? Cassia Gum In Food?

[Cherish4]

Hi all.

So during the process of trying to find the right food for Little B, I have become aware of certain ingredients to avoid or look out for. I saw that Carrageenans can be bad for cats long term but I've also just read an article that said Cassia Gum also might not be great, as it's a complex sugar additive. Thing is, it seems to be in nearly every cat food including Butchers Classic that I've been trying Little B on. Nature's Menu doesn't seem to have it but I'm struggling to keep buying that as it's expensive.

It's funny realising how little I've actually thought about what's going into my cats' food until recently. You always assume it must be fine but now I'm getting a whole other perspective on it.

Any thoughts? Anybody else read anything else on Cassia Gum and diabetic cats?

 

[Diana&Tom]

You're right, the more we all research ingredients in cat food, the more we realise what a minefield it is, and what we thought was fine has something in it that's supposed go be a no-no. If it's not one supposed "bad" thing it's another. I know that just when I think I've found the perfect food, I come across something that says a certain ingredient shouldn't be given to cats... so the search starts all over again.

I've concluded a few things:

1. The amounts of some ingredients used are so small as to be negligible as far as their possible harmfulness are concerned. Not being cavalier about it, but some of the food studies you read are quite scary until you realise that they're based on huge quantities being fed to domestic animals, so perhaps - IDK - tiny amounts used for specific purposes are ok.

2. Pretty well every cat food has something in it which might not be great. When I started feeding Nature's Menu Country Hunter I thought that was the best I could get, but when I researched individual ingredients I found one or two things that I wouldn't choose to add if I had the choice, if you see what I mean.

3. The very best diet for cats is raw food. Raw foods are what cats would eat naturally in the wild, although if you feed it at home you usually have to use an addititve to make sure it is complete. Some people can do this, some can't. I'm not 100% vegetarian but I don't think I could do it, but I know vegetarians who do.

4. Pet food manufacturers are in business to make money. Their publicity blurb would tell you that they love animals and have devoted many hours of research in conjunction with vets to find the optimum food that's best for our pets. Whether we as consumers believe everything manufacturers tell is us another issue.

5. Try as we might to do our very best by our kitties, we do worry constantly and often feel we are failing... but that really is all we can do, ie our best. We're not superbeings who know everything and can control everything, so we just do what we can knowing it is our best effort.

So - as far as cassia gum is concerned, if you want to avoid it you may have to do some research online to look up individual ingredients of other foods. I imagine it's used as a gelling agent and I don't know what the alternatives to that would be.

Have you looked at Elizabeth's food list? There may be some other options there that you can check out. Sorry I can't be nore helpful as far as your specific question was concerned, but the above is a kind of overview anyway!

 

[Cherish4]

Have you looked at Elizabeth's food list? There may be some other options there that you can check out. Sorry I can't be more helpful as far as your specific question was concerned, but the above is a kind of overview anyway!

Yes I've got the food list bookmarked actually, so that I can refer to it easily.

You've been very helpful, thank you for such a detailed response! I was just curious I guess to get other people's opinions. I'll probably go ahead and carry on with the BC food anyway I think.

 

[Diana&Tom]

Yes I've got the food list bookmarked actually, so that I can refer to it easily.

You've been very helpful, thank you for such a detailed response! I was just curious I guess to get other people's opinions. I'll probably go ahead and carry on with the BC food anyway I think.

See what other people say about cassia gum, there may be some better answers than mine!