Grain-free food recommendations

[sqirrelfriends]

Dcat went to the vet today, and it was mentioned that I needed to change his diet. He said the food we feed him is bad quality but didn't say how specifically.

He recommended either Hills or Royal Canin, unfortunately neither of these do a grain free version which Dcat needs, otherwise he gets a very upset stomach.

We use Applaws at the moment and I thought it was ok with a good protein content, obviously I was wrong. We have also tried James Welbeloved and Wainwright's, both of which didn't agree with him. Also AVA (pets at home brand) which kept being recalled so I don't really trust it.

Can anyone please recommend a good grain or gluten-free food to try?

I buy Arden grange. I think it’s rice. Would that be ok? High meat content and not tested on animals. A big bag lasts a couple of months so although it’s expensive to buy, it lasts a long time.

@sqirrelfriends many of the grain free foods contain legumes which bind taurine and prevent it's absorption by the gut.
Taurine is not in all animal protein, it is most specifically in the liver, however, if you feed too high a liver diet to cats they can suffer from hypervitaminosis A.
I am not necessarily saying Applaws is a bad diet, but what I am suggesting is the people follow the guidelines and consider has the food company for a nutritionist qualified to Phd level on their staff.

We are soon going to be bringing our new kitten home who is currently being fed Lily's kitchen from Pets at home. She'll only be about 10 weeks or so old when we bring her home. Is this good for us to continue with (at least for the time being) or should we try to move her onto something different/better?

I guess any commercial pet food will never match the diet of a cat hunting and eating their prey.
Ours is grain free after all the problems our old girl had with IBD (I realise this may not be an issue with him) so am further interested following your comments Lone. He has Thrive wet and dry. The dry doesn't list any legumes in the ingredients but does contain sweet potato, would that be an issue? We avoid any food in jelly or gravy as something our vets gave us said that is bad for the teeth (and waistline).
What sort of taurine levels should there be in cat food? Just intrigued really as we'd like to keep this lad healthy!

@Vinorosso74 it is very complex rice bran can reduce absorption too, but heat treatment, potassium depeletion and acidification of diets can reduce bioavailability of taurine, hence why extensive testing to ensure that the food 'mix' actually delivers what is expected.
@dementedpixie DCM due to low taurine was documented in cats long before this recent situation with dogs (1970s and 80s), cats also get a retinal degeneration related to low taurine and also reproductive failure, platelet dysfunction and hearing loss.
It is really a very complex situation as just supplementation alone is not a solution and unfortunately the conditions are often not reversible.

Hi Lone, that’s really interesting stuff. I’ve spent ages trying to decide what ours should and shouldn’t be eating. There are so many brands available these days and you could spend a fortune. Do you have any preferred brands?

We use the Sainsbury's grain free and our cats seem to like it.

@Alltherum currently I can only recommend food companies that employ a nutritionist qualified to PhD level. Only hills, royal canin, purina, iams and dechra currently meet this requirement.

Thanks for those suggestions. I wonder why there’s such a storm on cat forums against some of those brands. Loads of arm chair experts I suppose.

Those brands are all owned by the likes of Nestle, Colgate-Palmolive and Mars so I can see why people aren't their biggest fans.

The thing I try to steer clear of is any food that includes ‘various sugars’ on the ingredients list. Surely cats don’t need that?!

I wouldn't use any of those brands tbh. Lots of fillers and hardly any meat.

Our cat is enjoying Rosie’s Farm at the moment. We’ve also tried Mjamjam but I read somewhere that there’s not enough iodine in it. Butcher’s Classic is supposed to be a good supermarket food. Grain free an no added sugar. Lots of jelly though.

It all comes down to whether you wish to believe those with no nutritional qualifications or those who have PhDs and do the studies to ensure that any diet is nutritionally complete. Not dissimilar to the vaccine debate.

From the prices they charge im sure they could afford to put some fresh meat in their products rather than meat meal of unknown origin. And I'm not sure cats need corn, wheat or rice as the main part of their diet - or is it just because they are cheaper compared to meat products?

@dementedpixie all ingredients for pet food have to be traceable sourced so there is no 'unknown' origin and in royal canin and hills food these are all source to the same high levels as human food. Meat and animal derivatives is offal ie liver that essential source of taurine.

It was deemed that in general the public preferred the word derivatives to offal, but maybe it is time for a change.
But I think we need to agree to disagree and I will stand on the side of the fence of evidence based nutrition.

My two bengals are raw fed with PurrForm and a side order of Sainsbury’s Delicious recipes. This is what they were fed by the breeder and we have carried on. They look fabulous (but they would anyway ) 😸
I’ve owned cats for about 30 years and I am a recent total convert to raw feeding. It’s high protein and grain free.

These are my two lovelies