Posts Tagged ‘taurine’

Home-Cooking for the Love of Her Cats (Update)

Friday, May 8th, 2009

A wonderful cat lover in Colorado was so proud of cooking for her kitties and I felt bad bursting her bubble – I had to write her:

I know you’re so enthused about cooking for your cat, that I hate to rain on your parade but even the most elaborate recipes can get you in trouble if they aren’t balanced for a cat’s dietary needs. As noted elsewhere, cats lack taurine which needs to be added to their food in order for their bodies to process it properly. In addition, they need both the bone and the organ meats so in order to properly make homemade food you’d need a commercial food grinders through which you would put the entire chicken – and then you’d STILL have to add the taurine, and in the correct amount. Therefore, if you want to continue cooking, you need to keep all that in mind which is why Weruva and Spot’s Stew are such great canned foods, probably even better than cooking yourself.

Tracie – Hmm… interesting.  What you say is true… I just was thinking that I was doing the best by making them their food… being fresh and not out of a can.

I was adding taurine, the organ meat from the chicken and buying chicken liver to add in their food, but not the bones. I’ll see if I can find the Weruva locally.

So I quickly wrote her back:

I salute you for cooking, really. Because the less processed and fresher a food is, we KNOW it has to be better. But what I’ll say about Weruva’s chicken is that it is a antibiotic-free, hormone-free and free range — nobody can afford to use that quality of chicken for themselves nowadays, much less for their pets, But don’t quit cooking if you’re enjoying the food-is-love aspect, go for it! You might also consider supplementing with Platinum Performance which balances home made diets and is linked on my website. I’m sending you a sample with your signed bookplate for your copy of THE CAT BIBLE.

Tracie – I just want to say thank you for everything. I mean really. I just wish that I was up to speed on all this years ago so that my cats could have been eating better. They are just on their “tail” end of their lives and they have given our family such love and enjoyment that to think that all these years we have been feeding them that dry stuff all this time. I just figure they deserve to have the best that we can provide for them for whatever time that we have left with them

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Be Careful of Gourmet Home Cooking for Cats

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Barbara in Littleton, Colorado is so enthused about cooking for her cat, that I hate to rain on her parade but even the most elaborate recipes can get you in trouble if they aren’t balanced for a cat’s dietary needs.

I have been experimenting with different ingredients and came across chicken liver. They love it! Yesterday I tried a different technique and baked the chicken instead of boiling it. Made a much moister chicken. Whole roaster, pint of chicken livers from the store, brown rice, spinach, peas and carrots. I processed everything separately. The chicken pulsed a few times to make bite sized morsels, chicken livers into pate, spinach, peas and carrots were pulsed slightly and the brown rice I kept whole. Blended everything in a bowl and voila! I will be out on the hunt for this Ultimate Pet Food Guide book that you suggested. Maybe I can experiment with other flavors.

As for your book, I have lent it to a coworker to read (she’ll come to work today and get it). I hope she finds it as informative and eye opening as it was for me. I’ve also left her a sample of my cat food to see what her cats think. Marilynn is cat person herself and owns two cats up until last year.  A stray female that kept coming around her house.  Marilynn wouldn’t allow it into her house, but she would leave food for the cat and made a bed for her outside, so she had a warm place to sleep. She decided to name her, Sweet Pea, because it’s a lovable little creature. After the cat become more comfortable coming around Marilynn’s house, she would sometimes sneak inside when the opportunity came about. After finding the cat in the house, and a little concerned for the welfare of the cats that she owned, she decided to adopt the cat. Last summer, she took the cat to the vet and had them shave off the matted, mangy fur and got all of her shots.  So, needless to say she is a proud owner of three cats.

As noted elsewhere, cats lack taurine which needs to be added to their food in order for their bodies to process it properly. In addition, they need both the bone and the organ meats so in order to properly make homemade food you’d need a commercial food grinders through which you would put the entire chicken – and then you’ve STILL have to add the taurine. Therefore, if you want to continue cooking, you need to keep all that in mind which is why Weruva and Halo’s Spot’s Stew are such great canned foods.

Tracie

The Cat Bible

The Cat Bible

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When Will Breeders See the Light?

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

I got this letter from Bert, who wasn’t just upset with his newly-purchased kitten’s upset tummy – but also with the breeder insisting on using dry cat food whose list of ingredients on the labels make their quality very clear.

Dear Tracie – First, thanks for all you do. I purchased (heaven forbid) a kitten, but he’s a gorgeous Abyssinian and he has been in the house for 3 weeks. He’s now four months old. I feed my rescue Australian Shepherd mix dog raw food, and am thrilled with how well she does. Of course, the cat breeder thinks that Science Diet and Royal Canin dry foods are great, so that’s what Kalki the kitten was used to. I’m trying to move him over to all wet (hopefully raw) foods, but he pays little interest to it or cooked chicken, and wants the dry. I tried “Taste of the Wild” a grain-free dry food, but it gave him the runs. Where can I find advice on weaning him from the garbage and on to the good life?

The kitten was a present for my dog, and the two get along together famously. Both are constantly busy amusing each other (and me) with their antics, and only require an occasional intervention when Tess forgets how small the kitten is.

First of all, congratulations on your kitty. No harm in buying if you do so from a reputable breeder whom you meet – too darn bad she hasn’t gotten the “kitty crack” message, though! For yourself, THE CAT BIBLE is filled with nutrition advice of all kinds, but so is my website. In fact, there’s a list of helpful ways to wean cats off dry food and onto the meat they need. But since you’re feeding your Aussie raw, once you transition the kitten (and Weruva is probably your best bet) you should consider using some of the raw cat foods like Feline’s Pride, Oma’s Pride or Wild Kitty for Kalki.

Thanks for the advice. Of course I checked out the website a few weeks ago and discovered Weruva which I purchased from petfooddirect (thanks for the discount). It worked well, and I was able to convince my local pet food store to carry it. Her concern was that it is manufactured in Thailand. All their claims of government oversight don’t carry much weight after seeing how well government oversight of the peanut industry worked out.

To make a long story short… my problem with the switchover was that I thought the food change was causing diarrhea.  No way! What was causing that problem turns out to be a Giardia infection. My breeder claims that she tested for it before she released the kitten, but I think it’s important to remind people (listeners) that one should check for this condition more than once, as it takes a while for symptoms to show up. We’re three days into a Panacur (fenbendazole) course of treatment, and things are leveling off. Kal was really suffering, but is now off the dry stuff and eating Weruva and home-cooked chicken breast supplemented with raw turkey from Tess’ larder.

I created a binder and moisturizer for the chicken breast, which I bake (poach) in chicken broth then run quickly through the food processor by pulverizing a little Quaker oatmeal in the processor and cooking it with chicken broth, then thin it down so it’s soupy. Mmmmm. The next step is moving on to raw. I wonder if there’s a difference between cat raw food and dog raw food?

I bought both Cat and Dog “Bibles”, and find them very useful and informative. Thanks for your insight and helpful response.

Its so nice that you love that kitty enough to be whipping up what sounds like a swell meal for her – and I hate to discourage you, but cats lack taurine which needs to be added to their food in order for their bodies to process it properly. In addition, they need both the bone and the organ meats so in order to properly make homemade food you’d need a commercial food grinders through which you would put the entire chicken — and then you’ve STILL have to add the taurine. Therefore, if you want to continue cooking, you need to keep all that in mind. On the other hand, since feeding raw is natural to you with the dog, I’d really recommend you do the same with the cat but buy it from one of the companies I mentioned earlier since they balance the food. And no, the ingredients are not the same for the two species because there are the differences already mentioned.

Thank you for getting both Bibles! That is so nice — please send me your mailing address so I can send you autographed bookplates to stick in the front inscribed to the animals along with some swell surprises.

Tracie

The Cat Bible

The Cat Bible

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Mamma Mia! Kitty in Italy Needs Advice

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

I got this letter from Brenda, an American living in Italy (as I myself did for many years on and off throughout my life). She got the “kitty crack” message through her friend who follows my advice. Brenda is ready to kick the habit and get her cats eating healthy food, but thinks that being away from American products is a liability. Ironically, the food in Europe is way healthier than what we have here! See my reply at the bottom.

Hi Tracie -

I was led to you by a friend of mine while I was telling her of all my cat issues :) . I know you’re completely overwhelmed with questions, so I promise I did search your site for this question/answer, but didn’t find anything. I have 3 cats – 2 that are overweight and one that is fine. Zoe’s weight is fine, Momma (12 lbs) could lose a few pounds and Coby Jones (17) needs to lose about 6-7 pounds. For about a month now I’ve been toying around with the idea of making my own cat food at home – I’ve already been through catnutrition.org and catinfo.org, both great sites and both suggested on your site!

My cats have always been on dry food and it’s killing me that I didn’t know better until now! I’d like to transition them to wet food immediately – I moved to Italy about a year ago and have had no luck finding the premium brands on your list here and can’t afford to have these great foods shipped to me (maybe if i had one cat, but not with 3!!), so I’ve got to make do with what’s around in Italy.

But here’s the problem: Coby, the one whose weight I’m most worried about, has had a subpubic urethrostomy and bladder surgery, and as a result has periodic UTI infections and crystals. He hasn’t had an infection in over a year now (hooray!!), but I have noticed in the past that when I run out of the c/d and he eats another (crap) food for a couple of days, he starts to have problems – so I don’t run out of food anymore. :) He was a beautiful 10 pounds before he got hit by a car – but gained 7 pounds since his surgery . My vet has always told me he needs to be on Hill’s C/D to keep his urine pH in check – as a result… all 3 cats eat this (dry) food because it’s impossible for me to feed the other 2 another type of food without Coby getting to it – (this gets a little costly).

Since reading how awful dry food is, I’ve started feeding them Hill’s C/D canned food, but it’s too expensive for me to continue this way (besides the fact that C/D is more expensive than regular foods, I live in Italy and everything is way more expensive here!).

I can now see if I can find some of the “good supermarket foods” around and feed that to at least the other 2 cats (Zoe & Momma). But now I’m wondering if Coby even needs to be on C/D at all? If I switch him to raw food, will I still have to worry about UTI and crystals? I do think raw food would be the cheapest way to go, but I’d love an alternative.

I’d have to buy a grinder to make raw food and haven’t found one here yet – so until that happens, I’ll be feeding canned. Are the foods on your website list of “Good Supermarket Foods” Ok for him also? I know they’re obviously better than dry food, but wonder if they’ll be OK for him and his urethra issues? If not, then I’ll have to continue him on C/D canned food and feed the other 2 cats some supermarket foods to try to cut some costs.

P.S. I have XM radio, and I thought XM and Sirius joined… so does that mean I have access to your show on XM radio?

Brenda, Cara Mia, you think that being in Italy poses a problem to feeding your cats well but just the opposite is true! Mangia! You are in great good luck because you are in a country that puts rabbit into cans for pets – and rabbit is the absolutely best meat source for cats. So forget all about the pet food confusion in the U.S. and go right for the supermarket shelf anywhere in Bella Italia, where I have lived with dogs and cats off and on my entire life. You cannot do better than offer rabbit to a kitty – even better than trying to grind your own rabbit or chicken (WAY too costly in Italy) because besides the raw meat being so expensive there, and the need for a commercial grade grinder that would grind the bones with the meat, you’d also need to add taurine to make it a balanced food for a cat. As for Coby’s urinary crystals and problems, these are very often caused by dry food in the first place – and more dry food just leads to more digestive and urinary problems. He should do wonderfully on a nice moist food from a can. Consider yourself lucky – YOU should be shipping Italian canned cat food to US! — not the other way around. The reason that pet food there is so much less toxic overall is because the human food industry has never become the antibiotic and hormone-laden chemically-raised table food that we have here. The Europeans — Italians in particular — have been rigorous about avoiding food colorings or chemicals of any kind in raising their food — and since pet food is generally supplied by the remains of the human food processing business, it means that the pets benefit from clean food, too.

As for Sirius and XM, yes they did merge but you need to pay another few dollars a month to add “the best of Sirius” to your XM subscription — and since the Martha Stewart channel and CAT CHAT® are definitely amongst the best of Sirius, you can be listening to me live just by forking over a few bucks.

Tracie

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Answer to “No Poop!” in Colorado

Monday, April 6th, 2009

A while back, I posted a blog about “No Poop!” and asked Barbara in Littleton, Colorado to give me some more information about the change in litter box habits of her cats, who came off “kitty crack” and left a lot less to clean up in the litter box. I asked if they seemed uncomfortable and she replied:

No constipation or any signs of discomfort. Actually, this morning, I did find a pretty healthy sized poop in the LB. However, this isn’t a daily occurrence. I have read some where on some website that it is common to find less stools in the LB when switched over to a more protein diet. I’m guessing because they are able to digest it better.

We have two male cats, both born on April Fool’s one year apart (Tigger, soon to be 16 yrs and Billy, soon to be 15 yrs). Both cats are mixed breeds. Tigger looks like an American Short Hair and Billy, I am told, looks like a Maine Coon.  I have noticed weight loss in both since they have been on the new diet.

We have noticed a big difference in Tigger with his new-found energy.  He’s recently found his voice! It’s still not a loud meow, but he does seem to try. He has been getting into “trouble” by just merely being a healthier, happier cat: hopping up onto counters and eating out of dishes left there! He’s discovered our aquarium and has a real “interest” in our crayfish, Claws. He runs all through the house, playing with small things found on the floor. Keep in mind that our cats in the past have never been interested in table food, but Tigger has recently discovered that he loves chips, Doritos happen to be his favorite and goes nuts if there is a bag around. Just after everyone has gone to bed at night, we will hear a distinctive sound from Tigger just before he bites Billy on the back of the neck and proceeds to, well, you know… It’s like this new diet is like Viagra or something.

Billy on the other hand, prefers to be left alone. He does want to be around people, but off to the side. He is an affectionate cat, however, on his own terms. He is a vociferous cat. He is known to go down to the basement and will howl at the top of his lungs as if someone is murdering him. Then, when someone comes down there after him, the meow is toned down to what seems to be like him saying, “thank you for rescuing me”. Sometimes, he won’t touch his food unless you are standing by him watching him eat. He’s always been this way, so no real difference in mannerisms, but he is slimming down, which is good because he was a little over weight.

Both cats seem to be doing fine on this new diet of wet food. I have bought your book THE CAT BIBLE and there are some really informative information in there… especially about what by-products are made of. I just about gagged after reading that!

I am trying to get my cats to eat homemade food, however, I am having trouble getting them to eat it. Basically, in a food processor, I am making it with a boiled roaster chicken, carrots, a few peas, spinach, some brown rice and I use the broth that I boiled the chicken in. I also add some cod liver oil and taurine to the mix. Primarily, its all chicken and they still will not touch it. I read from your book that cats have a high smell sensory and that is what draws them to their food. I have to admit that the food smells pretty bland, but since onions and garlic are toxic to cats and tuna isn’t great for them either, what can I mix in this food to make it more palatable?

What great news this all is! A much older cat acting like a youngster, both cats losing weight, and knowing that we have improved the quality of their lives, while probably extended them, too. As far as cooking for them, I’m guessing it may be the processor that has turned it all into a mush they don’t like?? Because it’s impressive that you even got your own taurine and figured out how to dose it. If you really want to cook, I’d suggest leaving the chicken in pieces (the way Weruva does) which makes it so much more appealing to many cats. The book The Ultimate Pet food Guide has good recipes in it, too — but it’s so frustrating with cats when you go to all that trouble and they reject your loving efforts! As for what you’ve already made, if you still have it around in the freezer or something, buy one can of mackerel cat food (very smelly and a good teaser to put on top) and put a spoon on it on the homemade. Maybe that will kick-start their engines! In any case, congratulations for your good decisions and the much happier, healthier kitties you have because of it. Also, so glad you got THE CAT BIBLE. Send me your mailing address and I’ll send you an autographed bookplate to put in it, inscribed to your beauties, along with some fun samples.

Tracie

The Cat Bible

The Cat Bible

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Lousy Vet Advice for Ailing Kitty

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Hello I am writing to you for your opinion about my cat Merlyn. He has hyperthyroidism and is on methimaz 5mg a day. His vet is recommending radiation isotope or something like that. His other option is surgery. He has lost 5 pounds since diagnosed. He weighs 10 pounds 9 oz. His breed is Ocicat and we are waiting on blood work to determine if his kidneys are failing. After the vet injected subdermal fluid due to dehydration he perked up. I was wondering what you have heard about for his condition. Thank You Very Much for your time. Sincerely, Richard

Richard – I am answering your query before dozens of others because this is the breed of my official vet, Dr Elizabeth Hodgkins, who also shows her Ocicats –- and it sounds like you need some emergency advice.

I am going to get her respond to your question but I know she will want to know — as I do — whether you are feeding kitty crack (dry food) of any kind? If so, it is dreadful for the health of all cats, but one with a tumor on the thyroid, especially so. How old is he?

It would seem that the fluids are related to kidney issues. Dr H will let us know whether a thyroid tumor would also dehydrate like this?

Where are you located? Is there a feline-only vet anywhere near you? (the website for the feline-only vets- AAFP – is linked on my website or www.catvets.org)

Please send back any lab test results you have in order for Dr H to be able to comment. She also can do a paid consultation with you and/or your vet which I would highly recommend. She has been able to give my listeners valuable assistance this way

Good luck with your sweet little kitty.

Tracie

Thank you, Tracie. I will get the test results tomorrow I took him off dry [food] months ago after I started listening to your show. He turned 15 on Thursday the 19th. The medication he is on has a side effect of excessive thirst and within the past week he has started drinking quite a lot. When the vet took a urine sample he said it was mostly water. For the next 5 days we are in Southgate MI. We travel around the country with him and one other cat in a semi truck. Thanks for getting back so soon. I know your time is valuable.

Richard – this was Dr. H’s comment:

“The hyperT chapter in my book YOUR CAT is very informative for any owner with a cat with this problem. It is pages and pages long and now that it is in paperback, quite the deal for all that info. I think Richard should grab a copy and read and then we can answer his questions if he still has any.” So will you please do that ASAP and we’ll go from there?”

Tracie – I just came back and the vet said his kidneys are just showing signs of degradation. So we put him on meds to combat the hypertension. We took him off of raw chicken which he is fanatical about. We are doing the radio isotope but we are going back out on the road for 2 months to generate revenue to cover it. He ate a little more today as well as more fluid intake. He also is on an antibiotic to fight gingivitis, something he has had a problem with since he was about 2. The first time we had him on an antibiotic for this the script was prescribed at too high of a dose and he started having seizures. I will order YOUR CAT tonight from Amazon if it isn’t at Borders.

Thank You,
Richard

I was distressed to learn that your vet might sway you to abandon the excellent diet you’ve been providing. Nothing could be better for him than a raw chicken diet professionally prepared with ground bone and added taurine. Is this the same vet who overdosed your cat on antibiotics? Why do you stay with him? I feel terrible that you are driving extra truck routes to pay for vet advice this questionable. And what is up with the blood pressure medication — taking a cat’s blood pressure is rarely done, and is unreliable because in a vet’s office it is always sky high. So the measurement is dubious at best but then the vet is giving this poor cat even more medication for it??

Here is Dr Hodgkins’ comment:

“If he gets my book he will read what I say about the MYTH of low-protein diets for cats. Yes, the chicken has helped the cat for sure and making the cat’s life miserable with a horrible diet is not the solution now, that’s for sure. Between the hyperT and CRD (chronic renal failure) chapters, Richard should be better informed about both diseases when he finishes.”

–Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM, Esq.

Last word from Richard was that Merlyn was eating and drinking well and begrudgingly taking his medications. I just wish he could get to a good feline-only vet, or better yet a holistic one who isn’t so fast to take away good nutrition and throw so many medications at the problems.

UDPATE:

Richard wrote back:

“The vet likes the idea of a wet diet but he said the raw chicken had too much sodium for hypertension. I did not think chicken had high sodium without adding it. I will be getting YOUR CAT today.”

I wrote to him: You are sensible and smart and logical — seems more so than the vet. After you read Dr H’s book you will be even smart and more logical!

Here is Dr. H’s last comment:

“I’d be interested in knowing how high this cat’s BP is actually is as few vets even measure it. Feeding chicken isn’t going to complicate this cat’s hypertension even if he did have it. I think I liked it better when vets KNEW they didn’t know anything about this stuff.”

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New XM Satellite Listener

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

Now that Sirius and XM have merged, there’s a whole new world of millions of potential listeners who I hope will find our channel on Sirius. At least one already has!

Hello. I have heard you speak on XM Martha Stewart radio stating that hard food is bad for cats and that one should make their own homemade. Please, I have always heard that it is the hard food that cleans their teeth and keeps them from falling out. How would the homemade food substitute for this? Or is this a myth? Please, let me know. I appreciate your dedication so much and my Ma and I love listening to your show. It is immensely informative.

Thank you from Alexandra

It’s fantastic to hear from you Alexandra, and to know you are listening on XM and getting the important advice on CAT CHAT®. You already have an instinct that what you’ve heard about dry food cleaning cats’ teeth is a myth — it’s a marketing myth. You need your vet to clean your cat’s teeth, and you need to avoid “kitty crack” because not only does it contribute to dental problems, it causes many other health issues as well. I do not actually advocate cooking for your pussycat, though – because that would require you grind chicken bones and add the right amount of taurine to every meal! I want you to switch to wet food in a can — my very favorite is Weruva, with Halo another good choice. But I have a whole list on my website that you print and refer to. Thanks so much for becoming an informed and better cat lover — and please call in some time so I can get to know you better!

Tracie

The Cat Bible

The Cat Bible

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More on Dogs Eating Cat Food (Weruva)

Monday, January 26th, 2009

Just another thought from David Forman, the owner of Weruva food, my absolutely favorite cat food, named after his adopted kitties, Webster, Rudy and Vanessa. Oh, and the also have a little rescued Chihuahua, who enjoy Weruva foods very much. Here are David’s comments:

Our cat and dog formulas are pretty much interchangeable for dogs and cats, meaning, cats can eat the dog food and dogs can eat the cat food. The only thing to look out for is the taurine. We add it to the cat food and do not add it to the dog food.

Our dog food is great for all dogs, no matter the size. Our 11 pounder eats it everyday. We are the food of choice of one of the Chihuahua clubs here in NYC. Because the food is so very different, we recommend a very gradual introduction. Our foods contain a higher protein and moisture content that most foods (more meat, no fillers). Cats can transition quite easily, but as with any dog food, we strongly recommend a really slow approach. Our cans last 4 days in the fridge, so we recommend nursing a small 5.5oz dog can over 8 meals or so with a gradual increase from serving to serving to make sure everything is agreeable.

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