I get a whole bunch of lovely emails — I am really blessed to have listeners who aren’t just devoted to their pets but they are so appreciative in the ways I try to improve lives for dogs and cats and the people who live with them. But this letter took the cake. It’s from Janelle, from an Army base in Germany, to which she has flown her beloved cat Mr. Kitty in addition to three other moves! Talk about the family that stays together…they give “family unity” and devotion a whole new meaning.
Hi, Tracie!
Just want to say thanks so much for writing both of your books and for raising the awareness of pet owners EVERYWHERE! I have both of your books and I am just grateful for them! I also download your podcasts of Dog Talk®! WHAT A GREAT SHOW!!!
I have a nine-year-old DSH male cat named Mr. Kitty. He was a stray that wandered into our base housing unit in Fairfield, California in 2001, when my husband was active duty in the Air Force. We eventually took him in as our own after an emergency trip to the vet clinic one evening. We had him examined and fixed and kept him inside after that. We also decided that he would go with us wherever we were stationed if we had the money and the means to do so.
Seven years later, Mr. Kitty has been exclusively on wet food for a year now, thanks to you and Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins! He has also endured four overseas flights; moves, new houses, and a three-month stay at a cattery in England to finish out his quarantine sentence! We’ve lived in England, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and we currently live in Germany. In 2002, I started to notice this odd behavior in Kitty: he would scratch, chew and bite himself as if he had fleas. He has been checked for fleas, flea dirt with none to be found. He used to have topical flea treatments applied to him when we first got him. He has had his skin scraped three times to look for evidence of mites or fleas or dirt. None found. Food allergies were brought up for the FIRST time by a vet when we were living in Hawaii in 2006. But the way she described the food trials and testing, I was scared to death to put my cat through that!
So I researched food/allergies on my own. I found Dr. Hodgkins book at the library and read it. It shocked the heck out of me and I thought for sure it was the dry food making my cat crazy with these OCD-like behaviors. By now, Kitty’s licking, scratching, biting were leaving patches of fur GONE on his belly, around his anus and on sections of his legs. He was also behaving a bit aggressively at times: biting me and waking me up throughout the night, sometimes with bites. I also noticed that while he would be sitting, he would jump up like something was biting him and he’d start to lick or chew that spot. After kicking dry food for six months and no huge change in his behavior, I took him to the vet on base and she diagnosed him with either OCD/stress from all of his moves or food allergies. She said it would be easier to start with the OCD claim and rule that out first. Ten milligrams of Prozac a day was prescribed. That was in May. Almost six months later and while Mr. Kitty is less aggressive, his licking, scratching, chewing is still going on. Before I head back to the vet to inquire about food allergies/other allergies and testing and….? I would like to hear what you think of this situation.
Is this a crazy diagnosis? I don’t really like my cat being on Prozac, unless it is going to really help him. I feel like my cats quality of life is suffering and I don’t know what to do next. What do you know about food trials/food allergies? Should I possibly feed my cat a better diet? He eats canned, grain-free Wellness and canned Friskies and Fancy Feast off of your list. I also give him fresh chicken sometimes mixed into his food. Would Platinum Performance or another supplement help? (Although I think I am going to order this and start him on it anyway. It sounds AWESOME.)
I hope you get this and offer any advice you may have. I also hope I didn’t go overboard and ramble on too much. Thanks in advance!
P.s. Any advice on how to suggest and/or convince family and friends to make the switch to better nutrition for our feline and canine friends? It’s so hard! I try to be cool and casual and get all excited about your book and information. I think in the end I will just have to buy everyone your book for Christmas, as they are just NOT believing me!!
Janelle-
Your letter made my day!
What a wonderful cat person you are and how grateful I am for your good decision to get him off “kitty crack” and thanks also for your kind words.
I hope I make YOUR day by telling you that I am choosing Mr. Kitty as my Cat Chat® cat of the Month for December! Go on my website and see where I will be posting his photo and a little bio about him from you (I can take it from this lovely email of yours)
Also, in addition to the CAT CHAT® baseball cap I’ll be sending you I want to send you autographed bookplates for each of your Bibles! To what address should they go? (I hope I can use a military address so they get it there quickly without hassle)
Platinum is a must — but so is Omega-3 oil. I’ll be sending you a 3-month supply from Nordic Naturals, one of my website sponsors (read all about them on my website) but you should get him on the oil ASAP.
I am going to pass on your email to both Dr. Hodgkins and Dear Sally (read about her on the CAT CHAT® part of my site) for some thoughts which I will pass along to you) about Mr. Kitty’s baffling situation.
Be well and thanks again for your kind words
Tracie
Response from Janelle:
Ohmygoodness! I can’t believe you emailed me back! I feel like I won the lottery!
Wow! So glad I finally broke down and emailed you with our issue. I admire you and your work immensely and I am so appreciative of your response.
WOW! BASEBALL CAP?! Autographed BOOKPLATES! And Nordic Naturals!! HolyCOW! I’m so excited!
Even better, you are forwarding my email on to “the experts” to find out their take on this situation. Thank you, Tracie. Mr. Kitty thanks you, too. I hope we find a solution to this problem. Will order the Platinum Performance today! I did go to the Nordic Naturals website, but was confused on which one to choose. Your supplies/samples you send will help me out! Trust me, I’ve been all over your website: read and reread just about every part. Thanks for always keeping up the old links from past Chats as well as adding to them. WHAT A GREAT RESOURCE your website is!
I can’t wait to tell my mom and my brother (both cat and dog lovers and owners.) They are going to FREAK OUT!
Thanks again! I will email you a photo of Mr. Kitty today as well. I feel honored to be on your website. WOW!
And yes. You TOTALLY made my day! Thanks again.
Janelle
Enthusiasm, energy and appreciation coming full circle – it doesn’t get any better than this.
