Just discovered your show and website and went out and bought The Cat Bible and love all this amazing, much needed information.  Thank you so much for doing what you're doing.  We just lost our 17 year old cat Samantha to CRF and Cancer.  Our hearts are so broken.  Thankfully she was healthy most of her life, except for the past 6 months so we were blessed to have had her so long, though we sure could have gone another 17 years with her!  We miss her a lot.  Since listening to your show and reading your book, I have removed all dry food from our home and wish I knew then what you've taught me now.  My cats have always been fed wet food with an assortment of dry to snack on.  Now I buy nothing but holistic food -- anything that says "by-product" gets thrown back on the shelf.  We also have a cat named Sabrina who is also nearing 17 and has a thyroid issue and it is controlled with medication, so she is doing fine.  Samantha and Sabrina have always been strictly indoor cats. 

Now enter Tiger!  This guy came around about 2 years ago as a lonely ole stray.  With much love and patience, we became friends.  Turns out he is front-declawed and spayed.  With having 2 cats at the time, we were afraid to bring him in for fear of disrupting the balance.  Plus, if he was to come in, he would have to stay in, far away from the exposure to tics and fleas and who knows what diseases he could catch.  To make a long, heart-warming story short, Tiger's been living in our heated garage this whole winter.  He has become a loving, fun, gentle cat with a personality to match his new name.  With the recent passing of one of our indoor cats, we are very tempted to bring Tiger in but are looking at all options.  (1) Will he be happy staying inside and never going out again?  (2) Will it upset our cat to see a new kid in town?   Not sure what to do right now, but he is very loved by us and I'm reading The Cat Bible and am seriously thinking of making him our new "son."  With the winter being so cold, he has stayed inside about 98% of the time and before I discovered Cat Chat and your book, I was feeding him dry food all the time.  Oh man, he started getting CHUNK-EEE!   I didn't know why.  I did figure it was lack of exercise by being indoors during these winter months, but he was getting fat - fast!   When I heard you call dry food a "carb bar" -- I pitched all the dry food.  It's been 2 weeks now since he's been off the dry and he's starting to look like his lean and mean self again.  He is absolutely beautiful and I hope to see his pic on your website! 

Thanks again for doing what you do!! 

Sincerely,
Denise R., Willowbrook, IL

Hi, Denise,

It's great to have you as part of the family! I hope you'll have a chance to go to my website www.TracieHotchner.com and see the mountain of new information there, especially in the Q&A's of The Cat Bible - as well as learn about my radio show CAT CHAT®. You can also hear a great deal about cats and call in to DOG TALK® on Saturdays from 11:05 to noon EST and you can listen live online at www.WLIU.com.

If you'd like an autographed bookplate inscribed to Tiger, send me your mailing address and I'll send it with a surprise for each of you!

In answer to your question - YES bring that boy inside. Follow the directions in The Cat Bible for the slow and steady way to make the introduction and you'll be amazed how low-key the whole getting-to-know-you drama can be. He'll probably miss the outdoors, but down the road you can put in a cat-safe fence (also linked on my website at Purr-Fect fence) so he can be safely outdoors.

Also, if you knew his weight before you got him off the kitty crack, then you could join the Biggest Kitty Loser contest you'll see on the website. How much does he weigh and have to lose? How much has he already lost? 

Thanks for taking this boy in - what a gorgeous fellow! I don't want to post his photo right now because I would like to consider him for Cat Chat cat of the month for April.

Best,
Tracie Hotchner