Looking for low carb grain free food

Hi Everyone-

I need to find low carb grain free foods.
There are plenty of high and medium carb foods but not as many low-carb.
I've used some of the foods on the sticky listed by Dr. Lynne Lankes. I bought some Blue Buffalo 3oz shredded canned food this weekend on sale at PetSmart.
Can you find out the % carbs from the guaranteed analysis?
This is the food.
http://www.bluebuff.com/products/cats/h ... rkey.shtml

 

The Guaranteed Analysis is not a good, reliable or recommended way to determine the carbs. One can follow the directions here to obtain the DM or AF numbers and convert them in %Kcal:
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/foodfaq.html

 

Wellness is grain free; Chicken, Chicken/Beef, Turkey & Turkey/Salmon are all low carb.

 

Thanks for the help guys.
Nicole-are the food you mentioned in cans or pouches?
He likes the turkey & duck in the pouch with is grain-free because it's sliced and in gravy-that's 9 carbs.

I hope Baby is enjoying her time at the Falls!

 

Gator-
Sorry if I am dense, but I don't see how (if I only have guaranteed analysis) that can be converted to the dry matter or as fed numbers. Wouldn't I have to call them to get these numbers? The percents on their website for the turkey food don't even add up to 100.

 

Sorry if I was not clear
Yes, you are 100% right you have to call them/email them to get that info. One cannot convert from GA to AF or DM. You can use/modify for your own purposes my standard email I send to companies if you wish [and read about my ongoing efforts with Purina...]:
viewtopic.php?p=102250#p102250

The numbers on the websites are generally the GA numbers. From my experience, Innova is the only one that publishes to the web a DM or AF nutrient profile.

BUT the numbers on the websites can be very useful since they ARE the GA numbers. So when you get the supposed DM or AF nutrient profiles you can check against the numbers on their website to see if they have given you the GA numbers and just called it DM or AF. I've had to go roundy-round with a number of companies who tried this with me. Often times it requires talking to their staff nutritionist as I've had many normal customer service reps not understand the difference between DM, AF and GA.

When you get the numbers, please post them back here. I would like to add them to my personal list. :smile:

Good luck!

 

Hi Traci, Baby is no less than the very best - we are blessed & so thankful. She cannot wait for Boomer to get back to The Falls too!!
Wellness flavors I mentioned are canned, the little cans have a "Grain Free" yellow triangle on the can in the upper corner. The flavors I mentioned are low carb, around 3 or 4 on the food chart. It is a great quality food. You can get it at Petco or other Pet Stores (not Petsmart though) check online for coupons, you can also try the kitten flavor too.

 

Nicole-

Thank you for the info. Very helpful. I'm glad you guys are doing well. Now you can live a little!

Gator-thank you for the EXCELLENT template. I sent it to Blue Buffalo for thier flaked turkey, tuna, chicken and salmon flavors. They are grain-free but I have no clue what their carbs are.
Do you know if it's okay to feed an IBD cat rice? Is this considered a grain or a no-no?
Thanks for your help!

 

You know, funny you ask. I was just communicating with Karen of Karen & Angus(GA) about her awesome work she has done on this table:
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopi ... =22&t=3515
Talking about maybe separating out "grains" from the grains and starches column. Anyway I was just about to look up the definition of "grain." There's the germ and bran and heck I don't know - I need to educate myself on the topic. I need to get back to Karen with a better definition of "grains."

H is an IBD kitty too. We feed Wellness grain free and home cooked [the home cooked is used primarily to reduce the fat level of the Wellness since H has pancreatitis too]. Personally, I have avoided using rice bran in our home cooked recipes [it is convenient high phosphorous food source and frequently added to cat foods to boost phosphorous levels where needed].

So the short answer is, I don't feed rice or rice bran and H is an IBD kitty. However, I do not recall any specific source that said, "Rice is bad for IBD." I avoid rice prophylactically because I can - H is so sick I can't take chances.

So I'll probably update this topic here within a couple days once I come up with something more specific. You can watch that Think Tank topic too if I don't get back to posting here [but I'll try].

Some fairly well balanced grain free food are some of the Merrick flavors [Cowboy and Thanksgiving I think?]. H doesn't like 'em but yours might.

 

There are plenty of low carb canned foods on Binky's food charts: http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html

Fancy Feast has a bunch of low carb varieties. You can feed several brands if your cat likes having variety.

My cat ate mostly Innova EVO and Nature's Variety Instinct with some miscellaneous brands mixed in: GO! Natural (http://petcurean.com/index.php?page_id=155), Merrick Before Grain (treat only), ProPlan (two of the fish varieties), SOrganic (https://sobrightllc.com/cat_organic_food.htm), Weruva.

That Blue Buffalo variety contains brown rice which some people say isn't as bad as white rice (not sure why??) and it also has potato starch which may raise bgs in some cats.

 

Gator-

We're gonna be friends. Thanks for all your help! BTW-Is H's name really H? I like his big fluffy paws. Very handsome. My Boomer is a pip-squeak.

I was thinking "I need to look up EXACTLY what grain is" too!!!!! Rice may not be a grain, but it seems like it would be in that family. There are low carb foods with rice in them but I've avoided them once I started grain-free about a week ago. The grain-free foods that he will eat are higher in carbs. He won't touch any of the Merrick foods though I think they look great! :lol: He likes the nasty (but cheap) grain-free Sophisticat sliced versions BUT he was OTJ for a month and I had to give him insulin again today :cry: and nothing's changed since BUT his food. UGH! He won't reliably eat FF or any of the pate type foods. He was just really sick and hospitalized for two nights last week and had two endoscopies done of his stomach and intestines. I'll get the results tomorrow. Two vets assured me that feeding him higher carb foods wouldn't make a difference because he was a steroid-induced diabetic. Ya, right!

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Traci, I will be VERY interested in what Blue Buffalo says.. Baby's sister Sadi LOVES the Flaked Chicken/Flaked Turkey -- I have always kept it away from Baby, becuase I was unsure of the carb content since it had rice & potato startch. Petsmart has them on sale for the next week or so too. Do you mind sharing what you find out?

 

Traci,

One food I know is grain-free, low carb, chunks in gravy is Avoderm Select Cuts Chicken. My PetSmart carries it now. Angus loved it! My biggest complaint about it is there is an awful lot of gravy, so you are paying for a lot of water. It is on Janet & Binky's "old canned foods" list at 9% carbs. You might also try the Healthy Indulgence Chicken & Chicken Liver and Chicken & Turkey flavors. Wellness is pretty good about giving out the "as-fed" values, so you could e-mail them about the flavors not on Janet & Binky's list. Those flavors had not come out when the pouches were added to her list.

Minou, my civie, is on a food trial for suspected IBD. Her Internal Med specialist told me no chicken, turkey, beef, horse, fish, wheat, corn, or soy. Minou is on a "novel protein" trial, so cannot have protein or carbs she has eaten in the past. That eliminates rice for us. Minou is eating (well, I am trying to get her to eat) EVO 95% venison, Ziwipeak venison, and Hill's d/d venison.


Karen

 

I will certainly share what I find out! I bought them because they were on sale and I was hoping they'd be on the food charts. Hopefully they will write back. I called them twice on their 800 number and they wanted me to leave a message. I thought it would be batter to email them.

 

Brown rice is white rice with the bran on it. It is un-milled white rice. So there is no reason brown rice would be better at all. The idea that fiber and whole grains as a dietary objective for [human] diabetics is outdated and has been replaced by emphasis on low carb.

Traci, H is a steroid induced diabetic too. And I can tell you that carbs 100% DO matter with H. So.... H kind of his real name. :smile:

 

Rice is a carb and grain. I'd stay away from it if you can. Hope Boomer feels better soon. Donna

 

Karen-Thanks for the food suggestions. I can't believe all the exclusions for Minou! What's left? Shark? :lol: Boomer doesn't seem to be a fan of vennison, but he does like the turkey and duck Wellness pouch although it's a complete rip off. I've added the Avoderm food to my list! Thanks. We'll see if he'll eat it. All the foods that seem good to me he won't eat. Gotta love it!

 

Traci, I think it is good that Boom Boom has no pukus lately, something is working.. when all else wasn't.. hang in there.. you are doing a fabulous job! I know you never really stopped posting in Lantus Land, but now that Boomer is back on Lantus.. I will follow you there too, as now it applies to post ;-)

 

Yes, you can get the carb% from the guaranteed analysis, this is only an estimate, it wont be 100% accurate. Use it only as a guideline to determine if the food you are looking at is worth considering. Then contact the pet food company to get the "As Fed Values".
The formula is as follows:
Add the percentages of: protein, fat, fiber, moisture and ash. Then subtract that number from 100.
protein-10+ fat-5+ fiber-1+ moisture-78+ ash-2.5= 96.5
100-96.5= 3.5% carbs (estimate)

 

Regarding the GO! Natural (Petcurean) foods ... I got the as fed values from them (if you like I can forward them to you). Using Janet's calculator, I came up with these values:

Flaked chicken and vegetable: 8.1% cal from carb
Grain free freshwater trout: 5% cal from carb
Grain free chicken, turkey and duck: 4.8% cal from carb
Salmon and vegetable: 8.1% cal from carb

 

[quote="Terri & TanandaYes, you can get the carb% from the guaranteed analysis, this is only an estimate, it wont be 100% accurate. Use it only as a guideline to determine if the food you are looking at is worth considering. Then contact the pet food company to get the "As Fed Values".
The formula is as follows:
Add the percentages of: protein, fat, fiber, moisture and ash. Then subtract that number from 100.
protein-10+ fat-5+ fiber-1+ moisture-78+ ash-2.5= 96.5
100-96.5= 3.5% carbs (estimate)[/quote]

That percentage would be by weight, not calories. Janet & Binky's chart is by calories. In the example you give, the percentage of calories from carbs would be 13.6%.

 

GA is based on MAXIMUM and MINIMUM percentages of the nutrients in the food which has little to do with reality. So adding together those numbers to come out with a hard number is not really appropriate IMHO. And when those numbers are added together their errors are compounded! Maybe it is just the over-dominance of my left brain but GA is not good enough for me or my H kitty [no horseshoes or hand grenades for him gosh darn it! ]. I think assigning a hard % number to a number derived from maximum and minimums is misleading at best. One unfortunate scenario I can envision would be falsely believing a food is OK for a potentially OTJ kitty and it could bring them out of remission. I don't think GA should be used to estimate or as a guideline for the treatment of DM - that's just me. There are not so good consequences for getting it wrong.

 

That percentage would be by weight, not calories. Janet & Binky's chart is by calories. In the example you give, the percentage of calories from carbs would be 13.6%.[/quote]

Would you tell us how you got 13.6? It would be nice to have a way to estimate certain foods-like the Blue Buffalo ones I emailed the company about. I've fed them to Boomer already so to me an estimate is better than nothing.

 

Karen-I bought the chunky chicked Avoderm tonight. I think he likes it. We'll see. Usually he doesn't l like food that look good or smell good to me. :lol:

 

You can feed them into J&B's spreadsheet located here [it converts from DM or AF to %Kcal]:
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/foodfaq.html
You would just assume the GA is AF which it isn't of course ;-) ].

 

traci-
I know we've had the food discussion alot, so not sure if this is redundant. But I have been trying out new foods in rotation on Hank since his DX.
Wellness canned was something he ate prior, so that's pretty much our staple.
One we've tried recently per Ella is the By Natures & By Natures organics. Hank really seems to love these so far. They carry it at Petsmart. We get all the rest at Natural pet stores...but she raved so much we checked it out and it's a hit. They were very picked over, so you may want to call first.
I did call the company for nutrient profiles and have them to share. As usual, I don't know how to do the conversions reliably, so still need them interpreted, but am happy to share. They are very limited ingredients and grain free.
They have another formula that I think is the store brand version of this called Brandon Farms, they said used to be carried at Kroger. I did find a natural grocer here who has some, but haven't gone to look yet. Maybe you'll find more of that label in your area?

Also, Core canned is a hit. It is grain free and has higher protein, and still considered low carb, but higher than regular Wellness grain free versions.
This is one of his favorites. He eats the chicken,turkey, chick liver...we don't do fish.

i also have tried the instincts canned that someone (deb?) mentioned in your condo on the other board. It is pricey, but they come out with a good coupon usually monthly so that helps. Those are hit or miss with hank...he recently seemed to love the duck though.
I got lucky and found a bogo on the little 3oz cans and bought a case mixed with rabbit, duck, lamb.

The raw bombed out with both my boys. hank liked it for the first 5 minutes, then never again. I even tried disguising some of the leftovers in his canned and he ate all around it. I did hear not to cook the raw, especailly in the microwave, as the bone fragments can heat up and splinter.

Am so glad Boomer is back home and doing better. I know this is all so trying for you. You are such a good mommie. We just want him well and happy.

betty

 

Yep, that is exactly what I did. Or:
(protein X 3.5) + (carb X 3.5) + (fat X 8.5) = total
percent carbs = (carb X 3.5) / total X 100

 

You can use the Excel Spreadsheet located in J&B's FAQ here to do it reliably:
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/foodfaq.html

I think as you are noting, there are actually two flavors of wet Core. The poultry one is OK with 7.7% carbs as %Kcal. The fish one is not OK - it has 13.3% carbs as %Kcal.