I want to update on my experiences with carrageenan, or lack thereof.
I found out early that two of my cats could not tolerate foods with carrageenan. One responds with diarrhea, the other with regurgitation. However the third seemed untroubled by this ingredient, and since she was doing so well (I thought) on the various brands in the rotation that contain it, I continued.
But....over the months I have become more and more wary of this ingredient. I have now decided to stop giving foods containing it to the third cat as well, and here is why:
I stopped feeding her carrageenan foods every day. At first I went with every other day, then, lately I've dropped it to every third or fourth day. And I discovered something very interesting!
TC has always had a scooting habit. She also has trouble with her anal glands, and I do check them regularly and expel if needed (I have my own non-squeezing way of doing it) However, even if the anal glands appear clean, she was still scooting. UNTIL I started cutting back on the carageenan foods!
NOW I notice, if she goes three or four days with no carrageenan, there is NO SCOOTING. One day's worth of carrageenan might not bring on the scoots, but in an experiment I fed her carrageenan foods two days in a row, and sure enough, the next day I caught her scooting on my afghan, and on my wool blanket, her two preferred scooting fabrics. Since her anal glands are clear, it's got to be an irritation or itching causing this behavior. And since it is only happening when she eats foods containing carrageenan, I conclude that the carrageenan is causing this irritation.
I'm going to use up the foods I have left, because ..well...for budget reasons, but she will be getting them only once every four days. And when they are gone, there will be no carrageenan containing cat food in this house, ever again.