"mc" wrote

Since my last appointment with the veterinarian I have become even
more determined to feed my cats the best food out there. I am running
into a lot of interesting information, most of which is conflicting,
if not downright confusing.

I know the feeling. Fortunately my cat is healthy and if she has a problem,
it's that she's a bit overweight but not terribly so. Oh, and a mild
recurrant problem with eat yeast infections but diet isnt related to that.

Making my own cat food seems like the very best idea, once again, but
not very realistic. I wouldn't dare, despite all the good recipes out
there. Especially in light of the fact that there is quite a bit of
controversy over what it takes to get the PH correct in the urine of a
cat like Max.

I understand your pain g. It would be the best way to go, but you'd need
more info than most vets presumably can give. There is a chance your's
happens to be knowledgable on such, but he/she would be a relatively rare
one.

My 'vet' is a Banfield group with some 40 vets associated with it in the
local area and the specialists travel from one facility to the other on a
sort of scheduled basis. I needed to get my mixed beagle buddy to the one
who is a heart specialist so had to have an apointment at the day he was in
and with him. That, or travel to where he was working that day g. (Long
story short, a rescue dog just like my cat and like her, considered
'unadoptable' due to heartworn infestation with heart damage. Turns out,
he's a lucky fellow and damage is healing/healed).

The heart specialist was able to identify from our description, a nagging
but mild 'allergic' reaction to something we've been feeding him but was
honest and said he's not the one to help with that. He could only guess but
said it it got to be a problem, they'd hook me up with the one who works
mostly with that.

I emailed Natura today to ask them specifically if their foods were
specifically formulated to maintain a healthy PH level in cats urine.
I got a brief letter from them stating that their foods ARE designed
to yield an average urine PH of 6.4 - 6.6.

This is one sentence from the email: "All of Natura's feline formulas
are formulated to produce a slightly acidic urine with the average
urine pH being 6.4-6.6."

Hehe form letter. You've reached tier one eschelon support. You need
closer to tier 3 but are unlikely to get it. (corporate secrets). I
suspect you will have better luck with a veterinary college.

Isn't it true that in order to make this claim they would have to have
done some research on this? I emailed them back asking if they have
the facts to back this statement up.

Yes, but they dont have to tell you how to formulate your own pet food, or
their corporate secrets on how they do it.