Unfortunately, I’ve had a few conversations with friends recently about substances toxic to cats. One general rule of thumb – if you don’t know for a fact that something is NOT toxic to cats – assume it is!
Archive for the ‘Feline nutrition and health’ Category
Poison!
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cats, plants, poison, poisonous on June 27, 2012|
Baby food
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat, feline nutrition, food, kitten on August 26, 2010| 1 Comment »
A friend recently adopted a kitten from a local rescue organization. (Yay! Adopt don’t buy!) She’s been listening to my lectures on feline nutrition for years now, but checked in to make sure there wasn’t anything “else” she needed to know regarding feeding a kitten.
In short, there isn’t.
All cats need high protein wet diets, including kittens.
AAFP-AAHA feline life stage guidelines
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat food, dental, diabetes, obesity, pet food, veterinarians on January 6, 2010|
The new AAFP-AAHA feline life stage guidelines are published.
My initial thoughts, after a quick review:
I like that they recognize that the efficacy of dental treats/food is debatable. One more “mark” against the myth that dry food benefits cats’ dental health!
The use of dental treats and chews may be a realistic, practical alternative to daily tooth brushing, although data about their comparative efficacy is lacking.
Puff asthmatic kitty
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged asthma, cats, Studley on September 30, 2009| 1 Comment »
When a caregiver contacts me regarding a cat having difficulty breathing, coughing fits, and/or wheezing – my first guess is asthma. My second guess would be heart disease. Then again, it could be as simple as an upper respiratory infection (the cat’s version of the common cold.) There’s not a lot you can do for a cold – but if it’s progressed to bronchitis/pneumonia, an antibiotic would be appropriate. Obviously, the first step is to get the cat to a vet. Any cat having difficulty breathing should see a vet IMMEDIATELY! I’d start with a chest x-ray.
In the case of asthma, treatment is generally two-fold.
1) A preventative medication/corticosteroid such as fluticasone (Flovent)
2) A short-acting (emergency) medication/bronchodilator such as albuterol
Inhaled medications are VASTLY preferable to injected (or oral). Inhaled medications obviously target the respiratory system. Therefore, they have fewer systematic side effects. Injected or oral steroids can cause diabetes and attacks of acute pancreatitis.
Feline triaditis
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cats, cholongiohepatitis, feline, IBD, Latifah, liver, lymphoma, pancreas, pancreatitis, Rumpelmintz, triaditis on September 29, 2009| 46 Comments »
Feline triaditis is actually three conditions occurring simultaneously: pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), cholongiohepatitis (inflammation of the liver), and inflammatory bowel disease or IBD (inflammation of the intestines).
There may be no known “cure” for triaditis, though I would argue that proper nutrition is the absolute BEST method of treatment and prevention. By proper nutrition, I mean a raw diet or a canned diet – and most definitely no dry food/kibble of any kind.
Nature’s WORST
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat food, dry food, feline nutrition, Hills, nutrition, pet food on June 24, 2009| 4 Comments »
Apparently they are giving out free samples of Hills’ “Nature’s Best” dry dog and cat food somewhere near work. Someone left a sample on the table at work yesterday and today there was a woman on the elevator holding three samples. I could NOT hold my tongue in the elevator – and simply told her “You know, that is NOT very good pet food.” She said “it’s not?” and I said “No, read the ingredients. Mostly grains, little meat. I used that exact pet food as an example of BAD pet foods in a recent talk I gave on the subject, and why reading labels is important.”
If you’ve read anything on my blog, you probably know I do NOT think feeding dry pet food is a good idea. I also DETEST Hills’ pet foods – they use horrible quality ingredients and were among the last to stop using carcinogens as preservatives… all under the guise of being “veterinarian recommended”. Recommended by vets because they give free food to vet students and fund vet courses on animal nutrition and market themselves HEAVILY to vets! NOT because they make good pet food!
Using U-40 insulin with U-100 syringes
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged diabetes, insulin, syringes, U-100, U-40 on June 23, 2009| 8 Comments »
I’ve generally used a U-40 insulin (PZI-Vet) with U-100 syringes. The advantages being that U-100 syringes are more widely available, and by using U-100 syringes with U-40 insulin I was able to make smaller dose adjustments. (Before Meow Meow went off insulin, she was getting 0.2 units (two-tenths of a unit) of insulin! NOT TWO UNITS – two-tenths of a unit! No way I could measure that amount using a standard match of syringe to insulin.
Many find converting insulin to a different syringe confusing – and if, for that reason, you want to match – GREAT! I recommend ALWAYS checking to make sure you KNOW which syringe and which insulin you’re using. I’ve seen disasterous results when people don’t, and aren’t working with what they think they are. Some insulins come in different strengths (like compounded PZI) and syringes obviously come in various markings – and there have even been cases where syringes were in the wrong box! ALSO – make sure you understand whether your syringe is marked only for whole units, or also half units! I’ve seen people advise others to count “lines” – well, whether you have lines only for whole units or whole and half units can DOUBLE YOUR DOSE!
Cat still fat
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat food, cats, fat, feline nutrition, obesity on June 15, 2009| 5 Comments »
Is your tabby too tubby? Is your cat extra-fluffy and not in a good way?
Omaha in 2002 - over 20 pounds
Well, if you haven’t already, start by eliminating ALL DRY FOOD. ALL OF IT. Attempting to get a cat to lose weight on dry food is a losing battle. I know, I tried it for over a year with my cat Omaha. We tried cutting portions again and again until he got only 1/8 cup dry food daily and lay by the bowl crying – and still not losing weight. “Lite” (lower calorie) dry foods DO NOT WORK, they are too high in carbohydrates. Low-carb grain-free high-protein dry foods DO NOT WORK, they are too high in calories. Your cat needs to eat only WET food – not only to achieve an ideal weight, but to avoid a lot of other serious health issues (like diabetes, urinary tract disease, etc.)
Carnivorous cats
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat food, homemade cat food on February 15, 2009| 5 Comments »
A couple questions were posed recently regarding diets for dogs versus cats.
Dogs are opportunistic carnivores, or omnivores, like human beings. If you can prepare healthy well-balanced meals for your human family, you can do so for your dog. Dogs might not only enjoy a homemade casserole, in fact they’d probably enjoy a side salad of greens and cottage cheese!
Cats, on the other hand, are obligate (true or strict) carnivores. Cats have been domesticated for significantly less time than dogs and even after choosing to live in proximity to humans, they retained their independent nature, and survived on rodents they hunted rather than table scraps.
Dental dilemmas
Posted in Feline nutrition and health on January 7, 2009|
Another question I see posted frequently is whether the caregiver should get a dental for their cat that is older and/or has health concerns. My answer is generally a resounding YES.
Life of the Lintee Bean 