Essays and Insights on Cats

Don’t Starve a Fat Cat

Don’t Starve a Fat Cat

Please oh please - never starve a fat cat. Getting a fat cat to lose weight isn't about taking away their food - it's about getting the right food into their diet. Hepatic lipidosis is a condition in which fat accumulates in individual liver cells - it's real risk for...

Basic Facts About a Cat’s Pancreas and Insulin

Basic Facts About a Cat’s Pancreas and Insulin

A cat's pancreas has two main jobs: 1) making and storing digestive enzymes and fluids; 2) producing and releasing hormones that regulate blood sugar.  The sugar released into the bloodstream from a a cat on a high-carbohydrate diet sends an alarm to the pancreas to...

Pilling Cats Safely

Pilling Cats Safely

None of us want to have to give our cats medication, it nonetheless is something that many of us may one day face or are perhaps facing already.   One little fact that I had never focused on until it was driven home to me by Dr. Lisa Pierson is how important it is,...

Composition Challenge

Composition Challenge

In the spectrum of choices available for feeding cats, canned food is superior to dry food if only because the moisture content is higher and make a difference in keeping cats properly hydrated.  However, not all canned foods are low in carbohydrates. Many of the...

Egg Whites: Forehead Smacking Moment

Egg Whites: Forehead Smacking Moment

A “d’uh” discovery while prepping 30 pounds of cat food (I don't make small batches): don’t toss those egg whites! Sure, don’t use them raw in the food, but cook them up to nix the biotin-blocking avidin, grind them up, and mix them in with the raw cat food. It’s less...

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Reluctant Raw Eaters

Reluctant Raw Eaters

So you want to make the switch to a raw diet, but you're not sure if your cat will eat it.  Maybe you offered raw food and your cat ate it with gusto once, then reverted back to pleading for kibble. "Nice little novel experience you offered me there, staffer, that was...

Low Value of Plant Protein to Carnivores

Low Value of Plant Protein to Carnivores

A substantial share of the protein in dry cat food is frequently plant-based. Here's the problem:  Plant based proteins have a lower biological value to obligate carnivores than meat proteins. For pet food manufacturers, obviously, plant proteins cost less because...

Being Vegetarian and Feeding Meat to Cats

Being Vegetarian and Feeding Meat to Cats

Vegetarians feeding carnivores — how does that work? While vegetarianism as a nutritional choice for humans is magnficent but it's a dangerous option for cats, all of whom are obligate carnivores. It's time to address the "eeew!" factor that I often hear about. Cats...

Feline Disease

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Feline IBD

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Litter Boxes

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Loving Cats

Nettie the Wondercat: 1995-2011

Nettie the Wondercat: 1995-2011

Yesterday, with help from our wonderful vet, we said goodbye to the beautiful form that our Nettie the Wondercat occupied for close to sixteen years. I'll offer some of what I sent to family and friends yesterday: I wanted to share this news so that you might remember...

Duke: 1994-2010

Duke: 1994-2010

Four days ago, with the help of one of the most amazing and compassionate human beings I’ve ever known — our vet — I faced the wrenching, but loving, task of easing my most beloved Duke out of his failing body. Aside from being one of the biggest loves of my life, it...

Making Cat Food

Ode to a Grinder and to the One Stop Jerky Shop

Ode to a Grinder and to the One Stop Jerky Shop

Please see update at the bottom of this piece.  During a recent cat foodmaking cleanup, my patient foodmaking partner asked, "So, since I started helping with foodmaking 8 years ago*, do you think we've made a ton of food?" Being math-challenged and because "a ton"...

Egg Whites: Forehead Smacking Moment

Egg Whites: Forehead Smacking Moment

A “d’uh” discovery while prepping 30 pounds of cat food (I don't make small batches): don’t toss those egg whites! Sure, don’t use them raw in the food, but cook them up to nix the biotin-blocking avidin, grind them up, and mix them in with the raw cat food. It’s less...

Feline Periodontal Disease

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Pet Food

Getting Real About Food Safety Squabbles

Getting Real About Food Safety Squabbles

I'm recalling a website visitor named Rebekah for aip on a story from years ago about that big outbreak of salmonella that grabbed so much attention in 2006 and 2007. Before I get to that, recall that for years, many of us opting for home-prepared raw meat diets for...

Urinary Tract

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Veterinarians

Dziękujemy Alex!

Dziękujemy Alex!

Praise and heartfelt thanks to a wonderful site visitor, Alexandra Urbanik, for completing a full translation in Polish of the "Open Letter to Vets" on the website. For website visitors from Poland? Also see a raw feeding and discussion group website here.

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