What is worse: Carbs, Wheat gluten, Rice, Corn, Mercury, Phosphorous?

While researching commercially available canned foods, I am discovering
that it is almost impossible to find a brand that avoids all things
touted in the nutrition literature as bad:

1. High % of calories from carbs. (E.g., Science Diet, good otherwise)
2. Presence of wheat gluten
3. Presence of rice
4. Presence of corn
5. Mercury (mainly seafood, which would be low in carbs otherwise)
6. Phosphorous.

OK, so here is a question for the truly informed: If I can't avoid all
of the above-listed baddies, and it seems I can't, then which ones are
most harmful and must be avoided, while others can be tolerated?

Needless to say, if you know of affordable commercial brands that meet
all criteria, please do name them!

Matthew wrote:

: Mercury avoid tuna except as a treat and avoid seafood varieties of the
: food.

Thanks. Are mercury values for various brands and formulas available
somewhere (like Phosphorous values are)?

Or, is assuming that all seafood has mercury the only recourse?

"RPSinha" wrote in message
...
While researching commercially available canned foods, I am discovering
that it is almost impossible to find a brand that avoids all things
touted in the nutrition literature as bad:

Will you please stop this obsessive stuff?

Give your cat canned food that has meat as a first ingredient. Meat, not
fish.
Supplement with a bit of dry if you want.

You have healthy cats, with no diagnosed problems, right?

Don't make problems for yourself. Believe me, they will come.

cybercat wrote:

: Will you please stop this obsessive stuff?...
: You have healthy cats, with no diagnosed problems, right?
: Don't make problems for yourself. Believe me, they will come.

I appreciate the thought. I guess I am "obsessive" about nutrition, but
only as long as I feel I don't understand the lay of the land. Some of
the problems caused by wrong nutrition can take years to develop. Has
happened to *people* in my family.

Nothing wrong if this doesn't interest you. That's cool. We'll meet in
other threads that we both fond interesting. Fortunately, participation
in any thread *is* voluntary. :-)

"RPSinha" wrote in message
...
cybercat wrote:

: Will you please stop this obsessive stuff?...
: You have healthy cats, with no diagnosed problems, right?
: Don't make problems for yourself. Believe me, they will come.

I appreciate the thought. I guess I am "obsessive" about nutrition, but
only as long as I feel I don't understand the lay of the land. Some of
the problems caused by wrong nutrition can take years to develop. Has
happened to *people* in my family.

Nothing wrong if this doesn't interest you. That's cool. We'll meet in
other threads that we both fond interesting. Fortunately, participation
in any thread *is* voluntary. :-)

Of course it is, but I keep seeing you belaboring minutia. In behavior and
nutrition. It is taxing.

Give your cats a chance to be young healthy cats if they are so lucky. High
quality protein in canned food so they get more water, lots of play, regular
vet care, window seats so they can enjoy the wildlife safely, and love.

Later, when and if they have any significant problems, please come share
your concerns.

You are an intelligent enough man to know that many of the problems we and
our pets encounter are unavoidable. And you already know what to do to avoid
endangering your animals.

cybercat wrote:

: You are an intelligent enough man to know that many of the
: problems we and our pets encounter are unavoidable. And you
: already know what to do to avoid endangering your animals.

I think you are giving me too much credit. Just because I know that
"many" problems are avoidable does not mean I know which ones can be
easily avoided and how.

Similarly, what I "already know" as being good is *not* possible: avoid
all of (1) High % of carbs, (2) wheat gluten, (3) rice, (4) corn, (5)
mercury, (6) high phosphorous.

I don't already know which of these are greater concern than others. Of
course, I know that good meat is good, but...

I don't know which can has meat from diseased animals---yes,
manufacturers are allowed to do that, and no they are not required to
disclose that they did that. So I assume, rightly or not, time will
tell, that higher price means better meat.

Next, I don't know how to choose among meat with wheat gluten, meat
with corn, and meat with phosphorous.

If I did, I wouldn't have asked.

If you do believe that I am an intelligent person---and I have a PhD to
justify that assumption, although not in feline nutrition ---then
you must also trust that I know which questions are interesting to me
and why.

And I don't demand that you must share that interest. I accept that you
and I are different persons, with different interests and experiences.

"RPSinha" wrote in message
I think you are giving me too much credit. Just because I know that
"many" problems are avoidable does not mean I know which ones can be
easily avoided and how.

In reality, you are belabouring minutia as has been suggested. When you take
your cat to the vet, indicate what you're feeding your cat and get an
opinion. After that, it's mostly choosing a brand of food that your cat
likes and not getting unduly upset at the minor differences between brands.
Anything else is just going to irritate that stress caused gastric ulcer
that you're in the process of constructing.

Upscale wrote:

: Anything else is just going to irritate that stress caused gastric ulcer
: that you're in the process of constructing.

My thinking, reading, and Usenet conversations put no stress on her,
gastronomic or otherwise.

Her food is stable and any changes will be gradual.

Understandably, not everyone has useful information to share, and not
everyone may find the subject interesting. However, the participation
in any thread *is* voluntary.

The nature of newsgroups prevents us from targeting posts only at
people who would be interested. We can provide an accurate honest
subject line, which I did, and then it is up to each of us to decide if
it is interesting enough to read/respond. If not, move on. IMHO that
works better than personal attacks.

BTW, do you really have enough information to state that nutritional
differences between all brands are "minor" or was that just a
rhetorical way to express your lack of interest in the subject?

"RPSinha" wrote in message
: Anything else is just going to irritate that stress caused gastric ulcer
: that you're in the process of constructing.

My thinking, reading, and Usenet conversations put no stress on her,
gastronomic or otherwise.

I'm talking about YOUR gastric ulcer in the making. This IS your first cat
isn't it?

BTW, do you really have enough information to state that nutritional
differences between all brands are "minor" or was that just a
rhetorical way to express your lack of interest in the subject?

So now you're trolling? While there are certainly some differences between
popular brands, as far as I'm concerned there aren't enough differences for
you to obsess over them as much as you are. I believe the biggest problems
most people have with their cats after the topic of litterbox usage is dealt
with is getting their cat to eat a proper quantity of sufficiently health
cat food.

Upscale wrote:

: I'm talking about YOUR gastric ulcer in the making...

: So now you're trolling? While there are certainly some differences
: between popular brands, as far as I'm concerned there aren't
: enough differences for you to obsess over them as much as you are.

Funny, now I think it is you who is trolling. As clearly as English
language allows, the subject of this thread is comparison of named
nutrients, not my gastric health or what should I obsess over, etc.

The differences among brands are close to 500% for phosphorous,
close to 1000% for calories from carbs. Some brands have *zero* wheat
gluten, rice or corn, some may have a lot. If these differences don't
seem "enough" to you, maybe you shouldn't obsess with this thread?

I don't mean to be unfriendly or disrespectful, but again, as clearly
as English language allows, I did ask a precise question and would like
straight answers from those who have some scientific knowledge of the
nutritional issues involved.