The pet-food industry conspiracy, and Candy’s tale

Originally posted by RedCairo
I've had cats all my life, sometimes 10 at a time (not on purpose I assure you lol).

Cats are a little like people in this regard. SOME cats seem to be ok eating commercial food just like some people eat the standard diet and as they are relatively thin and haven't developed cancer or diabetes yet, they're assumed to be fine. Some genetic lines will get fat but not ill until somewhere down of the road of that. Some will get psychological disorders or cancer or whatever. For cats, just like people most of the initial symptoms are obvious, it's just that people don't know to look for it. That includes skin conditions in particular, from cystic acne to rashes, and common allergy-style issues such as chronically recurring rhinitis or bronchitis. Some cats, like people, will die of other things before disease kills them so you never know.

But grains don't generally help anybody. Food is probably the biggest genuine conspiracy on the planet, in part because it so profoundly affects everything else. And grains for cats are just nasty.

Thank you RedCairo - those are very intelligent and true remarks. And it is so true that grains do generally not help anybody - humans are also affected negatively by gluten and grains - I can vouch for that fact.

My cats are dramatically affected by food, in psychology and in energy as well as in skin disorders, constant barfing, etc. I once took a cat to the vet and he told me that her liver etc. was sluggish and he could give her some medication. I said, would that cure her? No, he says, but it will deal with some of the symptoms... for awhile. Might cause others. I ask, so what causes sluggish liver? He says, all the organs get sluggish when the health is poor. I say, what makes the health poor? He says, generally the food. I said you know... you could have started the conversation on that point. :-)

Ha ha - it would be nice if the actual source of the problem could be addressed first!

Now, go over to a site like earthclinic dot com and find another 8 zillion testimonials and stories by people and how they cured their pets of nearly everything under the sun, many of them with the pet near the point of death.

I should go and add my testimonial to those zillions.

Thank you RedCairo for your very interesting and intelligent post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading of your experiences. Keep well!

Originally posted by FissionSurplus
reply to post by shimmeringsilver73

 

Shimmering, samento has been a miracle not only for my feline with AIDS, but also myself, as I have rheumatoid arthritis. Samento keeps me from needing any sort of medication for RA. The fact that the half-siamese I adopted 5 years ago, who was not expected to survive beyond a few years, is still alive and playful and hungry all the time speaks volumes about samento. The fact that I take no medications for an autoimmune disease that I have had for 12 years says a lot more.

This has been an incredibly helpful post. I thought that I am pretty tuned into these sort of things - but I had absolutely no idea that Samento is such a wonderful aid.

I will be sure to order some for myself and my kitties for "those times when needed". Thank you so much for this info!

I've lived and worked in Uganda OP where commercial pet food was either too expensive or not available.
Bare with me (please note 'bear' is an animal OP). Most expats cook up offal etc from the market. It's perfectly good for pets - indeed where I was living there were many locals who would have been glad of such a diet. It shouldn't be a shock that this is what goes into pet food. Should we be giving them fillet steak then? As for there being chemicals in dog food, what do you think is in so much 'human food'? Tried a 'chicken nugget' lately' or 'ham' shaped from gunk?
I should probably be feeding my dog fresh meat. That said, my neighbours dogs lived till they were 15 and mine is well on track for that age. We all use commercial dried food. Not much of a 'conspiracy' there.
As for cats I think anyone who keeps more than two cats should be euthanised along with the cats. They are not 'little people' sheesh.

Originally posted by truthseeker84
Raw feed, "processed properly" (don't feed raw meat you buy from your local Vons/Ralphs/Albersons), is the best for your pets.

Agree

Wet food, most of the time are not recommended. I mean, if you understand the science of it, you will know why. It's not that every single brand of wet food is bad, it's just that wet food contains almost 60% of water.

I have to disagree with you on this point. Wet food is best for exactly the reason that it contains more than 60 % water. Cats by design are not big water-drinkers. They do not have a natural thirst-drive, as they have been designed in nature to derive all their moisture from the food that they eat.

Cats on a predominantly dry diet are oftentimes in a permanent state of semi-dehydration.

Dry kibble, is generally recommended the most. But, the quality is largely dependent on the consumer, how much are you willing to spend?

I absolute agree with you though on the different tiers of dry-food, and the quality of the ingredients and amount of fillers included in each tier. In fact - I just read this information this morning prior to discovering your post here.

The problem though is that the US has a wide variety of amazing and natural dry-products containing only quality ingredients on offer. I live in South Africa, and what is known as the "middle tier of pet-food products" in the US is considered our "highest quality dry food available". What we can find at the vets i.e. the Royal Canin / Iams and Hills products are the most expensive in the country, and is the only other alternative to the other option - grocery-store-bought brands...

After research, First Shield Trio is # compared to Frontline. But again, I discovered that First Shield Trio was made by these f***ers just like Royal Canine or Science Diet. So again, they get commission for what they sell, screw your pet's health.

Very sad situation indeed. And a person has to wonder exactly how these "anti-flea and tick" products operate - how it affects the cat biologically. I mean - if it is strong enough to kill off and repel hundreds of small organisms such as fleas, it must be toxic in a lesser sense to the bigger organism i.e. the cat. If a product is sh###er than another brand - poor kitty will bear the brunt of the toxicity.

I now feed my dog Orijen dry dog kibble. It is a "Grain Free" formula. Which means, there is no wheat, no rice, no brown rice, no grain of any kind. It is guaranteed 80% protein 20% fruits & vegies. My Golden Retriever's energy level is like Krypto the Super Dog on this diet.

But Orijen will cost you dearly and it cannot be found in regular pet stores like PetSmart or PetCo. Orijen is a Canadian brand dog food, you have to look for it online.

Fantastic. And love the fact that it is grain-free (and Canadian ).

Again, grain free dry dog food will cost you an arm and a leg but over time, it is the best for your dog, saves you more in the long run when your dog is disease free.

No diet can be more costly than Candy's vet bills for the past 3 years. And her happiness and health is worth more than all the gold in the world to me. The price of a good-quality diet is more than justified in benefits IMO.

Thank you for all the information as well as the link. I will have a look-see at their products.

Originally posted by starchild10
Bare with me (please note 'bear' is an animal OP).

"Bare with me" means that you want to go naked with me.

bare

• verb uncover and reveal.

bear1

• verb (past bore; past part. borne) 5 manage to tolerate; endure: I can’t bear it. 6 (cannot bear) strongly dislike. 7 give birth to (a child). 8 (of a tree or plant) produce (fruit or flowers). 9 turn and proceed in a specified direction: bear left.

— PHRASE bear with be patient or tolerant with.

www.englishforums.com...

Most expats cook up offal etc from the market. It's perfectly good for pets - indeed where I was living there were many locals who would have been glad of such a diet. It shouldn't be a shock that this is what goes into pet food. Should we be giving them fillet steak then? As for there being chemicals in dog food, what do you think is in so much 'human food'? Tried a 'chicken nugget' lately' or 'ham' shaped from gunk?

I don't have much of a problem with the offal - as organ-meat is important to a cat too from a taurine and other vitamin / mineral requirement department. It should not be cooked however. Humans can eat cooked meat, but the cooking process (or rendering process) kills most of the vitamins and minerals, of which an artifical variant of it needs to be added afterwards.

I should probably be feeding my dog fresh meat. That said, my neighbours dogs lived till they were 15 and mine is well on track for that age. We all use commercial dried food. Not much of a 'conspiracy' there.

Dogs do much better on an omnivorous diet. As said before - cats are really more likely to suffer from grain-additives as they are obligate carnivores. Dogs not so much.

Also - good point another person made earlier. It depends (much as humans) on the sensitivity of the animal. My point was that people should investigate FIRST their diet-choices when they have a sick pet.

As for cats I think anyone who keeps more than two cats should be euthanised along with the cats. They are not 'little people' sheesh.

Ha ha - that is entirely your opinion. They are definitely much less "grumpy" and easier to get along with than you (judging by the tone of this post LOL...)

I hope you had pet insurance, I cant even imagine what a fully tally of all you vet bills is.

I am glad your kitty is doing better she looks like a cool cat.

What is BARF diet and what kind of raw food do you feed her? In a can? Or just raw fish or chicken from the supermarket?

My kitten Shamus the left one on my avatar is and has always been sick. He sounds congested all the time, and the vet couldn't do anything. We tried anti-biotics, the LLysine powder you mentioned, and echinacea drops. I wonder if the raw diet would give him the strength to fight off whatever he has. He eats heartily and plays all day and he's big for only 8 months, but I feel bad because we cant do anything for him.

Originally posted by shamdaddy
I hope you had pet insurance, I cant even imagine what a fully tally of all you vet bills is.

Nope - no pet insurance unfortunately. I don't even really know or want to know what that full tally was...

What is BARF diet and what kind of raw food do you feed her? In a can? Or just raw fish or chicken from the supermarket?

BARF is an acronym for Biologically-Appropriate-Raw-Fed diet. It is actually something that a person should prepare oneself at home - but I am a bit squeamish (especially for the organ and bloody bits). We found a BARF food manufacturer in our nearest city, and I have stocked up after visiting them and checking out their food-making practices as well as the quality of their ingredients. The raw food keeps well if frozen - and you only have to defrost and then keep in the fridge what you need for the day.

A quick search on the net should quickly return some BARF-manufacturers in your area. I see that you are based in NYC - so you shouldn't have a problem with finding a local BARF manufacturer.

If you want to go the food-making route yourself though or wish to read up on the topic - CatNutrition.org has the recipe. Also interesting is the an open letter to veterinary professionals. Dr. Lisa Pierson's website Catinfo.org is also a very valuable resource. Here is her page on making raw catfood.

The main thing is that the diet should consist of whole carcass (with skins and bone), organ meat (such as liver), and then correct amounts of nutritional additives such as Taurine, Vitamin E and Vitamin B. She also puts in egg yolk and some other good stuff. But it has been a real eye-opener reading everything she had to say on the matter - including her own stories on the dry diet-atrocities.

My kitten Shamus the left one on my avatar is and has always been sick. He sounds congested all the time, and the vet couldn't do anything. We tried anti-biotics, the LLysine powder you mentioned, and echinacea drops. I wonder if the raw diet would give him the strength to fight off whatever he has. He eats heartily and plays all day and he's big for only 8 months, but I feel bad because we cant do anything for him.

Aawww - he is absolutely adorable! Sounds like grain-intolerance to me! Grain-intolerance most typically manifests as nasal drip or sinusitis / allergic rhinitis. IMO you cannot make a mistake to try a raw-diet - if it is correctly prepared then it should alleviate all food-intolerance related symptoms and then some. Best to start when they are young! The older they get, the more difficult it becomes to make that change-over - believe you me!

The problem with little Shamus is that if he is manifesting symptoms such as these at such a young age - other chronic illness symptoms related to his food-intolerances are bound to manifest later on in life (as with Candy).

I wish you all the best with adorable Shamus and hope he feels better and "decongested" soon. Keep shining!

Thank you, I'll definitively look in to it. With the cold weather it's gotten worse he's completely clogged, I'll try anything at this point.

My cat's sometimes eat mice raw, it does no bother them at all. They even eat the skull!

I have a cat who had that "cat flu" illness. The vet diagnosed it as respiratory herpes virus and it does respond to adding powdered l-lysine to the food. I read that respiratory herpes virus can also affect and eventually cause eye ulcers. So that is is something to be aware of if you have a cat diagnosed with it.

I had a cat live out a full life span on Pro Plan dry kibble. I tried getting her on a better diet but she wanted no part of any other foods, ever. She had FIV her whole sixteen years and still did fine on that diet though she did barf a lot.

I am open to experimenting with foods and the cats seem to pick what works for them. I would rather go to grain free diets but the two brands I tried, one being "Before It's Grain" canned version was roundly rejected by all of my cats for some reason after they were on it a couple of months. Then one day a new bag of the dry version gave them severe diarrhea that took days to clear up. I don't know if I got a bad bag or what but I decided never to buy it again.

I've had two dogs so far live to their mid teens on commercial dog food from a supermarket. They had no health problems and were feisty right up to within a few days of their deaths. My husband had a cat who lived over eighteen years on Meow Mix which is all she would accept. So I think it is luck of the draw and a lot comes down to the genetic cards your pets are dealt at conception and any disease they contract later in life as strays.

The only thing done by pet owners that I ever saw kill cats outright through a bad reaction or adjuvant induced cancer was vaccines. That being said, my pets are vaccinated because it's the local law. And because I have a multiple pet household. I won't say exactly how many cats I have because I don't want someone from ATS to euthanize me!

oh I did have a feline leukemia positive cat who lived close to ten years with the disease. We did not treat him for it because the vet missed the diagnosis until it was too late. He ate IAMs dry.

My sixteen year old male cat who was once operated on for FUS eats Pro Plan dry. Again, I would love to change him over to something more wholesome but if he is doing well, I'm reluctant to rock the boat.

Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain
I have a cat who had that "cat flu" illness. The vet diagnosed it as respiratory herpes virus and it does respond to adding powdered l-lysine to the food. I read that respiratory herpes virus can also affect and eventually cause eye ulcers. So that is is something to be aware of if you have a cat diagnosed with it.

Sorry for only responding to your post now. Yes - the virus apparently attacks the weakest part of the body, and if the eyes have had prior trauma, they could possibly be prone to ulceration.

I had a cat live out a full life span on Pro Plan dry kibble. I tried getting her on a better diet but she wanted no part of any other foods, ever. She had FIV her whole sixteen years and still did fine on that diet though she did barf a lot.

I must say that 16 years for a cat with FIV is a tremendous achievement, and is a testament to your good care!

I am open to experimenting with foods and the cats seem to pick what works for them. I would rather go to grain free diets but the two brands I tried, one being "Before It's Grain" canned version was roundly rejected by all of my cats for some reason after they were on it a couple of months. Then one day a new bag of the dry version gave them severe diarrhea that took days to clear up. I don't know if I got a bad bag or what but I decided never to buy it again.

I have not encountered any of the brands you have named above. They do sound good in principle though. Strange that the kitties rejected the food - especially as they were used to it. Must have been a bad batch. I do know that when I change my cats over to a new diet, I have to phase in the new food very slowly. They also get diarrhea from any sudden food change. Such sensitive little beings with sensitive little noses and tummies...

I won't say exactly how many cats I have because I don't want someone from ATS to euthanize me!

LOL LOL - I must admit that the above post in question contained one of the most creative trolling sentences ever constructed!

Thanks for your post - you have obviously been a very considerate fur-baby parent for a long time, and I appreciate communicating with people who hold animals in high regard.

I must add that I have just prior to writing this thread adopted a 2-year old cat, who has been suffering for most of her life from inflammatory bowel disease. She has had chronic diarrhea for a very very long time. The recent change-over to a grain-free and predominantly wet diet has almost cured her IBD and I have had very few problems since.

Yes - it comes down to sensitivity of the individual (of which genetics plays a role) - but I still do firmly believe that most feline chronic health problems can be attributed to the addition of grains in their food.

It would seem that I attract those "food-intolerant" individuals into my life, so I can speak from a lot of experience.

Keep well. Shimmer

reply to post by shimmeringsilver73


Thank you for your kind comments. My FIV positive cat was my best friend. It was such a delightful surprise that she got a full and very problem free life despite her viral status. I did have her retested two more times in her life just in case a mistake had been made but each time the test came back positive.

I may have to go grain free myself. I've got problems with eczema and psoriasis and digestive upset since I had a baby seven years ago. That seems to have triggered something and I may need to look into the possibility I have some sort of gluten intolerance.

Even on LLysine my cat with the herpes virus has the sniffles a lot. I would like to get her on a grain free diet but I'm definitely not going back to Before It's Grain after the experience I described. I will see if I can find another brand. I have my kittens currently on Pro Plan kitten canned and Science Diet dry because that is what they were used to at the shelter. I need to start transitioning the kittens to adult food soon. I'd like to get everyone on the same good quality diet.

I've looked at a lot of organic quality cat food but it all seemed to have some grains in the ingredients.

Whew, for a minute, after the battery of tests and treatments that would have Dr. House envious, I thought Candy had an allergy to humans.

The grains it is. This is why I don't feed my dog grains like wheat and corn. Actually under optimum conditions, I don't feed myself grains. Always read the labels!

But you know you coud have bought a house instead of doing science experiments on your cat. Live and learn!

I thought that I would post an update to this thread.

Candy has been on a home-prepared BARF diet now for quite a while. She is absolutely normal and 100% healthy. Her mobility has completely returned. She has not had ONE bout of flu or one eye ulcer incident since I changed her diet. I would like to mention that she is not receiving any Lysine or Mobiflex supplements anymore. Neither has she had cystitis or any complaints of any nature. She is just happy, healthy and contented.

The change to a raw diet was the single most important thing I could do for her health. I really do wish that my experience will prove valuable to someone in my position - in the case of a feline illness, diet is the FIRST THING that should be considered!