For example, I just ordered a few cans of wet food from a few different brands to try, that my cats have never had before. One of them contains “flaxseed flakes” which I wasn’t stoked about, but since the other ingredients look good I let it slide. Even if they really enjoy this food and I continue buying it it won’t ever become their daily wet food, they will get it maybe once a week, so I’m not too worried since the flaxseed content per serving, and overall, will be very small. I would never allow it as an ingredient in one of my staple/everyday foods though. The potential cyanide poisoning is just not a risk I’m willing to take.

 

[FeebysOwner]

This information was provided by A Alldara in a separate thread. Just wanted to add it here for any clarity it might give to those who read this thread.

"Heat destroys the enzyme responsible for cyanide production. Most cat foods are cooked at high temperatures.
The issue would be flax in the low temperature cooked foods. "
How Much Ground Flaxseed Can Animals Safely Eat | Nutraceutical Alliance

 

[Alldara]

Just to add, my wife has a severe seafood and fish allergy (anaphylaxis) and we safely gave our cat Nobel flax oil (human grade capsules) in his food for years. He had bloodwork done frequently because he was on metacam long term.

Usually flax is processed before it is used in the food and then again cooked in the food. So canned foods shouldn't be an issue.

However if any raw brands or freeze dried brands are using it, I would personally avoid this.

 

[5CatDraw]

Just to add, my wife has a severe seafood and fish allergy (anaphylaxis) and we safely gave our cat Nobel flax oil (human grade capsules) in his food for years. He had bloodwork done frequently because he was on metacam long term.

Usually flax is processed before it is used in the food and then again cooked in the food. So canned foods shouldn't be an issue.

However if any raw brands or freeze dried brands are using it, I would personally avoid this.

Thanks for explaining this. It is good to know that the risk is much different for canned vs raw and raw freeze dried.

 

[5CatDraw]

Yes unfortunately it’s quite common nowadays. I mostly avoid it, BUT I will make exceptions for it sometimes. For example, if a wet food has good ingredients besides the flaxseed I am OK feeding it once in awhile, because as you said I believe the problems with it mostly come when you feed it regularly/in large amounts. For example, I just ordered a few cans of wet food from a few different brands to try, that my cats have never had before. One of them contains “flaxseed flakes” which I wasn’t stoked about, but since the other ingredients look good I let it slide. Even if they really enjoy this food and I continue buying it it won’t ever become their daily wet food, they will get it maybe once a week, so I’m not too worried since the flaxseed content per serving, and overall, will be very small. I would never allow it as an ingredient in one of my staple/everyday foods though. The potential cyanide poisoning is just not a risk I’m willing to take.

Thanks for the reply. You mentioned “flaxseed flakes” and that is an ingredient in Feline Natural that I am disappointed about. I recently started feeding FN and other than that ingredient, I was feeling pretty good about the food. FN has a discussion about it on their website that raves about the benefits of flaxseed. But that sure is contrary to most of what I’ve read, from more independent sources.
I do feel better about the canned, given Alldara’s explanation. But I’ve been feeding the freeze dried too.

I also noticed in the cats.com review of Feline Natural they included lab reports on the Chicken Freeze Dried and the Chicken Canned. They are both high in arsenic compared to most other brands tested (except Open Farms Surf and Turf, which was shockingly high). I had thought that grains (particularly rice) were usually the primary source of arsenic in pet foods, but from some more reading it seems that fish is also a likely source, and even chicken (but less so these days). So probably the arsenic in Feline Natural foods is coming from the Green Lipped Mussel (???).

Wondering if you have any thoughts on that.

 

[5CatDraw]

My online research on cyanide in flaxseed evolved into reading about heavy metals in pet foods.
Here are some good studies on the topic. They are a wake up call for me about the risks of commercial pet foods. Makes me want to get serious about getting my dogs and cats on homemade.

Heavy metals in dog food:
Evaluation of Arsenic, Cadmium, Lead and Mercury Contamination in Over-the-Counter Available Dry Dog Foods With Different Animal Ingredients (Red Meat, Poultry, and Fish)

Arsenic in pet food:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332109725_Beynen_AC_2019_Arsenic_in_petfood

and
https://www.izs.it/vet_italiana/2017/53_4/VetIt_530_2538_2.pdf

This one shows a significant increase in heavy metals in pet foods from 2009 to 2019.
Heavy Metals in Pet Food: Changes in Heavy Metal Contamination in Pet Food Over the Past Decade

 

[FeebysOwner]

Re: green lipped mussels - I can only tell you that Feeby was on Glyco Flex Plus, which contains green lipped mussels (100mg per daily treat) for 3 years, and though I can't possibly ever know if it caused issues, I have never had anyone suggest it did.

 

[Alldara]

Re: mercury in fish
A new study was published (in the last few years) where we just learned that the methylmercury in fish is actually used to break down the selenium. Usually all of the methylmercury is used to break down the selenium.
Levels of Mercury, Methylmercury and Selenium in Fish: Insights into Children Food Safety

So we are still learning a lot about how different nutrients and compounds interact with one another, even in a human body. We will be some years yet before we have much about different individual ingredients in cat foods.

 

[5CatDraw]

Re: green lipped mussels - I can only tell you that Feeby was on Glyco Flex Plus, which contains green lipped mussels (100mg per daily treat) for 3 years, and though I can't possibly ever know if it caused issues, I have never had anyone suggest it did.

I’m not down on green lipped mussels – not at all. In fact I give it to my dogs as a supplement. I was just speculating as to what ingredient it might be in the Feline Natural that was causing arsenic to be high(er). And after more thought it seems more likely it is from another ingredient.

I did read studies that showed pet food containing fish was consistently higher in arsenic than food without fish, but of course GLM is not a fish.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that GLM was problematic.

 

[Biomehanika]

Thanks for the reply. You mentioned “flaxseed flakes” and that is an ingredient in Feline Natural that I am disappointed about. I recently started feeding FN and other than that ingredient, I was feeling pretty good about the food. FN has a discussion about it on their website that raves about the benefits of flaxseed. But that sure is contrary to most of what I’ve read, from more independent sources.
I do feel better about the canned, given Alldara’s explanation. But I’ve been feeding the freeze dried too.

I also noticed in the cats.com review of Feline Natural they included lab reports on the Chicken Freeze Dried and the Chicken Canned. They are both high in arsenic compared to most other brands tested (except Open Farms Surf and Turf, which was shockingly high). I had thought that grains (particularly rice) were usually the primary source of arsenic in pet foods, but from some more reading it seems that fish is also a likely source, and even chicken (but less so these days). So probably the arsenic in Feline Natural foods is coming from the Green Lipped Mussel (???).

Wondering if you have any thoughts on that.

Yes it is the feline natural food that I was referring to, too. I have not tried it yet but it is arriving today so we’ll see how that goes. The ingredients overall look quite good. I know some peoples cats don’t do well with the mussels, which it also contains, but I’ve never fed my cats anything with them before so I’ll just have to see how they react. It does seem like a really good food overall so if my picky senior girl likes it over the other new ones I’m trying I will just have to push my flaxseed paranoia to the side (and remind myself it’s not such a risk when cooked) so she can enjoy it once in awhile as finding food she will not turn her nose up at is very very hard. I am trying the lamb and lamb/king salmon wet, no chicken as I’m pretty positive my younger boy is allergic.

 

[5CatDraw]

This information was provided by A Alldara in a separate thread. Just wanted to add it here for any clarity it might give to those who read this thread.

"Heat destroys the enzyme responsible for cyanide production. Most cat foods are cooked at high temperatures.
The issue would be flax in the low temperature cooked foods. "
How Much Ground Flaxseed Can Animals Safely Eat | Nutraceutical Alliance

This is a really good article. Thanks for sharing!!