How important IS grain-free, really?

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  • #815955
    Ashley
    Participant

    I’m just intrigued to know. When I first started feeding Squiggy, I fed him ONLY grain free. However, he turned his nose up at both Natural Balance and another brand (I can’t remember off-hand), and while he ate the Blue Wilderness, it gave him terrible diarrhea. When I switched him to Iams, the diarrhea stopped. I’ve been feeding him grain-free wet, but he’s still extremely gassy and has very stinky poops. (Don’t worry, he’s been tested for internal parasites and all is clear there. I’m currently using probiotics with him.) Could it be that the grain-free is actually contributing to his stinky gas and poop problem? Thanks in advance!

    #815968
    Leeny
    Participant

    I don’t know if it gives cats smelly poop and gas, Ashley, but I saw a flyer about grain-free food on my vet’s bulletin board when I took Penny in to have her teeth cleaned. It said that the idea that dogs and cats need grain-free food is a myth and listed the nutrients that animals need that grain provides. I didn’t get to finish reading it before they took Penny back, but I don’t recall seeing any food manufacturer’s logo on it.

    Several months ago, my vet also sent out an e-newsletter in response to the commercials for the Blue food line that complain about foods that don’t have “real meat” as the first ingredient. The vet said that pets need nutrients, not particular ingredients, and that a variety of ingredients can give them the nutrients they need.

    Another thing to remember is that, in the wild, felines and canines do not have grain-free diets. This will sound gross, but wild animals consume the entire prey. In so doing, they consume what the prey consumed; if the prey ate grain, the wild animal gets the grain.

    #816029
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I don’t agree with the grain-free pitch. I had my kittens on Blue Wilderness for about 3 months. They did eat it and had the worst gas and smelly poop. I started giving them Purina Kitten Chow and they loved it. Now that they are older (15 months) and their older sister need a special Urinary diet, they decided that was tasty to them. I asked their vet and he confirmed that kittens/cats need a variety of nutrients.

    #816085
    Melissa
    Participant

    Back in April we found an abandoned kitten that became my baby and I started researching various cat foods based on nutrients and reviews. It’s been a while so I don’t remember where I got all my info but based on my research I realized that the meow mix we were feeding our senior cat was corn based. So we slowly switched her to one of the blue healthy weight varieties. For our kitten I now feed her blue wilderness kitten food and she loves the dry food more than the wet food.
    I have been trying different brands of grain free wet food with the cats And since I’ve done that their poops are very smelly. I’m gonna go back to all blue
    I think that it is a personal decision based on the needs of your cat. That’s all we all care about any way. Keeping our babies safe

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