I honestly thought I’d heard it all – until I got this nice email. But it knocked my wig off to read that the vet feeding super-pricey Purina to his own black and white cat, commented to this patient (with an overweight tuxedo cat which he put on the same food) that “genetics” must be making the cats fat. The stupidity of this comment isn’t just the lack of understanding that cats are obligate carnivores who have no way of metabolizing carbohydrates and therefore become fat – no, it is even more ignorant to think that a cat’s color (or even their breed!) would in any way affect the way they metabolize food. All cats have the same digestive system – whether lion, cougar or pussycat – and fried corn, pork fat and by-products (common vet-diet food ingredients) have no place in a cat’s body.
Dear Tracie – I first heard of you through Pet Food Direct. I was at the agency that handles their radio advertising and when they specifically asked to be on your show, I checked out your web site. This was a few months ago… and I noticed you had the biggest kitty loser contest. I have a cat, Magnum – a 3 year old tuxedo – who is overweight. My guess is he’s about 18 lbs.
I honestly don’t think I over-feed him though. I used to be very on top of measuring his food, I feed him light adult food, and he’s pretty active…but he has remained overweight. I spoke to my vet about this and he also has a tuxedo cat who is overweight. He said he thinks there must be some genetic disposition causing it because he also doesn’t over-feed his cat. He suggested that I feed Magnum Purina OM (Overweight Management). I was feeding Magnum Science Diet Adult Light, then switched to Purina OM, and now am back to Science Diet (just because I haven’t had a chance to go back to the vet to buy the Purina).
I also have an underweight cat, Cooper, a 7 year old tabby (he looks like a small Mane Coon). He has always been underweight, but the vet said he’s perfectly healthy. We feed Cooper dry kitten food & as much wet food as he will eat but he still doesn’t put on weight. Part of Magnum’s problem is he finds Cooper’s dry kitten food and eats it. It’s very difficult figuring out how to make one cat lose weight and the other gain weight. Cooper is also very stressed out by Magnum. Magnum always tries to play with him, but Cooper truly doesn’t want anything to do with him. I’m worried the stress is affecting his health (I’m not sure he’s eating as much as he would if he wasn’t stressed). Cooper is the family cat & I will be moving out with Magnum in May, so I’m hoping Cooper will be able to just deal with him until we move (he’s been putting up with him for a year now). (Sorry for the tangent….).
I just don’t know what to do to help Magnum lose weight. I noticed that you encourage an all wet food diet. To be honest, I don’t feed Magnum much wet food, so I’m a bit wary of switching him off of dry food completely. Can you please help me with this? Any advice you can give me would be great! Thank you for your time!
I could see this nice lady was unaware that she had been paying top price for bottom drawer foods had boxed her cat into this corner. I told her to get THE CAT BIBLE ASAP and read through my whole web site, too. I said it would take her all of 5 minutes to see why dry food is the entire problem. Also, I said that her vet is in desperate need of some education – it is shocking to hear a comment about “tuxedo cats being genetically pre-disposed to obesity” when he had decided for both himself and the patient to feed the very CAUSE of obesity, diabetes, and many other ailments in cats today – “kitty crack,” (which is any and all dry food). I don’t know which of those vet-sold formulations I like less, it’s really a toss-up. They are all highly processed carbohydrates blowing cats up like balloons.
I added that in case she remained unsure after reading everything I’ve put out there, she should know the result of the Biggest Kitty loser contest – hundreds of pounds lost across the country simply by exchanging kitty crack for ANY wet food.
And the poor kitten!! I told her to please protect his life NOW by getting him off the kitty crack and onto proper food. All those behavior issues will disappear once they’re both getting two good meals a day. I explained that I am always here with any further support she needs AFTER making “the switch” – and that to be frank, I don’t just encourage it of listeners, I practically demand it! And boy are they glad that I do – they tell me so every week!
Tracie
Genetics seems to be getting the ‘blame’ for everything. While it no doubt plays a vital role, so does responsible ownership. I am often amazed at the size of cats and dogs in my neighbourhood and I have a feeling it’s something to do with the amount they are fed!
It is not just the AMOUNT they are fed, it is the INGREDIENTS they are fed. Cats are obligate carnivores and must eat meat and meat only – their digestive systems are not designed to process carbohydrates. And here they are, feeding an all-carb diet to the poor creatures. And genetics has nothing to do with it, which I would have hoped a trained vet might have known. If you put diesel fuel in a Ferrari it is going to break down – carbohydrates in the form of dry cat food are the wrong fuel for the feline “engine” – So frustrating the lack of knowledge there is about this in the vet profession. There would be NO fat cats if it weren’t for kitty crack (other than those with diseases like thyroid) – let’s all spread the word!
I have to say that I’ve weaned my two cats off “kitty crack” successfully this summer, and they now exclusively eat WeRuVa brand canned food. They have lost a healthy amount of weight and are thriving on their new diet. One of my kitties had a very hard time getting away from his crunchy food, but we persisted, and now he doesn’t ask for it. The other cat seemed to be bulimic in his behavior after eating dry food, and since he’s started to eat WeRuVa, he doesn’t throw up anymore. Tracy convinced me awhile ago that dry food is bad for cats; it took me a long time to convince my husband, who would continue to sneak them dry food or give it to the cats late at night as a way to fill their tummies. Yes, they eat more food, but they are healthy and seem very, very much happier. I am convinced and will do all I can to spread the word about that low-quality junk food. Fortunately for me, our new vet seems to actually believe that cats do not need carbs and fully supported our switch. Thank you, Tracy!
Hello, what was the alergy cure that you talked about on the Marth channel today? You said that is was also good for humans?
Thanks Gail
Thanks for asking! I wanted everyone to know that I was recommending acupuncture- both for animals and people – as an excellent way to get allergies under control., and often end them entirely. There is a link to the national organization of acupuncture vets on my website- just type it in the Google search box that is there just for my website.
I rescued a 5-year-old male tabby a little over a year ago. At the time, I asked his foster parents what he had been eating. They said IAMS dry cat food and that he did fine on it. I questioned our vet about the best diet for my cat because he was at the higher end of what would be considered his normal weight range. I did not want him to become obese and I did not want him to have urinary problems that are particularly dangerous to male cats. Vet said he must have dry food daily, with a minimal amount of canned food only as an occasional treat. She recommended Science Diet dry.
It is a little over year later now, poor kitty is almost 2 pounds overweight and just suffered a total urinary blockage. I did some research and found dry food to be the likely culprit in both his obesity and his urinary blockage. We left the animal hospital with a bag of Science Diet S/D, prescribed by the vet as the ONLY thing he should be fed for the next 3 months.
The S/D went immediately in the trash when we got home. Instead, my cat now eats a premium canned food, and I go as far as to add additional water to the food. (This is also a good way to heat the food after refrigeration; just add a little hot water to it if kitty does not like cold food.)
My cat is doing well, no more vomiting such as we had with his dry food. He is only one week out from his nearly-fatal blockage, so he is not out of the woods yet. I do watch him carefully, and today for the first time in 7 days I noticed improvement in his urine output and his energy level. He may re-block no matter what we do, of course, but I think he has a fighting chance now with the switch from dry to wet food, plus the added water.
I firmly believe that had I fed my cat the prescribed S/D, he would have continued to gain weight and possibly have developed diabetes or heart problems. There is no nutrition in that food; it is nearly all sodium and carbohydrates, yet the vet insisted I feed it and nothing else to my already-overweight cat!
By this time next year, I expect my overweight cat to be lean and healthy. Hopefully this bout of urinary blockage will be his only such experience.
Hurray for you, Barbara – you had the intelligence and courage to stand up to your vet when you saw the obvious truth that the standard advice about feeding dry food sold by the vet himself was a prescription food alright – it was a prescription for disaster! I can promise you that with the switch to wet food it will be a matter of weeks and months, not next year, before you’ll see some dramatic improvement in every aspect of his physical and emotional health and beauty. When I had the Biggest Kitty Loser Contest all folks had to do was make that switch off kitty crack – which is what i call the addictive dry food – onto canned food. Every single kitty cat won a prize because they all blossomed and slimmed down, as I know your cat will, too. The saddest part is that vets who sell food out of their clinic are in a professional conflict of interest and are undeniably doing their animal patients harm by continuing to insist that people pay premium prices for highly processed carbohydrate-based foods, which at some point they have to acknowledge is the wrong fuel for a cat, who is an obligate carnivore who is designed to get his fluids from his prey, rather than depending on drinking water. I hope other guardians will follow your lead in standing up for their kitty cats by rejecting all kitty crack no matter who sells it and at what price – and insisting on real protein sources. I hope your cat feels a lot better soon and hope neither of you has to go through anything like this again!
I have 42 house cats, I have 2 self feeders and also feed 10 -15 cans of friskies per day. My dry food ingreatents start with meat not by products.