Re: Nicotine in Cat Food?!

[Sylvia M.]

I would have thought that they would use catnip.
At least that wouldn't hurt the cats. (?)

Sylvia

"bewtifulfreak" > wrote in message
...
> I just spoke to our local pet shop guy today who's ever so nice, and we
were
> talking about the contents of cat foods, and he was saying when he was
> looking to start his business about five years back and was taking a
course,
> he visited a cat food cannery (not one of the big names), and they told
him
> there is nicotine in nearly all canned cat food; that if you ask, they
will
> say it has some benefit to the cat, but it's really to just get them
hooked
> on their brand. Apparently, they all have different amounts, that is why
> they sometimes balk when you change brands, it's not just the taste. He
> says that was five years ago, so they may have stopped, but he can't see
> them doing so. Is that *crazy*, or what??? I know they put sugar and
> alcohol and a bunch of other stuff in cigarettes to make them even more
> addictive, but it never dawned on me that they were doing it to pets, too!
>
> Ann
>
> --
>
> http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak
>
>
>
>
>

[bewtifulfreak]

"Sylvia M." > wrote in message
...
>
> I would have thought that they would use catnip.
> At least that wouldn't hurt the cats. (?)

You would think, wouldn't you....but then, I don't know if catnip is truly
addictive, whereas nicotine surely is. Of course, they claim the nicotine
actually has a health benefit to the cat, but I find that hard to
believe....

Ann

[LeeAnne]

Heh, tell that to my cat Max who sits beside the cabinet door where the 'nip
is and tries to open it, lol.

LeeAnne

"bewtifulfreak" > wrote in message
news:eBGXa.6>

I don't know if catnip is truly addictive, (snippage)
> Ann
>
>

[E. R.]

bewtifulfreak wrote:

> I just spoke to our local pet shop guy today who's ever so nice, and we were
> talking about the contents of cat foods, and he was saying when he was
> looking to start his business about five years back and was taking a course,
> he visited a cat food cannery (not one of the big names), and they told him
> there is nicotine in nearly all canned cat food; that if you ask, they will
> say it has some benefit to the cat, but it's really to just get them hooked
> on their brand. Apparently, they all have different amounts, that is why
> they sometimes balk when you change brands, it's not just the taste. He
> says that was five years ago, so they may have stopped, but he can't see
> them doing so. Is that *crazy*, or what??? I know they put sugar and
> alcohol and a bunch of other stuff in cigarettes to make them even more
> addictive, but it never dawned on me that they were doing it to pets, too!
>
> Ann
>
> --
>
> http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak

Which makes you wonder if nicotine is intentionally placed in the foods that we
eat and this alone is leading to the problem of obesity. Who knows? It
wouldn't surprise me, either. Look at all of the boxed and processed foods for
sale in the supermarkets and how they compete for shelf space. Then there are
the junk food outlets like McDonald's, Burger King, etc.. Sometimes when eating
these foods or packaged, pre-made cookies, I can taste something strange and ash
like. What about the grains and feed fed to cows, pigs, and chickens? More
possibility of nicotine here.

Is "Ash" a typical ingredient in some cat foods, in fact, nicotine? Hill's
Science Diet dry food for kittens has 7% Ash. I checked some cans of Friskies
and no Ash was found in the listing of ingredients. Can somebody explain the
presence of Ash in one brand of cat food, but not in another?

[Orchid]

On Tue, 05 Aug 2003 14:10:25 -0400, "E. R."
> wrote:


>Which makes you wonder if nicotine is intentionally placed in the foods that we
>eat and this alone is leading to the problem of obesity. Who knows? It
>wouldn't surprise me, either. Look at all of the boxed and processed foods for
>sale in the supermarkets and how they compete for shelf space. Then there are
>the junk food outlets like McDonald's, Burger King, etc.. Sometimes when eating
>these foods or packaged, pre-made cookies, I can taste something strange and ash
>like.

Ye gods. Any other conspiracy theories you'd like to espouse?
The Secret Service offing JFK? Aliens?
It has been very well-documented that we form our eating
habits before the age of two. It is, in essence, when we are taught
what is food and good and what isn't. Raise a kid on processed crap,
and they will crave processed crap. It's the whole idea of comfort
food.
As for the 'strange, ash-like' taste, processed crap is loaded
with preservatives, which can contribute to off flavours in the food
itself.
Finally, I'd want to see a lot more confirmation of the
supposed nicotine in cat food than simply the anecdotal evidence of a
pet shop employee. Had anyone bothered to get an ingredient list from
any of the accused companies? A guaranteed analysis? Anything?

>Is "Ash" a typical ingredient in some cat foods, in fact, nicotine? Hill's
>Science Diet dry food for kittens has 7% Ash. I checked some cans of Friskies
>and no Ash was found in the listing of ingredients. Can somebody explain the
>presence of Ash in one brand of cat food, but not in another?

Ash = minerals. The amount of 'ash' is determined by burning
a sample of the food and measuring the amount of noncombusted
material. Ash is neither good nor bad for cats. In the 80's it was
briefly thought that the amount of ash might have something to do with
UTIs or CRF, but that has been rather soundly disproven in the
scientific arena. Unfortunately, the consumer arena is nearly as
quick to catch up or nearly as educated, and so people get ideas into
their heads and refuse to let them go. This is why cat food labels
still include the essentially meaningless amount of 'ash'.
A better thing to look at and worry about is the calcium -
phosphorus ratio. It should be somwhere in the neighborhood of 1.5:1,
IIRC.



Orchid

Orchid's Kitties: http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage
Orchid's Guide: http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid

[bewtifulfreak]

"Orchid" > wrote in message
om...
> On Tue, 05 Aug 2003 14:10:25 -0400, "E. R."
> > wrote:
>
>
> >Which makes you wonder if nicotine is intentionally placed in the foods
that we
> >eat and this alone is leading to the problem of obesity. Who knows? It
> >wouldn't surprise me, either. Look at all of the boxed and processed
foods for
> >sale in the supermarkets and how they compete for shelf space. Then
there are
> >the junk food outlets like McDonald's, Burger King, etc.. Sometimes when
eating
> >these foods or packaged, pre-made cookies, I can taste something strange
and ash
> >like.
>
> Ye gods. Any other conspiracy theories you'd like to espouse?
> The Secret Service offing JFK? Aliens?
> It has been very well-documented that we form our eating
> habits before the age of two. It is, in essence, when we are taught
> what is food and good and what isn't. Raise a kid on processed crap,
> and they will crave processed crap. It's the whole idea of comfort
> food.

Absolutely. But I did hear (but again, I can't remember the source, so
can't confirm it) that - since, the more empty calories we eat, the more the
body eats looking for nutrients (e.g. why potato chips/crisps are so
moreish) - supposedly-healthy breakfast bars were leaving nutrients out of
their product so people would want to eat more than one. This kind of thing
is common; I know for a *fact* (you can look this one up) that there is
sugar and alcohol in cigarettes to make them even more addictive. This guy
had no reason to lie to me, he's ever so nice (has given us many free
samples in the past, etc); as he said, they may not be doing it now, but
they were at the time. But I'm not for suing McDonald's because your kid
got fat on it, or blaming anyone else for your (or *my*) obesity; I don't
think we can blame anything the food companies do 'alone' for the problem of
obesity, though they certainly do their damndest to contribute. I'm just
for being educated about what you put in your body. I mean, a lot of people
aren't even aware that many foods packaged as 'low fat' are also extremely
high in sugar, which clearly isn't good for you, either. I wasn't trying to
start or encourage a conspiracy theory, I just thought it was something to
think about. I'm sure it would be very easy to verify whether it was true
or not, with a bit of research; he seemed to feel the pet food companies
would be open about it, though they claim there is a nutritional reason for
it.

Ann

[Fred Williams]

Orchid wrote:

> On Tue, 05 Aug 2003 14:10:25 -0400, "E. R."
> > wrote:
>
>
>>Which makes you wonder if nicotine is intentionally placed in the
>>foods that we
>>eat and this alone is leading to the problem of obesity. Who
>>knows? It
>>wouldn't surprise me, either. Look at all of the boxed and
>>processed foods for
>>sale in the supermarkets and how they compete for shelf space. Then
>>there are
>>the junk food outlets like McDonald's, Burger King, etc.. Sometimes
>>when eating these foods or packaged, pre-made cookies, I can taste
>>something strange and ash like.
>
> Ye gods. Any other conspiracy theories you'd like to espouse?
> The Secret Service offing JFK?

There's nothing theoretical about that.

> Aliens?

Immegration keeps sending them back to Cuba. (:-))

<SNIP>
> Ash = minerals. The amount of 'ash' is determined by burning
> a sample of the food and measuring the amount of noncombusted
> material. Ash is neither good nor bad for cats.

Ah, then everything I've been hearing for years now is wrong?
Everybody's been telling me that ash is bad for a cat's urinary
tract. They've been telling me to keep away from the fish and
seafood types of catfood.

> In the 80's it was
> briefly thought that the amount of ash might have something to do
> with UTIs or CRF, but that has been rather soundly disproven in the
> scientific arena. Unfortunately, the consumer arena is nearly as
> quick to catch up or nearly as educated, and so people get ideas
> into
> their heads and refuse to let them go. This is why cat food labels
> still include the essentially meaningless amount of 'ash'.
> A better thing to look at and worry about is the calcium -
> phosphorus ratio. It should be somwhere in the neighborhood of
> 1.5:1, IIRC.
>

Sounds more like the pet food industry has been funding their own
research and getting the results they want. Perhaps it's true, but
given the level of deception with big business these days, it will
take a lot more investigation to determine who's being truthful and
if I were a betting person. I wouldn't put my money on the cat food
corporations, and independant researchers would have to do a lot of
convincing to get me to believe they were truly indeependant.
It's not that people refuse to let go of their ideas, (well OK we
do), but we do because we've been lied to before and we reach a point
where we loose trust.
Like Dr. Johnny Fever said, "When everybody's out to get you,
paranoia just makes good sense." (:-))

--
Regards
Fred and Jetadiah
>
Remove FFFf to reply, please

[bewtifulfreak]

"bewtifulfreak" > wrote in message
...

> > Very true....the more you can make things yourself from fresh
ingredients,
> the better (says someone not always tired so not very good about doing
> this). :}

I meant "....someone *always* tired....", *urf*. :}

[Sylvia M]

>To bring cat owners up-to-date on the relationship of diet
>and lower urinary tract health, please visit our Library.
>
>Troy
>
URL please?

Sylvia, Owner of Dyna, who seems to be prone to UTI

[Sabastian Gaberial]

I have not noticed that I will have to ask my friend about that. Thanks for
the update......


<sabastian>meow

"bewtifulfreak" > wrote in message
...
> I just spoke to our local pet shop guy today who's ever so nice, and we
were
> talking about the contents of cat foods, and he was saying when he was
> looking to start his business about five years back and was taking a
course,
> he visited a cat food cannery (not one of the big names), and they told
him
> there is nicotine in nearly all canned cat food; that if you ask, they
will
> say it has some benefit to the cat, but it's really to just get them
hooked
> on their brand. Apparently, they all have different amounts, that is why
> they sometimes balk when you change brands, it's not just the taste. He
> says that was five years ago, so they may have stopped, but he can't see
> them doing so. Is that *crazy*, or what??? I know they put sugar and
> alcohol and a bunch of other stuff in cigarettes to make them even more
> addictive, but it never dawned on me that they were doing it to pets, too!
>
> Ann
>
> --
>
> http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak
>
>
>
>
>
>

[bewtifulfreak]

"Elise" > wrote in message
gy.com...
> One of my cats, Gossamer, was getting a UTI once a year like clockwork.
Our
> new vet suggested that it might just be stress as it always occurred
shortly
> after the holidays which are a very busy time for us (a 6 week period of
> celebrating birthday, birthday, christmas, new year's, birthday) and we're
> home much less than usual and at times were just coming home long enough
to
> sleep and go off to somewhere else. Last year we made an effort to not
rush
> about, spent more cuddle time with the furkids and no UTI since then.

My Crowley was having problems peeing when he was younger, straining and
only getting out a bit at a time, but the vet said his bladder wasn't full
and he didn't seem to actually have an infection. It turns out in his case,
too, it was probably stress, and he eventually recovered and has been fine
since.

Ann

--

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak

[Sylvia M]

"bewtifulfreak" > wrote in message
...
> "Elise" > wrote in message
> gy.com...
> > One of my cats, Gossamer, was getting a UTI once a year like clockwork.
> Our
> > new vet suggested that it might just be stress as it always occurred
> shortly
> > after the holidays which are a very busy time for us (a 6 week period of
> > celebrating birthday, birthday, christmas, new year's, birthday) and
we're
> > home much less than usual and at times were just coming home long enough
> to
> > sleep and go off to somewhere else. Last year we made an effort to not
> rush
> > about, spent more cuddle time with the furkids and no UTI since then.
>
> My Crowley was having problems peeing when he was younger, straining and
> only getting out a bit at a time, but the vet said his bladder wasn't full
> and he didn't seem to actually have an infection. It turns out in his
case,
> too, it was probably stress, and he eventually recovered and has been fine
> since.
>
> Ann
>
Hmmm...I'll try to be aware, I was gone for a while in June, but DH was
home, and he's Dyna's favorite, but...hmmm...

Sylvia

[Sylvia M]

"bewtifulfreak" > wrote in message
...
> "Elise" > wrote in message
> gy.com...
> > One of my cats, Gossamer, was getting a UTI once a year like clockwork.
> Our
> > new vet suggested that it might just be stress as it always occurred
> shortly
> > after the holidays which are a very busy time for us (a 6 week period of
> > celebrating birthday, birthday, christmas, new year's, birthday) and
we're
> > home much less than usual and at times were just coming home long enough
> to
> > sleep and go off to somewhere else. Last year we made an effort to not
> rush
> > about, spent more cuddle time with the furkids and no UTI since then.
>
> My Crowley was having problems peeing when he was younger, straining and
> only getting out a bit at a time, but the vet said his bladder wasn't full
> and he didn't seem to actually have an infection. It turns out in his
case,
> too, it was probably stress, and he eventually recovered and has been fine
> since.
>
> Ann
>
Hmmm...I'll try to be aware, I was gone for a while in June, but DH was
home, and he's Dyna's favorite, but...hmmm...

Sylvia