Feline Nutrition's topics - tribe.net

Cat Joint Problems

serafine — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:34:13 GMT

Hi,

I have a 16 year old cat, who is starting to walk a little funny and has problems jumping up and down. I have placed things around the house to help her get up and down for her favorite places.

I just started to look on line for some sorta supplement for her to take for this and am coming up with varied answers. Some say to try the glucosamene, MSN, Vitamin C, Fish oil route, others say there is no studies backing up that any of that works or makes a difference.

does anyone have any good internet sources on where I can find reliable information on what I may be able to get her to help her a bit?

thanks,

posted in Feline Nutrition - 1 reply

Canned tuna for cats......evil or safe??

ladyadonis — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 03:35:01 GMT

I was feeding my cats Trader Joe's tuna can food, and they really loved it. Then my new vet said that it is bad for them, can give them stones in their digestive system. Does anyone have any input on TJ's cat food? Thanks a bunch...meow...

posted in Feline Nutrition - 27 replies

cat w loose stool for years. diet advice needed. new here

Karen — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 03:13:58 GMT

hi! im new here, this seems like an interesting place. i hope you can give me some advice. i have 2 furry angels, aged 6 years now, cinnamon graham and cracker jack. they are brothers.

cracker is my problem. he has always (since i got him at 6 months old) had loose stool. he goes in the litter box, makes his contribution, scratches but is careful not to get a grain of litter on top of it, then runs like hell out of the box, cuz even he knows it stinks! after that, he seems more bouncy for awhile, so i always thought it was because his belly was feeling better after getting that nastiness out of his body.

i had talked to the vet and she didnt seem to concerned, mumbled something about more fiber, but didnt help much. she said if he wasnt feeling well, i would know it from a grumbly tummy or something.... Ive been free feeding them dry Iams original for years (sorry, i thought it was a pretty good food / they are not overweight). once in awhile id try cracker on a high fiber diet (Science diet high fiber or something), but it never helped.

a few months ago, i noticed some blood in his stool (handy that he never covers it). i freaked out, then called the vet. i took some stool in and they tested it for parasites/ worms, but no suprise, they found none. Again a recommendation of a prescription high fiber diet.

not happy with that, i started to do some research and ended up reading about the raw diet. makes sense to me. Cracker does not like any kind of wet/ canned food, so i thought nature's variety was a good choice since they offer dry, canned and raw and therefore, I could transition him over slowly and give him a variety.

so i started mixing the dry into the iams and thought i saw a little improvement in the poo. its strange, but its actually half and half. half tan and watery, half dark and hard. striped poo! hes been on the dry only for a few weeks now and tonights contribution was all light colored and watery.

so now what do i do? im guessing its an allergy to something? he wont touch the canned, let alone the raw and it just kills me to starve him to force him to eat canned. he barely eats the dry natures variety. should i try NV grain free? ive been looking at digestive aids, but im not shoving a pill down his throat daily and i dont think he'll touch something like pumpkin. The world of herbs gets confusing really fast too! I wish i could find a high quality canned that he likes, but he's a carb cat and prefers a little snip of toast to a piece of chicken. if he had his way, he'd eat Wiskas or some cheap dry food. Anything with high meat content he shuns. Actually, he doesnt care about food too much in general.

Cinnamon by the way is the opposite. Loves meat! He loves the canned NV and although he wont touch the raw NV (yet), he will eat raw chicken if i give him some little pieces.

Im determined to get cracker to poop normal! Can anyone offer any advice? He's otherwise healthy and i'd like him to stay that way!

Thanks for reading, sorry this is so long!
Karen

posted in Feline Nutrition - 32 replies

Raw Food Recipes

thatwoman — Thu, 11 Mar 2004 20:25:38 GMT

Right, so there are so many different things you can do with the raw diet that I'm creating a thread for all the recipes I know. Yeah, hold on to yer panties. Woo! At any rate, a separate thread just for recipes will be nice and easy to keep track of. Rotate between the various recipes for variety.

For a lot of babbling about the theory/principles behind the different ingredients, check out the Ideal Diet thread here: http://www.tribe.net/tribe/servlet/template/pub%2Ctribes%2CViewThread.vm?threadid=4ddf5590-f18a-4b1a-9e2e-e59ecf00b2d0&tribeid=4228de3a-2df1-4aa9-b465-d95b1cd7756b

----------------------
Recipe no. 1:

Meat:
2 lbs. raw ground meat, dark meat preferred--turkey thigh, lamb and pork are good because they're high in fat and taurine
1/4 lb. finely-chopped liver--be careful with beef liver because it is notorious for making cats barf, might be because it's too rich
1/2 lb. finely-chopped heart--if heart is unavailable, substitute 1/2 lb. meat and use 250 mg more taurine per serving

Calcium:
1-1/2 teaspoons ground eggshell
OR
6 tablespoons bone meal
OR
3000 mg calcium supplement
OR
3 lbs. ground chicken necks/backs

Veggies:
8 oz. bag of mixed baby greens or squash or combination, preferably organic, blenderized to a pulp

Supplements (qty. per cat per day day EXCEPT for vit. E):
1/4 teaspoon kelp/dulse powder OR 1/4 teaspoon nutritional yeast
250 mg taurine
1000 mg Salmon oil OR 1/2 teaspoon plant EFA
400 IU vitamin E per cat once a week

posted in Feline Nutrition - 28 replies

an introduction!

anastasia — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:47:59 GMT

greetings, my name is anastasia and i recently adopted two tiny baby kittens named cleo and luna! they are sisters and they are mischievious!!! i will soon be transitioning my sweeties onto a whole and mostly raw diet. any advice on this is greatly appreciated, as i have never done this before and would mostly be doing it intuitively. happy to be here and find a tribe like this!

posted in Feline Nutrition - 1 reply

Cat urinating all over the house

Sha' — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:04:05 GMT

For the first time since Stimpy's sex change, he is having urinary issues. For the past 2 nights he has urinated on every floor in the house. Not crystals or blood and no urgency or blockages? He is on a 100% raw meat diet and has been for many years. Yes, we have had much stress in the house lately but not unlike the entire past year. Anyone have anything to help me? I really don't want to have to take him to the vet. He is a little tiger and attacks the vet and tech. I am going to try a tea mixture that I used when working for a homeopathic vet. Anything else anyone has to offer, I'll try. If it gets worse, I'll take him to the cat hospital and have him mess the Doc up right. That tends to stress him even more though. Help. My mind is over loaded and I can't think properly at the moment.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 10 replies

Pimpin' my own website

thatwoman — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 19:32:57 GMT

I totally meant to post a link on here for you peeps but I spaced it, since I'm Space-Out Girl Extraordinaire.... Anyway, a few weeks ago I made a website on how to choose cat food when some people from the Something Awful pet forum asked me to. And you can view this work of art (snort!) over here: http://alter-idem.smartmonkey.org/cats/

A lot of the ranting will sound awful familiar to y'alls, but I'm pretty proud of the "how to interpret labels" section. When I have time I hope to add a comprehensive list of AAFCO ingredient definitions on there to make it even more useful. There's also a big page dedicated to a dissenting opinion, which is also good reading since it's good to have a variety of viewpoints. (OK, so there's only two on the website. So shoot me.) And the links section contains a LOT of links to research.

And hey, it features some nauseatingly cute pictures of cats, including a Cat Thug or two. Reprezentin', biatch! If you want me to swap the background to your Thug, e-mail me at the address on the website, I'll be pretty happy to accomodate.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 22 replies

Prescription Diet Canned ZD - need to donate (SF Bay Area)

what_ever — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 19:33:54 GMT

My cat passed away recently, and I still have almost a full case of canned Prescription Diet ZD formula. I'd like to give this to someone who has a cat currently on this diet, as I know the food is expensive.

I work in SF and live in Oakland. If you are in the same area, are able to pick up the food, and need this for your cat/s, please send me a message.

I am not on Tribe all that often, but I will write you back when I do see your note.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 1 reply

I think that my cat may have had a stroke.

punk_ass_ass — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 04:33:46 GMT

My cat Cosmo for the last couple of days will suddenly jump up lose control of his bladder spin in circles and foams at the mouth. After this episode he seems fine. He is eating normally and seems to have good equilibrium otherwise. I have taken him to the vet and the did an xray and the vet said he would pass this off to a specialist. I am really worried that these episodes may lead to a really damaging one that he might not recover from. This morning he must have bit his tongue because he was bleeding a little from his mouth. Anyone out there have any suggestions or may know if this sounds like a stroke. The Vet has a wait and see approach and we may go back for more tests. I'm very worried.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 7 replies

Info To Help Others: Constant Infection Lasting Years, Diagnoised as Feline Herpes

Jacqueline Nelson — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:00:34 GMT

Hi, I'm new here but I felt like sharing my experience so maybe it might help someone else. My cat, Tiffany, was sneezing all the time. She was diagnosed with nasal infections that would go away when she was on antibiotics and return right after she went off. However, she doesn't travel well (several long car trips so now she loses control over her digestive system when in a carrier) and it seemed like she suffered less from her runny nose than from the trip to the vet. This went on for over a year.There was kitty snot all over my house, I took her a new vet (we had moved) and they ran $100 worth of tests that turned out all negative...so still no answers. I was convinced it was a food allergy and kept switching foods and buying organics. One food I tried made her better for a couple weeks but it came back.

A few months later my mom, who was having trouble with her dog having terrible allergies and rashes, found a better vet who was able to help him. We also learned that if I held Tiffany and my husband drove she was fine in the car, just not in the carrier. The trip took 30 minutes, but since we knew to hold her she was fine and we decided to see if this vet could help. We finally got a diagnosis, though I was skeptical at the time. He told us she had feline herpes and it had weakened her immune system. The antibiotics in the past didn't work because she needed to be on them longer. He put her on nutritional supplements for her immune system, antibiotics, and gave us a felway diffuser (which I highly recommend) because he said stress made it worse. He also told me that if the infection was too far gone and had gotten into the bone she would never get better. She was a very sick kitty.

Well we had to give her meds twice a day for a month but she got better....and stayed better. She has been well to this day (about 3 months now). We got so excited to see her play. We hadn't see her play in years but now every once in awhile she finds some string on the floor and I have to stop and watch her, so thankful to see her feeling better. I scrubbed my walls, had to replace a few pillows, but my apartment is kitty snot free :D. I am so happy to have my baby girl back and to see that she feels better.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 3 replies

best meat source and/or combination?

Rebecca — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 22:00:13 GMT

Hi there,

I'm wondering what meat sources or combinations are best for a regular diet, or if it matters at all (assuming the quality is high). My cat has been eating Innova Evo wet exclusively-- it is the only wet food I found that she would eat. She eats 1/3 of a can, 2x per day. Until recently, Evo only came in one formula (turkey/chicken). Yesterday I went to the store where I buy the Evo, and discovered that Evo now makes a duck, beef, and venison variety (all 95% meat). As an experiment I bought 1 can of duck with the rest of the usual, and lo and behold, my cat LOVES the stuff. So I went back to the store today and bought 12 cans of the duck. I figure I'll rotate the duck and the chicken/turkey cans.

Seems like a silly question, but are some protein sources better than others? I'm sticking with the Evo, as I trust that it is good quality, but I was wondering how much it matters what kinds I buy.

Thanks in advance.

Rebecca

posted in Feline Nutrition - 11 replies

A primer on urinary tract health in cats

thatwoman — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 20:20:10 GMT

I did a lot of reading a while back on how the acid/base (base = alkali) balance works in our bodies because I was interested in why certain foods acidify the body while others make the body more alkaline, and how all of that relates to a cat's urine pH. There's also a whole lot of misinformation out there about what foods will promote urinary tract health in cats, and terms are often confusing and/or imprecise, which means people end up using the terminology wrongly, which adds further to the confusion. I'm hoping that this post will clarify a lot of things. Much of this post will be familiar to those of you who have read most of my posts in Cat People, Cat Lovers and Feline Nutrition, but I think summarizing everything in one location is a worthwhile endeavor. I'm going to break this into different posts for readability reasons (and so I can post the information in discrete bits instead taking the time to write one huge mega-post), with each post covering major topics.

First of all, some definitions:

FLUTD: Feline lower urinary tract disease. This catch-all term basically covers ALL types of diseases and disorders affecting the feline lower urinary tract (i.e. the bladder and urethra). Contrary to popular perception, the majority of FLUTD is *idiopathic*, which basically means "Hell if we know what's going on." The bladder/urethra is inflamed, the cat is in discomfort and other symptoms may be present, e.g. hematuria (bloody urine) or dysuria (difficulty urinating) but no underlying cause can be found. Of those cats who have FLUTD, about 15-20% will have urinary crystals, about 5%-10% will have some kind of anatomic deformity (an unusually narrow urethra, for example), about 1% will have an actual infection, and about 1% will have something really, really nasty like cancer. FLUTD affects about 1% of the total domestic feline population, though in my opinion this number may be low because the primary symptom of FLUTD is inappropriate peeing, which most people assume is behavioral and treat it as such instead of having a pee sample analyzed.

Cystitis: the dictionary definition for this is "inflammation of the urinary bladder," and this term is often used synonymously with FLUTD.

FUS: Feline urological syndrome. Initially defined as "the feline disease syndrome characterized by dysuria, urethral obstruction, urolithiasis [see below] and hematuria", researchers quickly found that most cases of lower urinary tract disorders in cats didn't involve urolithiasis, and this term was eventually abandoned in favor of the more general FLUTD.

UTI: Urinary tract infection. Most people use this term to describe FLUTD, but actual urinary tract infections are very rare in cats (if you do the math, if about 1% of all FLUTD cases are actual infections and FLUTD affects only 1% of all cats, only 1 in 10,000 cats will experience an actual UTI). Most cases of FLUTD are sterile. The hances of a cat having a UTI are slightly elevated if it has urinary crystals because the accompanying abrasion/inflammation makes it easier for infection to set in. For this reason, many vets like to prescribe antibiotics "just in case" infection develops, but I talked to a vet about just this issue and he said that according to the studies he's encountered, prophylactic antibiotic usage is rarely useful for cats with urinary crystals. The sterile nature of FLUTD, even when struvite crystals are present, is in direct contrast to what causes urinary tract problems in dogs, which are frequently caused by bacterial infections.

Dysuria: Painful urination

Strangury (Stranguria): Wherein the cat painfully makes little dots of pee in the litterbox, either because of muscle contractions or because the urethra has been partially blocked by uroliths

Hematuria: Bloody urine

Pollakiuria (sometimes used synonymously with Polyuria): Urinating with abnormally high frequency

Urolith: Essentially, calculus (a compound consisting of minerals and organic material) found in the urinary tract

(Feline) Urolithiasis: Fancy term for "peeing crystals"

Struvite crystals: A type of of urolith consisting of magnesium, ammonium and phosphate crystals. Often known as MAP uroliths by fancy-dancy vet types. Struvite crystals form in alkaline urine, and are generally very responsive to dietary therapy, i.e. if you make a cat's urine pH more acidic than 6.5, the crystals [assuming they're not too big, as a crystal's solubility depends on its size] will generally dissolve. They were once by far the most common type of urolith found in cats, but they're now just about as common as....

Calcium oxalate crystals: a type of urolith consisting of , uh, calcium oxalate, also commonly abbreviated as CaOx. CaOx forms in acidic urine, unlike struvite crystals, and are not particularly responsive to dietary therapy. If you have a cat with CaOx problems, surgery is the only way to remove the uroliths. CaOx hits older cats (which makes sense, since older cats are more prone to metabolic acidosis, which in turn strips calcium from their bones, thus making the saturation of calcium salts in the pee more likely). Genetics can also predispose a cat to CaOx formation, because Persians and their outcrosses (like Himalayans) are more likely to suffer from these crystals than the general population of kitty cats.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 29 replies

Organization that helps people w cats?

Leslee — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 04:14:14 GMT

Would any one here, know of an organization that helps people in financial difficulty, care for their cats?

I am trying to help someone whose greatest fear is to not be able to provide for her cats. If she knew such a organization existed it might help to relieve some of her anxiety during a rough time.

Thanks for any info.

Leslee

posted in Feline Nutrition - 2 replies

Hi, New here with a question

lochlainn — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:59:21 GMT

Hi, I am new here and have decided that it is time that I educate myself on the life of being an elder cat owner.

My Zen came to us in Sept of 94 and was about 2 years old at the time. She has been a great cat, true to form in most ways (has to have things on her own terms, lets you know when she is unhappy... you know the drill) except for one thing. She is horribly allergic to fleas. Like horribly in the most horrible way. Loses all of her hair, can't sleep for all the itching, gets cranky (-er) and so forth. She doesn't get to go outside, but she does sneak out maybe twice a year... grrrr and we do not bring any other animals into the house. Of course you can't exactly screen house guests for fleas, and I am sure that we bring them in from time to time on our clothing after hiking, camping, general outdoor stuff.

In the past what has worked is a quick trip to the vet, a shot of Methylphenid and then 6 weeks of Prednisone at home. However, now I have been informed by the vet that fleas may not be all that she is allergic to and that she could just be randomly "acquiring" new allergies as she ages. The vet also told me that using the Prednisone can make her more susceptible to disease and infection and shorten her life. We let the vet know that a shorter more comfortable life is better than a long drawn out life of misery... and at at least 14 years of age (this was last year) she had already lived longer than any cat either of us has ever owned.

The last round of Methylphenid and Prednisone has not done the trick and she is fairly miserable. I have flea bathed her, she is up to date on her flea meds (advantage) and we have bombed the house. None of us have seen fleas anywhere except on her and we don't have bites ourselves. Finally, in desperation last night I bathed her with some moisturizing shampoo/soap in hopes that it would soothe her itchiness a little bit.

Any other suggestions for soothing her dry irritated skin? I am totally all for anything natural/herbal/whatever. I just want her to feel better. I hate the idea of having to put her down if there is something that can be done to make her more comfortable.

Thanks,
Lochlainn.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 4 replies

Chubby kitten?

Heather — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 04:56:12 GMT

I have an 8 month old kitten, Rohan, who is wonderful and healthy, except I'm afraid that he is a *little* chubby. He has a sizable fat roll around his midsection.

He's due for a vet check soon, so I'll ask them - but in the meantime, I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to make sure he's being fed correctly. We feed our cats a small amount in the morning, a small amount at night - dry pellets (Wellness brand).

Any suggestions? He gets plenty of exercise. Thanks!

Heather

posted in Feline Nutrition - 2 replies

Innova Evo Dry Food

zenzen — Wed, 10 Aug 2005 19:29:49 GMT

I found this at my local store a couple weeks ago, and picked up a bag.

http://www.animalworldnetwork.com/inevocatki.html

My kitties were weaned off of dry food at 8 mos., but this summer I have been travelling a lot for long weekends, and didn't have someone to consistently come in and feed them on their wetfood schedule. Finding a good dry food seemed like a good solution to the temporary problem of me being away.

I put down a bowl, and Bukky my uber-finicky brat, immediately started eating without a moment of hesitation. Kumo, of course, ate it, too -- he eats everything.

Last weekend I left out bowls of dry food, and my roommate was there part of the time to feed them wet. They ignored their wetfood for the dry food (even Kumo, which was a shock). I immediately took them back to their wetfood schedule, and it has taken a couple of days for them to relish their wetstuff.

Any thoughts on this brand, Candy? It's a good solution for me for the weekends now, but I'm not going to make it a regular part of their diet.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 31 replies

Supplementing dry kibble

M21 — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 17:02:06 GMT

We're not ready to make the transition to raw... baby steps...

I have a good list of supplements for my dog... raw egg once a week, shredded veggies mixed in, yogurt a couple times a week...

Does anyone know of some good starter supplements to add in that are idiot easy... no food processing involved??

posted in Feline Nutrition - 4 replies

what to do about seizures?

narcissa — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 06:48:03 GMT

I'm looking for any suggestions on how to help my lovely Mina. She is 13 and has had a hard year. A month ago I came home to find her hiding in the corner and seizing. A few vet visits later, I had a list of possible afflictions and diagnostic tests I couldn't afford. Everything was normal for a month, then two nights ago I came home to find the nightmare waiting for me again. Considering the remission and manner of the seizures, the vet feels that most likely she has a brain tumor or lesion. I can get blood tests to rule out organ failure but the timing of th attacks kind of does that already. A stroke or epilepsy is unlikely given her history. An MRi to diagnose a tumor is thousands of dollars and even then it's unlikely anything could be done about it. We talked about drugs to control the seizures but there are side effects and while it's only once in a while I don't think the benefit would warrant the pills. Does anyone know of anything I could do to help her? Things to avoid that might trigger her seizures, or something I could give her that could help suppress them? There's really no medical treatment other than sedatives which she absolutely hates. Thanks for any advice.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 10 replies

Vomiting

Samantha — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:16:20 GMT

One of my cats vomits almost every day immediately after eating. It doesn't seem to be a hairball, and otherwise he seems fine. Does that sound weird? I mentioned it to the vet a while ago but I don't think I stressed it was every day and she didn't seem concerned.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 10 replies

Great cat diet book (x post)

MsPurity — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 04:32:53 GMT

So today I decided to stop by our local bookstore to see what I could find on making homemade pet food. I found this book: http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Health-Happy-Cats-Naturally/dp/1592532667/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-3165037-6691800?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175919832&sr=8-1

They also have one for dogs. It covers a ton of stuff, but talks extensively about diets. They also recommend the raw food diet for both dogs and cats. Just skimming through it I thought to myself "Did Candy (aka That Woman Sez..., our fearless moderator) write this herself?" It covers everything from what cats really need, what they should eat in limited quantities, and what they shouldn't eat at all. I highly recommend this book and the one for dogs too!

posted in Feline Nutrition - 2 replies

deafness

r0ssyPenguin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:21:19 GMT

my kitty Zeus is recently deaf due to old age...he mopes around and meows loudly in empty rooms...and it makes me sad :(
I think he does this to hear his voice in his head.

anyone else have a deaf cat?
is there anything i can do?

I've been tapping my foot on the floor to get his attention, or the couch or table...or where ever he's laying down because calling him doesn't work anymore.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 3 replies

I need advice....Please Help Mika!

tre7582 — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:53:39 GMT

My cat Mika is 5 years old. She is spayed. Just recently I noticed something brown near her vaginal area. At first I thought it was poop stuck to her butt, but when I looked closer, I noticed this brown possibly discharge around her vagina. She is a little heavy, so she has problems cleaning it off. Until I can scrape up the money to get her to the vet, I need to find some info for the time being. All I could find online when I searched under brown vaginal discharge was in pregnant cats.

Otherwise she seems healthy. She eats, drinks, cleans, plays, etc.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

posted in Feline Nutrition - 0 replies

Real food diets for kitties?

digitaldallas — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:26:43 GMT

Okay, for those not following my plight with my Misty...

About a month ago she was diagnosed as having hepatic lipidosis. Basically, a liver disease caused from malnutrition that causes the liver digest itself. It nearly killed her but we've managed to bring her back to health. She is still extremely skinny and frail but her jaundice is nearly gone (the tell-tale sign of the disease) and her attitude is back. The malnutrition came from he reluctance to eat and drink. For weeks, we've had her on a special science diet in which we used a dropper to force feed her. We started with several feedings a day back down to two-a-day.

We've tried to introduce kitty food back into her diet but she's not having it. Thinking it's something psychological, we even changed and moved bowls. Still nothing. We give her purified water (no more tap) and she drinks it. Not as often as we'd like, but she drinks. I attest this to her lack of eating. We've tried mixing the science diet with no prevail. We've tried feeding Misty her favorite brand of kibble and nothing. We've tried to feed her the good canned food. Still nothing. She nibbles and leaves it to dry.

What we have noticed, though is that she loves real food. Chicken and ground beef are her favorites. It's come to the point where we now cook her up a small portion of unseasoned meat just so that she will eat. And eat she does.

My question is this:
Since she will eat this food and not the other, does anybody know of any "real food" diets for kitties? I've got no problem buying and portioning out some for her if it helps her get better. Are there any dangers to a diet like this for our Misty?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 8 replies

RIP Elvis 1989-2007

kimeden — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 03:00:54 GMT

Our dear cat Elvis passed away last night in his sleep - he was almost 18 years old.

I got him when I was right out of college and just getting started in the world. I have known him longer than my husband and most of my friends!

I am really sad about losing him, but at the same time I know it was for the best. He lived a long full life and was much loved, and now he is with his dearly departed buddy Tipper.

So drink a toast tonight in his honor!

- Kim

posted in Feline Nutrition - 1 reply

Linky-dinks to raw food suppliers

thatwoman — Fri, 26 Mar 2004 20:47:57 GMT

In case any of you want to purchase ground or whole prey like rabbit, and raw meaty bones like chicken necks, but have difficulty finding sources close to home, here are some links that may help. Some of these people sell only by mail order, others by distributors.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/carnivorefeed-supplier/ - From their Yahoo! group description page: "Carnivore feed suppliers provides a list of what they have to offer people who feed their carnivores a natural raw diet. Pet owners list their needs." No info on raw feeding per se.

http://freewebhosting.hostdepartment.com/O/OmegaFarms/wholefeeders.htm - located in Ohio, this is their list of whole prey products
http://freewebhosting.hostdepartment.com/O/OmegaFarms/meat.htm -same farm as above, list of ground prey products

http://www.hare-today.com - located in Pennsylvania, they sell ground and whole rabbits, chickens and goats

http://www.wholefoods4pets.com - located in Washington state, they sell ground and whole rabbits, very highly recommended if you live on the west coast

http://www.columbiarivernaturalpetfoods.com/purchasing_shipping.htm - they sell various whole and ground products, they don't ship and sell only via distributors, click on the state to see a list

http://www.nudimensionsnutrition.com/Where_to_purchase_ndn.htm - a list of distributors for Nu Dimension Nutrition, a raw pet food mix, for products see http://www.nudimensionsnutrition.com/NDN_For_Your_Cat.htm

Grandad's: http://www.grandadspetfoods.com/ - another company that sells ground raw meaty bones and raw pet food mixes, check for nearby distributors at http://www.grandadspetfoods.com/distributors.html (note: need to add additional meat to their chicken blends which are mostly bone)

I'll add more links to this list as I find them.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 1 reply

Raw Food Diet for cats

Tue, 22 May 2007 01:12:26 GMT

Hi all,

I've been feeding my cats the raw meat diet from Feline Future for almost 9 years. As a lot of people are becoming aware of what actually goes into commercial pet food, there's increased interest in feeding a biologically-appropriate diet, and one that you know every ingredient that goes into it. The diet promoted by Feline Future has been around for over a decade, and is based on the work of Dr. Pottenger. My mother's been making this type of diet since the 70s, so it isn't something that someone thought up recently with no knowledge of the actual nutritional needs of cats.

I have two 15 year old cats and two who are turning 9 in a few months. They are all radiant with health, and all eat raw meat and bones, just like carnivores do.

I've blogged about the diet I feed my cats at http://labelleprovinceredux.wordpress.com/2007/03/21/homemade-pet-food/

Just getting the word out in case anyone's looking for a safe diet for their cats.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 21 replies

Fun treats?

Samantha — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:48:55 GMT

My old cat used to love cantaloupe but these guys don't care about it at all. Are there any things your cats like that I could give as a treat?

posted in Feline Nutrition - 8 replies

tiki cat cat food

Devildoll — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 18:58:03 GMT

My cats are finicky wet food eaters and they loved Nutro Max but that has been recalled. But I tried TIki Cat cat food and they chowed down on the food. But I noticed they only make seafood wet food and a lot of it is tuna. Would feeding them this cat food daily be bad? The website says there cats been eating Tiki Cat for a few years and the cats are thriving. But I hear from you guys that tuna isn't good for cats.

Here is their website if anyone wants to check out the food
http://www.petropics.com/default2.htm
if you scroll to the bottom it links to their products.
Thanks for any info.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 7 replies

Help with my new diet

Milo — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 13:39:19 GMT

Okay, so my human decided to change my diet with all the scary stuff going on. It has been 1 month. She put me on Inova Evo for kittens dry and wet. I like the dry food but won't touch the wet. She mixed it with my old wet food and cut back little by little but I won't eat it. Would eating just the dry food be healthy enough for me. (She also tried Wellnes wet food and I don't like that one either)

posted in Feline Nutrition - 6 replies

How to get cat to drink more water???!!!

Rebecca — Wed, 09 May 2007 02:57:09 GMT

I bought a Catit drinking fountain http://www.amazon.com/Hagen-Catit-Drinking-Fountain-x10/dp/B000688XLY , and I love it (it looks cool and sounds relaxing) but my cat doesn't. I'm not sure my cat drinks ANYTHING. I only feed her wet (Innova Evo) and lately I've been adding a few tablespoons of water to that (2x/day) to force her to get more h20. I know the wet food is something like 80% moisture but even so, I really want to get her to drink, since she had a UTI a month ago (her first, and I've had her 10 months now).

I've only had the fountain a few days so maybe she will try it later but I doubt it--she doesn't seem scared of it, just not interested. When I had just a plain 'ol bowl she wasn't drinking from that either.

Any suggestions?

posted in Feline Nutrition - 13 replies

newbie with questions

eilu — Tue, 29 May 2007 05:47:38 GMT

Hello all... I got referred to this tribe from Cat Lovers (http://catlovers.tribe.net)...

I just rescued three kittens, and I want to feed them what's best for them. I'd really love to give them a raw diet but I don't think it would be practical. I'm currently an intern, I'm out of the house all day. People at home gladly keep an eye o the kitties, but I think they'd draw the line on raw food; besides, I can't supervise the food 24/7 and there's just too many things that can go wrong with raw food (spoilage, inadequately cleaned, contamination- like if the cleaning lady puts the food out after she just cleaned the toilet, etc.)

So what would be the best compromise? Could I take, say, a chicken, grind it up and lightly cook it? That way we can just throw it in the microwave (just to take the chill off) before the kitties eat. Currently they're getting lightly cooked ground meat (chicken/beef/pork, depending on what's in the fridge) and egg. What supplements should I add? I read somewhere kitties can't absorb some forms of calcium supplements.

Also, budget is a bit of an issue. I can afford the staples- chicken, pork, maybe beef once in a while, but I'd preffer to go as cheap as possible without sacrificing quality (doesn't everyone?)

Much thanks!

posted in Feline Nutrition - 2 replies

Blood in Urine - bottle baby

FeralCat — Mon, 07 May 2007 14:13:39 GMT

Hi all.

We have a bottle baby that has blood in her urine and a cottage-cheesy discharge from her vagina.

Any thoughts on what this is and how to treat it?

I don't want to bring her in to the vet if this is something simple we can handle ourselves...

-feralcat

posted in Feline Nutrition - 5 replies

Natural balance Recalled!!!!

Meka — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:11:16 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html

Pig fuckers!

I am taking all three to the vet today for blood tests. Poor pussies.

Not only do Natural Balance have terrible QC and storage of wetfood - but now their dry food is recalled.

I wonder if I can get them to pay my vet bills?
No my cats aren't vomiting but by the time they might be it is too late, so I'm not waiting to find out if they're gonna die.
:(

posted in Feline Nutrition - 12 replies

Old Mother Hubbard / Wellness cat food

r0ssyPenguin — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 19:14:25 GMT

I just switched to this food because it's manufactured locally in Massachusetts, and my cats absolutely &#9829 LOVE &#9829 it!
I'd rather pay a bit more, knowing they're getting fresh fine ingredients :)
>^..^<
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Pet Parents,
As you may already know, Wellness brand pet food is NOT affected by the product recall involving wheat gluten and other pet food manufacturers. We do not use wheat gluten in our products, and none of our products are made in the Menu Foods Emporia plant that is the main focus of the product recall. All Wellness products, including canned, dry, treats and supplements can be enjoyed safely.

read more... http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/wellness/aboutus_philosophy.html

posted in Feline Nutrition - 21 replies

Cat sick from poisened food from recall -seeking advice/help

shabnamorama — Wed, 09 May 2007 22:31:15 GMT

Sorry for reposting - for some reason it isn't showing up...

My cat got food poisening from contaminated food from food recall. He got better, than crashed 4 weeks later. Took him to Oakland SPCA they recommended IV fluids for 2-3 nights. SPCA does not have an onsite 24 hour technician, so seeking advice on places to take him or alternative treatments.

Much thanks in advance.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 0 replies

got an allergic cat?

Meka — Mon, 07 May 2007 17:28:06 GMT

I just wanted to share my experiences with kitty skin allergies, in case it is helpful for others who are dealing with this frustrating issue.

About 5 years ago Meko who has beautiful long silky grey fur (rescued pedigree Nebelung) started itching and licking it off. The familiar baldness pattern of tummy, legs, ass, paws, sides - anywhere he could reach he would lick lick like crazy. My ex husband had just left in a divorce and he had also started eating Pro-plan dry food.

The best vet in Milwaukee referred us to Dr McKeaver - the specialist in kitty behaviour for Minnesota and Wisconsin.
McKeaver put Meko on medication - which made him uncommunicatve and unhappy. Meko seemed zombiefied.
We hated seeing him like that so he was only on it for a few weeks.

Next it was suggested to be a food allergy. McKeever said there was no point testing for the allergy cos that wasn't v successful (needle in a haystack scenarios) unless we wanted to spend lots of money. (thou's prob)

So Meko went on Hill's z/d diet. After 6 months he was still licking like crazy.

Next I moved to healthier catfood as I was becoming enlightened thanks to the teachings of "That woman" and others on this tribe.
We tried various foods and settled on Natural Balance allergy formula. It was recalled a month ago and I had been having issues with the wet food (cans exploding, being contaminated, probably due to improper storage etc) so i started making catfood and moved the cats onto
innova evo grain free (to avoid melamine risk altogether) and addiction's brushtail possum. Right now, I'm supplementing the canned with the homemade, but the cats are loving the food. They still get dry food at night (Innova Evo grain free) which keeps them happy.

Above all, for the first time in years, Meko's fur is growing back! He's still a bit licky but he looks so handsome and his fur looks great!

My presumption is that he had grain allergies OR that the supplementary food has higher doses of Omega 3/6's from the wild salmon oil I put in it. It's one or the other (or both).

Thanks loads to everyone here who helped. (and no thanks to the vets who took my money and failed to cure Meko)
Even the recall was fortuitous in that it pushed me to try making catfood and onto grain free foods.

I'll post some pics soon so you can see his fuzzy butt!

Beast wishes,
Mekachu

posted in Feline Nutrition - 1 reply

Vets and old cats

Åmelia — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 05:58:01 GMT

Hi All. Everyone always has such great ideas here, I was hoping you all could help me out.

I have a 15 year old orange fatty who is still really active. He hunts, runs up and down the stairs, and generally drives us crazy with the running around in the middle of the night (all probably due to his fantastic diet thanks to all the info found in this tribe). Anyway, when I take him to the vet for the occasional illness or just for his yearly checkup, I tend to get the same sort of treatment from the vet. The general vibe I get is that he is fairly old for a cat and why bother with the wellness aspect of his care. One vet even refused to vaccinate him because he felt he wasn't going to be exposed to anything...this was after I explained that he goes outside. It is such a pain and stressfull for me and the little man to drive to the vet, sit in the room and find out that this vet thinks he should be on geriatric Hill's food.

My question is this...how do I screen vets for their opinions on older cat care without having to stress the child out by driving him there? Is there a tactful way to call and say "do you think cats over 10 are living on borrowed time or will you be involved in maintaining the wellness of my active, healthy, older gentleman?"

Many, many thanks for any ideas that you all may have!

posted in Feline Nutrition - 17 replies

I need some suggestions....

mrspossum — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:16:04 GMT

Since we got our kitten, Juju, our cat Lily refuses to come inside the house and she also seems to be eating less and losing weight. Though she's never been a large cat she seems to skinny to me.

The problems is that when i take her food outside, the possums get to it (especailly wet food) and she freaks out if she comes inside. She hasn't eaten any of the foods included in the recall and there are no sides of kidney problems. Not to mention that she's just plain stubborn.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I do know that I'm going to start feeding her in the morning and maybe that will cut back on Possum theivery.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 2 replies

American Nutrition, Inc. Issues Voluntary Recall

Antonette — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:17:44 GMT

http://www.americannutritioninc.com/

posted in Feline Nutrition - 0 replies

Precautionary Rice Protein Recall: Drs. Foster & Smith Adult Dry Lite Dog and Adult Dry Lite Cat Food

Antonette — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 04:02:22 GMT

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/general.cfm?N=2001&gid=568

posted in Feline Nutrition - 0 replies

diahhrea and vomiting help/advice PLEASE??!

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 16:48:36 GMT

hi there,
we adopted a new kitty and he's had the poops when we got him from the shelter.
we figured it was the crappy diet that is donated and there, as this shelter is all volunteer ran.
took him to the vet to get checked out, he's 7, fixed and in good health, except for ear mites.
got some ear mites meds and been treating him.
we've put him on medi-cal (i didn't have my glasses on and didn't read the damn label!) but
still this was better then the shelter food.
3 days later and he's still having really bad runs.
yesterday we got him worm medicine, we were told that the runs could be from worms and we should
treat if it goes past a couple days.

now he's throwing up, still crapping liquid and i'm getting worried.

i've also put him on evo, a non-byproduct diet.
he's vomited all morning, dry heaved, and had the runs.

i thought maybe it was the evo. so i put a few crunchies of medi-cal into his dish, he looked at me and meowed like 'do i have to eat this crap?' ok, i put a few evo crunchies in the other bowl and he quickly gobbled them up.

now i know what he likes, luckily it's the good for him stuff... he's kept it all down so far.

the vomiting has subsided, but the poops continue!
i've washed and changed our sheets every day now because he has the skids! yuck!
poor boy..i'm gonna have to get him back to the vet...but before i do, does anyone have any suggestions? oppinions? *experienced* advice they can give me? i tend to find the various vets we've visited a bit scattered, ' try this then if it doesn't work, then come back for this, and then that' can you say $kaaa-ching$!?

and we've pretty much drained from our cat's recent kidney failure and death...

with our last cat we didn't ever have that problem and she lived to be almost 20. she ate various diets and was a bit picky, but at the end was more constipated from her kidneys failing then any stomach upsets. so i'm at a loss, i have no idea what to do.

:-(

also, before i forget, i've been giving him a tablespoon oranic (expensive human grade) ground beef with his evening meal. i'd really like to introduce him to a raw diet to make up most of his meals, which he seems to really like, and give crunchies on the side...
i don't think it's the beef that's making him sick tho....

posted in Feline Nutrition - 17 replies

Royal Canin voluntary recall...

Antonette — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:58:43 GMT

http://www.royalcanin.us/

posted in Feline Nutrition - 0 replies

Canidae Pet Food

ssǝuoɹǝH — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:46:33 GMT

I called my local pet food center..

and they recommended this brand..

they said it was the best quality....least price..

small company

http://www.petwebstore.com/canidaehome.html

39.99 40 lb dog
32.00 20 lb cat

I checked buying it online..

and I found the dog food for 29.99 online..but there was ..14.95 shipping..

posted in Feline Nutrition - 3 replies

Bench & Field?

Samantha — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 23:06:32 GMT

I bought some stuff at Trader Joe's the other night. Bench & Field Holistic Natural Feline dry food. Anyone tried it? It seems to have no by-products or obvious ickiness & the cats like it.

Also, what are your opinions on TJ's Tuna for Cats?

My guys usually eat Merrick foods but they do seem to like this stuff as a treat sometimes.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 4 replies

New recalls

Samantha — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 23:08:47 GMT

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

posted in Feline Nutrition - 1 reply

New product recall...

Antonette — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 23:07:07 GMT

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

posted in Feline Nutrition - 0 replies

Tainted pet food still on shelves, FDA says

feiruz_al-bnefsagia — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 19:04:33 GMT

From Reuters http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1227947920070412?feedType=RSS

Contaminated pet food is still being sold at some stores, U.S. health officials warned on Thursday after checking hundreds of retail outlets.

The Food and Drug Administration said it had inspected about 400 stores nationwide and still found some dog and cat food products affected by last month's recall by Canada-based pet food maker Menu Foods Income Fund and other manufacturers.

"FDA believes most companies have removed the recalled product; however, some have not," the agency said in a statement.

he announcement comes two days after Menu Foods expanded its recall to include more types of cat food. Last week it also widened its alert to include products with earlier production dates as well as dozens of more varieties.

Initially, the company recalled 60 million cans and pouches of wet pet food sold under various brands including Procter & Gamble Co.'s Iams and Eukanuba as well as store brands sold at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Safeway Inc..

A number of other companies including Colgate-Palmolive Co.'s Hill's Pet Nutrition Inc., Nestle SA's Purina PetCare Co. and Del Monte Pet Products have also recalled certain products.

FDA officials have said the affected foods contained wheat gluten contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used in plastics and fertilizer. But the agency is still investigating what caused the confirmed death of 16 cats and dogs. About 12,000 pets have been reported ill.

The ingredient was shipped by China-based Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. to ChemNutra Inc. of Las Vegas, which then sold it to Menu Foods and other makers, according to the FDA. The Chinese company has denied involvement.

"FDA's priority is to make sure that cats and dogs have safe food to eat," Dr. Stephen Sundlof, head of FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, said in the statement.

Sundlof is scheduled to appear before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee later on Thursday to discuss the pet food scare.

Sen. Richard Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who announced the hearing, has said he wants the FDA to work with U.S. states to improve manufacturing inspections as well as create a new database for veterinarians and pet owners to report concerns.

Representative for Menu Foods will not appear before lawmakers. Senators had invited Menu Foods to testify at the hearing, according to congressional staff, but the company instead asked to be represented by the Pet Food Institute, an industry group.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 0 replies

Feline Greenies Dental Treats?

Rebecca — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 21:04:39 GMT

I got a sample of these at a pet store, chicken flavor, and I have NEVER seen my cat eat a treat with so much gusto... although my theory is that since I have weaned her from her dry kibble, this is the first "crunch" she has had. But even so, she practically pounced on the treat!

Does anyone know about these/if they are healthy, and if they really would help prevent tartar, like the brand advertises? Here is the info on the chicken flavor:

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein, not less than 27%
Crude Fat, not less than 12%
Crude Fiber, not more than 10%
Moisture, not more than 10%
Magnesium, not more than 0.1%

Calorie Content (Calculated):
(Kcal/kg ME) 3,481
Calories/Serving 11 (6 pieces)

Ingredients (Oven Roasted Chicken Flavor):
Chicken meal, rice flour, wheat flour, corn gluten meal, oat fiber, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), chicken liver digest, salmon meal, glucono-delta-lactone, flaxseed, brewer's dried yeast, salt, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, citric acid, choline chloride, taurine, vitamins (Vitamin A, D-activated animal sterol, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate, d-Biotin, Vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, niacin, d-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamine mononitrate, mixed tocopherols, minerals (zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate monohydrate, cobalt carbonate, manganese sulfate, calcium iodate, sodium selenite, copper sulfate), chlorophyll.

Interesting that it has the brewer's yeast in it, as someone suggested putting on the wet food to make it more appealing (today I came home to find that she had eaten barely half of her morning feeding, so I will have to try that... I did open a new can and gave her some fresh food, which she ate, but I don't want to have to throw out her food...).

posted in Feline Nutrition - 7 replies

Coastal Residents: Don't flush the cat poop!

JulianaShellstar — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 05:51:16 GMT

I've seen a sign in Pet Club that it's not recommended to flush cat poop in the toilet, rather, one should throw it away in the garbage, but I wasnt sure why.

When I was on the Feline Pine website tonight (downloading a rebate), I found out why... the cat parasite Toxoplasmosis Gondii (TG), which is toxic to pregnant women, is lethal to sea otters. Here is the link: http://www.naturesearth.com/specialalert.html and the text, if the link is not working.

"Most domestic cats carry a parasite called Toxoplasmosis Gondii (TG). Traditionally, TG has only been a concern for pregnant women handling the litter box (click here for more info). TG has no effect on other family members, including cats, dogs or other pets. However, research has found that TG is making its way to our oceans by way of toilets and storm drains.

TG can survive the sewage treatment process and flow freely into the ocean along with otherwise clean treated water. Shockingly, TG is to blame for nearly 20% of all sea otter deaths today. The State of California has already passed a law requiring citizens to properly dispose of cat feces in the trash, with hefty fines for non-compliance. Pressure is being applied to other coastal communities, both east and west, to do the same.

While Feline Pine and other alternative cat litter varieties are flushable, and while that aspect may seem convenient to cat owners, we at Nature’s Earth strongly urge our customers to dispose of their cat’s feces in the garbage—especially if you live in a coastal community.

We believe that our customers deserve the facts about TG. Currently, we are in the process of changing all of our packaging to include this new warning. By making this one small adjustment to our cat-care routines, we can help save the lives of innocent marine life and preserve this environment we all enjoy."

posted in Feline Nutrition - 2 replies

Adding water to canned food?

Rebecca — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 15:29:17 GMT

Is it a good or bad idea to add water (like a tablespoon or so?) to my cat's food? A friend suggested that this could help prevent future UTIs because my cat drinks almost no water-- she used to drink water when I had been giving her some dry food but now that she is only on the wet EVO she barely drinks at all. Is the water content in the food enough or is it ok to supplement?

posted in Feline Nutrition - 5 replies

Cat has UTI... looking for suggestions!

Rebecca — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 03:22:36 GMT

I know there is a very long post on feline urinary tract infections, but I'm looking for some suggestions to make sure I'm doing everything right!

After 2 incidences of my cat peeing outside her box within the past 12 hours (she has NEVER had an accident with this litterbox - I use a ScoopFree automatic), I took her to the vet and thankfully she has a UTI (sorry, I know my cat is suffering, but I much prefer that to a behavioral problem!!!).

I've been feeding only Innova Evo canned, so I don't think that is a problem. Is there anything I should be adding now that she has a UTI and/or to prevent a future infection? Or is there nothing else I can do?

On another note, I have confined my cat to a pretty much pee-proof bedroom (wood floors, garbage bag over bed, closets locked, no soft objects except her cat bed) with her litterbox and food/water bowls. Has anyone done this, and how long does it usually take for cats to re-use their litterbox? She hasn't peed since this morning (in my laundry basket). The vet gave her the first dose of antibiotic drops this afternoon.

Finally, I am really worried about being able to give the drops, since I have tried brushing my cat's teeth in the past and she won't let me anywhere near her mouth. I can clip her nails, rub her stomach, anything but the mouth! I am going to try mixing tomorrow morning's dose into a bit of her food, but if that doesn't work, I may be driving her to the vet!

OH, and while at the vet, we were talking about food, and after I told her what I've been feeding, the assistant told me that wet rots the teeth... I told her that was a myth, and it is only in the cases of cheap Friskies-type foods with added sugar that tooth decay could be an issue. I jokingly said something like ".... and 90% of foods on the market are bad anyway, like Hill's" and she is like "Well I REALLY DON'T AGREE WITH THAT." I left it at that... why fight it? But gosh, shouldn't someone who works at an animal hospital know better than to promote a DRY FOOD WITH BY-PRODUCTS?

One more thing (eek sorry for the ramble), my cat has gone from 10.2 to 9.1 lbs. in a couple months. She looks healthy, has energy, but I don't want her losing any more... is my 2/3 can of EVO per day (plus a couple small snacks like 1-2 pieces dehydrated chicken or salmon or a few greenies) too little food? I'm not sure whether I should just keep her at the same amount and see if she loses more or add some more food and see if she maintains or gains?

posted in Feline Nutrition - 10 replies

Update on Pet food recall-feel free to pass on

Willow — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 02:31:46 GMT

Menu Foods Income Fund
TSX:MEW.UN
INDUSTRY:

Financial Services - Personal Finance, Retail - Consumer Interest
MARCH 24, 2007 - 14:09 ET

Menu Foods Initiates Market Withdrawal of All Varieties of Recalled Wet Pet Food to Ensure Consumer Protection
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - March 24, 2007) - As a result of reports from the FDA and various media outlets that some recalled lots of "cuts and gravy" style wet pet food remain on store shelves, Menu Foods has asked all retail outlets to immediately remove all impacted varieties of wet pet food posted at www.menufoods.com , regardless of the date code.

Menu Foods remains concerned that consumers are able to purchase recalled items.

There is no known risk from items not listed on the recall list but an abundance of caution is called for in this situation.
FDA has been apprised of this action.
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/PRESS%20RELEASE03241409.htm
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/

posted in Feline Nutrition - 11 replies

Ringworm

Samantha — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 05:50:20 GMT

I believe I've heard that cats always carry a small amount of this fungus on them, but only when it gets out of whack does it cause a lesion, etc. Well, both my cats look fine, but I seem to have caught ringworm! I don't know where else I would have caught if from if not my cats (it's on my thigh which has been well covered except at home due to cold weather!) so should I have the cats treated even though they show no signs?

posted in Feline Nutrition - 1 reply

Vet claims animal needs basically the same as humans?!?!

Rebecca — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 03:08:58 GMT

Dr. Donald Strombeck said the Amazon.com sales rank for his book "Home-Prepared Dog & Cat Diets: The Healthful Alternative" jumped from below 60,000 to about 1,000 after the recalls.

"The pet food industry doesn't want people competing with them," Strombeck said. "An animal can basically eat the same things we eat. They're not going to develop a deficiency."

What the... ? ? ?

When all of a sudden people start making their cats vegan, because "an animal can basically eat the same things we eat," we will know who to blame. . . granted, I have not read this guy's book, but I do know pet owners should not just jump into making food for their pet(s).

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/03/homemade.petfood.ap/index.html

posted in Feline Nutrition - 11 replies

Eukanuba "weight-control" and "restricted-diet" prescription foods warned by FDA

Phaewryn — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 23:37:43 GMT

This is one step below recalling. They are not safe to feed, this additive has NOT bee approved or tested for cats and dogs.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17862261/

posted in Feline Nutrition - 0 replies

New crapful lie from Iams! (Surprise, surprise.)

thatwoman — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 01:38:00 GMT

More crapful lies and distortions from a pet food manufacturer. Sigh. Article is below, and big nasty ranty critique follows, separated with pretty asterisks because it's so big.

Raw-food diets deposed

From: Iams Partners for Health; Vol. 2 No.5, May 2004 (a monthly publication sent to veterinarians)

Raw-food diets, often referred to by the acronym BARF (Bones And Raw Food, or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food), have drawn a considerable following in some pet owner circles. Dozens of books, Web sites and Forums on the Internet are dedicated to professing unconventional diets' merits. Proponents are drawn to the philosophy's holistic, "nutrition as nature intended it" rhetoric, which often tries to simulate whole-prey diets. However, the diets do not generally fare well under scientific scrutiny. 1 There's mounting evidence that illustrates the health risks not only for pets, but also for their owners. Primarily, experts believe there are no nutritional advantages gained, and pet owners maybe courting the following health concerns:

- gastrointestinal or esophageal problems due to ingested bones
- endoparasite infection
- Escherichia coli and Salmonella infection
- nutritional imbalance or deficiencies when used in a long-term feeding program,
- zoonotic disease risk due to the shedding of infectious organisms.

According to a 2003 study; two cats from the same household - one 14 years old and the other 10 weeks old - contracted Salmonella gastroenteritis and septicemia from home-prepared, raw-meat-based diets. 2 The older cat died from salmonella infection while the kitten was euthanized at the owner's request. Researchers at the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine were the first to link fatal Salmonella infection in domestic cats with the raw-food philosophy.

Other conditions potentially associated with raw-food diets include anemia, dermatoses or poor skin and coat condition, hypercalcemia, secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism, constipation, pancreatitis, and rickets.

Do your homework

Though it's difficult to nutritionally analyze the dizzying array of raw-food diets out there -- not to mention supplements -- help is available. Peruse academic journals arid the Veterinary Information Network's (www.vin.com) clinical nutrition discussions to learn what your colleagues are saying.

Talk to your clients about the health benefits and convenience behind premium diets. Illustrate the point that consistent, balanced, nutritionally complete formulas help provide abundant energy; healthier skin, coat, and teeth; and promote overall better health.

By feeding premium diets, clients avoid the serious medical conditions associated with raw-food diets, especially bacterial and gastrointestinal parasite infections and nutritional imbalances. Strive to use an evidence-based approach to avoid unproductive confrontation. Refer die-hard BARF pet owners to the FDA's web site for information on food-borne pathogenic microorganisms and natural toxins, as well as guidelines for manufacturing and labeling raw meat meant for consumption by companion animals (www.fda.gov).

References
1. Freeman, L.M.; Michel, K.E.: Evaluation of raw food diets for dogs. JAVMA 218(10): 705-709; 2001
2. Stiver, S.L. et al; Septicemic salmonellosis in two cats fed a raw food diet. JAAHA 39(6):538 - 542; 2003

To comment on the newsletter, write Advanstar Veterinary Healthcare Communications 8033 Flint
Lenexa, KS 66214-9974

*************
Right, on to ripping this article apart. They don't start off well, because right off they cite an incredibly stupid study--unfortunately one that's widely cited as compelling evidence that Raw Diets are Bad.

"However, the diets do not generally fare well under scientific scrutiny. 1"

OK, the article they cite as being a shining example of "scientific scrutiny" is without a doubt one of the WORST, most shoddily-conducted studies ever done on anything. You can read the Freeman and Michel study for yourself here: http://www.oaklandvet.com/rawdiet.html

Any of you have a background in research design? Or even common sense knowledge about the importance of sample size and sampling method? Anyone? If you do, have you picked yourself up off the floor and stopped laughing hysterically yet?

FIVE samples, folks. This all-encompassing, allegedly credible study used FIVE samples, two commercial raw products and three home-prepared diets. And not only that, but the scientific sampling method used? Asking three people who happened to live close by for ONE sample each of the the diet.

And those aren't the only problems regarding the sampling method:

- No recipes were provided--Jesus, not even a list of ingredients, ANY ingredients--for the three home-made samples, so we don't even know if these people were preparing the diets properly or according to instructions.

- No information was given about the methods the dog owners used to prepare the samples for the study. Jean Hofve, a holistic vet, did some more research about this and actually wrote about it in an article called "Bad Science", published in the July 2001 issue of Whole Dog Journal. Here's a quote: "The person who provided the authors with a sample of a diet based on Kymythy Schultze’s “Ultimate Diet” told Schultze that, for two weeks, every time he fed his dog, he would throw a little bit of whatever he was feeding into a bag in the freezer. So, if he fed the dog a banana as a snack, he put a chunk of banana in the bag, and if he fed two pounds of meat, a chunk of meat was added. Food items were not added to the bag in proportion to the amount of the item actually being fed to the dog."

In fact, many raw diets use a "balance over time" approach, in which diets are balanced out over the course of a few days, sometimes even a week (personally I think stretching it out to a week is asking for trouble, but I personally don't make EVERY meal I feed a balanced meal). The BARF diet and the Ultimate Diet are two diets sampled that take this approach. However, there's absolutely no indication that what was sampled was "balanced over time". In fact, as Hofve indicates, we know one of the samples definitely wasn't.

In other words, three huge problems immediately crop up with this "study" that goes on to condemn all raw, home-made diets: the sample size is incredibly small, the sampling method is incredibly retarded, and there's no indication whatsoever of what's in three out of the five samples so we don't even know if they were prepared properly.

And if that's not enough, the results were incredibly flawed too due to some pretty huge miscalculations. Steve Brown of Steve's Real Food smelled a rat when they claimed that his food contained way too much vitamin D, so he called the results into question. You can read two of his responses here: http://www.escribe.com/pets/holisticat/m19724.html and here: http://www.escribe.com/pets/holisticat/m18700.html

Jean Hofve also wrote in some detail (again in "Bad Science") about the flawed results and the subsequent corrections--corrections that were not publicized, by the way, except for one tiny disclaimer about them being wrong about Steve's Real Food and vitamin D: "Sixty percent of the values were different the second time around. No, there was no new testing done, but all the values were recalculated and the majority – as published in JAVMA – were wrong. In more than a dozen instances, the original values were “off” by a factor of 10 or more – in five instances, the decimal point had been put in the wrong place. For at least seven values, when the initial error was corrected, the food then met those requirements. For the two commercial raw diets, only one value out of 28 stayed the same; the magnitude of the errors ranged from 4 to 91 percent. In a letter to the editor of JAVMA, one of the authors apologized for their “inadvertent computational errors.” Pressed by [Steve] Brown and others, JAVMA later published a set of “corrected tables;” Brown has found yet more flaws within these tables."

Did you catch that? That table you see in the study breaking down the nutritional content of each diet analyzed is worthless--both versions of it, no less. It's hugely, magnificently wrong. I mean, we're not talking about people fudging a bit of math, maybe rounding up here and there. We're talking SIXTY PERCENT of the values being different when they bothered to re-calculate, with more than a dozen instances of values being off by a factor of 10 or more. And even the "corrected" table STILL has errors.

Dude, I couldn't even get away with that in high school, but these people got away with it in the fucking Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, a peer-reviewed publication that's supposed to be a leader in published scientific veterinary research.

And the findings regarding pathogenic bacteria in the samples? First of all, there was no indication in the study of how long the food had been sitting out before they were tested for bacteria. Second of all, even Small Animal Clinical Nutrition acknowledges that the effects of e. coli (even the acid-resistant, shiga toxin-producing O157:H7 variety) are unknown in dogs and cats, and reports no dogs or cats being affected by e. coli poisoning. My somewhat educated but admittedly not expert theory goes like this: e. coli is a very common bacteria, found massive quantities in the digestive systems of just about every mammal out there. Cats and dogs evolved to: 1. eat whole prey including all gastrointestinal contents, which also includes any and all crap found in the animal at the time of death; and 2. lick their own asses clean, as well as sniff (and occasionally lick) the asses of other animals as a way of saying "WASSUP." And dogs also indulge in coprophagy about as often as you'll let them get away with, often with no ill-effects aside from the incredible stench and the huge ICK factor. My guess is, cats and dogs susceptible to e. coli poisoning were probably bred out of the gene pool pretty fucking early due to natural selection, and the animals we have nowadays are probably quite resistant to a ubiquitous gut inhabitant like e. coli.

And third of all, although dogs HAVE been known to succumb to salmonellanosis, the dog belonging to the owner who submitted the sample for the study developed absolutely no symptoms at all--an important fact completely omitted from the study.

And Jean Hofve comes to the rescue once again by pointing out some of the bad references used in the Michel and Freeman study, this time in the form of a comment lodged with the FDA regarding a draft guidance for labelling raw meat foods: http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/dailys/03/Mar03/030403/02D-0468-EC-18.htm

"For instance, the document cites studies conducted outside the U.S. (Nyeleti et al., 2000; Atanassova et al., 2001, deAssis et al. 2000)). I doubt the data from such studies would have much—if any—bearing on livestock and food handling practices here in the U.S. The anecdotal report of hypervitaminosis A in a cat (Goldman, 1992) is not only outdated, but not at all applicable to the balanced commercial diets that this draft guidance seeks to address. The article by Dr. Machlik (1999) is primarily an opinion piece, and it should be noted that she was and is employed by a major U.S. pet food manufacturer, so this article cannot be regarded as completely unbiased."

*************

OK, that was really long-winded. You guys still with me? I hope so.

So the next bone I have to pick is with this statement: "Primarily, experts believe there are no nutritional advantages gained [with a raw diet]..."

Experts? What experts? Michel and Freeman? Bitch PUHLEEZE. There are actually several advantages gained with a well-balanced, fresh, raw home-made diet, some of them directly connected to the fact that it's raw, some not:

- Better protein availability and digestibility (I'd love to see the bitches argue THAT, given the nature of Maillard reactions and what they do to protein during pet food manufacturing)
- Minimal starches, which are poorly utilized by cats
- Better and more consistent meat quality than the shit found in most pet foods (no 4D animals, if we do use "byproducts", i.e. livers, gizzards, kidneys, etc., we know exactly what we're getting instead of playing Russian Roulette with the quality and composition of each batch)
- Freshness guaranteed. Dude, what's with this obsession with convenience people seem to have with food nowadays? Why would anyone want to eat food that can be left out for days and days without spoiling, and this after being packed away in a warehouse for God knows how long? I've said this so many times before, but hell, it's my party, I'll be a repetitive pedant if I want to: FRESH, NUTRITIOUS FOOD SPOILS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE. THIS IS A GOOD THING. MOST FOODS THAT DON'T SPOIL FOR UNHOLY LENGTHS OF TIME ARE SCARY AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSUMED AS A STAPLE.

*************
And on to the list of scawwy, scawwy pwobwems we might have if we feed our animals raw food:

"- gastrointestinal or esophageal problems due to ingested bones"

Once again: how in the hell did our carnivorous companions survive for millions upon millions of years, consuming nothing but furry, crunchy, bony prey, full of tricksy bits and pieces? The carnivorous system is quite well-suited to eating and digesting raw meat and bone.

But fair enough, there have been cases of dogs falling sick and/or dying from eating bones--either choking, gut perforation, impactions, etc. Some of the bones were raw, but a lot of these bones were cooked or smoked, which exponentially raises the chances of the bones shattering and/or behaving in untoward ways when ingested. The risk of injury from raw bone consumption, in my opinion, is very small compared to, say, a dog developing hypothyroidism or diabetes on a commercial diet, but hey, what do I know?

But you know what? You can feed ground bones if you're nervous about your dog (or cat!) getting hurt while ingesting whole bones. You can buy your own grinder (Northern Tools makes an excellent heavy-duty grinder that can handle chicken and rabbit bones), or you can buy any of several excellent mixes from a variety of companies, or even your local butcher. You can feed large chunks of touch meats instead for the teeth cleaning benefits.

"- endoparasite infection"

Worms are rarely a bad problem with healthy animals. If your animal is very young, or already sick, then there *may* be a chance that worms could become an infestation, but most animals are designed to deal with a certain number of parasitic organisms. In fact, there's some evidence that if the system becomes sterile, the internal defense mechanisms become overactive and start attacking healthy tissue. Anyone read that study I posted here about the use of worms in treating humans with colitis, primarily IBD and Crohn's?

Trichinella is a legit concern, but freezing kills the parasites, as does cooking. If you're feeding raw pork, freeze it for about 10 days before feeding it to your pets. Besides, trich is rarely a problem nowadays because the USDA made quite the crackdown on it.

And toxoplasma gondii is another concern, but please, there's plenty of evidence that the vast majority of cats who get toxoplasmosis recover from it just fine, if they exhibit any symptoms at all in the first place.

The one parasite I wouldn't fuck with would be rickettsia, found in Atlantic and farmed salmon. Don't feed that shit raw, mmkay?

"- Escherichia coli and Salmonella infection"

Already addressed above, and more below as I look into the other study they cite.

"- nutritional imbalance or deficiencies when used in a long-term feeding program,"

Oh you fuckers. As if this isn't happening with existing "complete and balanced" commercial foods? WHY do you think over 30% of cats over the age of 10 have hyperthyroidism. This condition is closely correlated to the consumption of canned cat foods containing seafood and/or byproducts. I wonder if the completely out-of-this-world iodine content in these foods could have anything to do with it? And uh, haven't many cats and dogs fallen seriously sick or died from nutritional imbalances while eating "complete and balanced" commercial foods that PASSED AAFCO feeding trials? And what about all the animals that are seriously obese and/or diabetic on commercial food diets? Couldn't that possibly be due to the overabundance of starches in foods meant for carnivores?

A well-prepared, balanced raw food diet avoids nutritional imbalances and deficiencies. No doubt there are perfectly terrible raw diets being fed out there, but condemning *all* raw diets out of hand based on these examples would be like accusing everyone who wears a turban of being a Muslim terrorist (never mind that he's a pacifist, vegetarian Sikh).

"- zoonotic disease risk due to the shedding of infectious organisms."

OK, out of the many, many reasons given to not feed your pet a raw diet, this one has always struck me as an incredibly stupid one--one of the dumbest, in fact. I mean, WHAT IN THE FUCK. OK, do you guys do, or feel even the slightest inclination to do the following?

a) Lick your pets' asses, especially right after they take a dump
b) Eet your raw-fed animal's poop
c) Lick your fingers right after you scoop the litterbox
d) Not wash your hands after you scoop the litterbox
e) Eat your pets' raw food, or lick their dishes clean when they're done
f) Leave the raw meat lying out, unrefrigerated, all day
g) Not clean the cutting board after preparing the food
h) Not wash your hands after preparing the food

If not, hey, call me crazy-flaming-nuts (no, I mean it, that's my Indian name), but I think the chances of you catching some kind of foodborne disease from feeding your pets a raw diet are practically nonexistent. If you follow basic hygiene and safe meat handling procedures, you should be fine. I mean, fuck, most people prepare meat for THEMSELVES every day and survive it just fine, thank you.

*************

"According to a 2003 study; two cats from the same household - one 14 years old and the other 10 weeks old - contracted Salmonella gastroenteritis and septicemia from home-prepared, raw-meat-based diets. 2 The older cat died from salmonella infection while the kitten was euthanized at the owner's request. Researchers at the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine were the first to link fatal Salmonella infection in domestic cats with the raw-food philosophy."

OK, I've actually looked at this study myself in this thread: http://www.tribe.net/tribe/servlet/template/pub%2Ctribes%2CViewThread.vm?threadid=15a15f90-c6f1-4568-91e8-d46c0928713a&tribeid=4228de3a-2df1-4aa9-b465-d95b1cd7756b&nextpage=%2Ftribe%2Fservlet%2Ftemplate%2Fpub%252Ctribes%252CViewThreads.vm%3Ftribeid%3D4228de3a-2df1-4aa9-b465-d95b1cd7756b%26page%3D2

The study they're referring to can be read in full here: http://www.jaaha.org/cgi/content/full/39/6/538

Iams is only partially quoting the facts, of course, and greatly exagerrating the study's claims. First of all: both cats were sick, and either very old (14 years old) or very young (10 weeks old). The kitten was actually VERY sick with a respiratory infection (bodetellanosis) before salmonellanosis set in, "incurring additional immunological and physiological stress with compromise to local pulmonary defense mechanisms."

Also, this odd little factlet about was left out by the Iams article: "A recent report described a possible association between an outbreak of fatal salmonellosis among cattery-raised kittens and their earlier vaccination with a high-titer modified-live panleukopenia vaccine.11 Case no. 2 [the kitten] also had a history of recent vaccination for feline panleukopenia."

I have no idea why the panleukopenia vaccine might predispose cats to salmonellanosis. The mind boggles. But it's another piece of the puzzle that Iams left out.

And Iams ignores completely the fact that healthy cats are highly, highly resistant to salmonellanosis--a fact that the study they cite actually points out: "Healthy adult cats appear to have high immunological resistance to the development of clinical salmonellosis. In one study, experimental infection of healthy cats required inoculation of infectious organisms in numbers far exceeding those likely encountered in natural infection." (And you know what, that study was unsuccessful at inducing clinical symptoms despite innoculating cats with large loads of salmonella, so HA.)

And Iams also neglects to mention that the study was unable to ascertain some important aspects of the salmonellanosis outbreak, namely the quality and source of the meat, and the diet handling/preparation/storage methods used.

Iams also neglects to mention that the outbreak happened in a multi-cat household, all eating this diet, of which only these two obviously immune-compromised animals fell ill. They also fail to quote the actual conclusion reached by the researchers: " Cats fed raw beef contaminated with Salmonella are at risk for development of salmonellosis and may constitute a zoonotic disease risk due to shedding of infectious organisms." Hardly a ringing condemnation of all raw diets now, is it? (Though again with the idiotic "zoonotic risk" warning, arrrgh.) Hey, think that the conclusion the researchers come to constitutes a definitive link of fatal salmonellanosis with the "raw food philosophy"? Sounds to me like the researchers linked fatal salmonellanosis to immune-compromised cats fed tainted beef, and not healthy cats to all raw diets in general.

So good job for selectively quoting the research and overstating the claims of the study, Iams!

*************

"Other conditions potentially associated with raw-food diets include anemia, dermatoses or poor skin and coat condition, hypercalcemia, secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism, constipation, pancreatitis, and rickets."

And other conditions often associated with commercial food diets include hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism, irritable bowel disease, chronic renal failure, all forms of feline lower urinary tract disease, diabetes, food allergies, dermatoses or poor skin and coat condition, diarrhea and poor stool quality, chronic vomiting, megacolon, pancreatitis, liver disorders, obesity, gingivitis and other periodontal diseases, and cancer. Conditions potentially associated with commercial food diets include heavy metal toxicity, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (this especially applies to cats, because mad cow disease is known to have made the jump to felines) and exposure to sodium pentobarbital, aflatoxins, mycotoxins, carcinogenic preservatives like BHA/BHT, pesticides like ethoxyquin and various pathogenic thermophilic bacteria.

So I'm looking at the risks listed by Iams, and all of them are easily remedied by ensuring that the diets are fresh and handled properly, and contain enough calcium, iron, fiber, zinc, high-quality fats and vitamin D, and making sure there's not excessive vitamin A. All of which is basically covered by a balanced home-made diet. Huh. Whoddathunkit?

*************

"Talk to your clients about the health benefits and convenience behind premium diets. Illustrate the point that consistent, balanced, nutritionally complete formulas help provide abundant energy; healthier skin, coat, and teeth; and promote overall better health."

Commercial foods "promote better health"?? WHY do they think so many people are turning to raw home-made diets in the first place? Most of the cats I know on raw were chronically sick, and the only thing that worked was a balanced, raw diet. I know my kittens were doing poorly on Science Diet, which was part of the reason I made my switch. There's no doubt at all that "premium" commercial diets are convenient, but shit, so's McDonald's, and so's Corn Pops. Doesn't mean they're good for us. Convenient processed foods that come in a bag or a box, in my experience, are very rarely healthy.

"By feeding premium diets, clients avoid the serious medical conditions associated with raw-food diets, especially bacterial and gastrointestinal parasite infections and nutritional imbalances. Strive to use an evidence-based approach to avoid unproductive confrontation."

Feeding premium diets are the leading cause of MANY serious medical conditions. I'd say that almost all cases of companion animal obesity, diabetes, FLUTD and IBD are directly connected to commercial diets, especially dry, grain-based food. As far as I know, no pets fed a balanced, raw home-made diet have come down with those diseases as a result of their food. How's that for an evidence-based approach?

And how's this for a productive confrontation? BITCHES.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 6 replies

HILLS is RECALLED

Meka — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 07:54:06 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/30/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html

HIll's MD Prescription dry food is recalled.

posted in Feline Nutrition - 0 replies

My cat won't shut up!

poweredbyatari — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:37:46 GMT

I have a female who is about 8 months old and already in heat. I can't afford to get her spayed yet, but fortunately she's an indoor kitty with a neutered male so the possibility of new kittens is null.

But in the middle of the night she starts howling like a Florence Foster Jenkins recital.

Any advice?

posted in Feline Nutrition - 23 replies

Dry food may NOT be SAFE!

Meka — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 19:20:27 GMT

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/30/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html

FDA won't say which petfood manufacturer of dry food uses the same potential contaminant as that in menu foods!

posted in Feline Nutrition - 0 replies

Urgent Alert: Natural Balance - (Venison Green Pea) food issues

Meka — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 08:27:24 GMT

The last few cases of Natural balanace venison and green pea have had the odd can that exploded when i popped it. To date 3 cans have done this which means improper canning procedure.

Tonight I opened a can and the food is off and stinks disgusting! I mean seriously - we were holding our noses and running for cover.
The lid of the can also looked dirty - maybe it was tampered with?
At least Dick Van Patterns is having canning issues.

Please everyone - be very careful of Natural Balance foods lately. They really seem to have gone downhill.

Anyway What should I do? Can I take it to a lab and get it tested for food safety?
I think it could be clostridium b/c not alot else survives in anerobic conditions and clostridia are the usual contaminant in canned food.
(fyi clostridium = botulism or pefringens - both are fatal in tiny tiny amounts)

Advice anyone - we put the offending can in double wrapped ziplocks and stuck it in the fridge tonight.
Do you have food test labs run by the state that will test this stuff for free?
Who is the watchdog for catfood?

Thanks
Mekachu

posted in Feline Nutrition - 9 replies

I probably already asked this... bad kitty breath?

alannakitty — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:08:08 GMT

Is there anything I can do that does not involve me having to attempt to brush my cats teeth, to improve her bad kitty breath?

She had her teeth cleaned not long ago after I had to give her up and I recently got her back. The antibotics seemed to help for awhile but I had to stop them b/c she was getting too stressed and kind of sick by them. I'm just wondering if there are specific kitty treats that can make her breath not so god awful. :(

posted in Feline Nutrition - 4 replies

Litter review

Samantha — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 02:10:51 GMT

So I've been using the pine litter, which i like, but for some reason this time i decided to try Swheat Scoop wheat litter. Yuck! It doesn't clump very hard at all & after just a couple of days it reeks of ammonia. Definitely doesn't get Sam's Seal of Approval! :-) (Or the kitties', I'm sure).

posted in Feline Nutrition - 4 replies