Best Cat Health

Blog Moved

2011-09-12T16:16:00.003+08:00

Please note that I have moved this blog to Natural Cat Health

Sterilising Cats - Is This The Best Answer?

2011-07-11T15:44:00.001+08:00

Recently, I was making enquiries about sterilising my young female cat. Female sterilisation is a horrible process at the best of times, in the complete removal of the whole reproductive system. In males, it isn’t quite so drastic, with only the testes being removed.

Any proponent of natural medicine will tell you that there is more than just the physical to a life form and all her/his internal organs. In Chinese Traditional Medicine, each organ is matched to an emotion, and it’s so easy to see the connection. The liver is related to anger. Even our language can relate to this - to be liverish is to be irritable. The kidneys are the focus of fear, where adrenaline is released in a fight or flight situation.

What are we doing to the animal when we remove the organs? I have always sterilised my animals in the past, because I don’t want an endless supply of kittens and puppies. But there must be a better way.

I asked around if there is a way with homeopathy, but couldn’t find much on that.

When I approached a couple of vets about a partial sterilisation (removal of just the ovaries or the uterus), I was met with a strange argument. It goes something like this - the uterus is always removed because a female cat may get pyometra. Pyometra is a discharge from the uterus which may indicate uterine cancer.

The ovaries are removed to prevent the animal coming into season as it is considered to be psychologically confusing for the animal not to be able to breed.

It is not uncommon, under the current tyranny of fear, to have an organ removed ‘in case’ you get cancer in said organ. It’s good business for the surgeon, but is it good for your health, or your cat’s? Surely it is better to look at the causes of the problem and rectify them? Are smokers advised to have their lungs removed ‘in case’ they get lung cancer?

One of the main reasons cats get cancer is their diet. It’s not just me who thinks this. Dr Pottenger of the 1930s discovered that all the chronic diseases in cats were the result of diet. Your vet supplies you with (and profits from) the very food that causes chronic illness (and so a second profit is made). Holistic vets will always get you to make the diet change (and so lose out on sales) as a priority.

The idea of psychological problems arising from an inability to breed is undeniable. But that will occur whether or not there is the where-with-all to do so. So in addition, there is also the psychological problems from having the organs removed, from disrupting the natural flow of energy. Just because we can’t see any problems, doesn’t mean there aren’t any.

For exclusively indoor cats, it seems a completely unnecessary, not to mention expensive, exercise. However, that does mean you will have the antics of your cat in season yowling for a mate for a few days every few months.

It’s interesting to note that the common side effect of sterilisation is a skin eruption. George MacLeod, the first English vet to turn totally to homeopathy after his health improved immeasurably, advocates routinely the remedy that is used for suppressed anger.

If cats have suppressed anger from sterilisation, this is in addition to the interruption of the natural flow of energy (or chi) as well as the psychological effects of not being able to breed.

Of course, most cats with this eruption will then be treated with steroids, rather than addressing the anger, setting up yet another problem.

I don’t know what the best answer to feline birth control is, and it will vary depending on the cat and what their person feels. But I do know that the present solution of sterilisation is far from perfect.

Are you interested in having a naturally healthy cat?

The Homeopathic Treatment of Feline Viral Rhinotracheitis

2011-05-11T09:21:00.002+08:00

Recently I treated a kitten for what may have been feline viral rhinotracheitis. Although knowing a medical disease label has little use in most homeopathic prescribing, in some instances it can be helpful. These incidences include animals, with the lack of subjective symptoms, and diseases which are serious and can quickly deteriorate.

I don’t rely on a blood test or a vet’s diagnosis, but on the development of the symptoms themselves.

The only reason this can be helpful, is because an extra remedy can be used, to help the process along. In these cases, the extra support comes from what is called disease nosodes. The main remedy is still the most important one, with the nosode simply giving an extra boost.

The reasons I felt this 4 month old kitten had FVR included:

it’s common in young cats
the upper respiratory and an eye were affected
the eye was sticking closed
there had been some sneezing
there was a fever
this can be severe

Only the left eye was affected and this was red, with swollen tissue, resembling raw meat. This eye discharge was acrid by nature. The severity of the condition was indicated by a total lack of appetite and a lack of energy; he sept a lot. He was cold, shivering.

This kitten had been reared on a quality natural diet. He had always had a good appetite. There had been no stresses in his life, no sudden shocks or griefs, at least that were known. So no obvious link.

This kitten’s person worked with me, over the period. She kept me informed of each day’s progress, or lack of. She changed remedies as instructed. It was a pleasure to work with her.

The kitten kept drinking, although there was no appetite. This is important to monitor as you don’t want the added complication of dehydration. After a couple of days, he suddenly recovered his appetite and tucked into his evening meal with gusto. The following day he resumed his energetic, kitten behaviour. His recovery was fast. He still sneezed occasionally and although much improved, his eye was still a little swollen.

This is the correct order for cure. His systemic conditions - energy and appetite - should recover first, with the physical symptoms improving along the way.

An incredibly important aspect of homeopathic treatment is monitoring the progress.. It is not simply a question of finding the best matched remedy. Knowing what should happen (which is not always the obvious), how to dance around what does happen, potency selection and dose repetition are all vitally important for a successful recovery.

Whilst I am a great advocate for everyone learning how to home prescribe homeopathically, there are times when it is not practical or advisable. This was one of them.

And last but not least, have you sen this beautiful Youtube of a cat interacting with dolphins? How little we know about nature and animals.
Cat and Dolphins Playing Together

The Homeopathic Treatment of Cat Flu and Other Infections

2011-03-14T11:31:00.000+08:00

The homeopathic treatment of cat flu is the same as all infections - we treat the host, the immune system, the energetic imbalance that allows infections to occur. Not the infection itself.

Homeopaths have little interest in bacteria, virus’ and other pathogens. These are all naturally occurring and have a place in healing. For example, bacterial numbers increase to prevent a viral infection.

So when homeopathy is used to treat a cat with a bacterial infection, the selection of the most appropriate medicine is determined by the cat’s individual symptoms.

To show you what I mean, here are just a few of the factors we need to consider before we make a curative medicine selection:

how quickly it started, such as over hours or over days
what happened to the cat (or patient) prior to the infection - this often indicates the cause, such as fearful event, injury, vaccination, etc
what is the cat’s personality like - eg smoochy, irritable, aloof, etc
has this changed with the cat flu
what parts of the body are affected - nose, eyes, throat, lungs or all or some of them
what is the nature of the discharge - bland or acrid, scanty or profuse
what is the colour and texture of the discharge - thick, thin, clear, yellow, green, etc
is there any coughing or sneezing
if so, what is the character - eg wet, dry, in spasms or singly, etc
is there a worse or better time of day for the cat or the symptoms
what is the cat’s energy like - sleeping more, restless, etc
what is the cat’s appetite like
is there a change in the cat’s thirst

This gives you an idea of the depth of knowledge needed to make an accurate prescription.

It is a totally different way of thinking to mainstream health care. You need to be more like a detective than a doctor. And a very observant detective, a veritable Sherlock Holmes. Nothing is ever left out. Nothing is ever not considered. Not even the reaction to our own remedies.

This concept can be hard to get your head around quickly. Don’t worry if it is hard. Just be open to the idea.

For any infection, it is not necessary to concern yourself with how contagious it is, and so to protect others. Often the very anxiety of infection will allow it to happen. But life is much deeper than that.

Health isn’t about protecting your cat from disease. Health is all about raising her immune system, her intangible energetic life force, to a level where nothing affects her. This works across all the planes - mental, emotional, physical. While this result may seem like a tall order, the process of getting there isn’t.

It’s possible that this goal may not be achieved in one life time, but surely it is preferable to continue to improve your cat’s health, than to undermine it with continual drugs.

Humanity appears to be in a secretive era. it doesn’t like to see symptoms of disease. It prefers to drive this inwards and make everything appear OK, even if the cat is seething underneath.

The suppression of symptoms does not bode well for the future health of your cat. Suppression works against the body’s best attempts to cure itself. Suppression merely deals with the effects of disease, not the cause.

Challenge yourself to start a journey of thinking outside the square. The rewards can be endless and seemingly miraculous...

Homeopathic Treatment of Feline Stomatitis, Cat Gum Disease

2011-01-31T12:42:00.003+08:00

Although I have written about the homeopathic treatment of feline stomatitis (gum disease or inflammation of the gums) before, I regularly get requests for more information on this important issue.

Before we get into the treatment of this condition, let’s look at the cause. It’s always far better knowing the cause and addressing that, rather than treating a problem, while maintaining the cause.

Richard Pitcairn is perhaps the leading veterinarian cum homeopath in the US. He qualified as a vet in 1965 and soon after that he studied homeopathy.

So he has a large reservoir of knowledge to draw upon.

He tells of the common problems in cats (and dogs) in that period before he became a homeopathic vet. And guess what - THERE WAS NO STOMATITIS in cats his early days as a vet. And it wasn’t just in his practice. Other vets claimed the same.

So what does this mean?

Well, in my opinion, there have been two big changes in the care of cats since 1965 or thereabouts.

One is the diet.

The other is the increased use of vaccines.

Despite the spin done to influence buyers, most commercial pet food is one of the greatest scourges of our time. From the low cost and quality of the ‘meat’, to the indigestible filler which helps to bulk out the ‘meat’ to the added chemicals to preserve (despite claims on the packet to the contrary), to colour, to flavour, to make it smell and taste good enough for cats to eat, to the ‘nutrients’ added to address the low quality.

I don’t want to go into the reasons why most mainstream vets push commercial pet food. But one thing I will say is that veterinary schools are always short of money, as are most colleges and universities today. They welcome financial assistance. The commercial pet food industry is a lucrative business and they can easily help out.

Holistic vets always advocate natural food as the way to preserve the health of their patients, even though it means a drop in business.

What does your vet encourage you to do?

I, along with probably all natural therapists, am no advocate of vaccines. We recognise they do tremendous harm, not just with all their questionable ingredients (such as mercury, aluminium, squalene, formaldehyde, cross species tissue, etc), but also because they by-pass all the subtle ways a body has evolved to increase their resistance to disease.

However, in the majority of cases, vaccines are less damaging than a diet of commercial pet food. Food is eaten every day. The vaccines are normally only once a year.

The frequency of consumption of this maintaining cause is perhaps the single most important reason why younger and younger cats are getting stomatitis.

The homeopathic treatment of feline stomatitis, along with all homeopathic treatment, must be tailored to the individual cat’s symptoms, and if possible, personality. When this is done well, the stomatitis will clear up quickly.

But it will return if the cause is also not addressed.

Dr Pottenger (of the 1940s) claimed that all degenerative feline disease are as a result of their diet. Fed a natural diet, the diseases disappeared.

Is the world of cat health going forwards or backwards? Who profits most from your cat’s lack of health?

Just to end with a smile on your face, I include two photos I was recently sent by Sally L. Thanks Sally.

I offer Skype/telephone consultations worldwide for both people and animals. For more information please click here

Homeopathy Treats FIP, Feline Infectious Peritonitis

2011-01-04T10:51:00.000+08:00

Someone recently asked me about FIP, or feline infectious peritonitis. This is a serious disease, on the rise.

FIP can occur at any time, but it is seems to be more common in a young cat especially the very slim, more Oriental breeds.

By the way, FIP is not infectious or peritonitis. The feline bit is right! So you don’t need to fear other cats will be affected.

Since this is more common in young cats, let’s look at what we put cats through in their early life. First of all they are taken from their mother and litter mates at far too young an age. Often this is at six weeks. Yet kittens will stay with their mothers in the wild for 6 - 12 months. There is a very good reason for this as the mother teaches the kittens, as well as nurtures.

Because we can’t see emotional trauma, and because most of humanity has a misguided conception that animals don’t feel, we can’t even begin to understand what this does to a kitten, and particularly to a sensitive kitten. You only have to see what happens to a young child when taken from his mother for the first time, to begin to get an idea of what all kittens go through.

Then the kitten is either taken to a new home, a rescue centre or a pet shop. This experience will be daunting to even a well adjusted kitten. New food, new people, new animals, new routine, new energy.

With great care and love, the kitten may be able to pull through this double experience of separation and adaptation without too many mental scars. But a sensitive kitten may not be able to.

Add to this, a trip to the vet to get vaccinations and you may just be tipping the balance against the odds.

Whatever your thoughts of injections and vaccines are, they do cause a shock to the body system. Particularly the common use of multiple vaccines. If you are already close to the edge, this can be enough to tip you over.

FIP is difficult to treat medically and normally results in death, soon after the diagnosis. Homeopathically, it can be treated successfully, but this will depend on the other treatment to date, and on the time lapse of starting the treatment after the symptoms develop.

This is not an easy condition to treat, and needs the services of an experienced homeopath as well as your full cooperation. So it is better to avoid, what I consider to be the cause. If you do adopt a young kitten, I suggest you put off the trip to the vet for a few weeks, until the kitten is thoroughly settled in. By providing a quality, natural diet, you will be building up the kitten’s immune system. In itself, this is by far the best way to avoid disease.

As Richard Pitcairn, an American homeopathic vet says, ‘if you want to undermine a cat’s health, give him old food laden with chemicals’, which is what the majority of commercial pet food is.

Other areas to consider in making your cat super-healthy and resistant to disease is to ensure they are able to be themselves:

Cats love freedom, so try to allow them at least some time outside. And ensure they have an escape, especially from small children.
Cats love the sun. Direct sun is best, rather than through glass, plastic or shade cloth.
Cats are sensitive animals, so keep your house or their environment clear of chemicals. Catteries and rescue centres normally disinfect cat pens, which is highly toxic. Disinfection with steam is a safer alternative.
Cats generally are fearful animals. Provide a calm atmosphere, free of emotions running high, free from sudden or loud noises.

Above all, learn to listen to what your cat is saying to you.. You can only do this when you are calm and quiet yourself. The messages can come through as body language or thoughts. Be open.

Cats Playing Pattycake

2010-12-13T09:30:00.003+08:00

Homeopathy - Treatment of Cat Kidney Failure

2010-11-17T09:17:00.003+08:00

One of the greatest challenges for a homeopath is treating an animal. Homeopathy relies very much on subjective symptoms, such as how someone feels or the sensation of the pain (aching, shooting, burning, dragging, etc). So, to be successful in treating an animal, you have to develop other skills.

Observation of body language is useful not just in treating animals, but allows a true picture of a human to come through, too. Humans tend to compensate a lot, to conform to their society, culture, religion, family, friends, peer group, etc. Humans are a herd animal and most feel more comfortable if they are accepted by members of their chosen group.

However, this may not be in accordance with their true nature.

So to some extent, both humans and animals are difficult to treat because they either can’t or won’t tell you their true essential selves.

As a consequence, homeopaths have to develop good observing skills. I often liken the need for a homeopath to develop good detective abilities.

When I was a student homeopath, one of my cats stopped eating. After a couple of days, I took her to the vet, who diagnosed kidney failure. His prognosis was poor.

Refusing his proffered drugs, I brought her home and pored over my books. Trying to bring in all her subtle signs and symptoms was a challenge, but not impossible.

After extensive research, I gave her the indicated homeopathic remedy. It was from a home made kit I had recently bought, all in plastic bottles. Plastic is porous, so not suitable for the storage of homeopathic remedies. All the potencies of the remedies was very low, mostly 6x.

However, I did have the remedy, so I gave her one dose. Within 10 minutes she came to me and asked for food. Her appetite never looked back.

She required only a few more doses, before the condition completely cleared up. She lived several more healthy years, after this.

My double delight in not only healing my cat, but in my first successful case (human or animal), knew no bounds!

And a little delight in proving the medical profession wrong did not go unnoticed!

But it also taught me a lot more, subsequently. The main lessons I got from this in later years, was that if you get the right remedy, you can get wonderful results even with a low potency. The other important point is that you don’t necessarily need many doses.

People often give many doses, in desperation for something to happen. But, with the right remedy, that something normally happens quickly. Best results come from putting the time in to get the right remedy.

By hassling your homeopath, or asking for a quick fix, you can be pretty sure you won’t get the desired results. Relax and allow time to arrive at the best remedy. You have the rest of your life to enjoy the results.

Homeopathy Heals an Unusual Skin Disorder

2010-09-20T12:00:00.000+08:00

Homeopaths are generally well trained in looking for causes of ill health. Causes tend to be whatever was happening in your life when the condition started. This is easy to see when an injury causes a wound. But it becomes more difficult to see when it’s an emotional cause, a medical cause or the problem started many years ago.

Vaccinations can be the cause of many health problems both immediately following the vaccine, and many years later. Fever is a common occurrence immediately following, but other deeper problems can show up years later.

In pets, the common site for a vaccine is at the shoulders. Year after year, the same site is used. Consideration to the repeated vaccines as the cause of tumours that can form at this site, should always be given.

But health problems aren’t always acquired. They can be inherited, too.

One of my cats, Lexy, recently had an unusual skin problem. A small skin eruption developed at her shoulders. This was obviously very itchy as she scratched it til it bled. Then continued to scratch it until she had made a small, raw area.

Initially, I just observed what was happening. However, as the condition deteriorated, I had to do something. Exactly what, I was unsure because this was only occurring in an isolated spot.

Although I did consider a vaccine as the cause, Lexy has never been vaccinated. I don’t vaccinate. I never have, even when I didn’t know what I know now. Somehow, something always help me back.

Had she been vaccinated before she came to me? She, and her litter mates, were left at a pet shop where I used to collect the numerous unwanted kittens and take them to a cat’s rescue home. Somehow, Lexy ended up at my home, rather than the cat’s home...

I know the pet shop in question did not vaccinate the pets they sold, let alone the pets they considered surplus to their needs. It’s so unlikely that someone will vaccinate kittens they dump at a pet shop, that I feel confident to say Lexy has never had a vaccine in her life.

I tried various homeopathic medicines that are good at resolving itchy skin eruptions. They helped initially, but then relapsed. And subsequent dosing didn’t have the same effect.

There was something I wasn’t getting.

So I went back to the vaccine theory. Perhaps she had inherited this problem from a vaccinated parent or ancestor?

I had to try this idea out.

I dosed her with the feline vaccine remedy. This is made from the vaccination itself. You can make a homeopathic remedy out of anything and making them from the drug that caused the problem, although not always necessary, can be very helpful.

It started to clear up. It healed up better than it had before.

She did need quite a few doses, but each one took the healing on to another stage.

Now it has almost completely healed. All that remains is for the fur to grow back.

Bearing in mind the origin of this medicine, it is unlikely that the cause of her health problem was anything other than a vaccine in her family history.

Lexy's skin eruption, not at its worst, but after

she had started scratching again

Lexy's skin eruption site healing nicely.

Listening to Animals, Learning from Their Behaviour, Even if it is Aggressive

2010-07-12T09:14:00.003+08:00

As humans, we are so preoccupied with the logical side of our brain, and the ‘doing’ nature that this entails, that we normally completely miss the subtleties of life that surround us every day, or the ‘being’ of our nature.

There’s a saying ‘instead of cursing the dark, light a candle’.

I know I’ve talked about this before, and probably will endlessly, but if you were ‘kept’ by a well meaning giant, who was kind, but you couldn’t communicate with at all, how would you get your message across? Would you ultimately get frustrated, angry, even aggressive sometimes?

Body language is what everyone uses all the time, in addition to words. We have learned to focus on the words, which can be unreliable. But body language is unconscious and never lies. Eyes are one way to easily see if someone is lying, which is why some cultures hide their eyes when talking, especially when doing business deals.

Animals use body language just as much as we do, but sadly, most people don’t take any notice of it.

Yet it is by taking notice of body language that we can tell what an animal is trying to say. What other methods do they have at their disposal to try to make us understand their needs.

My favourite example is of a dog being dragged into a vet’s clinic, tail between his legs. Isn’t the message clear? Can an animal make his point any better?

HE DOESN’T WANT THE TREATMENT!

Yet, the great, arrogant, ego driven human takes no notice at all, firmly believing that we know best, and the dog knows nothing.

Recently, a woman rang me for a consultation about her aggressive cat. This was a young cat and she had only recently started the behaviour of attacking the woman’s legs, biting and kicking much more than is acceptable.

The woman had searched the internet and come up with various sites which tried to sell the idea the cat was just ‘acting up’, whatever that means.

She was wise enough to understand that this was unlikely. Instead she arranged for a consultation.

We couldn’t pin point the exact date this had started to happen, so I decided we had to start with the basics. Let’s get the diet sorted out and see what happens. Commercial pet food is one of the main causes of health problems. At the same time, I posted some supportive treatment to undo any damage that may have occurred from the vaccinations and sterilisation, both areas that can knock health badly off centre.

She emailed me before the treatment arrived. She had noticed the start of a change in her cat’s behaviour after just two days, with a big change after six days.

She had been told by several people, including her vet, that this diet was unacceptable. Yet it cured the problem. In her heart, she knew it was the right thing to do, she just needed someone to confirm her feelings.

Inside, we all know what is best, but are easily swayed by those in authority. Perhaps it’s time to let the influence of the powers of authority go. Accept that they may or may not have something useful to offer, but this must resonate with you. If it doesn’t, let it go.

You have inner wisdom. You may not know it or use it, but it is there. It’s simply a matter of accepting it, using it, making mistakes, then appreciating what it brings to your life.

Authority figures have their own agendas that may not support you and your dependents health or best interests. Take responsibility for your life, don’t give it to someone else.

Here are some suggestions when dealing with animals.

1 - Accept animals as equals. They may be different, but they are not inferior to us in any way.
2 - Put yourself in their shoes.
3 - Learn to read body language.
4 - At all times, keep your cool. If you find yourself getting irritated or angry (or judgmental), drop it and come back later.
5 - Don’t think you have all the answers. Animals can teach us much if we bother to listen. Accept that you may have to stretch the boundaries of your mind into uncomfortable areas, sometimes. Being uncomfortable is OK, just acknowledge it.
6 - Learn to understand the species world. For example, dogs are pack animals. They need a natural leader and a pack (you and the family). A dog on his own is miserable. Cats are lone animals. Although they may enjoy a companion, they don’t need one as dogs do. Horses are herd animals and are happiest with at least one other companion. Rabbits also need companions. And so on.

After looking through the list, I decided it wasn’t a bad way for dealing with people either.

Can You Separate Your Cat's Health from Your Own?

2010-07-05T10:28:00.000+08:00

When I first became interested in a natural diet and health care for my animals, I was invited to a public talk, given by my veterinarian. She was heavily into alternative health care and soon after, she gave away the veterinary side of her practice all together

Even though this resulted in a substantial income reduction, she felt she could no longer carry out procedures which she knew to be harmful. Her biggest bug bear was vaccination.

Her talk inspired me. She narrated how she had been visiting a relative overseas, who wanted her to treat her cat.

The cat was very timid, spending much of the day hiding under the bed covers. Geraldine, my vet, observed that this was exactly how her relative, Odette was. She was hiding at home, hardly daring to leave her home unless it was absolutely necessary.

Geraldine was an old hand at observing the similarities between people and their pets, so she set about treating Odette, rather than her cat. She decided to use the Bach Flower Essences.

Odette kept in touch, and over the coming weeks and months, reported her progress. She was becoming increasingly brave, venturing out and about at an increasingly regular rate.

AT THE SAME TIME, almost in step with Odette's improvement, her cat started venturing around the house and then outside. He even wanted to spent a night outside on occasion, something that was completely unusual as it was formally very fearful for him.

And yet, he had received no treatment AT ALL!

Why am I telling you this?

Natural therapists know only too well that animals seem to take on the same attributes as their humans. It's as if they are helping us carry the load, by sharing it. Or perhaps they are reflecting back to us, who we are.

Whatever it is, your health is inextricably linked to that of your cats.

If you want the best for your cat, then the first thing to do is to start by sorting out your own problems. Lighten up. Seek appropriate health care, preferably holistic, preferably homeopathic. By sorting yourself out, you have gone a long way to sorting out the health of your cat.

Cats With Gingivitis - Two Natural Ways to Resolve it

2010-05-31T14:42:00.000+08:00

Cats with gingivitis seem to be so common now. And yet, cats can’t suffer from it in the wild, as they would quickly die. So we need to look in this direction for the cure.

Gingivitis is the inflammation of the gums and this can occur at any age in any breed. Not only is this a painful problem, it shows that the health of your cat is not good.

It also means that the teeth may becomes affected later. Perhaps loosen, and then fall out.

However, with the two following measures, you can prevent gingivitis in cats or restore balance if it has already occurred.

The first aspect any natural health professional will always try to address is to restore a healthy immune system. With this back in balance, everything slips back into natural order.

One of the main causes of cats with gingivitis is diet. Diet is critical to everyone’s health, not just your cats. Human diet can be shoddy at the best of times, but at least there are some, pretty basic laws, which govern the manufacturing and marketing of human food.

This is absent in cat food. Anything can, and does, occur. Such as:

preservatives that are highly toxic, despite the claims on the packet
high fat content, unusable in human food
low grade meat by-products (rejects for human consumption, with questionable protein content)
cheap filler such as melamine, sugar or crushed nutshells

Please don’t think that the processed food recommended by your veterinarian is any better.

Quality raw meat and bones, on the other hand, provide a cat with complete and balanced nutrition. Crunching up on small raw bones keep the teeth clean, the gums healthy and their minds happy. Dry food doesn’t come close to achieving this, despite the claims.

Cats on this diet rarely suffer from gingivitis.

In the interim, between changing over to a quality raw diet, the cat may still need some help with the gingivitis. The homeopathic medicine Mercurius can be used successfully in restoring healthy gums when the cat’s symptoms include”

gums are red and swollen
the mouth appears dirty
there is excess salivation
ulceration may or may not be present
symptoms are worse at night

A Terrified Feral Cat Transformed

2010-05-25T09:33:00.000+08:00

I adopted a feral kitten several years ago. She’d also suffered a bad human experience, making her doubly fearful. Although she settled in well, she was always rather timid and the other cats soon learned to pick on her weaknesses. So much so, that she eventually decided to live outside. At least she had peace at night, when the others were shut inside.

Periodically I dosed her with a remedy I thought would help, but as the years went by with no improvement, I tended to be content that she was safe and well fed, even though frightened.

A few months ago, I started to use mental imaging for things I wanted to change in my life. The problems we have as humans, is that even though we want to change, it’s like pulling yourself out of a rut. You need a helping hand.

I chose to imagine Siobhan calmly walking into the house on her own, sitting beside other (bullying) cats, washing them and being washed by them. I imaged her eating side by side with the others.

The energy of this imagery was an invitation, rather than desperation (it works better this way).

Prior to the imagery, I connected’ with Siobhan by visualising her heart, then my heart, then a string connecting our hearts.

I did this imagery periodically, when I remembered to. There were large stretches when I didn’t do it, focussing on other areas.

However, at some stage, I did get an intuitive feeling to treat her with a remedy I had tried before, but in a higher potency (strength).

Within a few days, I noticed a shift in her energy. She still didn’t come in, but she seemed somewhat less timid.

At some stage, when I felt it appropriate I dosed her again.

Last week, she seemed to want to come in, so I placed her dishes a couple of feet inside the door near where she ate. After a bit of hesitation, she came in, ate her food and went straight out.

A great move forward.

This lasted a week.

Then she seemed not to want to go straight out. She explored, then found a place to sit. She settled then smiled at me, inviting me to cuddle her. I approached this cautiously as she had resisted my approaches for years.

She allowed me to stroke her, then lift her up. She was purring.

Even I have been stunned by the speed of her transformation and I’m used to seeing this sort of thing.

Truly, the earth moves under good homeopathic treatment.

Good Cat Health Prevents Worms - Discover the Secret to Achieve This

2010-05-22T15:48:00.000+08:00

Good cat health will prevent worms, fleas and disease. There can be no higher ideal. A healthy cat will never have a proliferation of worms or fleas and will always be able to resist any passing health problem.

The confusion arises about peoples different interpretations of what constitutes good cat health. However, I believe it can be easy to cut through the hype and focus on what is really important.

When you consider that man has only been messing about with cats health for less than 100 years, it really isn’t long enough to have discovered much. Compare this with the millions of years that cats have evolved. Nature has had a much longer time period to perfect the diet and health.

Man is ego driven and profit driven. Neither of these aspects spell truth, honesty and integrity. It’s much more likely that someone wants to persuade you to their way of thinking, either because it will profit them financially, or because it will help to bolster up their ego. So you need to ask yourself if the information given is also good for your cat’s health.

If you start to feed your cat according to how she evolved, then her health, her immune system, will improve. Anyone with a healthy immune system is immune to the proliferation of parasites and the onset of disease.

Parasites, in small numbers, are not necessarily a problem. Every body teems with bacteria. You can’t survive without it. Neither can your cat. And some internal parasites are also beneficial. What becomes a problem, is the proliferation, the out-of-control breeding.

When you feed your cat a raw diet, according to her evolution, the meat is digested quickly. This means there is no time for it to hang up in pockets in the intestines, allowing over-breeding to occur.

If you feed your cat the low quality commercial pet food, so typical of today, this is not digested easily. It passes through the digestive tract slowly, allowing over-breeding to occur.

It’s always more beneficial to find the cause of any problem and remedy that, rather than treating the effect. This is never as satisfactory.

Seasonal Change of Coat Promotes Healthy Vomiting in Your Cat

2010-05-10T10:23:00.000+08:00

Cats, as do all furry animals, change their coats in spring and autumn. The old coat moults out as the new, more appropriate coat grows.

However, as cats are fastidiously clean animals, spending many hours each day grooming, they ingest a lot of fur normally, but much more at these seasonal changes.

This results in more vomiting than usual. Vomiting up the ingested fur, often as a hair ball, but also as loose fur, is a natural and normal way for the cat to expel this.

Frequently, people panic about their cat vomiting (as someone delightfully put it to me recently, she is a worrying cat slave:)) and rush their cat off to the vet, often to be given a toxic medicine.

When all the cat was doing was expelling something she didn't want.

By learning to differentiate between when vomit is a normal, healthy cleansing process necessary for a healthy cat, and when it is a cause for concern, you can save yourself a lot of money and anguish, and your cat unnecessary medication, not to mention the stress of the vet's visit.

Other natural and normal vomit for a cat is when they eat grass and then bring that back up, accompanied by saliva. When they bring up shards of raw bone when fed a natural diet is also normal. A cat who is suffering from food poisoning will have vomiting and diarrhoea for about 12 hours. If it eases after this, your cat is coping well. If it continues, appropriate homoeopathic treatment can quickly resolve the problem.

Learn to inspect the vomit before deciding what to do.

Question - Which is the Most Nutritious Low Cost Cat Food. Answer - The Most Expensive!

2010-04-26T12:52:00.000+08:00

Which is the most nutritious low cost cat food? Can you have a nutritious and a low cost cat food? Isn’t it a bit like asking if you can have your cake and eating it, too?

The great thing is that you can.

But it doesn’t come in any can or packet.

Nutritious cat food needs to be the type of food that your cat has evolved on. After all, that has been going on for rather a long time.

Whereas processed act food has been going on for only a few decades.

Cats are notoriously fussy eaters. This is because they prefer to kill their food and eat it immediately. Which means they prefer super fresh meat and bones.

Fresh meat is the healthiest. Would you eat stale meat? It’s much more likely to contain harmful pathogens. And cats know this.

Processed food, at best, is the rejects from human food processing plants. Which means it’s low grade and usually not fresh at all.

By buying human grade meat and bones (in the form of chicken necks and wings) and feeding this raw to your cat, you will be getting as close as you can to the diet they evolved on.

That’s the most nutritious food for your cat, without a shadow of a doubt.

But is it the lowest cost?

On the surface, I’m sure you’ll agree that it sounds as if it’s one of the most expensive diets.

But, when you feed your cat real food, they need much less than poor quality food. Nutrient dense food will satisfy them quickly. Nutrient poor food will never satisfy them, so they will always be hungry.

Don’t suspect worms, although that may be a problem. Suspect the quality of the food you are feeding.

Couple that with the fact that a nutritious cat food will keep your cat healthier longer, and imagine the veterinarian bills you won’t be paying out.

Learning which is the most nutritious low cost cat food can mean a win-win situation - your cat’s health and your wallet.

Cat Worms and How to Eliminate Them Naturally

2010-04-19T13:38:00.000+08:00

Cat worms can be a problem. There are two main types. The roundworm is normally limited to kittens. Once treated, it won’t return. You know if they have it, as they vomit them up. It looks like they had a meal of spaghetti.

The other common worm is tapeworm. This appears as tiny grains of rice in the stools. Initially they will move, but they die quite quickly when exposed to the air. Then the colour changes from white to yellowy.

It is generally considered that tapeworms are picked up from cats eating animals which are infected with tapeworm. But I disagree.

It is my opinion that every single health problem, including fleas and worms are a direct result of a compromised immune system. If your cat has a good healthy immunity, the worms will be in the quantity which is natural.

Bowel flora is totally natural. Some worms are beneficial. It’s the proliferation which is unhealthy.

When cats are fed a diet of processed food, this is not easily digested. It hangs up in pockets of the intestines, creating perfect opportunities for the worms to breed to excess.

Raw food, on the other hand, digests quickly. It moves through the bowel quickly, creating little opportunity for the worms to do anything that is not normal and natural.

Getting to the cause of any problem and dealing with that is so much more efficient that simply dealing (mostly badly) with the effect.

A raw meat and bones diet is one that cats evolved on, long before we arrived on the scene. It’s the optimum diet for a healthy immune system. It cannot be improved upon.

Keeping Cat Teeth Healthy in a Single, Not Always Easy, Step

2010-04-11T15:10:00.002+08:00

Cat teeth should remain white and sharp all their lives. Their gums should be pink and plump. Yet it’s common for cats to have tartar on their teeth, to have missing teeth or to need a tooth extraction occasionally.

This is unpleasant for the cat and expensive for you.

How can you ensure your cat’s teeth remain in good order all their lives?

There is one simple answer to this. You can’t. Not totally. Occasionally a cat will break a canine tooth. This doesn’t matter, as domestic cats have no need for the canine teeth, which help hold a struggling prey animal.

But you can do something really simple to preserve the other teeth, as well as the gums.

And that is to make sure their diet includes meaty bones. Such as chicken necks or wings. A whole neck or half a wing of an average sized chicken, once a day, will provide all your cats needs. As long as they spend time crunching up the bones.

Crunching bones keeps cat teeth clean and free from tartar, massages the gums and keeps their minds happy.

Don’t have any fears about ingesting splintered bones. Cats evolved on a diet of small rodents and can cope very well with raw bones.

It’s the cooked chicken bones that are the hazard. Always feed your cat RAW bones.

And keep the size in proportion to what a cat would naturally hunt. Chicken thigh bones are too big and may chip their teeth.

Many people think that dried processed cat food pellets do the same job. After all the packet tells you it does. I can assure you that they don’t even come close to doing the job. For many reasons.

It’s not always easy to convince an adult cat that a raw chicken wing is delicious. Imagine trying to change your kids diet from fast food to fresh fruit. Do you think the change over will be easy? Will be without problems?

The same goes for your cat.

Feline Leukemia Has One Basic Cause

2010-03-29T12:42:00.000+08:00

Feline leukemia is becoming quite common these days. And there are only a few reasons for this. But before we go into this, let me first quote a veterinarian, S Allan Price.

“I’ve been dealing with feline leukemia for years and I get disgusted with most veterinarians who advocate test and slaughter - that is if the cat tests positive, it’s best to kill it. We’ve had cats who have been able to climb trees and look normal in less than ten weeks. And I’m talking about cats who were brought in to us too weak even to stand up.”

Food for thought?

I don’t know the exact protocol that Dr Allan Price uses to treat feline leukemia, but I will hazard a good guess, bearing in mind the topic of the book he was quoted in.*

Diet.

With vaccination and pest control hard on its heels.

Cats evolved on a raw meat and bones diet. The processed food that most cats are fed is cooked. Cooking kills enzymes and other essential nutrients.

Sadly, that’s not the only problem with processed food. The quality of the meat is poor, even in the most expensive brand. This is then padded out with a cheap filler, to stretch the meat. Then artificial nutrients are added to redress the poor nutrient content.

Worse to come, the very toxic preservatives ethoxyquin, carbolic acid or formaldehyde are used (despite what the label may say) to give the packet a long shelf life.

Vaccines contain heavy metals such as mercury and aluminium. Can this be healthy, injecting it straight into the blood stream?

Flea and worm preparations contain toxic poisons, such as cyanide, which affect the neurological system of the cat. They can also cause a thyroid malfunction.

The best thing you can do for feline leukemia, or any other feline disorder is to detox your cat. That means stop the vaccines and pesticide control. Start feeding your cat raw meat and bones.

That may be enough to bring your cat back.

The inclusion of a well selected homeopathic medicine can only assist your cat’s unloading. A holistic animal health professional will be able to help you with that.

* Keep Your Pet Healthy the Natural Way by Pat Lazarus

Homemade Cat Food Makes for the Healthiest Cat

2010-03-22T12:07:00.002+08:00

Homemade cat food means that you have control over what your cat eats, rather than a cat food manufacturer, who only has interest in the bottom line - his profit. He has no interest in the health of your cat.

If you take control of what your cat eats, then you have control over your cat’s health.

Health is inextricably linked to diet.

Garbage in, garbage out.

If you feed your cat the garbage that passes for cat food, then you can expect your cat to get many ailments. Expect your cat to cost you thousands in veterinary fees.

Some people think that homemade cat food is expensive.

But it isn’t on two counts.

One is that the amount you feed your cat is much less quality food than the large amount of processed food.

The reason is that quality food is nutrient dense. Processed food is nutrient poor.

So while you might be paying more for the food, you’re giving less of it.

The second reason is the health care. A cat fed quality homemade food is likely to be healthy right up to the end. Imagine the veterinarian bills you’re not spending.

And learning what to give and how to feed your cat is not difficult. The most important points to remember is that cats evolved on a raw food diet, so that’s the one they do best on.

The other important thing to remember is that their most important needs are meat and bones, so both should form the bulk of their diet. Make sure the bones are always raw, never cooked, as these can splinter and cause problems.

Homemade cat food, made with quality ingredients and personal dedication will make for a happy and healthy cat.

Natural Treatment of Feline Diabetes Can Totally Resolve It

2010-03-17T08:26:00.000+08:00

Feline diabetes is becoming quite common. And there are some very effective homeopathic medicines which can help. But I believe there is an underlying cause. And that if this is addressed, the problem will disappear.

I believe cats are too toxic. In some ways, this is a by product of today's’ industrialised world. You can’t get away from that. But I don’t believe that is the heart of the problem. It’s closer to home.

Cats are very sensitive to chemicals. Much more so than we are, so the use of chemical household cleaning products may not be doing them any good.

But the real reason behind feline diabetes, in my opinion, is their diet. If you feed your cat any form of a processed cat food, this is the most likely cause.

Processed cat food starts of with low grade meat or meat by-products. The better cuts are sold for human consumption, where a better price can be asked.

Then a cheap filler is added, to bulk out the ‘meat’. This can be anything from sawdust, to sugar, to crushed nut shells, to melamine. None of this is in your cat’s interest. And the addition of the sugar may be the straw that broke the camel’s back, as the saying goes.

But, by far the most damaging ingredient will be the preservative which allows a long shelf life. Good for business, but is it good for your cat?

Despite the label, preservatives must be used to ensure this long shelf life. And they are toxic. So toxic, they would not be allowed in human food. But as there are no laws governing cat food, they can legally be used. What am I talking about?

Ethoxyquin. Carbolic acid. Formaldehyde. I’m sure there are others I am yet to discover.

So by changing your cat’s diet to quality raw meat and bones and eliminating all processed cat food, you may find your cat makes a full recovery from feline diabetes.

Without any other help.

Cats With Yellow Vomit - How to Treat it Naturally

2010-03-08T12:07:00.000+08:00

Cats with yellow vomit generally means they have a liver or stomach problem. The liver and stomach are closely related, so what harms or helps one will have the same effect on the other.

Vomiting means your cat is trying to ride her body of something. Yellow vomit normally means a toxin.

The liver is where toxic substances are immediately sent, to be slowly and safely released for excretion. So the first thing you need to address is to eliminate all toxic substances from your cat’s diet, health care and environment.

Drugs are highly toxic and damage the liver, so by changing to a natural form of health care will do wonders for your cat’s health.

Processed cat food is not only highly toxic, but of extremely poor quality. So by feeding most processed cat foods, you are not only starving your cat, but also poisoning her.

By feeding your cat a home made quality raw meat and bones diet, you will add years and quality to her life.

The environment your cat lives in also needs to be poison free. Cats are extremely sensitive to chemicals, so if you can switch to non toxic household cleaners, fabrics and garden products, not only will your cat benefit, so will you.

Making these serious changes, may be too late for your cat, depending on how far advanced the process is. But it may be just what she needs to make a full recovery. You’ll never know if you don’t try.

Homeopathy is a natural and complete health care system for humans and animals. It can be used by home prescribers for the less serious health problems. Serious problems are best left to professional homeopaths.

However, if you don’t have access to one, you can do a lot yourself, especially with the help of a distant homeopath.

Homeopathic medicines work by stimulating the immune system to work more efficiently. If you pick the wrong medicine, nothing happens, no harm is done.

However, some skill is needed to match your cats symptoms to those of the potentially best medicine.

The homeopathic medicine Phosphorus is one of the top medicines for treating yellow vomit in cats or anyone else. The vomiting may have started as saliva, but has deteriorated over time to yellow matter.

The strong keynotes of Phosphorus include:

a great thirst especially for cold water, which may be vomited up after about 15 minutes
blood in the vomit, urine or stools
normally has a ravenous appetite but this may now be reduced
vomiting started with food that had recently been eaten (about 15 minutes earlier)
may have a history of respiratory problems
although very affectionate, may be easily frightened by sudden and loud noise

If you can match at least three of your cat’s symptoms to these keynotes, then Phosphorus may bring her health back.

Cats Health - How to Improve it in Three Easy Steps

2010-03-02T08:18:00.000+08:00

Your cats health may be in jeopardy. You may be blissfully unaware of the fact that you may be harming your cat and contributing to her ill health. But the fact remains, that you probably are.

You may be doing what you consider to be all the right things: you take her to the vet regularly, you buy the food s/he recommends, you keep fleas and worms under control by using the vets products, you vaccinate her every year. You spare no expense. Yet, still your cats health is not high.

Let’s look at each of these aspects one at a time.

Diet - the daily consumption of processed food (which is full of chemicals, low quality meat and cheap filler) is nutrient poor. The packet may look wonderful. It’s the contents that count. Apart from the quality, it’s cooked. Wild cats evolved on a raw meat and bones diet. Cooking destroys enzymes and many other essential nutrients.
Flea and worm control - cats are highly sensitive to chemicals. More so than we are. The chemicals in worm and flea preparations are guaranteed to cause health problems for your cat. The chemicals in their diet will contribute to this deleterious effect. Cats fed a totally raw diet have no worm problem and very few fleas.
Vaccinations - natural health professionals the world over know the problems that are associated with vaccines. They do tremendous harm, partly because of the ingredients. Depending on the vaccine, these contain mercury, aluminium, formaldehyde, squalene and other noxious ingredients. If your cats immune system is in peak condition, that will protect her from disease.

At one time, I visited several catteries to ask if they insisted on vaccinations to board a cat. Most did, but I did discover one very friendly owner. She told me that she also accepted cats who had been treated with the homeoprophylaxis immunisation (immunisation by the use of homeopathic medicines - HP).

What she then went on to say may surprise you. She told me that those cats who had received the HP never gave her any cause for concern. But those who had been conventionally vaccinated often contracted the disease they were supposed to be protected against.

Which cat is healthier?

How to Convert Your Cat to a Quality Diet

2010-02-22T15:40:00.002+08:00

You’ve made a decision. Your cat’s diet must change, for reasons of health and economics. Now you need to learn how to convert your cat to a quality diet.

Cats are not that easy to convince a change is good for them. Dogs are much easier to make changes with. They accept most food with enthusiasm, except when ill. Cats are very different. Whether it’s the appetite stimulants put into cat food, or whether cats dislike change, the reason is unimportant.

In practical terms, you can have a hard time of the change over. However, this can be simple if your follow these guidelines.

First of all, be utterly convinced you are doing the right thing. Be absolutely sure in your own mind, that the diet you currently feed your cat is doing her no good, and the raw diet you are substituting it for is going to do her a lot of good.

If you’re not very convinced, do some more research.

With this thought firmly fixed in your mind, your cat will read your determination and reasons clearly and will know it’s a waste of time to object. A token gesture may be all the objection raised.

Being determined yourself, with also ensure you stick to it, when the going gets tough.

Being aware that a change over to raw food is likely to bring an initial spring clean of a toxin clear-out. This can come in the form of vomiting, diarrhoea, skin eruptions and mild diseases. Although this can look alarming, it is a healthy sign and normally only lasts a few days to a week.

You can reduce these effects by gradually substituting the old food for the new raw food, over a period of about two weeks. Even if the new food is rejected, keeping reducing the old food.

A cat may fast for a few days, making her objection clear. But she will not starve herself. And a fast is a healthy thing all animals should have periodically. Hang in there!

Throw away (or give to your dog) the rejected food. Cats need very fresh food and will reject raw food that is slightly off (dogs, as carrion feeders don’t care).

Smearing the raw food with a tiny amount of a yeast spread or brewers yeast will entice most cats. Discontinue with the yeast spread as soon as the cat starts eating the food, as the high salt content is unhealthy.

Brewers yeast is a healthy supplement in small proportions. And most cats love it.

Once you try to advance the diet to include chicken bones, so healthy for gums and teeth, as well as the most natural form of calcium, your cat may balk again.

Start of with little pieces of chicken without bone. If this is hard to get your cat to eat, then heat very slightly, enough to stir an aroma, without whitening it. Once this is taken, start introducing pieces of chicken with bone in. Chop it up in to bite size chunks.

When you can hear the bone being crunched, you can increase the sizes, until the whole chicken neck, or half a chicken wing, is happily accepted. Even cats without teeth get to love the pieces of chicken and bone.

This process may sound an ordeal, but in reality it is a labour of love, to improve the health of your cat

How to Cure Your Cat Itching With Homeopathy and Diet

2010-02-15T15:57:00.000+08:00

If you are looking how to cure your cat itching, then you may find that homeopathic treatment provides you with all, and more, that you need.

There are two things about your cat itching that immediately spring to mind. One is that your cat’s immune system is compromised (to have the problem in the first place). The other is that it is not too badly damaged, as when the skin is showing up as the main area of disease expression, the host has only dropped one notch of health.

Compromised immune systems can come about from a variety of causes. Some of these include:

an unhealthy diet
your health (or lack of)
drugs and vaccines
chemicals in their environment (house and/or garden)

Surprising though it may seem, keeping yourself as healthy as possible, preferably by holistic means, will go a long way to keeping your cat healthy. It is becoming more obvious (as we are becoming more aware) that domestic pets tend to help us shoulder our burdens. So you need to work on you, for your cat’s sake if not your own.

A diet of processed food, by virtue of its daily consumption, is likely to create many health problems. A diet of processed pet food is as far away from a natural diet as it is possible to get. Holistic veterinarians do themselves out of a lucrative income by persuading their patient’s people to make a switch to a natural diet.

They find both mild and serious disease just disappear.

When the skin is used as the primary expression of disease, the patient is still in reasonable health. This is because the skin is the least important organ of the body. If skin eruptions are suppressed, then expression is sought in more important organs, such as the kidneys or the liver.

If you learn how to cure your cat itching with homeopathy, then you will do this by raising your cat’s immune system so she can now cure herself. But, by continuing with the processed diet, it will probably keep returning.

Whilst professional homeopathic help is probably your best option, you may be able to do some successful home prescribing. Rhus tox is a common homeopathic home prescribing medicine, as valuable to the practitioner as to the home prescriber. It may be a great medicine for your cat itching as long as the itching is intense and improves in the hot weather, worsening in the cold weather.

Cat Cystitis and How to Treat it Successfully in Two Steps

2010-02-08T17:19:00.000+08:00

Cat cystitis is common. Cystitis is an inflammation of the bladder and causes frequent and painful urination. Sometimes, but not always, the cat will cry out during urination.

Animals rarely show pain vocally. They normally show pain by licking the painful part, crouching, rather than resting comfortably and retreating to a quiet place.

There are several reasons why cat cystitis is common.

Firstly, cats are loan hunters, so have evolved to live by their wits. Their hunts must be successful, as there is no support structure to fall back on. Living in a state of alert calls on the extensive use of adrenalin. Adrenalin is manufactured in the kidneys.

So the kidneys are the weak organ in cats and can be easily overloaded, with a knock on effect on the whole urinary tract system.

If you are feeding your cat a processed cat food, then this is the likely cause of the cystitis. Processed cat food is very harmful to the health of your cat for several reasons. The majority of commercial cat food

starts off with low grade meat, more likely meat by products, from dubious sources (road kill and worse)
is packed out with cheap filler (such as melamine or sugar)
is cooked for long periods, destroying what little nutrients were present
is topped up with indigestible synthetic minerals and vitamins
contains chemicals to preserve, to colour, to improve the taste

Once cats are put on a quality raw meat and bones diet, their healthy returns (normally after a short initial de-tox period). Often the cystitis needs no further treatment.

However, as cystitis can be quite serious, as well as painful, while you are making the dietary changeover, it is a good idea to support your cat.

Homeopathy works by stimulating the immune system to work as it should. Professional homeopathic help may be the best approach, but if this is not immediately available, you may be able to support your cat yourself.

Aconite is the most appropriate homeopathic medicine for ailments which come on quickly. Over a few hours. It is generally not useful for ailments which start slowly, over days. However, if it has come out of the blue, a few doses is likely to totally resolve it.

For the moment.

If you keep up with the processed diet, it will return.

Cantharis is another useful homeopathic medicine for cat cystitis. Here, the symptoms are severe straining to pass urine, great distress during the process and the urine is heavily blood stained. Several doses will be needed over several days.

Home Made Cat Food is the Best - Six Good Reasons Why

2010-02-01T15:58:00.002+08:00

Home made cat food has the potential of providing all your cat’s nutritional needs, unlike processed food, which provides few.

You want the best for your cat, so are likely to buy superior food. Actually, it would be impossible not to, as the low grade food that goes into making processed cat food is not available on the market. No consumer would buy it.

Only pet food manufacturers buy it as they have a greater interest in their bottom line than in the health of your cat.

So lets look at the different options available to you, which go to make up why you should provide home made cat food, as opposed to processed food.

the meat you buy is very fresh
the meat you buy is good quality
you can offer the food raw
you wouldn’t pad out the food with cheap, non-nutritional filler
you wouldn’t add preservatives, colours or appetite stimulants
you can opt to add healthy, natural, whole food supplements simply to ‘top up’ rather than to redress the poor quality

And don’t feel that raw, human grade food is expensive. It is more expensive to buy pound for pound (or kilo for kilo), but as they need far less in quantity, because the quality is so much better, it actually works out about the same or a bit cheaper.

Not only will your cat be healthier on a diet made with care and dedication, it will be cheaper too. No more expensive trips to the veterinarian. That alone can save you thousands, as well as heart break.

Home made cat food, when made with their evolutionary history in mind, will ensure a healthy and happy cat.

Cat Fleas - How to Resolve the Problem in One Easy Step

2010-01-25T15:04:00.000+08:00

Cat fleas are unpleasant for your cat, who may endlessly scratch and lick. And unpleasant for you, when they start jumping onto you.

Commercial flea control is considered the only alternative. But is it? And how safe are they?

Before we go into this, I want to quote a veterinarian, Michael Lemmon.

“Popular flea collars contain powerful nerve gases. They can kill some fleas. They can also kill some pets and can do damage to children and adults handling the pet wearing the poisonous flea collar.”

Last week, a very distressed family brought a rabbit in for me to treat. They had treated him with Frontline. Now Frontline is not safe to use on rabbits. But how many people know this?

The rabbit was having seizures.

The first thing I did was to do an internet search on the ingredients. I discovered cyanide was an ingredient. Then I did a search on the ingredients of Advantage, another popular flea control preparation. This contains imidacloprid, which also affects the nerves.

So it seems that all commercial flea preparations contain nerve poisons, of various types and in varying quantities.

Is this what you want to apply to your cat? To be absorbed into her system? They may kill cat fleas, but what else do they do?

Imidacloprid also causes thyroid problems in rats. I’m sure that is a very real side effect in cats, too.

I was relating the rabbit story to a friend. She told me that after she had used a flea preparation of one of her dogs, the dog shook herself. Some of the flea preparation landed on a painted door. Moments later, the paint started to peel off.

So what is the alternative? Is there something else to control cats fleas? Preferably something natural.

You bet!

Isn’t it better to get to the cause of the problem, rather than just treat the effects? Treating the effects is generally unsuccessful, or at best, only marginally successful.

Your cat has fleas because of the diet you feed her. Commercial, processed cat food alters the chemistry in your cat. This attracts fleas. Feed your cat a diet that she evolved on and the chemistry comes back to normal. One that is unattractive to fleas.

I have fed my cats a raw meat and bones diet for the past thirteen years. I have never had to treat them for worms or fleas. And one sleeps in bed with me. Under the covers.

Sadly, the rabbit didn’t pull through.

Cats With Gingivitis and How to Resolve it Naturally

2010-01-18T15:53:00.000+08:00

Cats with gingivitis are all too common. Gingivitis is the inflammation of the gums. One of the main reasons for this in cats, is the lack of raw bones in their diet. A cat who has daily bones, such as chicken necks or chicken wings, to crunch up, rarely has gingivitis.

Raw bones in a healthy cat’s diet serves at least four purposes:

bones keep the teeth clean, preventing tartar building up
bones massage the gums, keeping them healthy
the crunching of bones keeps cats happy - it’s how they evolved
ingesting bones are a natural, balanced mineral supply for building healthy bones

Sadly, many people don’t feed their cats a raw meat and bones diet, so mouth problems are rife. The normal treatment of antibiotics and teeth removal does nothing to enhance such a cat’s already badly damaged immune system.

Once the problem has started, it seems an endless round of continued and regular damaging treatment.

Is there an alternative? Is it too late to introduce a raw meat and bones diet?

There are always alternatives to everything. And it’s never too late to try anything.

Cats with gingivitis often respond very well to homeopathic treatment. The medicine Mercurius is almost a specific for this condition in both humans and other animals.

But, as with all homeopathic medicines, it’s best to have more than one strong symptom which matches the medicine, for a positive resolution. A homeopathic animal practitioner may be your best option, if you are new to homeopathy. But if you already know a bit about it, you might like to try Mercurius, as long as you can see some of the medicine’s strong keynotes in your cat’s gingivitis.

The strong keynotes of Mercurius are:

symptoms are worse for heat or cold (so food straight from the refrigerator is likely to be refused)
symptoms are worse at night
your cat may have excess saliva which feels slimy to the touch
your cat’s breath may smell foul, offensive
a history of repeated antibiotic treatment

Once your cats gingivitis is sorted out and pain is not experienced on eating, then you can start introducing a raw meat and bones diet. In the early stages, it’s best to cut up the necks or wings into bite size pieces. This makes it easier for an older cat, or one entrenched in old ways.

Healthiest Dry Cat Food - Is There Such a Thing?

2010-01-11T15:17:00.000+08:00

Trying to find the healthiest dry cat food is liable to lead you down a blind alley.

Admittedly dry cat food is very convenient to the person providing the food. Things don’t come much easier than opening up a packet. But as you are asking the question, I know you’re not necessarily looking for just ease.

You’re also looking for a healthy and nutritious food for your cat.

Can you get that from dry food?

Let’s examine one of the ingredients of a typical dry food.

All dry food has a long shelf life. Despite the label on the packet, this can only come about with some form of preservatives. And the pet food industry uses some pretty toxic preservatives, that would never be allowed in human food. Do carbolic acid, ethoxyquin and formaldehyde sound harmless to you?

That’s what many (possibly all) dry cat food contains.

The reason the packet can claim otherwise, is because the manufacture may not have put the preservative in themselves. It may have been the food supplier who put it in. So the manufacturer can legally claim “no added preservative”, because they didn’t add it themselves.

Whether or not they put it there is irrelevant to you in your search for the healthiest dry cat food. Toxic preservatives are toxic regardless of who added them.

Another claim is that vitamin E is used as a preservative.

That may be true. But the amount would most likely have to be in such high amounts as to be totally unnatural to your cat.

Any isolated vitamin or mineral is always in a synthetic form. Apart from the fact that your cat never evolved to eat synthetic nutrients, or in high quantities, nutrients need to be in combination with their co-dependent nutrients.

This is only possible if the source is a whole food.

Even the healthiest dry cat food is liable to cause your cat some serious health problems.

Feline Vaccinations Aren’t the Best Way of Disease Prevention

2010-01-04T12:11:00.001+08:00

Feline vaccinations generally include either three diseases (F3) or five (F5).

Commonly, depending on the country and area, the F3 will include respiratory diseases (calici virus, herpes virus) and feline enteritis.

The F5 includes the first three plus feline leukemia, clamydia (a bacteria) and possibly feline AIDS.

Many people believe that feline vaccinations are necessary to keep their cat healthy. But, in my opinion, this is not the case.

Vaccines contain toxic ingredients. Such as mercury, aluminium, formaldehyde. How can it be considered healthy, by injecting heavy metals and other poisons, directly into the blood stream?

In truth, the best way to keep your cat healthy is to make sure her immune system is in tip top order. There are several ways you can do this, but essentially it boils down to almost one thing.

And that is to keep your cat toxin free.

Cats are very sensitive to chemicals. They react badly to them. So by keeping poisons out of their blood stream, by eliminating flea and worm preparations (nerve poisons) and by feeding them a quality raw food diet, you are contributing to a healthy immune system.

Anyone with a healthy immune system will be able to prevent disease. That’s its function.

I said almost one thing. One of the other ways is to ensure her diet is raw. Cooked food destroys enzymes and other essential nutrients.

And the final way to keep your cat’s immunity strong is to use homeopathy for any ailments. Homeopathy only works by boosting the immune system. Then the cat takes over and cures herself.

Not long ago, I did a local tour of the catteries. I wanted to know which ones accepted cats for boarding who had not been conventionally vaccinated.

One very friendly owner who accepted homeoprophylaxis (HP), which is the oral immunisation by homeopathic medicines, told me that she had never had a problem with the cats who had been immunised by HP. But she frequently had problems with the conventionally vaccinated cats. They commonly showed signs of the disease they were supposed to be protected against.

If you focus on keeping your cats immunity in excellent order, that will do all that is necessary in preventing disease.

Most Cat Ailments Are Caused By a Toxic Overload

2009-12-28T14:38:00.000+08:00

Cat ailments are on the increase. Why should this be the case? After all many cat people do what they consider to be all the right things to do. They vaccinate their cat every year. They feed their cat the most expensive brand of processed cat food recommended by their vet. They use the recommended flea and worm control.

What more can they do?

Last week, a distressed family brought their rabbit to me. They had used the flea preparation Frontline. Frontline is not recommended for use on rabbits and the rabbit was now having seizures.

I did a quick search on the internet to see what ingredients Frontline had. I was shocked, but not surprised, to see that cyanide was one. And yet Frontline is considered to be low in toxicity. Even WHO approves it.

This begs a very big question to me. Can you trust others with the health of your cat? If you use Frontline, is it acceptable to you to be putting cyanide into her system?

So next, I searched for the ingredients of Advantage, another popular cat flea control preparation. Advantage contains imidacloprid, which is a neuro active insecticide. That means it affects the neurological system. The nerves. So seizures would not be an impossible side effect for this one, either.

Imidacloprid causes thyroid problems in rats. It’s not a million mile jump to conclude it could also cause thyroid problems in those animals who are treated with it.

And yet, it’s the easiest thing in the world to control fleas naturally. The reason for fleas is because of the pH of your cat’s skin. A processed diet is not healthy, is not in line with their evolutionary history. It alters the chemistry of your cat’s body. Fleas love the skin of a cat fed processed food.

A raw meat and bones diet, on the other hand, keeps the cat’s pH in perfect balance. Fleas are no longer attracted to the skin. And resolves a host of other cat ailments.

If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself. You’ll need to try for about a month, perhaps two depending on the age and health of your cat.

Isn’t it better to find the cause of the problem and deal with that, rather than treating the effect?

Sadly the rabbit didn’t survive. But the family had a huge learning experience.

Diabetic Cat Food Firstly Needs to Be Nutritious

2009-12-21T08:26:00.001+08:00

If you want to find a good diabetic cat food, then I ask you to pause for a moment. Think. Why has your cat got diabetes in the first place? Cats never used to get this disease. It’s something that had happened in the last decade or so.

And wild cats don’t get it.

So it’s something that humans do to cats.

One of the most unnatural things many cats are subjected to is a nutrient poor diet.

Cats have evolved on eating freshly killed small animals. They usually eat the whole carcass. So they are getting very fresh meat, mostly muscle meat, some organ meat, lots of raw, crunchy bones and the skin.

Now lets look at typical commercial pet food. It contains predominantly meat that is not wanted in the human market. Foods such as fat, heads, hooves, intestines. And some manufacturers add road kill and euthanised pets and zoo animals.

Can you see the difference in the quality of the food?

And bear in mind that commercial pet food with contain preservatives, despite what it says on the label.

Are preservatives a health enhancer?

So, by switching to a healthy, human grade raw meat and bones diet, I suggest that you will most likely be able to cure your cat’s diabetes. In the unlikely event that this change won’t cure it, then I guarantee it will improve your cat’s health in some way, in the long term.

Think about it. A good diabetic cat food, should be a healthy cat food.

Six Reasons Your Cat Vomits and What You Can Do

2009-12-13T10:06:00.000+08:00

When a cat vomits, it may be normal, or it may indicate a problem. How can you tell which it is?

Let’s explore the reason a cat vomits in the first place.

Cats groom themselves regularly, ingesting fur as they do. The normal way they get rid of this is by vomiting up fur balls. This is normal and natural. And the vomit looks like a small, moist parcel the colour of their fur.
A cat often vomits after they have eaten grass. They will throw up saliva (or food if they ate immediately after eating the grass). This is a natural cleansing way your cat has, is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about, if it occurs occasionally. The vomit will just be saliva with blades of grass.
Vomiting in food poisoning is the normal way to rid the system of something unwanted in the stomach. In an acute situation, this is normally over in a matter of hours or days, if the cat was successful at dealing with the problem. The vomit will be the food they recently ingested.
Vomiting, along with diarrhoea and skin eruptions, is the best way the body has to rid itself of toxins. The toxic preservatives in commercial pet food will make your cat very toxic. Constant vomiting is helping your cat dump some of the overload.
Vomiting can also mean that your cat may have a health problem and the last thing he needs is the burden of digestion. Digestion takes a lot of energy and if your cat is dealing with a health issue, digestion would direct too much energy away from the task in hand. So they dump the food, to allow all their spare energy to focus on the problem.
When a cat is switched from a commercial pet food to a quality raw one, vomiting is likely to occur for a short period initially. This is a normal cleansing and should be left.

A healthy cat will be able to deal with most situations, so careful monitoring is the best thing to do in the early stages, if nothing sinister, such as rat poisoning, is suspected.

If your cat’s immune system is very low, then it’s likely that they can’t deal with the problem, and so it lasts long enough to be concerned about the possibility of dehydration and the lack of eating.

Cats need good quality food. Sadly, most cats have to exist on the poor quality commercial cat food that comes in a packet or a can. This is the most likely reason your cat vomits.

If you change your cat’s food to a healthy raw meat and bones diet, it’s likely that the chronic vomiting will stop, allowing for the initial de-toxining period.

Being guided by what your cat vomits, you can reach the logical problem, and so solution.

The Best Moist Cat Food for a Diabetic Cat Doesn’t Come in a Packet

2009-12-09T10:19:00.002+08:00

When you go searching for the best moist cat food for a diabetic cat, I suggest you pause for a moment. Think about why you cat is diabetic in the first place.

Holistic health professionals, both for human and for animal are well aware of some of the most common causes of diabetes. If you can address the cause, the problem disappears.

Diet is critical to health. Feed a bad diet and the heath of the recipient will be poor.

Processed and commercial cat food, whether it comes in a can, a packet or any other way, is nutrient poor.

No quality food goes into pet food. The quality food all goes to the more lucrative human market. The left overs, which are out of natural balance, goes into pet food.

Things like all the unwanted fat, hooves, intestines, heads. And that’s not all. Road kill, euthanised pets and zoo animals also go into the mix in many pet food manufacturers.

Then a cheap filler is added, such as sugar, melamine, crushed nutshells, sawdust or anything that is cheap on the world market.

Moist cat food is notorious for the toxic preservative it contains. Formalin. This is normally used to embalm dead people.

Does this list of ingredients sound health promoting to you?

Is it any wonder your cat has diabetes?

Why not change your cat’s diet to real food? Human grade raw meat and bones. That’s how they evolved.

There is no doubt that the best moist cat food for a diabetic cat is a raw meat and bones diet.

The Best Cat Food is the One They Evolved On

2009-12-02T10:43:00.002+08:00

The best cat food is fresh, quality, raw meat and bones.

Period.

Why?

Because that’s how cats evolved. They have been evolving for millennia so are super adapted to this diet.

On the other hand, cats have been fed processed food for a few decades.

Which do you think has more influence?

Cats kill their food. They don’t scavenge, as do dogs. That’s why cats are such fussy eaters. They heartily dislike the processed food they are given, but need to eat to survive.

So their food needs to be super fresh. Raw. And of good quality - this means human grade.

No cows hooves or other weird or strange ideas often spoken of on forums.

Don’t worry, feeding human grade raw meat and bones won’t cost you an arm and a leg. In fact, it’s likely to be a great deal cheaper than processed foods.

Human grade food is nutrient dense. Processed cat food is nutrient poor. So much less of the quality meat is needed.

Feeding the best cat food also means your cat is likely to be super healthy. Which, in turn, means fewer expensive trips to the veterinarian.

It becomes a win-win situation.

Admittedly, it is a tad more complicated to prepare than opening a can or packet. But no more than a few minutes, once you’ve got the hang of it. And that doesn’t take long.

Kittens and young cats adapt very easily to a raw diet. Older cats may take a bit of persuading. They get as stuck in their ways as humans do. But it’s worth persevering.

The best cat food makes for a happy and healthy cat - better for you and your cat.

All Natural Cat Food - Seven Good Reasons Why Nature is Best!

2009-11-22T12:24:00.000+08:00

Feeding your cat an all natural cat food diet will improve her health, boost her immune system and create a happy cat. If you knew what went into most, if not all, commercial pet food, you would never buy it again. Truly, it’s not for the faint hearted.

Most commercial pet food ingredients are cheap, as the better quality food goes for the higher priced human food market. Cheap food can mean anything from high fat content, meat by-products (hair, intestinal contents, chicken feet, rancid fat, dead or diseased animals), to low grade carbohydrates such as sugar, left over fast food or spoilt grain unfit for human consumption to the melamine used to bulk out American pet food imported from China.

None of this is normal or natural cat food and much of it is indigestible, so can you wonder that overall, cats health is on the decline?

What can you do about it?

The first and most important thing to do is change your cat’s diet to a homemade, raw, all natural cat food, for seven good reasons.

1 Cats evolved on raw food over millions of years. They are best able to use this diet over all others.

2 Raw food contains all the essential vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids and other nutrients, in the right amount, in a balanced form. Cooking destroys many essential nutrients.

3 Unlike processed cat food, natural cat food is easy to absorb and the cat utilises it efficiently.

4 An all natural cat food diet ensures your cat has healthy teeth and gums. Despite the claims, no processed cat food does this.

5 Parasites such as worms, fleas and ticks are minimal when you feed your cat this diet, as the environment of your cat’s body is not conducive to them. This is the opposite of processed food which makes your cat’s body a feeding ground for parasites.

6 All natural cat food keeps your cats immune system in good working order, so reducing or preventing many diseases, particularly the serious ones.

7 A hunting domestic cat is usually doing so to address an imbalance in their diet. A natural diet reduces a cat’s desire to hunt.

Whatever the health of your cat is like at the moment, changing her diet to all natural cat food will go a long way to the prognosis of her condition. However, it isn’t just a matter of substituting her processed food for raw meat. There are some important rules to follow and tips to consider.

Why Does Your Cat Vomit?

2009-11-15T10:44:00.000+08:00

A cat vomits for a variety of reasons. Lets look at what vomiting achieves.

First of all, your cat will normally and naturally vomit up hair balls. This is a perfectly natural part of her life and you need to be more concerned if it doesn’t happen, particularly at seasonal changes when she malts. These times will vary, but are normally at the end of summer and winter.

Your cat will eat grass to help her vomit. Again, this is perfectly normal if it is occasional. If it is regular, there could be an underlining cause.

Digestion takes up an enormous amount of energy. If your cat has a health problem, she will not want to waste valuable energy on digesting. A well fed cat can fast for many days without coming to any harm.

That energy is needed elsewhere.

So the number one thing NOT to do is to try to force her to eat.

In many cases, a few days fast is all your cat needs to bring her health back into balance. Cats have remarkable self healing powers, if left alone to do so. It’s not unusual for cats to survive a poisonous snake bite, when they are left alone to deal with it themselves.

Another reason your cat vomits is that her liver is compromised. This is especially so if the vomit it yellow, but it doesn’t have to be.

Your cat is particularly susceptible to toxins in her diet and her environment. Whenever she ingests a toxin, it goes straight to her liver so it can be slowly and safely released into her system for excretion.

When her liver becomes overloaded, she’ll start to vomit regularly. This is a purging. She needs to cleanse her body. It may be accompanied by diarrhoea, too as this is also a sign of purging. It may also come out in a skin eruption. All of these can be a sign of purging due to a toxic overload.

So what are some common toxins she may be reacting to? In order of importance, these are probably the worst offenders:-

commercial pet food which contains preservatives (almost all do, despite the label)
medication, most of which suppresses her natural healing abilities
vaccinations, which contain a variety of toxins
proprietary flea and worm medication, most of which are highly toxic
household cleaning products
garden pesticides, fertilisers, fungicides, etc
atmospheric toxins released from furnishings

If you can eliminate some, or all of these from your cat’s life, you’ll find that not only does your cat vomiting stop, but she is also much healthier and can shake of health problems more easily.

Finding the cause and eliminating that is more likely to have a happy ending that simply suppressing the symptoms with medication.

Alternative Medicine for Cats

2009-11-07T16:15:00.000+08:00

It’s a natural step, after you have discovered alternative health care for yourself to start looking at alternative medicine for cats. After all, if you prefer this approach, it’s likely your cat will benefit, too.

Alternative medicine for cats as well as for people is certainly on the increase. Why should this be? Well, some of the main benefits over mainstream health care are:

there are no side effects
it works with nature, rather than opposing it
it is less expensive
you can learn to use some at home, which empowers you
your cat will be more receptive to taking the medicine

One of the best alternative medicines for cats, as well as for everyone, in my opinion is homeopathy. Homeopathy is very gentle, but also very deep. You can learn to use many of the common remedies at home. This can not only save you a fortune in veterinarian fees, it is also tremendously enlivening.

I tell you, there is nothing more exciting than your first success. I well remember mine. I was a homeopathic student and had bought a few common remedies and a few books. One day one of my cats stopped eating. I left it a few days, but after the fourth day, I took her to the veterinarian.

She was diagnosed with kidney disease and given a few months, at most to live. I refused the offered medicine. Once home I dived into my books. After assessing all her symptoms that I could, I chose a remedy.

She was happy to take it. But imagine my state of mind when, within 10 MINUTES, she walked into the kitchen asking for food.

Euphoric is an understatement!

This was a common remedy, available to all home prescribers.

The book I used is a common homeopathic book for cats.

A few more doses and she was completely recovered. She lived another three healthy years.

Nothing can describe that feeling. Nothing.

I know of no other alternative medicine for cats that gives you the depth of healing and the scope for home prescribing. And you can get to this level of success very quickly.

Whilst homeopathy is a wonderful modality of medicine, you can’t go past environmental factors for a good all round balanced health care system for your cat. Factors such as:

diet
stress at home
lack of respect for her
chemicals in your home or garden
freedom to be where she wants to be

Alternative medicine therapists will take all these factors into consideration as they well know the value of each and every one of them. Mainstream veterinarians are not trained to look beyond the condition. They are trained to match a drug to the condition. This can be very limiting.

Open your mind to the fact that you may be causing your cats illness, by any of the above factors. But also by not taking care of yourself. Your illness may be causing your cats illness. Sort yourself out, preferably holistically, and you may be surprised to find your cat perks up, too.

What’s the Truth Behind Nutricious Cat Food?

2009-09-26T14:02:00.000+08:00

Have you noticed there are now hundreds of ‘experts’ on virtually everything these days? That’s mostly thanks to the internet, which really is a wonderful resource of amazing information.

Sadly, it’s also an amazing place for misinformation.

Take nutricious cat food. Depending on how much commission the author is likely to receive will depend on how much they promote a particular brand.

Do you think that’s a bit cynical?

Well, you need to be today, more than ever before.

In today’s world, the dollar is king, with truth and health coming in a very poor second and third place. I don’t count myself as an expert. I feel my ‘expertise’ lies in working out the truth about health, regardless of any income I may receive from publishing this.

So how can you be sure I really am interested in the truth?

Nature has been around for quite a long time! Over millions of years, animals have evolved and fine tuned their diet and their behaviour to their current highly efficient selves.

Commercial cat food, on the other hand, has only been about for a maximum of 100 years, and more intensely for about 40 years.

Humans may well have had an impact on the look of domestic cats, but look how well domestic cats fair when they go feral. As long as they have all their physical attributes in tack (claws, teeth, etc), they can adjust just fine to finding their own food.

Which means that humans have had little real effect on them, as far as their diet and health goes.

Add that fact to the lack of laws governing the quality of pet food in most countries, and you can soon see that commercial cat food is likely to be as far removed from the nutricious cat food wild cats eat, as it can be.

Many people are told that domestic cats have longer and healthier lives than wild cats do. This is difficult to prove as few wild cats ages are known. But what most natural veterinarians do know for a fact is that as soon as cats are put on a nutricious cat food which closely resembles a wild cats diet, health problems melt away. From allergies to leukaemia, from kidney problems to infertility.

So I ask myself who is trying to convince you how much healthier domestic cats are? Could it be those people who want to profit by selling you inferior cat food or questionable medication to address the ill health as a result of the bad diet?

It seems almost too simple, to address the cause to cure the problem.

I remember reading of a medical student who became so ill she was confined to her bed. She had ulcers down her throat. She had no energy.

She went from doctor to doctor, who prescribed antibiotics to antidepressants and everything in between. None of it helped, and much of it harmed.

Her point was that not one of them had asked what had changed in her life at the time her illness started.

Finally she worked it out for herself. She had changed from good home cooking to hot dogs on the run. She stopped the hot dogs and her illness disappeared.

Diet is immensely important. Don’t underestimate its effect on you or your cat. When you go looking for a nutricious cat food, check everything out that you can. Compare the food to a wild cats diet. If the food is canned, ask yourself, does a wild cat eat canned food?

If the packet of food has a long shelf life, how can this be possible? Are the preservatives used safe for cats, despite a lack of laws? Do wild cats eat preservatives?

If man disappeared tomorrow, cats would revert to a healthy wild life, eating freshly caught raw meat and bones. That’s the most nutricious cat food. How can you better it?

Is Raw Cat Food Safe?

2009-08-09T12:12:00.000+08:00

There is some concern about whether raw cat food is safe. Some feel that raw meat may contain salmonella, toxoplasmosis or another equally troublesome bacteria or parasite. And that the only way to be certain that your cat does not get these potentially fatal diseases is to cook the meat.

At first glance, this line of argument does appear to have some merit. But look a bit deeper.

Wild cats eat nothing else but raw meat and bones. Domestic cats, along with all other cats, have evolved on a diet of raw meat. Their digestive system only knows how to cope with this.

Cats, along with bears, are the only true carnivore. Their teeth show this very clearly. They are spiky for catching prey and powerful to crunch up bones. Their digestive track is short as raw meat is easy and quick to digest.

Humanity is generally under the illusion that they have improved on nature. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Holistic vets, as a body, can tell you that when you feed raw cat food, chronic degenerative disease melts away. Diseases like feline leukaemia, heart problems, sterility and tumours.

As Richard Kearns DVM puts it “I believe all cases of spinal myelopathy are caused by poor nutrition, sometimes going back to the mother’s nutrition during pregnancy”.

Richard Pitcairn DVM brings things into perspective. “Foods are so complex, we still don’t understand them. For example, researchers discovered that cats need taurine, an amino acid only found in animal tissue, which is lost through cooking. Now it is added to cat foods and supplements. Rather than wait for more such discoveries, it is better to provide animals with the diet that most closely resembles their evolutionary history”.

When you consider that cats have been evolving for hundreds of thousands of years, how could it be possible to have improved on their diet in the mere decades that commercial cat food has been available?

Lets look at salmonella. This is basically food poisoning by eating infected food. However, wild cats only eat the prey they have just killed. So the meat is super fresh, still warm in fact. Super fresh food does not carry infections. Infected food come from inadequate storage.

This is one reason why you will find cats are very fussy eaters. It’s because they know bad food when they see it. But because they still need to eat, domestic cats are left with little alternative but to eat the cat food they are given, if they are to survive.

The general guide here is to keep your cat’s raw meat super fresh. Don’t keep it in the refrigerator longer than between two to four days, depending on the temperature of the refrigerator, how many times it is opened, the ambient temperature, etc. Freeze the rest and thaw out each meal as necessary.

Toxoplasmosis is rarely a serious illness in healthy individuals. It can be a major cause of serious illness in those with a damaged immune system or those on medication which lessens the effectiveness of the immune system. This is true for both cats and humans.

Wild cats can only survive with a very strong immune system. So their diet of raw meat and bones seems to serve them well.

Nino Aloro DVM confirms this to be the case. “Diet seems to be at the base of about 90% of the cases of cystitis that I see. When my clients observe the proper diet after initial treatment, there are rarely any of the normal relapses. If they put the pet back on commercial pet food, then the cystitis comes back.”

Only buy the freshest meat and be as sensible about the handling and storage of your cat’s raw meat as you are about your own. If your cat doesn’t like the food, suspect a problem. This could be meat starting to decompose or a chlorine wash on the meat, a process some butchers use to extend the life of the meat.

Caring for a Sick Cat

2009-07-20T12:37:00.000+08:00

Having your cat sick is as upsetting as having any other loved part of the family sick. You worry that she is not herself. You don’t like to see anyone down. You worry she may not make it through.

And that’s not all. It may also be time consuming. If you’re out at work all day, how do you cope with the caring for a sick cat? You may be worried that she may want to go out or come in, or may be too hot or too cold. Or that she wants some fresh food. And you’re not there to nurse her.

Worse still is the expense. Veterinarians bills don’t come cheap, neither does the medication they provide.

You may not even be able to afford the treatment, with other bills looming.

But you feel too guilty not to at least try.

If you just stop and think for a minute, you may discover things that happen to you are always for a reason. Your cat becoming sick may just be the incentive that you need to go searching for something that may well change your whole life.

So not having the time or the money that you need when caring for a sick cat, may be a blessing in disguise.

If you are feeding your cat a commercial cat food, this could be the cause of your cat becoming ill in the first place.

Depending on the brand, the country and the period, most commercial cat food ingredients go something like this:

low grade meat by-products normally from a rendering plant
a filler that may be wood chips, paper, sugar, nut shells, melamine
indigestible isolated and synthetic nutrients
toxic preservatives that are not allowed in human food

You may want to research each of these individually, but the overall food doesn’t look too healthy, does it? Just one ingredient doesn’t look healthy, but all four together...

If it is the food which is causing the illness, why don’t you change it and see what happens? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Consider the top priority in caring for a sick cat is to change the diet to one which closely resembles that of their wild cousins.

Typically some commercial pet foods create vomiting and diarrhoea, with or without blood. But it really doesn’t matter what the symptoms are, because once the diet is a healthy one, you cat’s immune system has a chance to improve. Which means that she is better able to deal with whatever the illness is.

When a sick cat is left at the veterinarian’s clinic, she is more likely to stress. However good the clinic or vet is, it’s no place for healing to occur. The noise, the other, usually frightened animals, the sense of abandonment, the strange people often doing painful procedures, the confinement, but overall the energy is not conducive to restore health.

Caring for a sick cat is best done at home. Home is normal. Just make sure there is little disturbance (from noisy or boisterous children or other animals, or less concerned partners).

And make sure she can go where she wants to. Freedom is important to cats.

Make sure the ambient temperature is to her liking. Make sure she has close access to clean water, preferably not tap water.

And don’t force her to eat. This is an often made mistake, when you’re worried.

Digestion takes a lot of energy. If that energy is needed to help cure the problem, by making your cat eat, you are hindering her progress. A well fed cat can easily go a few days without eating.

But by offering her some real food, she may well say a resounding yes and gobble it up, showing you very clearly that real food is the way to go.

To recap some important points when caring for a sick cat:

change her diet to real food immediately
keep her at home
don’t try to force feed her
try to imagine what you would like in her position - quiet, warmth, caring person to nurse you?

Caring for a sick cat is much easier than caring for a sick human. For one, they don’t make so many demands! But don’t force things on her either. Listen to her and try to work out what she seems to want.

And remember, the food may be the cause. Most holistic veterinarians are finding this is the case.

And if the worst happens and she doesn’t make it, what better place to go than from the arms of her beloved person?

What is the Most Nutritious Cat Food?

2009-07-13T11:10:00.001+08:00

Not that long ago, everyone relied on an ‘expert’ for guidance. Teachers were thought to have the best interests of the future generation at heart. Doctors were considered the best people to entrust with your health. Likewise with veterinarians for animal health.

This may have been good for the time.

But it made some people very powerful. And, inevitably, this power corrupted.

So, in time, good welfare was the last thing on some of these professionals minds. Good income was, and is, more important.

The advent of the internet is slowly changing all that.

But it can still be a maze, working out what is the most nutritious cat food you can feed your cat to make sure she has a healthy, trouble free and long life.

Pretty packets and cans can (and do) easily influence many people.

Impressive words such as ‘balanced nutrition’, ‘fortified with x for a longer life’ can easily lure people in if you are still stuck in the idea that ‘experts’ know more than you do.

After all, they’ve got a degree to prove they know more, haven’t they?

Degree or no degree, you can slash your way through the maze more effectively if you consider just two points.

Cats have been fed various forms of commercial cat food for a mere trifle compared with their evolution, perhaps 100 years. But in those years, cats have been more needed as mousers or ratters than pets. So it’s probably a lot less.
A cat is a true carnivore, a true hunter. They will never be content without raw meat. Whatever you think of this idea, this is how cats evolved. This is their true nature.

It is essential that you take this concept into consideration in your ponderings of what is the most nutritious cat food.

You’ll be happy to know that to feed a cat according to his nature, it is not necessary to go out hunting mice and rats (although prey size is relevant).

Keeping this concept firmly in your mind, you can now see that you are easily able to cut through all the chanting salesmen, trying to gain access to your dollars.

Now you can avoid all the harmful fillers from China, all the toxic chemicals you’re afraid may be in a packet of ‘nutritious’ cat food. Now you don’t need to rely on anyone else. Or worry about how ethical a producer may be.

Whenever you want to reaffirm what is the most nutritious cat food, you just go back to this concept.

Cats need raw meat (and bones) to live a trouble free and long life. That’s how they evolved.

Cats need a diet of 95% raw meat and bones.

Not 30% low grade cooked meat by-products, 65% cheap filler and 5% toxic preservatives and synthetic ‘nutrients’ that can’t be digested.

So now, when someone asks you what is the most nutritious cat food, you can answer easily and with great confidence, whether or not you finished high school, let alone have a degree.

It’s common sense.

What’s the Truth Behind Nutricious Cat Food?

2009-06-29T14:50:00.000+08:00

What is a Nutritious Cat Food?

2009-06-22T14:16:00.001+08:00

When you walk down the isles of the cat food section in any supermarket, you could be forgiven for thinking that all the big brand names were offering you the most nutritious cat food for a healthy cat.

Can you believe the advertising, the pretty pictures and sage words by ‘veterinarians’?

Not on your life!

Turn the packet or tin over and you’ll see what constitutes ‘quality’ ingredients - meat by-products.

Meat by-products are the net result of a rendering plant. Rendering plants take the waste from slaughter houses - typically heads, hooves, intestines (including the contents...). Many also get their ‘raw material’ from veterinary clinics (euthanised dogs and cats), road kills, euthanised or dead zoo animals, horses and the like.

This not only means the quality of meat is very low, but that you are turning your cat into a cannibal.

The chemical that is used to euthanise animals cannot be broken down in the cooking process, which means your cat is living on a diet of a fatal chemical.

Most of the top brands of cat food then bulk out this ‘meat’ with a filler. This makes the end product much more profitable for them, but much less nutritious for your cat, if you thought it was in the first place.

Fillers tend to be whatever is currently cheap in the world market. Sugar can be used. So can melamine. I’m sure you’ve heard of all the deaths of cats from cat food manufacturers importing melamine from China.

Don’t imagine that it has gone away. It’s just been buried a bit deeper.

Because the manufacturers want to keep this ‘nutritious cat food’ on the shelf indefinitely (good for marketing), preservatives are then added. Two of the worst ones are ethoxyquin (which can give factory workers symptoms similar to agent orange poisoning) and formaldehyde (which is great for preserving or embalming dead bodies).

Animal fat is a bit of a problem, as humans tend not to eat much of it. So a lot goes into pet food. Look at what your butchers sells as pet food. One butcher told me that it’s a common practice to add beetroot juice to fat and sell it as pet food. If that’s done openly, imagine what goes on behind closed doors.

Don’t risk the health of your cat by believing those with a vested interest that their product is nutritious cat food.

There are undoubtedly some ethical and conscientious manufacturers of cat food, who really do make real, nutritious cat food, which is healthy. But these are often small and threaten the bigger companies who then buy them up, but retain the label.

For my money, the best way to ensure your cat is consistently getting a nutritious cat food is to do it yourself. Buy the raw ingredients and make up the meals yourself.

It really isn’t difficult. It just takes a bit of time while you get your head around the notion. Then it’s just a question of repeating the same thing every week.

It’s not even time consuming. Once you have learnt to do it once, you just keep repeating the same thing, while differing one or two ingredients to give your cat a variety.

The most nutritious cat food which will ensure your cat has the healthiest and longest life possible, is when you care enough to purchase each ingredient for its nutrient content and freshness.

After all, putting a packet of meat in your trolley is no more difficult than putting in a packet of commercial cat food.

All Natural Cat Food - Seven Good Reasons Why Nature is Best!

2009-06-08T10:12:00.001+08:00

Cats evolved on raw food over millions of years. They are best able to use this diet over all others.
Raw food contains all the essential vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids and other nutrients, in the right amount, in a balanced form. Cooking destroys many essential nutrients.
Unlike processed cat food, natural cat food is easy to absorb and the cat utilises it efficiently.
An all natural cat food diet ensures your cat has healthy teeth and gums. Despite the claims, no processed cat food does this.
Parasites such as worms, fleas and ticks are minimal when you feed your cat this diet, as the environment of your cat’s body is not conducive to them. This is the opposite of processed food which makes your cat’s body a feeding ground for parasites.
All natural cat food keeps your cats immune system in good working order, so reducing or preventing many diseases, particularly the serious ones.
A hunting domestic cat is usually doing so to address an imbalance in their diet. A natural diet reduces a cat’s desire to hunt.

Whatever the health of your cat is like at the moment, changing her diet to all natural cat food will go a long way to the prognosis of her condition. However, it isn’t just a matter of substituting her processed food for raw meat. There are some important rules to follow and tips to consider.

The Best Cat Food for the Healthiest Cat

2009-06-01T13:27:00.000+08:00

Most people think that the best cat food they can buy is the most expensive commercial cat food, often those sold at veterinarians, or in little individual packets.

Then they wonder why their cat seems to be hungry all the time.

In this article, I want to take you on a journey, perhaps a journey of discovery. It may not read as the most pleasant journey you have been on, but it may be the most informative one.

An abattoir is where animals are slaughtered, for food or leather or both. Most people are aware of this, but prefer not to think about it too much. The pretty packs of meat in the supermarket hide the real story behind meat production.

If you’re already cringing, and thinking of putting this article down, I promise to make it as informative as possible without making you too upset - just enough to take action, perhaps? After all, you do want to find the best cat food, or you wouldn’t be reading this.

If any animal comes in for slaughter who is suspected of Mad Cow Disease, because they can’t move when stimulated to, many countries in the world will not allow the meat from this animal to go into the human food chain.

Likewise for any animal who is showing certain signs of serious illness, such as cancers, abnormal body discharges, skin lesions, infested with maggots, respiratory problems, too thin, etc.

However, these same animals may be used in pet food. The animal may be euthanased with a lethal drug and then dyed and ‘denatured’ with carbolic acid or a strong disinfectant.

Then they are taken to a rendering plant, possibly some distance away. So they can be exposed to hot summer weather for hours, possibly days.

A rendering plant takes in anything from road kill to dead farm animals, to euthanised pets, horses or zoo animals.

And it’s from a rendering plant that many, if not most, pet food manufacturers buy their raw material. The ingredients may tell you. Typical ingredients from a rendering plant include meat by-products, animal fat, meat meal, bone meal.

Soap manufacturers also buy their raw material from rendering plants.

Many countries don’t insist on pet food listing all their ingredients. In this world, pet and animals have no rights and don’t matter. Why list something that will make people put your product back on the shelf, unless you have to by law?

Does your cat matter to you?

Would you willingly feed your cat rotten meat, diseased meat, meat containing acid, disinfectant, a lethal drug or a lot of fat?

Even if you tried, it’s likely your cat would refuse it.

So why doesn’t she refuse the commercial cat food, ostensibly the best cat food money can buy, which contains all this? Why are cats addicted to dried food?

I don’t know the reason for this for certain, but I can guess. Most cats adore tuna. Cats can become tuna junkies. I suspect that most commercial cat food contains tuna flavouring, either natural or more likely, synthetic.

If you’re looking for the best cat food to ensure your cat remains as healthy as possible, commercial pet food just doesn’t make sense.

I’m not suggesting that all commercial pet food is the same. But I think most are, especially the big names. Some smaller ones may be doing their bit to improve the image, but would you know if they sold to someone less ethical?

If you were fed low grade food, would you be hungry all the time? You bet! Why? Because low grade food has few nutrients. It is nutrient poor.

So your cat may be well fed on what you consider to be the best cat food you can buy, but if she’s hungry all the time, you can be sure she is lacking in something vital to her ongoing good health. Probably several somethings.

Best Cat Food - How to Make It Yourself

2009-05-25T11:21:00.000+08:00

You’re searching around, looking for the best cat food perhaps because you have a new kitten and want to provide her with the best. Or perhaps it’s because you seem to have had a lot of illnesses with your past cats and are now wondering if the diet could be partly responsible.

Well, let me tell you that categorically, without a shadow of doubt, diet is all important to anyone’s health, including that of your cat.

Providing the best cat food will be the biggest step towards keeping your cat as healthy as possible.

But what is this?

Cats have spent a long time evolving to their present state. Many millions of years, in fact. Many tens of millions of years.

Over that time, they have perfectly adapted to the food that is available to them on a regular basis.

Whatever gives us the idea that we, as a species, can better that?

Whilst advertising, with it’s alluring pictures and fine words, may tell us ‘science’ has improved a cats diet, rest assured it hasn’t. The advertising remains just that - pretty pictures and fine words, aimed at improving the health of the manufacturers bank balance rather than the health of your cat.

So let’s go back to the earlier question - what is the best cat food?

There is not a shadow of doubt that the best cat food is that which is so close to a wild cat’s diet as to be almost identical.

OK, I’m not asking you to go out and catch mice - your cat can do a better job of that than you can.

Let’s look at a wild cat’s diet. Cats kill their prey and eat it all immediately. They aren’t opportunist eaters, like dogs, who are happy to eat carrion. So what does this tell us, about the qualities of the food?

it must be raw
it must be fresh
it must contain bones
it must include organ meat
it must be varied

That’s quite a daunting list for someone new to the idea of not opening a box or can for your cat’s dinner.

And there is a bit to learn to apply those principles.

But it is really easy, once you get to know the basics and how to apply them.

Your cat will think she’s died and gone to heaven...

What is the Best Kitten Care for Lasting Health?

2009-05-18T11:54:00.000+08:00

Most people look to their vet for the best advice on kitten care, or any animal care come to that.

But can you be sure that they are giving you good, sound, unbiased advice based on solid research?

The early months of 2009 have seen media reports about Harvard (US) medical students protesting that their professors have strong and lucrative ties to pharmaceutical companies. This compromises the professors integrity and can’t exclude them from biased teaching.

If the most famous and most prestigious medical school in the largest democracy of the world has this problem, image what it must be like in less well known medical and veterinary schools.

Add into the mix the lucrative commercial pet food industry and you may want to consider if your vet, who may be the nicest person in the world, has had the best training. Or perhaps s/he has received very biased and limited training: limited to ensuring the burgeoning profits of already highly profitable companies.

You can’t blame the universities who are always short of money. You can’t blame the governments as they are always under pressure to deliver cheaper courses. It’s probably best not to blame anyone.

But it does pay you to know what is going on.

Perhaps now you can appreciate why so many vets strongly promote commercial pet food. Their reception rooms are packed solid from floor to ceiling.

But stop and ask yourself if this is really the way to optimum kitten care. Or is it more for optimum profits in the commercial pet food industry? Or optimum vet care, with all the ensuing unhealthy cats?

I want to introduce you to Dr Francis Pottenger. He was a research scientist and conducted nutritional tests on cats between 1932 and 1942. He discovered that cats who were fed only a cooked diet, even though ‘perfected balanced’, showed a marked reduction in their immune responses. This lowered immune response was passed on to the next generation.

Further feeding of cooked food, further lowered the immune response. And so the cycle went on.

By the third generation illnesses such as heart lesions, hepatitis, feline urological syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, leukaemia, tumours, arthritis and a host of other immune deficient maladies were occurring.

Dr Pottenger went on to discover that the immune response could be improved simply by giving them a raw food diet. But it took another three generations for the immune system to be back up to a really optimum level of efficiency, that you commonly find in wild cats.

If you are still confused, and I can’t blame you if you are, here’s a suggestion to use when you search for the best kitten care.

Fads come and go. What ‘science’ discovers this year, is out moded next year as fashion changes, as inaccuracies are discovered, as more information comes to light.

On the other hand, nature has perfected herself over millennia. Cats have evolved on their raw diet and thrived. Man and his puny ideas, have not, and will never, alter a cats digestive system. How can it when you look at all the time nature has had to fine tune it?

Translating good kitten care feeding into practice is not without its problems. There are some do’s and don’ts that you must adhere to. Such as:

what meat can be overfed with disastrous results
what ingredient, often left out, MUST be present is a healthy kitten’s diet
what additional supplements should you add to the diet

Once you get your head around the concept and get into the routine, natural kitten care comes easily. It will also deter most cats from hunting as an adult. Hunting domestic cats are normally trying to redress the lack of nutrients in their diet, rather than doing what comes naturally.

Feed your cat as nature intended, and the rewards will be endless.

Cat Care - The Best, The Easiest, The Most Natural

2009-05-11T12:47:00.000+08:00

Caring for your cat is easy when you try to remember her origins. Being domesticated doesn’t mean you should abandon how she would live in the wild. Cats have evolved in the wild over millennia. They have been domesticated for a mere trifle in comparison.

This means that their nutritional and emotional needs remain identical to those of their forebears. In attempting to provide the best cat care means looking at these needs.

Lets look at their nutritional needs first.

Wild cats hunt on their own. They hunt small animals, sometimes up to about their own size, but mostly smaller than themselves. They rarely eat anything other than freshly killed meat.

Contrasting this with a typical domestic cat’s diet of dried pellets and you realise how off the mark commercial pet food is. Even if dried pellets were made with the best cuts of meat (which they aren’t), the meat is still not fresh or raw.

So, if you’re trying to provide the most complete cat care, what should you feed your cat?

In my opinion, the best cat food is raw meat and bones. You can’t completely duplicate a wild cat’s diet, but you can come so close as to not compromise her health. Cat care starts with food as this is consumed daily. Something done daily has much more impact on our health than say something that only happens once a year.

When a cat eats her prey, she will eat all the meat, including the bones. Bones are the best source of calcium for a cat. And meat can only be properly digested when it is consumed with bones. After all, all carnivores eat meat with bones.

Not only that, crunching up on bones is the best way of keeping her teeth and gums healthy, as long as they’re not too big. No dried pellets can do that as well, despite the promises on the label.

Some think that giving a cat raw meat will trigger their hunting instinct. In my experience, it does the exact opposite. Because raw meat is nutrient dense, your cat will be satisfied and won’t feel the need to supplement her diet as when fed a nutrient deficient diet.

Natural cat care also means providing your cat with her basic emotional and physical needs. Cats are intelligent and inquisitive. They need visual stimulation. This is best served by being outdoors, where nature provides an abundance of stimulation.

If it’s impossible or too dangerous to let your cat outside, do make sure she has access to safe stimulants, perhaps in the form of toys. Make sure you play with her to ensure she gets adequate exercise.

Sun is an important aspect of good cat care. Cats love the sun and it is essential to good health for all of us, not just your cat. Regular outdoor access will allow her to choose for herself. For confined cats, make sure there are times when you can open a window (safely) to allow the sun’s rays in, unhindered by glass or plastic.

Easy cat care really means allowing your cat the freedom she desires. Confining cats indoors is going against good animal husbandry,

I am also of the opinion that declawing cats is not only painfully inhumane, it deprives the cat of the natural joy of stretching. If you are considering declawing your cat, maybe you should also consider having a cat is not for you. Cats have already adapted a great deal to live with us. Putting them through an unnecessary, inhumane and painful operation is purely for your benefit, not your cats.

Cats provide us with an abundance affection, love and enjoyment. To provide even adequate cat care, we should at least do the same for them.

Cat Food - the Best, the Healthiest, the Most Nutritious

2009-05-04T13:58:00.000+08:00

We humans have a capacity of extremes. There are those of us who are honest to the letter and there are those of us who are equally dishonest. Stress often plays an important part of being dishonest, especially for a struggling businessman desperately trying to provide for his family.

Then there are those who are just plain greedy and don’t care how they arrive at their fortune as long as they do.

Luckily, in most countries, there is now a system in place that ensures a basic (some might say very basic) standard that all manufacturers or suppliers of human food must meet.

Sadly this is either not the case for animal feed, or the standards are so low as to be useless.

So despite all the pretty advertising, all the logically convincing and reassuring words from your vet, chances are, if you’re feeding your cat a processed cat food, you’re directly contributing to her ill health.

The big brand names in cat food contribute financially to veterinary colleges, which explains why vets surgery reception areas are now piled high with these brands. But does it spell quality?

To find out we need to look at what’s in processed cat food. Most fresh meat goes for human consumption as more money can be made there. So pet food tends to get the dregs. Dregs can include meat meal or meat by-products (chicken feet, feathers, hair, skin, intestinal waste (poo to you and me), general slaughterhouse wastes), meat not considered safe (spoiled or toxic) or desirable for human consumption, fat, diseased carcasses (which may be far from fresh), including euthanised animals.

To bulk this out, low cost carbohydrates are used, which can include sugar, propylene glycol, leftover fast food, mouldy and rancid grain deemed unsuitable for human consumption, corn syrup, non-nutritive fillers such as sawdust or newspaper and so forth.

So the cat food starts out as low quality, too low in digestible protein essential to a cats well being, too high in fat, too high in carbohydrates and possibly poisonous - 100 Bald and Golden Eagles in North America have died recently from eating a euthanised animal.

Then the ‘food’ is cooked, usually at very high temperatures. Cooking destroys many nutrients which are essential for good health. Cats evolved by killing and eating their food instantly, showing that freshness is essential for a cats overall good health.

To address this, the cat food manufacturers add synthetic nutrients. Synthetic nutrients are isolated and not easily digested by anyone let alone your cat. So a label reassuringly boasting of a ‘nutritionally complete’ or ‘scientific’ diet are purposefully vague as neither are true. Unqualified claims are legally acceptable in most countries with their poor or non-existent pet food regulations.

As this resultant cat food doesn’t look very appealing, colour is added (Red 40, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Blue 2), obviously for your benefit as I doubt your cat cares much about the colour of cat food.

Now, most processed food is in a dry or semi dry form. This means that you have to preserve the food to keep it. If you purchase any meat product that keeps longer than a couple of days in the fridge, you know it has preservative in.

Some common preservatives include disodium guanylate, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), menadione sodium bisulfite complex (a very controversial synthetic vitamin K.), mixed-tocopherols (synthetic form of Vitamin E) and others considered unfit for human consumption.

All processed food is ‘dead’ food, with no life. Dead food is that which has been cooked, particularly at high temperature and for long periods.

So you might think that buying cat food direct from a pet food supplier or butcher might be the answer. A quality butcher I buy from once told me that most pet mince sold at butchers is all the excess fat they can’t use, mixed with beetroot juice. On further inspection of the pet mince in discussion, I didn’t doubt him.

I read recently of someone buying from a pet shop. As she walked up to the shop from the car park, she noticed a pickup truck loaded down with large boxes marked poultry. On closer inspection she saw they contained pre-packaged chicken pieces. Fresh chicken sitting in boxes, in the hot summer sun, not on ice, not in a refrigerated truck, but in the back of an open pick up truck waiting to be carried into the store for sale to consumers.

Cat Food Recipes - Quick, Easy, Nutritious

2009-04-27T11:41:00.000+08:00

For years, I thought that the best cat food was bought from the supermarket, in tins, packets and boxes. After all, the labels said things like “scientifically proven” and “recommended by vets” and “low ash”, things that seemed to indicate to me the manufacturers knew what they were talking about.

I don’t doubt, that you do or perhaps did, feel the same.

It’s easier to assume the best if you have high demands on your time. And who hasn’t these days?

It was only when I started looking at a more holistic way of treatment, that I began to run into the idea that perhaps commercial pet food wasn’t the best way.

After all, the makers of such food are normal people trying to make their business pay. It’s tempting to cut corners. And the more corners you cut, the easier it becomes.

Now, you’re probably as concerned as I am about the lack of quality in commercial pet food. From the low grade meat, to the meat-by-products, to the high fat, to the synthetic nutrients, to the chemical preservatives. Even the cans aren’t safe, with BPA in the lining leaking into the food.

Really, the only way to ensure your family or your pet is getting proper nutrition is to make it yourself, from scratch.

And, of course, just as you and your family want variety, so too does your cat.

So you’re looking for some inspiring cat food recipes?

Ones that are quick to deliver after a hard day’s work?

Ones that are nutritious and balanced to ensure your cat’s ongoing good health?

Ones that don’t cost an arm and a leg?

Well, you’ve come to the right place!

When I adopted the idea of homemade cat food, I struggled with providing my cats with food they would eat and which was healthy. It took a lot of trial and error, but I got there in the end.

Now I know what the most nutritious cat food is, I know what cats like and I can vary the meals so they get something different every day of the week.

I thought others might like to learn from my experiences, rather than make their own mistakes. Why reinvent the wheel? This other has gone before and ironed out the wrinkles for you!

Cat food recipes must contain the essential meat that cats need, but just by varying one ingredient, you can create a difference that will stimulate your cats appetite.

And it’s just so easy!

OK, I admit, it’s not quite as easy as opening a can or box. But then, I’m guessing you’re looking beyond that, for quality and health enhancing nutrition.

Good quality homemade cat food recipes are fun to make, easy to do and ensures your cat’s optimum health.

The emphasis is on good quality.

I’ve read many different cat food recipes which really aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. It’s obvious that the writer hasn’t done any research into the dietary requirements of cats.

My cat food recipes are based on what I have researched, but also what holistic veterinarians are saying, as a body. They’re saying what really works, what diseases, often serious, melt away with a proper diet, made from good quality homemade cat food recipes.

Enjoy!

Why are Cat Health Problems on the Increase?

2009-04-21T09:55:00.000+08:00

I remember, when I was a child, that our cats lived long and healthy lives. Twenty was common and thirty not unusual.

I also remember that trips to the veterinarian were rare.

And that our cats were often fed table scraps and raw meat and bones.

Cat health problems didn’t seem to be an issue.

Nowadays, it seems that cats barely live beyond ten.

And vet clinics are kept very busy by worried pet people.

Could there be a connection? A connection between frequent visits to the vet and cats dying young?

In my opinion, there is.

Let me explain, before you get hot under the collar about how good your vet is. (And yes, I do concede that there are good vets about, but they are few and far between and usually holistic.)

Veterinary schools are now partially financed by the top (and wealthy) commercial pet food industry corporations. They ‘educate’ the students how wonderful and nutritious their food is. You only have to look at the reception area of most vets, to know what I’m talking about. Packs and tins are piled high to the ceiling.

But, if the students did a bit of digging, they’d find that almost all commercial pet food is very far from healthy. So unhealthy, in fact, that it is killing your cat.

Some students do go digging and so reject the commercial pet food. Others comply with the industry and advocate its use widely. After all, look at the profit they make. It’s a double scoop.

Once for the purchase of the food.

And again for the consultations and drugs when your cat inevitably falls sick.

So what can you do about cat health problems?

Diet is crucial to a healthy life. The daily intake of low quality food (if you can call it that), poisonous preservatives (too toxic to comply with human food laws) and artificial nutrients (which aren’t easily absorbed) create havoc to your cat’s health.

The pretty labelling and fashionable words (natural, science, etc) have no substance. There are few, if any, laws in most countries, for the pet food industry. And what there are, are easily manipulated or side stepped.

Cat health problems has reached an all time high, because you’re not being told the truth. Like many other areas in your life, you’re being manipulated for profit. You only have to listen to the good (almost always holistic) vets to know that this is true.

Almost as a body they are claiming that serious feline diseases can be cured by a switch to a natural meat and bones diet. Diseases like hypertension, the so-called inevitable age related diseases, cystitis, dead mothers and babies, heart disease, tumours and cancer, hip dysplasia, skin and hair problems, renal problems, spinal myelopathy, feline leukaemia, this list goes on.

I do believe that there are other contributory factors to cat health problems, apart from diet. But as diet is daily consumed, I feel it is the major contributor by far.

Cat health problems can be resolved, not just prevented, by a switch to a diet more in keeping with how cats evolved.

Once the diet is addressed to one more in keeping with how a cat evolved (you can’t beat nature, even though we keep trying), the cat’s immune system comes up and they are much better equipped to deal with other damaging causes.

Cat Health Problems - Seven Easy Steps to Banish Them

2009-04-13T12:56:00.001+08:00

Health is directly related to nutrition. This is true for you and every animal under the sun. That old saying of garbage in, garbage out is so very true, that few people doubt it.

Lets have a look at a few reasons why cat health problems seem to abound:

in the wild, cats live on freshly killed, raw prey, whereas in domesticity, cats who are fed commercial pet food have a diet of cooked food, often for long periods at high temperatures and pressures
in the wild, cat‘s prey will be mostly quality muscle meat, little fat, a small amount of organ meat, little or no carbohydrates (stomach contents) and lots of bones to crunch up, whereas cats who are fed commercial pet food have a low quality meat meal or meat by-products, high fat content (its cheap), high levels of carbohydrates (to bulk it out) and no bones to crunch on
a wild cats diet is always freshly killed, whereas a commercial brand of cat food is full of toxic preservatives, too toxic to be allowed into human food
a wild cat’s diet is naturally high in nutritious content, whereas a commercial pet food has synthetic and isolated nutrients, of questionable absorbability, added
a wild cat’s diet is pure, natural, organic, whereas many brands of pet food contain ‘meat’ from euthanased animals, including the chemical used to kill, and laboratory animals, including the tested drug which may have killed the animal
in the wild a cat will only eat if the hunt was successful, which means they often go hungry, whereas a domestic cat often has food left out all the time. This can be the cause of digestive problems later in life, as it is not in keeping with how they evolved
cat health problems are few and far between in the wild - we can see this as wild cats are highly successful at colonising a new area

I believe there are other reasons for cat health problems, but by far the major contributor is the diet. The food a cat eats every day means the potential for the toxins to build up gradually, giving the appearance that the diet is not to blame.

Most of us, cats included, can manage not to succumb to disease or health problems, even if we have an inadequate diet for a short time. If however, it continues, then chronic deficiencies start to appear.

It is a sad testament to our times that money talks. Many of the larger commercial brands of pet food now have a significant influence in most of the veterinary schools. So vets are taught that commercial brands of pet foods are the most healthy. Which explains why almost all veterinary clinics are now loaded with the top commercial brands of pet food.

I never ask people to believe me. I simply put what I consider to be valid arguments and leave you, fair reader, to make up your own mind.

Could your cat health problems be a result of the diet she is fed?

What feelings and thoughts do you have on this? Perhaps you need to do a little research yourself? Thorough and unbiased research will always lead you to the truth.

Once I opened up my mind to consider everything in my quest for the cause of cat health problems, the answers came flooding in. I was the barrier, with my pre-conceived ideas.

What are Your Leading Cat Health Questions?

2009-04-07T08:47:00.000+08:00

Cats don’t seem to be as healthy as I remember them to be when I was a child, many moons ago.

Now they seem to be prone to any and every disease under the sun, with exotic breeds succumbing the most.

Whether your cat health questions are infertility, upper respiratory issues, “inevitable” ageing diseases, renal problems, fleas, dead babies, or anything else it all comes down to the fact that domestic cats don’t have the healthy immune systems they once did.

You think you’re doing all the right things by taking her to the vet regularly and doing as they suggest, whether it’s vaccinating or feeding the cat food they supply.

But still your cat’s health is failing.

Why is this so?

I think there are several reasons for this, but there is one outstanding reason which you can address without much knowledge.

And that’s diet.

Food is consumed daily. Which makes it the number one area of importance.

If you are feeding your cat a commercial brand of cat food, her health will be deteriorating.

Why?

Cats evolved over many tens of thousands of years on a diet of fresh kills, which means fresh, raw meat. Their domesticity is comparatively recent, and commercial pet food only came into being about the middle of the 20th century.

So, think of your most pressing cat health questions and then look at the food you are feeding her? Is the food in accordance with how wild cats eat? If not, then maybe you need to think about a change.

I never expect people to believe me any more than I expect them to believe anyone. But I always try to put forward logical and reasonable arguments to support my way of thinking.

In the 1930’s Dr Pottenger carried out some experiments on cats. He discovered that the offspring of cats who were only fed cooked food were born with immune deficiencies.

He also discovered that within three generations, the immune system would be virtually useless unless some raw food had been eaten.

I suggest to you that no matter what your cat health questions are, the answer is always the same.

Raw meat and bones, just as wild cats eat.

Wild cats are very healthy (they have to be to survive), have few fleas and worms and don’t suffer the chronic, degenerative diseases that so afflict our domestic cats.

However, there is an enormous industry at the heart of cat health. Veterinarians and drug companies make enormous sums of money treating ailing cats. Many would go out of business if you decided to answer your own cat health questions by solid research.

But I’m encouraging you to do just that.

Cat Health Made Easy

2009-03-30T09:54:00.000+08:00

It’s probably true to say that most people who enjoy the company of cats in their home are particularly conscious of providing good cat health care.

Optimising good cat heath care will not only provide your cat with the potential of a long life, but also of a healthy, carefree one, too. It’s very satisfying to see your cat happy, healthy and enjoying life.

What is the single most important thing you can do to ensure the your cat enjoys the best health?

Is it immunising your cat against all the common or known feline diseases?

Is it keeping your cat indoors, away from potential hazards such as fighting or car accidents?

Is it having them sterilised?

Perhaps it’s in keeping their sexuality entire?

Could it be ensuring their teeth are clean?

What about providing a loving, secure and safe home?

There are probably as many opinions about what’s important in cat health care as there are people!

Important though some of the above are, I don’t think any of them are as important to optimise good cat health as something that they do every day.

Eating!

Diet and nutrition are of top priority in maintaining the health of your cat. To my mind, this is the single most important aspect in maintaining anyone’s health., not just for your cat

You may be feeding your cat a top cat food, recommended by your veterinarian. You may feel that, with all the advertising, proprietary brands are the best cat food. But are they?

We all know that advertising makes hollow promises, as the advertiser is more concerned with making money than giving you the facts.

But surely you can trust your veterinarian. Can’t you?

Did you know that the top pet food manufacturers financially contribute to veterinary colleges? I may be old fashioned, but to me that means the colleges aren’t completely impartial. After all, you don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

I suspect, that since you have reached this article, you’re searching for another way to improve your cats’ health, other than that recommended by your veterinarian - which is invariably everyone’s first choice.

Contrary to popular belief, and to most vets who sell processed food, it is the processed food itself which wreaks such havoc with cat health. Cats evolved by hunting animals and consuming most of it immediately.

Their digestive system has evolved to cope with this. Cooked, processed, preservatives and the very low grade meat by-products which are the basis for the majority of proprietary cat food on the market, is the single, most damaging factor in the deteriorating health of your cat.

If your cat gets all his nutrition from raw food, you will see a remarkable transformation in a matter of days.

But you need to get the balance right. You need to get the quantity and variety right for a good, all round balanced diet. Otherwise you could run the very real risk of one or more deficiencies. A serious deficiency can be fatal.

And you need to know about the de-toxing effect a change to a good diet entails.

When I first started introducing raw food to my cats, it was fraught with difficulties. I made mistake after mistake. After studying and applying various other therapists ways, I finally worked out what worked and what didn’t. What they said was right and what just couldn’t work.

So I wrote a book about cat health, based on my own experiences. I wish I’d had it before I embarked on that particular adventure. It would have saved me so much anxt.

When you address this so very important aspect of cat health, the spin off is enormous - professional therapist fees are cut back drastically.

Is there anyone alive who doesn’t love a win-win situation?

Diabetic Cat Food - How You Can Reduce the Need for Insulin

2009-03-23T16:38:00.000+09:00

It is now generally accepted that human diabetes is an immune disorder. There seems no reason to suppose that feline diabetes is any different. This particular immune disorder has the form of failure of the pancreas to produce insulin.

An immune system brakes down because of the burden put upon it, mostly a chemical burden. When you consider all the chemicals most pets are subject to, there is little wonder their immune systems go on strike. Drugs, vaccinations, pesticides in the garden, harsh cleaners in the house, but perhaps worse of all by virtue of it’s frequent ingestion, are the preservatives in their daily diet.

A typical cat food is processed and comes in a box, packet or can. The dried cat food must contain high levels of preservative to keep it at room temperature, indefinitely, despite what the packet may say. Believe me, there’s no other way to have such a long shelf life.

Cats are particularly sensitive to chemicals, so readily succumb to them. A stay in a cattery may well overload them, as most catteries fastidiously clean their pens with strong disinfectants or bleach, to ensure there’s no cross contamination.

There are several things you can do immediately, to help your cat overcome this serious disease, even if they have had it a while. You never know how much good you can do until you try.

The first thing that’s really important to address is their diet. Start giving your cat a good quality, raw, diabetic cat food. Human grade raw meat, from a butcher, will generally not contain any preservatives or colour as most countries have laws against that.
It’s better to feed a diabetic cat 3 or 4 small meals a day, rather than 1 or 2 larger meals.
Diabetic cat food differs slightly from a normal healthy cat food by the fat content. The food must be low fat (but not no fat), as the pancreas is responsible for the production of enzymes which help break down fat.
No healthy cat food should contain any sugar, in particular diabetic cat food. Many, perhaps most, commercial cat food manufacturers use sugar as a filler. It bulks out the meat and is cheap, with a world glut.
No cat food should not contain large amounts of carbohydrates, which are a manistay part of almost all processed cat foods, including those for diabetic cats.
The mineral chromium assists the body in utilising the insulin more efficiently, so the addition of half to one teaspoon of brewers yeast to the diabetic cat food will help your cat. Chromium is also in liver, beef and spirulina.
Including vitamin E in the diabetic cat food reduces the amount of insulin required. Vitamin E occurs naturally in raw meat fat and spirulina. Vitamin E is also in eggs and wheat germ oil, but diabetic cat food should be low in oil and fat, so while these are recommended, they should be in small quantities. You can also supplement it in the d alpha tocopheral (the natural form). Try to avoid the synthetic form, which is more commonly used. Synthetic vitamins are not as well utilised by the cat. Dose 30 IU per day until you see improvement.
And play with your cat, so she gets some exercise. Exercise tends to decrease the need for insulin.

A good diabetic cat food, like any good cat food, is as close to that of a wild cats food as possible. Cats have evolved to efficiently use raw food. They can’t use processed and cooked food in the same way, as they lack the nutrients destroyed by cooking.

Once you have your cat regularly eating good quality raw food, she may need less insulin. And if it isn’t too far advanced, there’s no reason why she shouldn’t recover completely. Recovery from serious disease is not uncommon when the cause is addressed. Ensuring your cat only eats a healthy, high quality, raw, diet, at the very least will reduce her need for insulin.

Should You Feed Organic Cat Food for Best Feline Health?

2009-03-09T10:16:00.000+09:00

The health of domestic cats is on the decline. Their life span is much below that of their wild cousins and the cats of your parents era. I frequently hear people implying their cat is old by the time they have reached eight or nine years of age.

Not that long ago, it was common for cats to reach 18 or 19 years of age, with a few rare exceptions reaching nearly 30.

You may have your own reasons why this might be happening, and I’m probably going to voice most of them here!

By virtue of the regularity of eating, I consider the most important reason why cats aren’t as healthy as they once were is the diet they are fed.

As people are coming into this awareness, there is a mad scramble by the commercial cat food industry to attract you with pretty words and smiling actors on the labels. The pretty words include icons such as ‘scientifically proven’ or ‘recommended by top vets’, although that is now less alluring than ‘natural’ or ‘all natural’. (I’m not sure what a ‘top vet’ is either. Could it be one who does the most advertising for the industry?)

However, ‘nature’, ‘natural’ and ‘all natural’ are slipping into second place as ‘organic’ becomes the favourite word of the day.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a strong contender for organic food, both for humans and for cats, but not all organic cat food really is organic.

For a start, the word ‘organic’ means nothing if it is not backed by a reputable certification. Everything that grows could be said to be organic. Many conventional producers have marked their produce as organic, when it had no certification.

Becoming a certified organic producer takes time - years. The soil is regularly checked. In that period, the producer can’t sell his produce as organic or use chemicals. It can be a tough time.

I have seen some dried organic cat food for sale. It was certified. But what’s the point in that? You’re feeding your cat organic cat food to avoid the chemicals that go into food production - the antibiotics in standard stock feed, the hormones given to stock to increase weight and production over a shorter period, the pesticides, herbicides, insecticides that are regularly used on the crops, the chemical fertilisers.

Stop and consider this. Can meat (in reality meat by-products as the good stuff goes for the higher priced human food) be kept indefinitely without the use of strong preservatives? How else can a packet of dried organic cat food have such a long shelf life?

Sure, the packet may not list preservatives in the list of ingredients. Why would they? You wouldn’t buy it.

The packet may even boast ‘no added preservative’. The wording needs to be clever to avoid litigation. ‘No added preservatives’ means they, the brand, didn’t add the preservatives. It doesn’t mean that preservatives weren’t added to the ‘meat’ before delivery.

So the million dollar question is, should you buy organic cat food? In my opinion, if it’s a commercial organic cat food, it is no better than non organic cat food.

All commercial cat food, whether organic or not, have one or more of the following preservatives in:

ethoxyquin (which causes diarrhoea, vision disorders, blindness, organ failure, cancers, leukaemia on just exposure to the human factory workers)
formalin is used to preserve dead bodies
sodium nitrite, which gives a nice rosy colour to food and can produce powerful carcinogenic substances known as nitrosamines
propyl gallate - is now suspected of causing liver damage
propylene glycol used to maintain the right texture and moisture content is used as coolant antifreeze in engines
up to 1000 times more salt than occurs naturally

Most of these are not allowed in human food, due to their high levels of toxicity. Do you think that could be why cats are not living as long as they once were Would you?

Can Healthy Cat Food Contain Preservatives?

2009-03-02T11:32:00.001+09:00

In this day and age of the mighty dollar masquerading as king, it becomes more and more difficult to trust businesses who have a vested interest in gaining your sale. As cats can’t talk to us, or perhaps I should say, as we can’t hear what cats are telling us, we don’t have that all important input to know if we are providing our cats with a healthy cat food.

If you do a quick search on the internet, you’ll come across practically all pet food manufacturers proclaiming their brand is ‘all natural’, ‘healthy’, ‘holistic’, even ‘organic’, but in every single case they are selling dry food.

Just think about it for a minute. Dried food which contains any form of meat just won’t keep at room temperature. Try keeping your steak out of the refrigerator for a few days and see what happens.

So how do pet food manufacturers keep cat food indefinitely at room temperature?

The only possible way to do this is to add preservatives. Despite many claims saying there are no preservatives, logic tells you there has to be.

Cooking in itself may preserve meat a little longer than raw meat, but not for weeks, or even years.

So what, you may be thinking, I know there are preservatives in some of the foods I eat and I seem to be OK. Surely a few preservatives doesn’t mean I’m not feeding my cat a healthy cat food?

I personally don’t think any preservative is OK. It may appear to be harmless in the short term, but in the long term there will be consequences.

But apart from my personal opinion, there are some laws, perhaps rather basic or not well enforced, in almost every country around the world, that protects human food. So all preservatives used in human food has to be considered ‘reasonably safe’ by some standards.

Unfortunately, there are no such safe guards in pet food. Or the laws are even less effectively enforced than the human laws.

So the preservatives used in cat food can be the most toxic. Does cat food containing highly toxic preservatives sound like a healthy cat food to you?

Ever heard of formalin? Embalmers use it to preserve dead bodies.

Formalin, also known as formaldehyde, is widely used in pet food to preserve it.

You probably haven’t heard of ethoxyquin. That’s a preservative used in the rubber industry. It’s in the tyres of your car. So what on earth is it doing in your cat food?

Lets look at ethoxyquin’s history. When factory workers were exposed to it, they exhibited side effects similar to those of agent orange:

constant diarrhoea
vision disorders including blindness
organ failure
organ cancers
leukaemia

Are you getting a bit concerned? Perhaps your cat is suffering from some kind of organ damage? Here are a few other common preservatives used in cat food to keep it at room temperature indefinitely;

sodium nitrite, which gives a nice rosy colour to food and can produce powerful carcinogenic substances known as nitrosamines
propyl gallate - is now suspected of causing liver damage
propylene glycol used to maintain the right texture and moisture content is used as coolant antifreeze in engines
up to 1000 times more salt than occurs naturally

No manufacturer can keep preservatives out of dry cat food if it has a long shelf life.

So, if you don’t feed your cat a commercial cat food, what can you feed her?

To my way of thinking, the only sure way of knowing you are providing a healthy cat food is to prepare it yourself.

Before you throw your hands up in horror, saying you don’t know how, you don’t have time, that’s where I come in.

I’ve done the research for a balanced, healthy cat food.

I’ve made all the mistakes and can show how not to fall into the traps I did.

By feeding your cat a healthy cat food, you’ll have fewer trips to your veterinarian and your cat will live longer.

Holistic Cat Food For the Healthiest Cat

2009-02-23T13:29:00.001+09:00

Once you’ve started looking around for holistic treatment for your cat, it’s a natural sequel to think about holistic cat food.

There’s a saying that currently people have never been so well fed, but so under nourished. As this is a direct result of poor farming methods as well as bad dietary advice, it’s no less true for your cat as it is for you.

Changing over the diet of your cat to a more natural one, will not only benefit him, but your pocket too. Because your cat is healthier on this diet, you’ll have fewer visits to your preferred cat health professional.

But what exactly am I talking about?

Well, an holistic cat food is one which so closely resembles a wild cat’s diet, as to be in the same league as far as health is concerned.

You’ll probably be relieved to know, I’m not suggesting you go out and catch mice. What I’m asking you to do is to consider the diet of a wild cat and then be mindful in duplicating it as closely as you can, within the framework of readily available food and the constraints on your time.

Actually, I’ve already done that for you, so you don’t have to do all the hard work. I just want you to know the reasons behind feeding your cat an holistic diet to ensure better health and longevity.

It’s worth remembering that cats have evolved on a wild diet over millions of years, and are extremely healthy on it. Otherwise they would have died out.

So trying to duplicate nature’s bounty for your cat is the best way to ensure his good health and longevity.

Providing an holistic cat food isn’t difficult once you’ve opened up your mind to the idea of it. Isn’t that always the biggest hurdle? Once you’re open to the idea the rest, as they say, is easy. With a bit of guidance from someone who has made all the mistakes possible.

A quality, balanced holistic cat food:

will provide your cat with all his nutritional requirements.
will make your cat content and much less interested in hunting - hunting domestic cats usually means they are lacking nutrients in their current diet and they’re trying to redress that
is free from chemical residue, such as preservatives and colour, which cats are so sensitive to
contains no synthetic vitamins or minerals - which are difficult to absorb and utilise so tend to be excreted
is raw and so contain all the enzymes and other nutrients lost in cooking

Holistic cat food contains only naturally occurring vitamins and minerals, in a balanced and whole food form. You know, you shouldn’t need to supplement your cat’s food. All the necessary nutrients should come from the food, and in the wild, they do.

But, because modern farming methods cut corners in quality to boost quantity (and so profit), the resulting foods are often poor in nutrients. So supplementing becomes necessary.

Most supplements on the market today are isolated nutrients. In nature, nutrients are always found with other nutrients that they co-depend on. For example, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium must be in the natural balanced ratio and need vitamin A and D to be properly utilised. Iron, copper and cobalt co-depend on each other. And so on.

In addition to the isolation, most modern supplements are synthetic. Synthetic nutrients aren’t easily absorbed or utilised by the body. And you can overdose on synthetic nutrients more easily than on natural ones, which the body knows how to deal with.

Holistic cat food, on the other hand, is easily absorbed and utilised by your cat. The supplements are a whole food, and are nutrient dense. This means all that is needed is readily absorbed.

It is not time consuming to provide this diet, if you follow my easy feline dietary advice, It’s simply a question of being aware of certain pitfalls. It may take you and your cat a while to work things out, but it’s well worth it for the huge benefits which follow.

Homemade Cat Food - Quick, Nutritious, Healthy

2009-02-16T12:50:00.000+09:00

As you have already decided, or are thinking seriously about, providing your cat with homemade cat food, I want to congratulate you!

This is the first huge step anyone can make in re-establishing the health of their cat.

But you do need to be aware of the pitfalls. You do need to ensure that you are providing Fido with all the essential nutrients for a healthy body. That’s not all. You need to ensure Fido’s mind is equally healthy.

Like it or not, your cat evolved by killing and eating small animals, up to about their own size. When making your own homemade cat food, you need to keep this firmly in mind.

By preventing them from killing their own dinner, you are removing something very important in Fido’s life, so you have to try to compensate for this, as much as you can.

Unless Fido is a working cat, keeping mice or rat numbers down, I’m sure you don’t really like to see him hunt.

How do you provide him with such a good and adequate diet that he really just can’t bothered to hunt?

First of all, you look to nature for the answers.

Since a wild cat tends only to eat what he has just killed, this immediately tells us four things:

he likes his food fresh
he likes his food raw
he likes his food warm
he likes bones with his meal

That’s a bit of a contradiction, isn’t it? Raw, but warm?

Surely you need to cook the food to kill off any worms or bacteria?

What about bones? Won’t they splinter and get caught up in his gut which will require expensive and distressing veterinary surgery to remove?

You know, there’s a lot of misleading information about the best food for cats, ‘out there’. Most of it comes from pet food manufacturers or those who sell or promote it, so have a vested interest in it.

In my opinion, you can’t improve on nature. So when making your own homemade cat food, try to stick as close to a natural diet as you can.

You can’t duplicate it, but you can come close.

While kittens will have no trouble adapting to eating a healthy homemade cat food, adults who have got used to the appetite stimulants in most processed food, can have a hard time adapting.

You will probably get a lot of accusing looks, turning his head away in disgust, walking away, turning his back on you, pawing the food as if to bury it, the works, during the transition period and you will feel a really nasty, uncaring cat person - rest assured Fido will make you feel that way! However, you do need to persevere for his sake.

He will come round. You just need to stick at it longer than he does... Trust me, he won’t starve himself!

Homemade cat food, is without a doubt, the healthiest food you can feed your cat, as long as you follow nature’s laws. You can restore good health in an ailing cat, you can keep your cat healthier, longer.

You have made the first giant step forward in considering a homemade cat food. The next step is in working out what the best one is.

I wish you every success!

Wellness Cat Food - Seven Reasons Your Cat Needs it Now

2009-02-09T11:35:00.001+09:00

Unless you have become increasingly concerned about the health of your cat, in particular the quality of her food, you could be forgiven for wondering what on earth wellness cat food is.

Year by year we see more and more distressing media reports that pets are dying in their droves from one commercial pet food or another.

One brand may be using melamine as a filler in their cat food.

Another brand may be having trouble keeping their commercial premises free from salmonella.

There are as many problems with all commercial pet food as there are brand names.

Lets have a look at some of them:

a filler is something all brands use to bulk out the meat (by-products) to increase their profit
all brands use cheap meat (by-products), as the expensive cuts go for human consumption
the quality of the meat (by-products) varies with different brands, but many contain hair, hooves, beaks, entrails (and contents), laboratory animals (who may be highly toxic from new drug tests), euthanased pets (including toxic flea collars, tags, etc), zoo animals and horses (still containing the lethal chemical), road kill, dead or diseased farm animals
cheap meat (by-products) have a very high fat content, as there is little human market for fat
the food is cooked for a prolonged time period at high temperatures - cooking kills off enzymes and vitamins and can chemically alter food
to try to address this imbalance of nutrients, synthetic nutrients are added later, which are difficult to digest and have limited use as they are all in isolation
to ensure the cat ‘food’ has a long shelf life (which is in everyone’s interest except your cat’s), preservatives MUST be added (the manufacturer may not have added them, but they will have been added somewhere along the line) and these are typically preservatives that would never be allowed in human food, due to their high toxicity

Horrifying as the above may be, you don’t need to go searching to find a brand of wellness cat food that doesn’t have any of the above. I’m sure some are emerging from the murk, but even these you may find difficult to be 100% sure they are consistent. We all have bad days, when we can’t get the ingredients we want. What happens then? Are their ethics compromised in order not to let their customers down? What happens if the business is sold? Will the new owner or manager have the same high standards?

To have consistently high value wellness cat food, it’s best to start from scratch yourself.

I hear you cry “I don’t know how”, “how do I ensure it’s balanced?”, “it sounds too complicated”, “I don’t have the time”, “it sounds expensive”, my cat won’t eat anything except one brand”.

Wellness cat food means going back to nature. It means working out what wild cats eat (who are naturally healthy and disease free). It means taking a bit of time to work through your perceptions about what you think the best wellness cat food is. Don’t forget you’ve been programmed (another word could be brainwashed) by those who benefit by spreading this mis-information.

Natural Cat Food - Do it Yourself Easily and Quickly

2009-02-01T15:27:00.000+09:00

In the last decades of the 20th century, people were generally hoodwinked into believing that processed and prepared food was better for your health and that of your pets.

Happily, people are now realising that this isn’t the case. More and more people are looking for a healthy diet for themselves and their pets.

When you search for a healthy diet for your cat, you really can’t go past natural cat food. Nature does know best, despite the clamouring of the pet food manufacturers. Of course they clamour - it’s big business.

But it doesn’t mean that the clamouring is based on fact.

So how do you set about finding a natural cat food? You probably have certain criteria, such as:

it must be easy as you’re busy
it must be nutritionally complete
it must satisfy your cat mentally as well as physically
it must be realistically priced

As the demand increases, businesses will spring up everywhere that offer natural pet food. Some will indeed do their utmost to fulfil this honestly, but sadly, there will always be others who will cut corners on quality and truly natural cat food.

Who do you trust?

The only person you can really trust, when it comes down to it, is you!

But I don’t have the expertise, I hear you say.

No, you may not now. But you can learn. And learn quite fast. All you need to do is to follow natural laws.

Lets look at a wild cats diet first, as that’s the most natural cat food there is.

A cat will kill and immediately eat small animals up to about their own size. This can tell you five important facts:

the food is very fresh
the food is raw
the food is warm
the food contains bones
the food is mostly muscle meat and bones, but there are small amounts of offal

I can hear questions forming in your mind - can you really feed cats raw meat? Doesn’t that contain harmful bacteria or parasites? Won’t the bones splinter and pierce the intestinal tract?

You know, nature doesn’t get things wrong. It’s had a long time to perfect things. If the raw meat and bones in natural cat food created health problems, cats would have died out long ago. But we all know, that given the right conditions, wild or feral cat populations can grow very large.

So yes, raw meat is the healthiest and best natural cat food you can give your cat.

And no, raw bones won’t create problems. It’s cooked bones which can splinter and create all sorts of health issues. But cooked bones aren’t natural, so it’s logical that they have the potential to create mayhem.

And no, bacteria and worms are not a problem for cats.

So nature has got it right. Raw food is best!

Of course, it’s not that simple - nothing ever is, is it? You need to know the right balance, what to supplement and why, how many meals a day, what sort and size of bones are suitable, how to feed growing kittens and pregnant queens, how much offal and what kind, because you can get it wrong and then your cat can suffer the consequences.

And the big question on how to convert an adult cat to raw food - this can be quite a challenge. It’s not dissimilar to the concept of raising your kids on fast food, then telling them it’s all raw fruit and veggies from now on. You’re likely to have a riot on your hands!

However, once you get the hang of doing it yourself, it’s a doddle. And the best thing about it, is that the health of your cat will steadily improve to the best it’s ever been. And the spin off from that is much lower health professional fees.

Don’t you just love a win-win situation?

Raw Cat Food - Turning the Health of Your Cat Around

2009-01-27T11:49:00.000+09:00

A friend’s daughter, Susan, was house and cat sitting, something she enjoys and which gives her an additional income. She was concerned for the cat though, as he was dirty, smelt, looked ragged and thin.

Now, healthy cats NEVER smell, are dirty or look ragged. Or are thin, for that matter, although neither is an obese cat healthy.

So I asked her what the diet was, knowing full well what the reply would be.

And it was.

Dried food, out of a box.

OK, so it wasn’t up to Susan what the cat was fed, but she takes her responsibilities seriously and was concerned the cat wouldn’t last til the people returned from their long holiday.

And the cat is very affectionate and wants to sleep with her. She’d prefer not to share her bed with a smelly, dirty cat and feels bad about it.

What could she do?

So I suggested she feed the cat raw cat food.

I told her what food to buy and how to manage the change over.

Older cats converting to raw cat food are likely to experience a toxin purge. Unless you’re prepared for it, it can look as if your cat’s health is rapidly deteriorating. It isn’t, it’s just having a good spring clean.

Young cats don’t have such a toxin build up, so when their diet is changed to raw cat food, they don’t experience the same purge.

Sure enough, once the raw food was started, Susan saw signs of a toxin purge. She was glad I’d prepared her, as it did look a bit alarming for a couple of days.

By the fourth day, she told me, the cat just seemed more content.

On day six, Susan reported that the cat was washing himself.

On day nine, she said the cat was eagerly looking forward to his meal, and ate it with gusto, consuming every scrap.

By day twelve, she told me the cat was almost like a normal cat - clean, smelt sweet, was filling out, was content and gave her no concern whatsoever for his chances of survival.

And she was happily sharing her bed with him by now, too.

It’s great to report that the cat’s people were amazed at the different cat they came home to. One can only hope that they retained the raw cat food diet Susan had had the courage to implement.

This cat was in his middle years, so the purging period at the start of his new diet was a bit shorter than an older cat might experience.

It’s worth every minute of the disdain your cat will treat you with in the early days, while they acclimatise to raw cat food. They may look at you accusingly, refuse the food, paw the food as if to bury it, turn their back at you, the works.

Keep your eye on the long term health gain.

Urinary Tract Health Cat Food - Questions and Answers

2009-01-19T14:23:00.002+09:00

Question - Is there really such a thing as urinary tract health cat food, one that will make a difference to my cat’s health?
Answer - It depends on how advanced the disease is, what treatment has taken place up til now, how healthy your cat was before, how old you cat is and so forth. But if you don’t try, you’ll never know.

Q - So what is the best urinary tract health cat food?
A - You can never go past raw food as the best all round, healthy cat food, for any disease.

Q - My vet tells me that raw meat has worms and parasites which will exacerbate an already ailing cat.
A - Cats have evolved on raw food over millennia. Their digestive system can deal very effectively with any worms or parasites, when they are healthy. When they are not healthy, caution needs to be taken during the change over, to ensure it doesn’t become a problem.

Q - I have heard that the best urinary tract health cat food should be a low protein diet. Surely a raw diet is high in protein?
A - Cats have evolved on a high protein diet. I don’t believe you should reduce their protein intake. What I believe is at the heart of the problem here is the modern farming methods. The artificial fertilisers that are commonly used today upset the delicate mineral balance in farm animals. Address that and the high protein then isn’t a problem.

Q - Why is it so common for cats to develop renal failure?
A - The kidneys are cats weakest link. So getting into the habit of giving your cat the best and healthiest cat food from the start will ensure optimum health and life expectancy.

Q - Is it difficult to work out what the best urinary tract health cat food should be?
A - I’ve already done it for you, so all you have to do is follow in my footsteps.

Q - Is a good urinary tract health cat food expensive?
A - When I worked out the cost of the best cat food versus the highest priced dried or processed cat food, I found they came out at about the same. And look at the additional bonuses of a healthy cat, so fewer trips to the vet!

Q - Is it time consuming to this prepare diet? I work, so have limited time.
A - Once you’ve got your head around the concept, it’s really easy. Just make the change over slowly, so you and your cat get used to it gradually. I find that’s the best way of learning something new and guarantees you’ll find it easy to stick to.

Q - What about high ash? I’ve heard that’s not a good thing in cats with ailing kidneys. Shouldn’t a good urinary tract health cat food be low in ash?
A - High ash means high mineral levels. Again, I feel that comes down to bad farming methods putting the delicate mineral balance out of whack. Cats need minerals to be healthy, but they need them in a natural, balanced form. Quality, raw food is the best source.

Q - I’m a vegetarian. It would be difficult for me to prepare raw meat.
A - I totally understand your predicament, I am too. But cats need meat, they’re true carnivores. So if you want to give your cat the best chance in life, you’re going to have to get used to handling raw meat. Or get your partner to...