Legume-free, potato-free, high-protein dry cat food recommendations

November 15, 2021 10:05 AM

My cats have been eating Taste of the Wild Rocky Mountain dry food, but it turns out it is stocked with peas and sweet potatoes and I'm trying to get away from legumes and potatoes in their food. Do you have any recommendations for a legume-free, potato-free, and ideally grain-free high-protein dry cat food? Ideally a price point at ~$2.50/lbs or lower, though that is negotiable.

I absolutely need dry food, not wet. Any flavor is OK.

posted by anonymous to Pets & Animals (11 answers total)

Peas, potatoes, etc. are what they put in animal food as a binder and roughage when they don't use grain. So the alternative is a good old-fashioned food with grain in it. We have a couple of cats (as well as our pack of dogs) and have them both on Purina Pro Plan Urinary Tract Health (the dogs are on canine Pro Plan varieties). When we switched our dogs from Acana to Pro Plan, they stopped being such picky eaters and had better digestion. Also, it was half the price of Acana.

So when our cat Monty developed crystals in his urine, Pro Plan it was for him, too. Both cats are on the same food (Graham, the younger one, doesn't need it, but I don't know of a way to feed two free-feeding cats different food). (And yes, if you're noting a Monty Python theme in the cats' names... you have noticed the theme.)

Downside: Purina is owned by Nestle.

Upside: Unlike a lot of small boutique brands, Purina has animal nutritionists on staff and has done (and continues to do) extensive research in the field. Their food lines are of varying quality to hit specific price points, but you can't say they don't know what they're talking about. In terms of quality I have no trouble recommending their Pro Plan line at least. Considering the amount of food they sell, they have had remarkably few recalls, and many of those were because the food didn't have enough of the intended ingredients, not because the food was actually dangerous.

Eukanuba and Royal Canin have historically been on par with Purina but I'm not sure what their reps are like now. Both are owned by Mars (yes, the candy company... their brands make up about half the pet food sold in the US).

Long story short, ask your vet and/or a breeder. If you ask a dozen vets I bet more than half will recommend Pro Plan.
posted by kindall at 10:30 AM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]

One of my kitties is also a dry food/free feed addict and has diabetes, so I struggled with exactly this problem while trying to find an actually low carb food, rather than just "grain free", which means nothing because the term isn't regulated. The best kibble I've found is Young Again which is a bit pricey but!
1) they do absolutely eat less of it than standard high carb food since it's so high in protein,
and 2) the auto ship bags are a lifesaver now that supply chains are breaking down and particular foods has become inconsistent to find.

I feed the 50/22 since my cats are pretty active and young, they definitely like it as much as the Tiki Cat and Natural Balance they had previously. Definitely worth a try.
posted by Grim Fridge at 12:04 PM on November 15, 2021

I got a cat two years ago, and when I started trying to source cat food, I was disgusted by the high levels of diabetes and overweight cats due to a corrupt cat food system that's as bad if not worse than its human counterpart, and with just as many (if not more) ingredients already known not to be good for cats.

So I read all the scientific studies I could find, and cats in the wild eat 60% protein and about 20% fat, and Dr. Elsey's cleanprotein dry cat food is broken down precisely that way. One 6-pound bag lasts my 8-pound cat about 3 months.

Over time, I've also learned to let my cat eat free range, which is also how they'd do it in the wild. For a while though, he seemed to be getting heavier, and at first I thought he was gaining weight, I later realized he was growing muscular! He's now got shoulder muscles like a weightlifter! Anyway, the only problem I've had with it is occasional covid-related shortages in which case it's been really problematic finding something else that high protein, although YoungAgain, cited above, sounds like a good backup.
posted by Violet Blue at 12:37 PM on November 15, 2021 [2 favorites]

The closest I have ever found to what you're describing is Orijen freeze-dried kibble. They do use legumes as a binder, but they appear roughly 19-20 items deep on the ingredient list. We feed our cat Regional Red, and while he's naturally a pretty large cat he has never had a weight issue (if that's what you're concerned about) at 5 years old. (Caveat: not sure where you're located, but I was very disappointed to learn that part of Orijen's production was recently moved from Alberta to Kentucky; however between supply chain issues, budgetary considerations, and my cat's palate I have decided to stick with them for now.)

Otherwise, this does not technically fulfil your requirement that food be totally dry, but if the issue is mainly storage and you're able and willing to include an extra step in the feeding process, and the texture would be acceptable to your cats, Stella and Chewy's advertise their rabbit dinner morsels as pea, lentil and potato-free. Beyond that, it does seem to be quite a struggle to obtain 100% grain, legume, and potato-less cat food without going the wet/raw route.
posted by peakes at 2:36 PM on November 15, 2021

Ah, forgot to add: a 5.4 kg bag of Orijen lasts my 6 kg cat about 10 weeks.
posted by peakes at 2:38 PM on November 15, 2021

I've been a user of CatFoodDB for years now. I learned a while ago that it's actually run by a Mefite - my apologies, though, I don't remember their handle. My cats have feline leukemia, which can make them prone to various infections and other health consequences, and decent nutrition is crucial. I like that the site breaks down the analysis criteria in a straightforward way. Here is their list of Best Dry Cat Foods.

(For what it's worth, my guys eat the dry Taste of the Wild when they get kibble, which is maybe weekly. I mix it with some of the higher end dry stuff. When I told a rescuer who fostered one of my previous fellas, she enthusiastically approved of the Taste of the Wild, specifically.)
posted by easy, lucky, free at 2:57 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]

Forgive me if this is obnoxious, but are you aware that sweet potatoes are not potatoes? They’re a different type of plant with different nutritional properties. Many humans who can’t eat nightshades (i.e. potatoes) or grains eat sweet potatoes as a staple. So possibly you only need to avoid legumes.
posted by Comet Bug at 4:47 PM on November 15, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I am concerned about legumes and potatoes because of the research that indicates high-protein, grain-free diets cause heart problems in dogs and possibly cats as well. The thinking is that the problem is not that they're high-protein, but that the issue is specifically tied to the inclusion of legumes and potatoes as filler in these foods (which is pretty common, I'm finding). I've been using Taste of the Wild but the second or third ingredient is pea protein, so now it's a no-go for me.

I was not aware that sweet potatoes are not potatoes! I don't know if makes them OK or not, though. "Real" potatoes are used in these foods, so even if sweet potatoes are OK I still have to watch out for the regular ones.
posted by Anonymous at 2:07 AM on November 16, 2021

Response by poster: Finally: I have four cats. My price point is based on how much they consume on a high-protein diet. Aas mentioned above, they're already on a high-protein diet, it's just the protein is all pea protein.
posted by Anonymous at 2:14 AM on November 16, 2021

Ziwi peak is about as good as it gets for this, I think. Their dry food isn't a kibble exactly. It's "air dried" cat food. It's still functionally the same as kibble, though it may be an acquired taste for your kitty. Definitely meets your criteria of not having potatoes, legumes, or grains.

Also, it's very pricy.

I wish I had more recommendations. My cat gets bad GI symptoms from food with pees, grains, or legumes, and after years on Ziwi wet, he lost interest in it, so I had to work hard to find another option. (I got him hounds and gatos wet food ultimately, but I think their dry food has potato in it.)
posted by litera scripta manet at 6:43 AM on November 16, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Note that the Ziwi Peak food, both the wet and dry formulations, has an extremely strong odor. All of the flavors contain green lipped mussel as a protein source, and the smell is very strong. My cats love the stuff but I try not to hang around the dining room while they eat it. It is an expensive food, but they do need to eat much less of it, which helps the price even out a bit.

Also, for what it's worth, the connection between legume-derived protein and dilated cardiomyopathy in cats, specifically, is uncertain at best. Of the 524 cases of DCM reported to FDA between January 2014 and April 2019, only 9 involved feline patients. That's around 1.5% of the total reports. I know that is cold comfort to the 9 people who lost a kitty friend, but it does appear that whatever the exact mechanism of disease is in this case, it is much less likely to affect cats. Additionally, while almost all (93%) of the affected animals ate food containing legume protein, less than half had eaten potato ingredients. Not sure if that's convincing to you, but it may at least help broaden your options a bit.

Obviously, I totally understand your anxiety and am not trying to convince you that you're wrong, but until recently, I thought both cats and dogs had been equally affected by the DCM thing. I think it's interesting that the amino acid taurine, which is a biological requirement for cats, is not essential for dogs. Consequently, while many commercially available cat foods are supplemented with taurine, it's not commonly added to dog food. Cats with taurine deficiency suffer immune system dysfunction and frequently go blind from retinal degeneration. If not corrected promptly, feline taurine deficiency is fatal. Frequently, the cause of death in these cats is myocardial failure associated with dilated cardiomyopathy.

I wish you and your kitties the best. Thank you for caring enough to do right by them. One complaint, though - you forgot the photos!
posted by easy, lucky, free at 6:06 PM on November 16, 2021 [1 favorite]