More Advantages to a Homemade Diet

Whenever I take care of someone else's cats, I am always reminded of how yucky commercial cat food is. Despite the inconvenience of having to make your cat's food from scratch, there are many advantages to doing so. Regular readers already know the health and nutritional pluses of a homemade diet. As if those were not enough, I have a few more for you!

For one thing, the mess associated with leaving cat food out all the time is astounding. Since cats aren't really built to chew on dry cat food pellets, they wind up turning their heads this way and that trying to grind this junk-food product with a carnivore's teeth. This, as I remember well, winds up spreading bits of dry cat food here and yon. And that's not even counting the pieces of food that get batted around the house!

Canned cat food is another matter altogether. I had almost forgotten how gross it smells! Unless you clean those cans out really, really well, your trash (or, hopefully, your recycling bin) will stink. Re-hydrating the leftover cement-food in the bowl by soaking it in the sink is also an adventure, since adding water seems to renew the smell, too. Then, there's the "cat-food breath". Cats on homemade diets have sweet-smelling breath, unlike those who eat commercial food. And, if you are like me and like to snuggle with your cats, waiting a while after mealtimes is a must if you don't want to smell Fluffy's canned cat food dinner in her fur!

There is also the other end of the smell issue: The litter box. Cats on commercial diets tend to have bowel movements that are a bit stinky. There's a reason there are so many cat-litter box deodorizers and and scented cat litter brands on the market! Because there are so many fillers in the food, the stool is also much larger than it would be if the cat was hunting for itself. Homemade food produces small, nearly neutral smelling stool. Since the animal is extracting almost everything from the food, there is little waste to pass out of the other end. I certainly don't miss the days of smelly cat boxes, that's for sure.

All the above reasons are selfish, really, since they address our concerns as pet owners rather than the needs of our companions. But making homemade cat food is work, and we should get some extra benefits for this additional effort (besides healthy, long-lived cats). So, during the dog days of summer when the garbage is smelling up the house and/or attracting wildlife on the back deck, remember this article. You may just decide to cook up a treat for Fluffy after all.
Chat later!

Hepatitis and Liver Disease in Cats

Liver disease is another serious disorder that is becoming more prevalent in cats. According to Dr. Donald R. Strombeck, author of Home-Prepared Dog and Cat Diets, this problem was seldom seen thirty years ago. He credits the increased accuracy and use of diagnostic veterinary tests, but also mentions that the toxins that contribute to this disease enter the body many ways, including in food products. What else became the norm during the 1970s? The feeding of commercial pet food!

Cats have very sensitive systems, as I have mentioned here before. They are apt to react violently to small amounts of toxic substances, but more often just suffer more and more negative effects from toxins in their environment. Many people (and dogs) also are exhibiting symptoms of toxin overload, such as Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Disorder. Many auto-immune diseases are thought to be brought on and aggravated by environmental contaminants. Even in otherwise healthy animals, eventually the toxic load, combined with age and diminished immunity, prevails. The animal begins to show signs of disease.

Anitra Frazier mentions many household chemicals that can be implicated in liver disease. Cleaners, pesticides, moth balls--all have a cumulative effect on one of the most important organs in the body. The liver spends all its time cleaning the blood, which means it comes into direct contact with contaminants that find their way into the animal's bloodstream. When the organ becomes inflamed from this saturation, hepatitis sets in. Animals can recover from this ailment, but part of the liver is now scarred. If steps are not taken to help the liver reduce its heavy load, cirrhosis occurs. As the liver becomes less and less able to clean the blood, toxins circulate freely, causing allergic reactions, particularly of the skin. Bile, produced by the liver, becomes less available, so fat metabolism is incomplete.

Liver disease is insidious, and often the symptoms are not noticed in time to be able to halt the damage. Often, the lethargy, weight loss, hard belly and frequent vomiting are attributed to old age, as are the more frequent skin disorders.

How is this disease diagnosed, and is treatment available? Tune in tomorrow for more facts about this serious illness.
Chat later!