Dry food vs Wet food

[Zilla]

Carrageenan in a lot of human food too. It's a controversial ingredient and I personally try to avoid it. I know that Petcurean is in the process of removing it from their canned foods. They may already have, I'm not sure. I would still feed a food with carrageenan before dry though.

Carrageenan is a thickener. If you ever eat prepared pasta salad, it probably has it in it. There are safer alternatives like guar gum though.

Yea I think its crazy that if they think it could be a potential cause of cancer then why on earth do they add it to pet food let alone people food. Ive been avoiding it like the plague... And its really hard to because SO MANY out there have it.... Including the popular ones like Evo, Blue Wilderness, Wellness Core, Felidae, Before Grain, Earthborn, and even Ziwipeak has it.... It severely limits my choices!

[AdoptAnAngel]

Oh, I didn't realize you were talking about dry food! I don't know anything about dry food prices, TBH. As for EVO being cheaper than dry, I guess that depends on how much you feed. Tigre86 says $35 lasts 6 weeks. A twelve can pack of EVO will last me 6 weeks as well and my cat is 10.7 pounds. Now that I calculate it, you're right, it actually would be cheaper! Unless the Tigre has a Maine Coon and that dry food bag is a lot more food than I'm imagining.

As for carrageenan, when I bought a small commercial ice cream maker a couple of years ago, I decided not to use carrageenan because of the controversy around its safety (though I have to admit, I was looking for it in stores and when I couldn't find anywhere that carries it, I looked to buy it online and came across this issue.) I use tapioca starch now, which does not help you in any way because we are not talking about ice cream for cats. I know EVO has carrageenan in it and that is my only gripe with it. If it causes cancer, I am assuming the risk increase is minimal or not conclusively established or both, but I definitely understand your concern. Apparently, Taste of the Wild doesn't have it.

EDIT: I just noticed I called The Honest Kitchen "The Honest Chicken" in my previous post...weird. lol

[scottd]

I can't speak for EVO but Petcurean's nutritionalist talked to me about the carrageenan and she said the studies that have been done on it are primarily on a "degraded version" which they don't use. I don't know if EVO would be using a degraded version or not. But regardless, they're removing it from their formulations.

[snowy]

Just found this Canned Cat Food Reviews- Best Cat Food Brands

[snowy]

All the scare about carageenan and guar gum, nearly all canned food contains those. I have been looking around and realised this particular flavour of canned food that I have been feeding the strays once a week, doesn't contain both, but it does contain Xanthan Gum What Is Xanthan Gum? - mobile wiseGEEK

The Online Pet Store This is not one of the higher end food, but the more economical "so-called" premium canned.

[tigre86]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! If Tucker likes some of the cheaper brands of quality wet food, I might try to transition Tucker to an all wet diet (shouldn't be hard since he loves the stuff). Tigerlilly on the other hand...she likes her kibble and is very finicky about wet food. She's my mom's cat but she shares Tucker's dry food. I only feed them the recommended amount which is why the bag lasts so long for both cats. Oh and if it makes a difference, Tucker does drink water so he's not just getting water from wet food.

[Zilla]

Your welcome tigre86! Besides Evo... Weruva and Taste of the wild cans are a cheap good food too. And I'm not sure if you have a Petco in your area but Weruva makes a can specifically for them called Soulistic and its really cheap compared to others. Grain Free and Carreagan free only in the "In Gravy" flavors. My cats favorite is the Chicken n Pumpkin Dinner! Hope you find something that works!

As far as this potential cancer causing ingredient goes maybe one of us should make a thread about it specifically and see what everyone's thoughts are??


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[doodlebug]

Tigre86...I don't know where you're located, but if you're in the US...take a look at Dave's canned cat food. Very, very comparable to Wellness in ingredients, smell, texture etc. The first time I gave it to them, my cats ate it without even thinking about it...usually if I give them something different they sniff and sniff and tentatively nibble, but with Dave's they just dove right in.

Dave's is significantly less expensive than Wellness (like 50 cents on a 5.5 oz can). It doesn't have a wide distribution in retail stores (pretty much east coast only) but you can get it online. Check their website for store locations if you're on the east coast (they're only in independent stores, no big box). They also make several flavors in 12 oz cans.

[Mom2BoscoNHalo]

So much great information in this thread. So so much to think about.


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[doodlebug]

More on Dave's pricing at my store:

Wellness 12.5 oz: $2.75
Dave's 12 oz: $1.89
Diff: $.86 or 31.3%

Wellness 5.5 oz: $1.74
Dave's: $1.19
Diff: $.55 or 31.6%