Just read about what is really in cat food

"~*SooZy*~" wrote
Cheryl, up until 14 years ago I fed my dogs and cats commercial pet
foods and it seemed I had one of them at the vets every week or two.
My one cat suffered from bladder stones and was on a prescription
diet. He had been on this over two years and was not improving. When
I put my other pets on a homemade diet I decided I had nothing to lose
if I put him on the same diet. He has not had an attack since and he
is now 28 years old. My other two cats, ages 11 and 12 have never
eaten commercial foods and I have had only one trip to the vet with
one of them and that was because he had a fur ball.

Ann really good to hear about the diet and it working so well, do you
use a
teaspoon of bran each day? Have read that stops hairballs....... I did
notice you only had a hairball problem once might I add?

SooZy, I do add bran but not every day. I usually add it if my old
guy gets constipated and it works very well. All my guys are
short-hair and are combed nearly every day, perhaps that is why they
have not developed furballs over the years. The addition of bran
would be great as a preventative for furballs.

Ann

Oh thanks Ann, Moshi is semi long haired being a Ragdoll and I groom him
twice a day as he is a kitten so I want to treat grooming as a bonding thing
between us which he enjoys, he comes over when he sea's the brush :-) maybe
every other day to his diet would be enough do you think? Oh I wish my Miss
Bebe would eat a homemade diet!

SooZy, you could try it every other day and see how it goes. There
are many people with old cats that do add it on a daily basis and the
cats seem to do very well. It's not going to do any harm. With Miss
Bebe you might try adding a small amount of your homemade diet to the
food she is eating now and gradually increase the amount until she is
completely on the homemade foods. Cats, unlike many dogs, take longer
to adjust to a new diet. It took my old cat about three months.

Good luck!
Ann

cheers SooZy

"Ann Martin" wrote in message
om...
"~*SooZy*~" wrote
Cheryl, up until 14 years ago I fed my dogs and cats commercial
pet
foods and it seemed I had one of them at the vets every week or
two.
My one cat suffered from bladder stones and was on a prescription
diet. He had been on this over two years and was not improving.
When
I put my other pets on a homemade diet I decided I had nothing to
lose
if I put him on the same diet. He has not had an attack since and
he
is now 28 years old. My other two cats, ages 11 and 12 have never
eaten commercial foods and I have had only one trip to the vet
with
one of them and that was because he had a fur ball.

Ann really good to hear about the diet and it working so well, do
you
use a
teaspoon of bran each day? Have read that stops hairballs....... I
did
notice you only had a hairball problem once might I add?

SooZy, I do add bran but not every day. I usually add it if my old
guy gets constipated and it works very well. All my guys are
short-hair and are combed nearly every day, perhaps that is why they
have not developed furballs over the years. The addition of bran
would be great as a preventative for furballs.

Ann

Oh thanks Ann, Moshi is semi long haired being a Ragdoll and I groom
him
twice a day as he is a kitten so I want to treat grooming as a bonding
thing
between us which he enjoys, he comes over when he sea's the brush :-)
maybe
every other day to his diet would be enough do you think? Oh I wish my
Miss
Bebe would eat a homemade diet!

SooZy, you could try it every other day and see how it goes. There
are many people with old cats that do add it on a daily basis and the
cats seem to do very well. It's not going to do any harm. With Miss
Bebe you might try adding a small amount of your homemade diet to the
food she is eating now and gradually increase the amount until she is
completely on the homemade foods. Cats, unlike many dogs, take longer
to adjust to a new diet. It took my old cat about three months.

Good luck!
Ann

Ann I have tried, trouble is she only eats dried food so you can't hide it!
if she even smells any raw, cooked or wet cat food she wont touch her dried
food. She starved for over a week because I would not give in, trouble is
bebe is very lithe and I was worried she would make herself ill by not
eating! so I gave in.
She spends ages each day trying to hide Moshi's food bowls, scratching
around the dish why he is trying to eat!
When she stayed at my friends for 2 weeks all her cats 10 of them eat raw
and still she wouldn't even try it! I have tried, lamb, chickens liver,
hearts, kidneys, fish, chicken, beef slices, diced, mince, lamb, cooked and
raw, tried putting her dried food through the food processor and added a bit
of raw thinking the smell would make her try it but no!
she is one stubborn pussy cat..... its a shame because Moshi really enjoys
his food, some things I give him he rips to bits, playing with it, jumping
at it as he attacks it, its a real pleasure to watch. So natural......
great game. I tie bits of meat on a string and he loves grabbing it. She
just looks! :-(

"Ann Martin" wrote in message
om...
"~*SooZy*~" wrote
Cheryl, up until 14 years ago I fed my dogs and cats commercial
pet
foods and it seemed I had one of them at the vets every week or
two.
My one cat suffered from bladder stones and was on a prescription
diet. He had been on this over two years and was not improving.
When
I put my other pets on a homemade diet I decided I had nothing to
lose
if I put him on the same diet. He has not had an attack since and
he
is now 28 years old. My other two cats, ages 11 and 12 have never
eaten commercial foods and I have had only one trip to the vet
with
one of them and that was because he had a fur ball.

Ann really good to hear about the diet and it working so well, do
you
use a
teaspoon of bran each day? Have read that stops hairballs....... I
did
notice you only had a hairball problem once might I add?

SooZy, I do add bran but not every day. I usually add it if my old
guy gets constipated and it works very well. All my guys are
short-hair and are combed nearly every day, perhaps that is why they
have not developed furballs over the years. The addition of bran
would be great as a preventative for furballs.

Ann

Oh thanks Ann, Moshi is semi long haired being a Ragdoll and I groom
him
twice a day as he is a kitten so I want to treat grooming as a bonding
thing
between us which he enjoys, he comes over when he sea's the brush :-)
maybe
every other day to his diet would be enough do you think? Oh I wish my
Miss
Bebe would eat a homemade diet!

SooZy, you could try it every other day and see how it goes. There
are many people with old cats that do add it on a daily basis and the
cats seem to do very well. It's not going to do any harm. With Miss
Bebe you might try adding a small amount of your homemade diet to the
food she is eating now and gradually increase the amount until she is
completely on the homemade foods. Cats, unlike many dogs, take longer
to adjust to a new diet. It took my old cat about three months.

Good luck!
Ann

Ann I have tried, trouble is she only eats dried food so you can't hide it!
if she even smells any raw, cooked or wet cat food she wont touch her dried
food. She starved for over a week because I would not give in, trouble is
bebe is very lithe and I was worried she would make herself ill by not
eating! so I gave in.
She spends ages each day trying to hide Moshi's food bowls, scratching
around the dish why he is trying to eat!
When she stayed at my friends for 2 weeks all her cats 10 of them eat raw
and still she wouldn't even try it! I have tried, lamb, chickens liver,
hearts, kidneys, fish, chicken, beef slices, diced, mince, lamb, cooked and
raw, tried putting her dried food through the food processor and added a bit
of raw thinking the smell would make her try it but no!
she is one stubborn pussy cat..... its a shame because Moshi really enjoys
his food, some things I give him he rips to bits, playing with it, jumping
at it as he attacks it, its a real pleasure to watch. So natural......
great game. I tie bits of meat on a string and he loves grabbing it. She
just looks! :-(

(Ann Martin) wrote:

but people have to
question what is being used in the foods they are feeding their pets.
Agreed - and many of us do that here. Plenty of threads on phosphorus
issues for example. However one must be careful not to reach unproven
conclusions which is what your critics are telling you.

I've talked to many people, including veterinarians that practiced
forty years ago and they did not see the problems in pets that we are
seeing now. If you have a relative that is older ask them what they
fed their pets prior to the growth of the pet food industry and then
ask them how many illnesses their pets had and how long these pets
lived.

Pets are living longer today. Vets are seeing geriatric diseases in
pets today that did not get a chance to develop in prior years. Forty
years ago pet owners and vets did not invest much efforts or money in
extending the life of pets with internal diseases. Diabetes for
example. Diabetic cats now days are living longer than ever but may
eventually succumb to prior damage from the unmanaged pre diagnosis
period such as kidney and heart problems.

today. You might also ask how often their pets were vaccinated as this
also seems to contribute to many problems. My cats received their
initial kitten shots and have not been vaccinated since.

An excellent resource on this topic is at...
http://maxshouse.com/vaccine_protocols.htm

The owner of this site (Phil) once said...

"The only vaccines I'd recommend are FHV (FVR) and FCV (calicivirus)
every 3 years because these viruses can be transmitted via clothes.
IOW, you or your cats don't have to come in contact with a carrier."

"The parvovirus vaccine is probably good for life. An ongoing study
still shows solid protection after 8 years. Also, I've never seen a
case of FPV in an adult cat in the Veterinary Medical Data Base."

"The rabies vaccine is usually regulated by individual state laws. If
rabies vaccinations are required in your state, insist on *only* the
canarypox virus-vectored recombinant Purevax rabies vaccine (Merial).
These vaccines don't contain adjuvants which are the suspected cause
of VAS."

I might add that my cats are all indoor cats.
Good - which means that they may live long enough to succumb to
diseases that vets 40 years did not see that often. Also chances are
today that you will eventually take a sick pet to the vet asking for
help, whereas prior generations wouldn't have bothered because of the
attitude "his time is up" and a general lack of treatments anyway. The
usual treatment was euthanasia.

-mhd

(Ann Martin) wrote:

but people have to
question what is being used in the foods they are feeding their pets.
Agreed - and many of us do that here. Plenty of threads on phosphorus
issues for example. However one must be careful not to reach unproven
conclusions which is what your critics are telling you.

I've talked to many people, including veterinarians that practiced
forty years ago and they did not see the problems in pets that we are
seeing now. If you have a relative that is older ask them what they
fed their pets prior to the growth of the pet food industry and then
ask them how many illnesses their pets had and how long these pets
lived.

Pets are living longer today. Vets are seeing geriatric diseases in
pets today that did not get a chance to develop in prior years. Forty
years ago pet owners and vets did not invest much efforts or money in
extending the life of pets with internal diseases. Diabetes for
example. Diabetic cats now days are living longer than ever but may
eventually succumb to prior damage from the unmanaged pre diagnosis
period such as kidney and heart problems.

today. You might also ask how often their pets were vaccinated as this
also seems to contribute to many problems. My cats received their
initial kitten shots and have not been vaccinated since.

An excellent resource on this topic is at...
http://maxshouse.com/vaccine_protocols.htm

The owner of this site (Phil) once said...

"The only vaccines I'd recommend are FHV (FVR) and FCV (calicivirus)
every 3 years because these viruses can be transmitted via clothes.
IOW, you or your cats don't have to come in contact with a carrier."

"The parvovirus vaccine is probably good for life. An ongoing study
still shows solid protection after 8 years. Also, I've never seen a
case of FPV in an adult cat in the Veterinary Medical Data Base."

"The rabies vaccine is usually regulated by individual state laws. If
rabies vaccinations are required in your state, insist on *only* the
canarypox virus-vectored recombinant Purevax rabies vaccine (Merial).
These vaccines don't contain adjuvants which are the suspected cause
of VAS."

I might add that my cats are all indoor cats.
Good - which means that they may live long enough to succumb to
diseases that vets 40 years did not see that often. Also chances are
today that you will eventually take a sick pet to the vet asking for
help, whereas prior generations wouldn't have bothered because of the
attitude "his time is up" and a general lack of treatments anyway. The
usual treatment was euthanasia.

-mhd

wrote in message . ..
(Ann Martin) wrote:

but people have to
question what is being used in the foods they are feeding their pets.
Agreed - and many of us do that here. Plenty of threads on phosphorus
issues for example. However one must be careful not to reach unproven
conclusions which is what your critics are telling you.

I don't think that my conclusions are "unproven." My conclusions are
based on facts, facts provided through research by veterinarians,
specialists in their various fields, worldwide. These are not my
conclusions, these are conclusions reached by professionals.

I've talked to many people, including veterinarians that practiced
forty years ago and they did not see the problems in pets that we are
seeing now. If you have a relative that is older ask them what they
fed their pets prior to the growth of the pet food industry and then
ask them how many illnesses their pets had and how long these pets
lived.

Pets are living longer today. Vets are seeing geriatric diseases in
pets today that did not get a chance to develop in prior years. Forty
years ago pet owners and vets did not invest much efforts or money in
extending the life of pets with internal diseases. Diabetes for
example. Diabetic cats now days are living longer than ever but may
eventually succumb to prior damage from the unmanaged pre diagnosis
period such as kidney and heart problems.

According to veterinarians such as Wendell Belfield, Al Plechner, vets
that practiced 30-40 years ago, dogs and cats were living longer and
fed basically table scraps. Our own veterinarian who is from England
stated he observed the same thing in pets there. I know that dogs we
had in that time frame lived longer then the dogs I had 15-20 years
ago and fed commercial pet foods.

today. You might also ask how often their pets were vaccinated as this
also seems to contribute to many problems. My cats received their
initial kitten shots and have not been vaccinated since.

An excellent resource on this topic is at...
http://maxshouse.com/vaccine_protocols.htm

The owner of this site (Phil) once said...

"The only vaccines I'd recommend are FHV (FVR) and FCV (calicivirus)
every 3 years because these viruses can be transmitted via clothes.
IOW, you or your cats don't have to come in contact with a carrier."

"The parvovirus vaccine is probably good for life. An ongoing study
still shows solid protection after 8 years. Also, I've never seen a
case of FPV in an adult cat in the Veterinary Medical Data Base."

"The rabies vaccine is usually regulated by individual state laws. If
rabies vaccinations are required in your state, insist on *only* the
canarypox virus-vectored recombinant Purevax rabies vaccine (Merial).
These vaccines don't contain adjuvants which are the suspected cause
of VAS."

What about doing titers? A number of holistic vets feel that this is
the road to follow so you would have an indication if vaccination is
necessary or not at that time.
http://ighawaii.com/naturally/newsle...ccination.html
http://www.thensome.com/vaccinations.htm

I might add that my cats are all indoor cats.
Good - which means that they may live long enough to succumb to
diseases that vets 40 years did not see that often. Also chances are
today that you will eventually take a sick pet to the vet asking for
help, whereas prior generations wouldn't have bothered because of the
attitude "his time is up" and a general lack of treatments anyway. The
usual treatment was euthanasia.

I'm speaking about a breed of dog that I know and have raised for many
years, the Newfoundland. Newfs, forty years ago, had a lifespan
between 16-20 years. There lifespan now is an average of 8 years. My
last one was 14 when he died and this was considered "very old" for a
Newf.

I've had cats for over 30 years. Up until 14 years ago my cats were
fed commercial pet food. None of my cats lived past the age of 12 and
had one problem after another through their life. I began feeding a
homemade diet 14 years ago. My two younger cats, 11 and 12 years,
have had one visit to the vet, a furball. My old guy 28, had two teeth
removed prior to feeding a homemade diet, and although totally deaf is
doing very well.

-mhd

wrote in message . ..
(Ann Martin) wrote:

but people have to
question what is being used in the foods they are feeding their pets.
Agreed - and many of us do that here. Plenty of threads on phosphorus
issues for example. However one must be careful not to reach unproven
conclusions which is what your critics are telling you.

I don't think that my conclusions are "unproven." My conclusions are
based on facts, facts provided through research by veterinarians,
specialists in their various fields, worldwide. These are not my
conclusions, these are conclusions reached by professionals.

I've talked to many people, including veterinarians that practiced
forty years ago and they did not see the problems in pets that we are
seeing now. If you have a relative that is older ask them what they
fed their pets prior to the growth of the pet food industry and then
ask them how many illnesses their pets had and how long these pets
lived.

Pets are living longer today. Vets are seeing geriatric diseases in
pets today that did not get a chance to develop in prior years. Forty
years ago pet owners and vets did not invest much efforts or money in
extending the life of pets with internal diseases. Diabetes for
example. Diabetic cats now days are living longer than ever but may
eventually succumb to prior damage from the unmanaged pre diagnosis
period such as kidney and heart problems.

According to veterinarians such as Wendell Belfield, Al Plechner, vets
that practiced 30-40 years ago, dogs and cats were living longer and
fed basically table scraps. Our own veterinarian who is from England
stated he observed the same thing in pets there. I know that dogs we
had in that time frame lived longer then the dogs I had 15-20 years
ago and fed commercial pet foods.

today. You might also ask how often their pets were vaccinated as this
also seems to contribute to many problems. My cats received their
initial kitten shots and have not been vaccinated since.

An excellent resource on this topic is at...
http://maxshouse.com/vaccine_protocols.htm

The owner of this site (Phil) once said...

"The only vaccines I'd recommend are FHV (FVR) and FCV (calicivirus)
every 3 years because these viruses can be transmitted via clothes.
IOW, you or your cats don't have to come in contact with a carrier."

"The parvovirus vaccine is probably good for life. An ongoing study
still shows solid protection after 8 years. Also, I've never seen a
case of FPV in an adult cat in the Veterinary Medical Data Base."

"The rabies vaccine is usually regulated by individual state laws. If
rabies vaccinations are required in your state, insist on *only* the
canarypox virus-vectored recombinant Purevax rabies vaccine (Merial).
These vaccines don't contain adjuvants which are the suspected cause
of VAS."

What about doing titers? A number of holistic vets feel that this is
the road to follow so you would have an indication if vaccination is
necessary or not at that time.
http://ighawaii.com/naturally/newsle...ccination.html
http://www.thensome.com/vaccinations.htm

I might add that my cats are all indoor cats.
Good - which means that they may live long enough to succumb to
diseases that vets 40 years did not see that often. Also chances are
today that you will eventually take a sick pet to the vet asking for
help, whereas prior generations wouldn't have bothered because of the
attitude "his time is up" and a general lack of treatments anyway. The
usual treatment was euthanasia.

I'm speaking about a breed of dog that I know and have raised for many
years, the Newfoundland. Newfs, forty years ago, had a lifespan
between 16-20 years. There lifespan now is an average of 8 years. My
last one was 14 when he died and this was considered "very old" for a
Newf.

I've had cats for over 30 years. Up until 14 years ago my cats were
fed commercial pet food. None of my cats lived past the age of 12 and
had one problem after another through their life. I began feeding a
homemade diet 14 years ago. My two younger cats, 11 and 12 years,
have had one visit to the vet, a furball. My old guy 28, had two teeth
removed prior to feeding a homemade diet, and although totally deaf is
doing very well.

-mhd

"Rona Yuthasastrakosol" wrote in message
...

"k conover" wrote in message
...
Ann--run while you can and escape this flame-fest! Many of the people
that
have posted here seem to have far more interest in sniping at each other
and
analyzing minute details of the previous person's post rather than
actually
worrying about what their pets are eating.
Kirsten

It's called negotiation of knowledge. It's how rational and intelligent
people process information and learn from it. Without analysis (of minute
details or not) and discussion, how would people be able to make decisions
for themselves? Do you expect us to accept all information at face
value?
Or choose sides based on who writes longer posts or has better insults?

rona

Agreed; well put.

Cathy

--
"Staccato signals of constant information..."
("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon

"Rona Yuthasastrakosol" wrote in message
...

"k conover" wrote in message
...
Ann--run while you can and escape this flame-fest! Many of the people
that
have posted here seem to have far more interest in sniping at each other
and
analyzing minute details of the previous person's post rather than
actually
worrying about what their pets are eating.
Kirsten

It's called negotiation of knowledge. It's how rational and intelligent
people process information and learn from it. Without analysis (of minute
details or not) and discussion, how would people be able to make decisions
for themselves? Do you expect us to accept all information at face
value?
Or choose sides based on who writes longer posts or has better insults?

rona

Agreed; well put.

Cathy

--
"Staccato signals of constant information..."
("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon

"Ann Martin" wrote in message
om...
I'm speaking about a breed of dog that I know and have raised for many
years, the Newfoundland. Newfs, forty years ago, had a lifespan
between 16-20 years. There lifespan now is an average of 8 years. My
last one was 14 when he died and this was considered "very old" for a
Newf.

Could this largely have to do w/ inbreeding & (too) strict breed standards,
perhaps? (Not just w/Newfoundlands - any particular dog breed that has a
relatively short life span.)

I've had cats for over 30 years. Up until 14 years ago my cats were
fed commercial pet food. None of my cats lived past the age of 12 and
had one problem after another through their life.

I've also had cats for just over 30 years - since June '73. My cats, otoh,
have all been fed commercial food - premium since '91, & have so far lived
to be 16 & 17 (almost 18). My current cats are 11 & just 4. For every
story on one side of the table one is liable to find a story on the other
side of the table..

Cathy

--
"Staccato signals of constant information..."
("The Boy in the Bubble") Paul Simon