Pet Food Ingredients - G - Guar Gum

G

Guar Gum

Not to be confused with Gwar

That makes me picture those Bazooka Joe comic strips - but with crazy Gwar band members.

Guar Gum is: Ground endosperm of Guar Beans.

When ground it looks like this 


Guar Gum Powder 

 

It is used in:

• Adhesives
• Bakery Industry
• Cosmetics
• Detergents & Soaps
• Electrodes & Brazing Fluxes
• Fish Farming
• Food, Pharmaceutical & Dialectic Industries
• Foundry
• Grass Growing / Erosion Control
• Insecticides & Pesticides
• Leather Industry
• Mining
• Oil Well Drilling
• Paper Industry
• Paint Industry
• Plywood
• Pencils Crayons

The plant its self is grown mainly in India, but is also grown in China, US, Pakistan, Australia and Africa

*Guar Gum is used as a gelling or thickening agent in many wet foods

It always amuses me to see the different uses for things.

Hey, while you are making those pencil crayons do you mind sharing so I can make some Cat Food? 
Unless you have used it all on Detergents & Soap

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*Guar Gum is used for people trying to lose weight. 
It makes you feel full by expanding in the intestine.


Yeah, great for those trying to lose weight - not so great for trying to provide appropriate and substantial nutrition in a Cat. 


Having recently dealt with a Cat who had to have part of her Colon removed due to a blockage ( not guar gum related to my knowledge ) the idea of possible obstruction of any sort is freaking scary!

Ask Kenya! She was the kitty who had the operation. 

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*The water-holding capacity and gel-forming tendency of guar gum permits it to swell in size 10 to 20 times its size!

I think I will do a little exploring of what Cat foods contain this product.


And the results of my quest are.....


Damn near all of them have guar gum  - Or Xanthan Gum or Carrageenan 


*All of which have been blamed for intestinal issues.


Okay so which foods do not have any of these ?

Oh look a Unicorn! 
It's hanging out with Big Foot 

 Natures Variety Instinct

Taste of the Wild

The search is giving me a headache. 



Just assume it is in almost all cat foods.

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How bad can it be if it's basically in everything?

It is very confusing to think about 'natural' things as being bad. 

Guar Gum is from a plant
 ( then again so is opium, cocaine, heroin ..and other drugs)

Carrageenan is from Seaweed - I thought seaweed was like a super food! 
 You can tell because it tastes like you just licked the bottom of a pond.

Xanthan Gum is made by fermenting corn sugar with a bacteria
Xanthomonas campestris

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I feel the need to order 

This Book

Food Pets Die For

In fact I will order it.

************
 
I have no idea how much this post will help you in deciding if Guar Gum is bad enough to change which wet foods you use.

A few points I would like to make 


If your pet already has gastrointestinal issues - try and avoid the 3 items I have listed.. if at all possible.

If your pet is not known for drinking much water - try and avoid the 3 items I have listed..the blockage issues tend to be geared towards lack of water intake. 


Like in all things - Too much of a good thing is bad.

Too much of a not so good thing must be worse.

Too much of a bad thing....

I am only on letter -G and I already wish I fed raw food.

If you only have 1 or 2 pets - you may want to consider a raw food diet.

I would, but I constantly have foster cats and kittens coming through my house.

I can't just mess around with their little fur bellies by switching them to raw - just to get switched back when they are adopted. 

When I get to letter -R , it will be about Raw food
So I have till then to learn about it.



Read the labels - because the cheap companies are making money off of the fact that we don't!