Feline Nutrition, What do you feed your furcats? Options

[Muffins]

Hi Everyone:

Over the past 2 weeks, our girl Ms. Lucy has been ill on & off. She has been an insulin dependant diabetic since October, 2004. Blood tests performed on January 27th showed that she is now hyperthyroid. So, as of now, she is on Tapazole, 5mg in the morning.
She HAD been on Humulin insulin up until 2/1/2007, when she was changed over to PZI insulin (for cats). Humulin was no longer being made, so switching her was necessary.

Lucy has suffered from chronic diarrhea ever since we rescued both her & Mr. Yoster in March, 2004. There were a couple of days over the past two weeks where her stool was very, very watery diarrhea. Knock wood, since we have taken up all of their dry food -- her stools have become a bit more firm .

I have been doing A LOT of research over the past couple of weeks on feline nutrition. I must admit -- I am extremely overwhelmed.
One of the things I have found out is that - NO cat should be given dry food.

Because cats are obligate carnivores, they don't need corn, wheat -- grains.
They have very short digestive systems which are not designed to digest carbohydrates, only proteins, which are supposed to pass through their systems very quickly and not hang in their for too long.

On occasion, I look through the feline diabetes site, and recently came across the name of Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins. I am learning quite a bit with regard to diabetes & diet for felines.

I added several links here that you're all welcome to look over.

My question to all of you who read this is:

What foods do you feed your furcats? Do you feel that your furcats body requires dry foods???

A couple of days ago I took up all of the dry food that we had down for our kids. Right now, they both are on wet food ONLY. We are feeding them "Wellness - grain free" and "Wysong meat w/au jus" <<-- we add "Wysong Call of the Wild" food supplement with that.

Thank you all very much for reading this. I am looking forward to learning even more through your feedback.

Peace & Love,
Denise


http://www.catnutrition.org/

http://www.catnutrition.org/resources

http://www.wysong.net/

http://www.all-about-cats.com/index.htm

http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/wellness/c..._can_index.html

[Furkidlets' Mom]

Denise,

I'm glad to hear you're heading in a good direction with the change in diet. We ARE what we eat, and the pet industry has done us no fav*ours in this regard for many, many years. So good for you!

We used to feed as much homemade raw diet food as our kidlets would eat (Dr. Pitcairn's recipes, tho they DO have grain in them....something I knew later on wasn't the most optimum thing, but it WAS balanced for all sorts of nutrients, as his wife was a nutritionist who helped him work it all out). They also got canned, good quality food, and in later years, only about 1T./day of a good brand of dry...just because they were so unhappy w/o ANY. BUT, if I were to do it again, there'd be NO dry food, from the start, so no dietary habits or addictions to break. Dry is especially bad for cats, and terrible for male cats in particular, as it can cause FLUTD, crystals and the like, as well as muck up their kidneys and other organs. For good oral hygeine, a piece (or whole, depending on size of cat or dog) of raw chicken neck, once or twice/wk. is highly suggested by holistic vets. The bones aren't a problem in chicken as long as it's not cooked. Some cats won't go for it though, if they're used to processed food.

In fact, one of Nissa's mainstay canned foods was Wellness (grain-free but with their veggies, etc. added), as was her dry, but it does have grain....and you may have noticed that their canned chicken smells JUST like real, roasted chicken when first opened....like how it SHOULD smell! I would eat this stuff myself. Those foods that people wrinkle up their noses at.....there's a good reason they smell bad. They ARE! Wysong is a good brand, too, but both of our vets (one a homeopath, the other one a homeopath, too but also holistic in other methodologies) both agreed that you have to be more careful with it, as it's been quite well known to cause crystals in cats. Why, no one knew a few years ago, and maybe they've changed something since then, but I'm not sure cuz we had a problem with it, so had to stop using it and I never went back to it.

There IS a problem with feeding nothing BUT protein, as their diets must still be balanced according to what a cat's body needs. Hence the availability now of plenty of raw food diets for cats (and dogs) that either include supplements &/or tell you to add a bit of veggies or other things to round it out. (they provide full instructions) Or some are only the additions and you have to find the (preferably organically-raised) meat and add it.

With Nissa, and her failing kidneys, after a few years I HAD to start decreasing the proportion of protein in her diet ( but NOT to virtually none, as is so often erroneously prescribed!!) so I added either white or brown cream of (whole) rice, from 10-25% by volume into her canned food. Whole, because whole grains/ food are what we SHOULD be eating, and rice is much more easily digestible by cats (or humans).

It's also a very good idea to add extra (purified) water to canned food, too, particularly if you have a cat who doesn't drink much on their own, as many don't. About 1-2 T.'s/ plate of food works well to keep them properly hydrated and the kidneys flushing out waste better. You can play it by ear to see how much water they'll tolerate in their food before it dilutes the taste too much for them.

So a BIG, FAT NO to your question, from me! Cats do NOT "need" dry food and in fact should never have been subjected to it in the first place. Any pet supply store who knows their stuff will tell you, from best, better to worst, in order is: a raw food diet; best quality canned food; dry only if you must, or only as an occasional or very tiny treat.

Best of luck on the continuing research and happy reading!