Is green pea a filler?

[jezahb]

I have noticed a trend lately in grain free foods, both dry and wet, of having green pea or pea protein in them. Seems like the majority of the affordable high protein grain free dry foods have this listed in the first 5 ingredients. Is pea/pea protein even digestible? Does it actually offer any nutrition or is it a filler used to artificially up the protein counts in grain free food (similar to how corn gluten is used in cheap cat foods to up protein)? Opinions?

 

[felineempathy]

 
I have noticed a trend lately in grain free foods, both dry and wet, of having green pea or pea protein in them. Seems like the majority of the affordable high protein grain free dry foods have this listed in the first 5 ingredients. Is pea/pea protein even digestible? Does it actually offer any nutrition or is it a filler used to artificially up the protein counts in grain free food (similar to how corn gluten is used in cheap cat foods to up protein)? Opinions?

Well green pea is a vegetable and those are in some cat foods.  But if cats were in the wild that's not something that would be on the menu just like any fruits and vegetables.  With fruits and vegetables in cat food, there is little nutritional benefit from them for cats.  But it's not going to hurt them, it's okay for them to have some once in a while but they are carnivores and need protein.  

I'm assuming they're in there for their high protein content.  I don't think it's intended to be a filler however.   It's probably just intended to be extra protein.   I don't know if cat's have issues digesting them though.

Also pea protein is high on the market for humans right now so that's probably a reason why it's showing up in cat foods.

 

[emandjee]

I think for dry food, it's used mainly as a source of starch and possibly fiber. They also may add pea protein to increase the protein content of the food. In kibble, you simply need some source of starch, it's really inevitable. The starch helps kibble retain its shape.

You may want to look at this article for more info (if you haven't already), but in general, I do think it's a filler. Cats are carnivores, so I don't think they can handle a lot of peas in their diet, even if it's "pea protein". The ones I find in some canned foods, I pick those out, along with any other vegetable. The only thing about this article is that a lot of higher quality foods in my opinion, have already started incorporating these peas and other starchy vegetables in their food as well, but get off on their label as "grain-free" and therefore may deceive folks into thinking it's low in carbs. A lot of them aren't, so you'll need to be extra careful.

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/05/16/pea-fiber-on-pet-food.aspx

 

[lisamarie12]

It's a starchy filler - peas, some companies use more than others although maybe claim it's for fiber.  I use NV canned food and fortunately they use few peas, despite the peas being on the first line of the ingredients, the peas are easy to pick out.  Fortunately NV doesn't use pea flour or pea protein (Natural Balance uses pea flour in some of their canned foods), that would be difficult to eliminate from the food since it's mixed in.  I'll take a canned food with peas though over potatoes in a grain free food, potatoes are far starchier and higher on the glycemic index than peas. 

My preference would be a food w/o any peas, fruits or veggies but those foods are hard to find, if you want them carrageenan and gum free as well.

Clearly grain free doesn't mean starch free. Have a great Sunday.

 

[lisahe]

I see peas in cat food as starchy filler, too, and won't buy foods with any form of peas. It seems like peas and potatoes (including potato protein) are being used in ways similar to how various forms of corn and gluten used to be used in cat food.

 

[snugglecat]

I wish they would stop putting peas in most grain free foods. My cat is allergic to peas and anything with fish or fish oil in it.

 

[tabbysia]

One of the canned foods that I give my cats is full of whole peas, as well as chunks of carrots and green beans, and they gobble them up. They don't seem to have any digestion problems with the vegetables either.

 

[auchick]

Mia used to be on the Natural Balance Duck & Pea dried... the first ingredient is peas and a couple more ingredients down is pea protein. She had horrible dandruff while on it. I've since switched her to something else with real meat protein and her coat is so full and lucious, without dandruff.  So yes, I do think it's a filler.

 

[Anne]

@LDG  Laurie wrote a great article which explains how other sources of starch and carbs are put into "grain free" foods - 

Grain-Free Cat Food – What Does It Mean?

 

[jezahb]

 
I wish they would stop putting peas in most grain free foods. My cat is allergic to peas and anything with fish or fish oil in it.

What do you end up feeding now then? Your cat sounds like mine, I think fish is a no no for her and I would like to avoid pea protein/lots of veggies in her food as I personally think they aren't a species appropriate ingredient (cats, unlike dogs, really don't benefit from vegetables as they are obligate carnivores)

 
@LDG  Laurie wrote a great article which explains how other sources of starch and carbs are put into "grain free" foods - 

Grain-Free Cat Food – What Does It Mean?

Thanks! Lots of good and concise information in that article!

 

[snugglecat]

 
What do you end up feeding now then? Your cat sounds like mine, I think fish is a no no for her and I would like to avoid pea protein/lots of veggies in her food as I personally think they aren't a species appropriate ingredient (cats, unlike dogs, really don't benefit from vegetables as they are obligate carnivores)

Thanks! Lots of good and concise information in that article!

The only canned food she will eat is Wellness Turkey, although I have to pick the carrots and the little black things out of it. I recently tried Merrick Duck because it does not have peas or fish in it. She really likes that one. It's hard to find a canned food because most foods have  fish or fish oil in it.

She does not like chicken. She has IBD and cannot eat Fancy Feast or Friskies even if they don't have fish in it.. She will eat Wild Calling Turkey but can only have that every once in a while because something in that makes her itch a little but not as bad as other foods.

I call her my problem child

 

[felineempathy]

If you're looking for canned food brands, here's my rotation:

Nutro Natural Choice (highly recommended, good food for a good price)

Nature's Variety 

Tiki

Weruva

Lotus

Ziwipeak

Wellness

Natural Planet Organics

Wellness (has carrageenan)

Nutro, Nature's Variety, and Wellness you can find at Petco.  The others you'll have to find else ware.  I have tried Merrick's but my cat likes Wellness more and I want to keep carrageenan to a minimum.

 

[riley1]

 
The only canned food she will eat is Wellness Turkey, although I have to pick the carrots and the little black things out of it. I recently tried Merrick Duck because it does not have peas or fish in it. She really likes that one. It's hard to find a canned food because most foods have  fish or fish oil in it.

She does not like chicken. She has IBD and cannot eat Fancy Feast or Friskies even if they don't have fish in it.. She will eat Wild Calling Turkey but can only have that every once in a while because something in that makes her itch a little but not as bad as other foods.

I call her my problem child

Do you have a brand called Basic in your area?  This is many times recommended for IBD cats because it contains so few ingredients.  I asked a vet once why they put vegetables in cat food as protein is their main need.  He said it was for the people to think they were getting something better for their cats.  Don't think this is true.  You might look at the label & see how far down the vegetables are on the list. The farrier down the list, the smaller the quality.