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Samyn - I'm so sorry to read about your loss of Chester. But, like others before me have written, you've done all of us and our felines a tremendous service in sharing your story and research.
Green - Thank you so much for sharing Dr. Pierson's website. Aside from being well written, it is extremely informative. I'm going to share site site with many others.
I've always been concerned about the diet of my kids and certainly became more so since the food recall last Spring. I've become an avid label reader!
Last edited by Nancy-NJ-NY-ME?; 09-09-2007 at 07:15 PM..
Reason: For better flow of text.
Samyn, I'm so sorry to here about your loss! However, thank you for spreading the word about cat and dog food nutrition for the pet owners here. I often try to tell my friends with cats or dogs that it's crucial that they read the labels on the food they feed their pets as their bodies can't take the years of a poor diet without health problems. Most of my friends are free feeding their cats Science Diet or the worse grocery foods.
I unwisely fed my cats Science Diet dry food when I first adopted them. I've had my middle cat one of my cats since she was six weeks and she has eye allergies now which is likely from being fed a poor diet during her most important stages of development. I've never free fed my cats which helps but doesn't mean they won't develop other complications from eating unhealthy so-called "premium" food.
The minute I saw my two male cats' tummies start to droop in the slightest and realized they were starting to pick up weight, I became extremely cautious about what type of food my cats ate and especially the amount. Not only do people often feed their cats unhealthy types of food but they allow them to eat WAY too much. This is especially true for those indoor cats that aren't prone to getting much exercise for whatever reason.
My cats now eat a mix of Natural Balance canned and dry food in very controlled small portions. I shrunk their portion yet again recently because I noticed they are less active in our new apartment. They fuss about eating less but I'm sure they'll get used to it soon. I don't like to give them treats much anymore but I do occasionally (once or twice a week) give them 3-4 pieces of Feline Greenies each to keep their teeth clean from the wet food. I'll see how the Natural Balance works after a few months and consider switching my cats to Evo which is absolutely grain-free.
My 5 year old kitty will only eat Purina dry indoor cat food.....nothing else as I tried everything on the market......won't even sniff it ......would rather starve.
Took him to the vet....vet said he will not eat anything .....I told him what to buy and try the Purina indoor......the vet said it worked.
My cat is in great shape and not over weight.....but , yes I am worried that he is not getting the nutrition that he needs. But what am I to do.
I'm so sorry about Chester, Samyn. I lost two cats in approximately 18 months. Mitzi passed in December 2004. Alex passed in June 2006. So my own grief is recent enough for me to remember how it feels. I hate it. It took me a year before I could look at a picture of Mitzi without pain. Alex's death was easier to handle, probably because he lived to old age with his diabetes. Mitzi was cut down by a horrible cancer at only 13.
Guilt feelings often accompany grief, even if guilt is not warranted. There is no reason for you to feel guilty. You did nothing wrong. You did the best you could for your cat. You worked with the knowledge that was available. Knowledge changes and old knowledge is rendered obsolete.
Re food and diabetes:
At my vet's advice, I had all my cats on Hills W/D dry. When Alex became diabetic, he still ate it until the end. I gave him canned food so I would know he was eating before I injected his insulin. But he had access to the dry food at all times. I could not bear the thought of him going hypoglycemic. Alex had diabetes for about 6 1/2 years before he died in 2006, at age 15.
Last Febrary, Sammy became diabetic, after taking steroids for his chronic gingivitis. After a period of very poor control, he became controlled with the proper insulin. Then my vet came home from a conference and described the newest protocol: Put the cat on canned food, lower the insulin and eventually get him off it. Then, if necessary, give him oral medication. This is what I did, and soon Sammy was off the insulin. (Not so easy; I had to monitor for hypoglycemia in the process.) Sammy is still off the insulin, but, as planned if his blood sugar were to start creeping up, he is now on oral medication (glipizide). Now I no longer have to test him unless I see things that indicate high blood sugar, such as a decreased water level in the water bowls, glassy eyes, etc. Best of all, I don't have to worry about hypoglycemia when I am not at home to catch it. My vet says there is no chance of hypoglycemia. I am a little skeptical of that, but I accept that the chance is minimal. I can't tell you how much more peace of mind this gives me. The cat also seems happier. He did not seem happy on the insulin. According to blood tests, he is in good control.
I have placed all of my cats on the canned food. If I leave any dry food out, Sammy will eat it. When I go away, I still have to board him, because I leave dry food out for the other cats, and because he needs his medication twice a day.
I had read about putting cats on canned food only and I had discussed this with my vet. But he did not take it seriously until he went to that conference and heard it from a top feline diabetes vet and researcher.
I sometimes wonder if Alex could have done better with his diabetes if I had fed him canned food instead of dry. He almost certainly would have. He lived to a fairly ripe old age, but his diabetes was almost never well-controlled and he had several hospitalizations with life-threatening complications. He also developed leg ulcers that I had to take care of for weeks, if not months. I also tested him at least twice a day, which must have hurt. But he always jumped onto the table for his testing, which was followed by his canned food. He didn't seem to mind the injections. But I am sure he suffered a great deal over the years of his diabetes.
Alex was one of those cats who are institutions. He was a very special cat, a natural leader and nurturer. He welcomed and helped train 3 kittens who joined the household during his lifetime. He also welcomed two adult cats. He helped entertain human visitors. And he comforted his sister Mitzi when she was dying of cancer. I wish I could have made his last 6 years easier with canned cat food, but at the time I didn't know.
There seems to be an increasing buzz that dry food is not good for cats. I am wary of raw food, because of the danger of spoilage. It is also very expensive, prohibitively so for many people, especially if they have several cats. I am glad I made the switch to canned food, but it is more expensive than feeding dry food. Also, I worry about the cats not having food if something were to happen and no one could get home to feed them on time. But water is more important and they always have water available.
My cats eat Wellness, Merrick and Evo. My vet says any canned food will do, but I think he meant any premium canned cat food. Not supermarket cat food. One of his associates specifically suggested Evo for diabetic cats.
Last friday I euthenized my cat. This death is a huge surprise, did not see it coming nor did I think that it would have me and my wife crying for 5 days. This is a stronger grief than when people have died. Time is helping now. I
am slowly starting to accept the fact that Chester is never coming
back. Some of the guilt of making the euthanasia decision/not taking
better care of him is also fading away. I am even able to think about
him and smile about the nice times, understanding, and love that we
shared. He was a beloved cat, kind, intelligent can loving. His presence in our lives was a blessing.
In memory of Chesters Death I wanted to share something I learned from this ordeal. Maybe I can save someones dear kitty and share the knowledge.
For the first 10 years of his life he was sustained on a diet of dry food. Purina one was the main item on the menu. Chester was overweight. After doing research on the biology and metabolism of felines I know know feeding Chester dry food year after year is what killed him. Last year he developed Renal failure and diabetes. These diseases where directly diet related and I know live with the fact that my ignorance killed my dear kitty. When I switched over the canned food last year it was too late for Chester, his body was compromised and he was suffering the effects of a life of poor diet.
Cats in the wild would not eat grains. Maybe the only grains cats would eat is the grains in the stomachs of its prey. Dry food is basically meat flavored grain cereal infused with vitamins. This is not sufficinet to maintain a healthy cat. It leaves your cat perpetually dehydrated and with high blood sugar. It places a huge burden on your cats kidneys/pancreas and will eventually compromise your cats health as he gets older.
Cats should either eat a raw diet or canned food. Please scan the ingridients carefully and select varities without grains. No gluten, rice or corn, this is not needed in your cats diet and it only there because it is cheap for the pet food companies. Cats do not have a strong thirst instinct the water in canned food it crucial to their metabolism. Educate yourself, it is part of treating your cats with the love they deserve.
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES EVER GIVE A CAT DRY FOOD. My beloved cat "BABY" was only six years old and he became obese form eating dry cat food and got Heart Disease and had a Saddle Thrombus (blood clot) and died within ninety minutes a horrible violent death of mortal pain causing cardiac arrest. These bastards that make this crap and lie stating "100% Natural and well balanced" must be talking about their profits..because they sure are not talking about their product which is loaded with toxic inflammatory grain products that are pur POISON to cats.
Its been a few years since Chester has passed. I hope have found some peace and are able to move on a little more. My Hell has just begun.
I had my cat on dry food for 18 years, he just died last friday...Im so grief stricken I do not know what to do with myself. My awake hours tick by slowly and is a living nightmare to which I cant awake, my nighttime, hours are spent having "nightmares" We ended our cats suffering with out giving it "the special day" we promised him.
1 year ago, he was diagnosed the Chronic Renal Failure. This brought on congestive heart failure and was very challenging to care for. 5K later, a year later, we came home and he was gasping for air. We rushed him to the vet and advised to euthanize him. They could try and drain the fluids, but he would suffer and die if the treatment did not work...and we were advised they most likely would not. I had talked to my wife about giving him a special day to eat what ever he wanted...and to spend the day in the back yard under our supervision basking in the sun. We were robbed of that day because of the suddenness of the the extreme labored breathing.
In the end, it was dry food that killed my cat too, the vet told us that cats don't do well on it and it. By the time we were on a medicinal canned food, it was far too late. The disease was cruel and I was, until Friday,quite the coward for not ending it when he had somewhat better quality of life.
I have been feeding him this Purina dry crap for years...I din't know I was killing him. Yes I know he was old anyway. That is, I guess supposed to be some comfort to me. He would have died of something, but CRF should be, and can be mostly avoided with proper diet.
We feed our two cats a diet of Purina dry with urinary tract meds to keep them healthy along with Fancy Feast Classic wet 1/2 can morning. 1/2 bedtime. They munch on the dry at will but feed on the Fancy Feast Classic canned food.
This diet has been approved by our vet so we stick to it exclusively.
I too believe dry food killed my cat. Gypsy died 4 weeks and 3 days ago. He was only 2 years and 5 mos. old. In April he had a urinary tract infection. This was the first time he had ever been ill with anything. We took him to the vet and it took 3 rounds of different anti-biotics to knock it out of him. The vet recommended we get him a pet water fountain to increase his intake of fluids so we did. I researched and found that the dry food we had been feeding him his whole life (Purina Cat Chow) was likely the cause of his urinary problems. We tried to get him to eat raw food we prepared ourselves, he wouldn't touch it. He did like one recipe I had found but it had a large amt of chicken liver in it and I read that the vit A in the liver was bad for cats, at least too much of it was. I tried to give him some canned food he didn't like that either. We were still trying to come up with a good recipe that he would eat (my hubby didn't want to give him canned he wanted to give him real raw food that we prepared ourselves). When on Sept. 13 he started acting a bit off. There was nothing really dramatic he just seemed a bit off. I thought maybe he is getting another UTI so I kept watching him. He didn't show any overt signs until right when we were going to bed that night he jumped on the bed and started pawing at the covers and then squatted like he was going to pee. He had done this when he had the UTI in April except he had been running all over the house squatting and peeing everywhere. So when he did that we said ok he had this thing back again we'll call the vet first thing in the morning. So next morning I call the vet and they say they can't get him in until 4pm. He wasn't going to the bathroom at all and was periodically yowling. It would comfort him some when we would pick him up and cuddle him on our laps stroking his head. I called the vet back about 1 or 1:30pm and asked them can we get him in sooner? He's yowling in pain, the could hear him over the phone. The vet said 4pm was the earliest. Finally about 3:30 we put him in the car and took him down it was a little early but we couldn't wait any more. The vet examined him, said he was totally blocked and she would have to do surgery. We signed the necessary papers and left our baby in her care and went home. She said he would have to be there for probably a couple of days. A couple of hours later she called us and said she had bad news. Gypsy had, had cardiac arrest while she was operating. My world just came crashing down around me. How could this happen? He was only 2 years old! My husband and I don't have children so Gypsy really was like our baby. We are devastated. I have cried every day since that horrible day and know that it is not going to let up any time soon. Please don't feed your babies dry food, at least not exclusively so. Especially if they are indoor cats. We have since adopted 2 more babies, little girl kittens. I am going crazy trying to decide the best thing to feed them. I feel awful that I am going to feed them right and I didn't with Gypsy. The only thing I can plead is ignorance. I thought what we were giving him was good for him. I never meant to harm my baby.
My little boy has survived the surgery but now is going to be more prone to infection, and when he has his 20 staples removed tomorrow, we need to ask why the cat is no longer water tight. My husband and I were at odds about the surgery as it seems to benefit the vet, but, not so sure about the cat. In the Bay area, this surgery cost and other related visits cost over $7,000! So, now we have a cat who can't hold his pee, and apparently, can no longer be free to roam our home. He was also diagnosed with a "heart gallup" which was probably brought on by the stress of the treatments and surgery. My heart breaks for him but I don't know what to do to make him comfortable again.
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Meow Mix killed my cat! WORST nigtmare ever!!!
