Hello Tracie. Your radio show has probably saved my cat’s life and I want to thank you for taking the time to read my email. I want to make sure I am doing the right things. I’d like you to know that I purchased your The Cat Bible book (and one for my cousin as well who was just adopted by a little stray kitten that showed up at her door). I am so frustrated with my local veterinarians, and my copy of your book won’t be here for another couple of weeks, so here is the situation:
My cat Harley (Seven years old) started showing signs of urinary tract distress about 1 year ago. Frequent trips to the litter box, and not much urine coming out. I feared a blockage, and rushed him to my local small town vet. Strangely, his urine had NO crystals, No blockages were found, and all blood and urine tests came back fine. All kidney, and liver levels normal etc. The vet treated it as a bladder infection, and it cleared up. He had another bout around 9 months later. Then 3 months later. And then twice this last month. A bad trend was developing. Any little change in his routine, or stress would send him back into distress. It seemed so strange, cause really he has a great life, and I couldn’t figure out what would be causing so much stress. The local vet, again not finding any problems or blockages decided to try an anti-inflammatory, and put Harley on Metacam. Oh my gosh, did that make him sooo sick. I decided I needed to do more for his health, and started to research the problem on the Internet, and threw the Metacam away.
My mom has been listening to your show for a while now, and kept telling me it could be caused by the dry food (or “kitty crack”, as you so fondly call it). Many of the articles I came across in the Internet did state that indoor male cats that ate dry food only, were more apt to have this issue. Harley did seem to be in a constant state of dehydration, as he was not very fond of drinking water, even with the prescription food the vet gave him to try. My vet kept telling me it was caused by stress. I asked three different vets straight out, if I should change Harley over to wet food. All three said no, it wouldn’t help his condition at all. I even took Harley to an all-cat specialist in a bigger town not far from San Francisco. This vet, again wanting to make sure of no blockage took an x-ray. Again, no stones, crystals, masses, or any trouble showing at all. This specialist did put him on a holistic type of supplement, that did seem to help him. Also gave him a pain shot to manage pain, which none of the other three vets even suggested. So all in all I am glad the trip was made to the specialist. Again, I asked should I change Harley to wet food? Again the answer…. NO. So frustrated at this point, and $1,000 worth of tests that show nothing. Harley was still clearly in distress.
Soooo, we have begun the transition away from kitty crack, and onto wet food only. I must say it has not been an easy transition. I thought for a few weeks that Harley might be the only cat on the planet earth that would not be willing to make the switch. Worried the whole time, about not causing him additional “stress” and having the condition flare up again. I threw away so much food over the last 4 weeks, tried several different brands, and finally Harley will eat a little bit of Organics by Nature. I still put a few dry food pieces onto the top of the wet, to get him to start eating. It seems to be working, and I hope to eliminate the dry food completely VERY SOON. Am I doing the right thing? How long can this all natural food be left out without going bad (as it clearly has no preservatives)? It takes Harley quite a bit of convincing before he will eat. Should I be doing anything else? How much weight can the cat lose before I start to worry? Will he eventually start to eat in a more normal way? Can this really be the answer to this very mysterious illness?
I must say that since he has begun to eat the wet food he seems to have much more energy. Food time is more of an experience. And he seems to be more “cat like” if that makes any sense. Thank you again for your reply. Please keep trying to get the message out there, you are doing a great service to all people who love their cats.
Nicole for Harley
Dear Nicole,
You are a wonderful, devoted, patient, thoughtful, generous, insightful cat owner who has done everything humanly possible to get relief for your pussycat –- only to be surrounded by vets who are ignoring the toxic problem at the center of Harley’s life, while charging you for tests and medications instead of knowing enough to say what your own mother said: NO MORE KITTY CRACK! Yes Nicole, it is surely the continuous feeding of highly processed carbohydrates and indigestible plant fiber that has dehydrated Mr. Harley “from the inside out” and caused a series of urinary tract crises. The symptom you saw in the very beginning –- squatting to pee, nothing coming out and being in pain — was your wake-up call to ditch the dry food and get him on the right diet for an obligate carnivore, meat in a can with the moisture content that his natural prey would have. Yes, it could have been a bladder infection but the blood tests showed no infection. The fact that there weren’t crystals in his urine may be because he passed them or because urine collection in a cat is difficult and can give false readings. As you saw the problem worsen, the most logical thing to do would have been to stop the kitty crack and follow your instincts and your mother’s (mothers are always right! I would have thought you knew that by now?!) I am as frustrated as you are that you took the advice I so often give -– to visit a all-feline vet -– and yet this doctor was as ignorant as the others had been in declaring that dry food was absolutely not implicated. Metacam isn’t just an anti-inflammatory, it’s a very strong pain reliever too, and tough on the stomach (as Harley discovered). Why would the vet have wanted to cover up pain and inflammation rather than discovering their cause?
As for stress, again your instincts were on the money: Harley had a great life with you, no elements of stress – unless you count the pain he was in much of the time and his memory of the pain he felt when trying it urinate or after urination. Pain is really stressful! And there was stress – for you and for Harley, being brought into vet’s offices, paying big bills, getting no answers or relief and being told to carry on giving him food that was bad for him. That is pretty stressful, when the trained authority figure doesn’t understand the simple basics of how dry food can sicken cats.
As for the transition, quickly get some of my favorite cat food WERUVA (antibiotic-free, hormone-free real pieces of chicken) which many people have used successfully for cats who struggle with their addiction to the kitty crack (and no, Harley is not alone). Go to my website to see the list of other tricks to get him off the dry stuff and you’ll see lots of tips in THE CAT BIBLE, too, when it arrives.
As for the wet food, my website also has loads of Q&A’s and especially BLOGS on the topic of the transition. First, get the bag of kitty crack out of the house, he can smell it even in a closed pantry. Then you’ll leave the wet food down for 15-20 minutes in the morning and evening, then pick up whatever Harley doesn’t eat and cover and refrigerate. However, no cat should go more than 24 hours without food – that is very dangerous for a cat – so if he isn’t eating any of the canned food, cut up some cooked chicken meat and give him that. I don’t know how much he weighs now but many cats on kitty crack become obese and can lose pounds of weight within weeks of switching to wet food.
But there’s a silver lining to these clouds you’ve been living under: you know what you’re going to get for your devotion to Harley and having the determination to keep looking for a solution to his problem?? Harley is going to be Cat Chat® Cat of the Month for January 2009! I’ll need a nice photo of him and maybe a paragraph from you about him, anything you want to say.
From me you’ll get a baseball cap with Cat Chat® embroidered on it, a bottle of Nordic Naturals Omega-3 pet oil and a sample of Platinum Performance supplement that should keep his joints young and comfortable.
And of course, tell me your cousin’s name and the cats’ names and when your Bibles arrive I’ll send you autographed bookplates to put in the books, inscribed to your cats.
Tracie
