wet cat food without Carrageenan

Hi everyone. Thanks so much for your feedback! So many extremely helpful links! Apparently there are plenty foods without carrageenan – but still hard to find brands without mixing proteins, etc. We are in the stage of trying to figure out what Maxwell is allergic to so its important to have a limited ingredient wet food. Right now he is on a venison wet food from WellBalance (or something close to that brand name). It does have carrageenan at the end of the list though. Our vet is telling us not to worry about that right now and keep him on the same food for six weeks so we can determine if he will be ok with vennison. (apparently it takes 6 weeks for the old protein to leave his body).

I was impressed with the ingredients of the Instinct line of Nature’s Valley (i believe was the brand name – geesh – I’ve looked at so many). They also have a clay ingredient that cats eat naturally (in the wild) to heal themselves. Unfortunately they mix proteins so I’m not sure we can try it right now.

I sorta want to switch him over to a vet brand I found somewhere because it is still venison, but no carrageen and the venison is hydrolized (sp?) so the food will not spend a lot of time in his stomach. Not sure what to do….

I’m happy to report that Maxwell has stopped puking and now just seems uncomfortable sometimes and sometimes lethargic (that could be the steroids).

I really appreciate everyone’s feedback. And any further suggestions on how to determine what he is allergic to would be sooooo appreciated as well! And opinions on steroids – we heard that giving it every other night between 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm will keep the adrenal gland from shutting down (and ultimately harm other organs).

I do have another question and am interested in other’s experience. We are a bit confused as to how to approach the food trials to determine what Max is allergic to. So, he has been on the NewBalance Vennison & Green Pea wet food for two weeks (after taking him off his turkey food that made him puke). It doesn’t have too many ingredients – although it does have the carageenan near the end of the list.

Although he is not throwing up, he does seem uncomfortable and sits and stares after eating. We have to coax him to eat and I know he is quite hungry due to the steroids.

He has only been on the new food for 2 weeks. So, what we are not sure of is: are the symptoms he is still exhibiting after he eats possibly due to the old allergens that are in his system? Or, are they a sign of the current food that he has been on for 2 weeks?

Folks say to keep feeding the same food for 12 weeks – but then we also hear that if there are negative symptoms of a food we should take him off right away. We’re in a gray area with this because he isn’t puking – and he is getting the food down with some coaxing – but he does seem uncomfortable afterward and his energy level isn’t consistent at all.

What I wonder is if the “uncomfortableness” is due to the food itself and an allergic reaction or is it due to the ibd and the condition of his stomach and small intestines.

Any experience and feedback would be most helpful. Our vets (we’ve seen more than one) are pretty unclear themselves about all this.

thanks – yvonne