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.
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.)
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged canned food, cat food, diet, dry food, obesity on November 28, 2008| 5 Comments »
Obesity seems a rather fitting post-Thanksgiving subject, doesn’t it? However, in this case I’m talking about feline obesity.
Not coincidentally, recent research shows the most effective method of “normalizing” a cat’s weight is feeding a low-carbohydrate WET diet (canned or raw). Normalizing a cat’s weight means inducing weight loss or weight gain in order to achieve an ideal weight. So, this diet not only works best for those chubby kitties that need to lose weight – but also those skinny kitties that need to put on some weight (particularly muscle)!
I witnessed this myself first-hand with my cats, Omaha and Afer. When I adopted Omaha in 2003, he was morbidly obese at over 20 pounds (estimated ideal weight of 8 pounds).
Omaha at the shelter - over 20 pounds
Posted in Feline nutrition and health, Life of the Lintee Bean, tagged AAFCO, cat food, FDA, food safety, obesity on November 13, 2008| 1 Comment »
Imagine the future of food.
People shop for groceries at large outlets, filled with aisles of canned and boxed and bagged meals. Each meal shows a nutritional analysis, and most are certified “nutritionally complete” by a government agency. Long gone are the frozen and fresh food sections. Oh, they exist in a few pricey boutiques, but for the most part, our meals come from bags, boxes, and cans – dumped into a bowl. Some of the meals are more tasty than others, most are pretty much the same. The labels show pretty pictures of images from the past – turkey dinners with the trimmings; chicken, vegetable, and rice casseroles; even leg of lamb with mint jelly. The contents of the packages bear some vague resemblance to these dinners of the past. Among the vast assortment of nutritionally-balanced meals are various “treats” of processed cookies, cakes, chips, and crackers.
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Posted in Feline nutrition and health, tagged cat food, diabetes, feline nutrition, IBD, obesity, raw food on August 25, 2008| 3 Comments »
I’m pleased I’ve had more and more caregivers talk to me about putting their cats on a raw diet. For those new to raw, I often recommend a pre-ground meat/bone product such as Hare Today, supplemented with a multi-vitamin/nutrient for cats such as Platinum Performance, as described in Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins in her book “Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer Stronger Life“.
One problem – it seems some of these caregivers view this Hare Today/Platinum Performance combination to be some magical “cure” for what ails their cat (diabetes, IBD or chronic diarrhea, obesity, “allergies”, etc.) In a way, it is a “cure” in that the cat becomes healthier and may no longer show any symptoms of their prior ailment (no more need for insulin, no more anemia, no more diarrhea, etc.) However, in my opinion, it’s not so much that the particular food is a cure in that you’ve eliminated the *problem* (dry food).
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Posted in Chi-Town Fur Gang, tagged cat food, obesity, Omaha on July 12, 2007| 2 Comments »
Omaha goes by many names: Omie, Omie da Great, Omie da Terrible, Omie overalls, Ohama bin Peein, even Bubba.
I thought Omaha was adorable, although a bit intimidating at over 20 pounds, from the minute I met him when I began volunteering at Tree House Animal Foundation in June 2002. Because of my initial fear, I began brushing him with the “magic pink brush” rather than petting. Turned out he liked being brushed – on the head only. He’d clean his front feet while I brushed his head. Gradually, I worked up to brushing his body. He began looking forward to our “beauty appointments”. I started trying to sneak some pets into our brushing sessions. Then, I began sitting on the floor and sometimes he’d crawl into my lap, nuzzle his head in, and purr. (Too precious!)
At the end of 2002, I began noticing his fur falling out in big clumps and scabs on his skin. I felt so bad for him! Asked the clinic supervisor, and she said he got these “hot spots” on occasion. Oatmeal shampoo baths helped, but it was hard for clinic personnel to find the time to bathe him every week. Meanwhile, Omaha’s best friend, Michelle, left Tree House. I don’t know if it was because he wasn’t feeling well, or he missed Michelle, but I noticed a change in his behavior. It seemed like he’d either just be lying there, seemingly not interested in anything… or would follow me from room to room and not want to leave my side.
I decided to take him home as my birthday present in February 2003. He was 13 years old. It took him about an hour to get over his “what is this?” frights… after being at the shelter 9 years, he wasn’t sure what to think of this! But he quickly got over it, and purred up a storm in his new bed. He was inseparable from me at first, and would follow me from room to room and cry for me. He’s still my best buddy, and always is waiting at the door when I come home, and follows me around- although not all the time now.
He scared the heck out of everyone at the vet’s office, and most guests in my home… but he was a big teddy bear for me. He’d lost a little weight, and was doing pretty well. In June 2004, his arthritis was getting worse, and he was beginning to have trouble supporting his weight with his back legs. Thankfully, someone referred me to Dr. Swanson, a holisitic vet and acupuncturist. After only two treatments, Omaha was *running*! After more, he was “bounding” up the stairs on occasion, chasing the other cats again, and twice I’ve even caught him standing on his back legs (with his front paws on a window or a bench)!
In 2005, I learned the benefits of a grain-free diet and got Omaha off the Lite dry food completely and onto a grain-free wet food (canned and homemade). The weight started to come off more rapidly than I could ever have imagined! Better yet, instead of only 1/8 cup of dry food twice a day, and being constantly hungry, Omaha could eat all the wet food he wanted. By October 2005 he was down to 14.5 pounds, by June 2007 he was under 12 pounds! You can learn more at CatInfo.org. Recent studies all show that a low-carbohydrate diet more effectively treats both obesity and diabetes.
Omie is very territorial, and unfortunately for me that meant he feels he needs to mark his house – and ME – with urine to let everyone know we are his. After complaining to a good friend that I was losing sleep as Omaha bin Peein would sometimes urinate on me while I slept (meaning I had to wake, change bedding, change pajamas, etc.), the friend suggested I get him some “stud britches”. I tried a few different brands and finally found Joybies overalls. They work great, and Omie doesn’t seem to mind wearing them in the least.
In 2007, he was diagnosed as hyper-thyroid and was treated by radioactive iodine treatment. It was a long week for me, as I waited for him to finish his quarantine – I lost a lot of sleep. Another good friend suggested I send a small box with Omie, for him to hide in while caged, and that worked well. The veterinary assistant even reported he would let her pet him for a minute on the head.
Omaha’s very intelligent and knows a lot of words. He plays games with me (like “get the mail” and “attack of the great white tiger”), and is a real joy in my life. He hates the song Space Cowboy by ‘N Sync and will scream “NOOOO!” if I play it and put his paw over my mouth if I sing it to him.
Unfortunately, I lost Omaha on October 14, 2008 to something neurological.
Life of the Lintee Bean 