THE NEW CAT ROOM! (or the Cat Room #2)

I would never use the Hills K/D again either. The cat it was prescribed for flat wouldn't eat the stuff, and not much of anything else, either. If I ever have a cat that far along in kidney failure again, it's going to get exactly what it wants, not some healthy crap it isn't going to eat anyway.

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Yup, Roger, I feel the same way. Make them as happy as we can while we have them.

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Actually. the Science Diet has an overblown reputation. Vets get kickbacks by selling it in their practices. Look at the labels....animal by-products? What by-products? My vet asked the Science Diet people that took her and several others to lunch...they didn't give her a definitive answer. Because they couldn't. She asked them to remove the diets from her practice. I am very skeptical of these diets now, and for good reason.

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VN, as far as I understand it, the underlining in green is one way the site brings in revenue, because companies pay to have their "thing" they're advertising link to certain key words in our posts. Or something like that. Wink

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It's funny about the Science Diet, because that's what we always fed our cats who got kidney disease, and they both lived for a VERY long time with it, and the vet credited their diets for keeping them around. Confused

It makes it very hard to decide what to feed since you get a different answer from every vet.

This is something I'm always wrestling with, because I also hate that Iams does invasive surgical testing on animals; and I keep hearing bad things about Science Diet; and I don't trust the meat they put in most of the foods, because I know they will render any kind of rotted, nasty meat from roadkill, the diseased parts of the meat produced for people that isn't good enough to be sold for human consumption, etc., and put it in pet food. There was a series of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle a few years ago about how they can test pet food and find the chemical used to put animals to sleep in the food, because it's not unheard of for euthanised animals to end up being rendered and put into the food. So now I've switched to a veggie food (Cue gasps from everyone! Smile

) that I supplement with human grade meat and fish and kitty vitamins. But I worry about this too...Sigh...

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Vivien wrote:

Msolga how are you feeling?

I'll definitely take a photo of Paddy in his pretty new collar! he's out playing at the moment. It's cold so he won't stay out too long, he'll need to come in and thaw out by the radiator soon.

Yes to the photograph, Vivien! Apart from being a very naughty big black cat, Paddy is extremely ravishing to behold! He's a stunner!

How am I? A lot better, thanks. I've come to the conclusion that I'm quietly relieved that I'm not still helplessly watching Flatty's ongoing health problems continue to worsen. And that's the way that things were rapidly developing. I think the thrombosis & the terrible effects were simply another symptom of his poor body packing up. It was awful to watch & I felt terrible about what he went through, but I'm grateful that it was relatively short. I'm very grateful, actually, that he is not still struggling with even more debilitating physical decline. I'm glad there is no more pain. I miss him very much, though. It is taking some adjusting, him not being here, going everywhere I go around my little house & yard.
(I'm wondering, Vivian, did you receive my email, of about a week ago?)

An interesting development. Since Flatty's been gone this little pigeon pair have decided that my yard is their home! Actually, they've been around for quite a while, but never have they been so brave & tame, almost! See what the absence of a cat can do? When I'm sitting outside on my decking they come within a few feet of me. They observe me & I observe them! Laughing

We had a very hot, dry spell recently, so I put a big bowl of water out for them, which I kept refilling. It's quite lovely to see the 2 of them delicately balanced on either side & gracefully dipping their little beaks as they drink heartily. Anyway, I'd better move that bowl to safer/higher ground very soon, as I suspect I will be visiting one of the local animal shelters in a week or so & rescuing a year (or so old) female tabby who needs a home. That's my thinking at the moment. But I have hugely enjoyed the antics of the pigeons, even if I haven't been over-joyed at the huge splats of pigeon poo I regularly find on my decking! Laughing

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WONDERFUL Cyphercat!!! I would do the same if my cats were younger. They are so set in their ways that I have tried to do fresh and they will not accept it. Cats eat veggies in the natural world by eating the innards of the animals they kill. So we know they need veggies too. The next kitten I get is going to get natural food. My dogs are on the Billinghurst diet....raw plus veggies and the cats will be the same. By the way, msolga, Billinghurst is the Australian vet who became famous with the raw diet...."Throw Your Dog a Bone"!!!

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Vietnamnurse wrote:

Good morning from Maryland! All is quiet here...dogs and cats napping and I am drinking my morning coffee without furry bundles on my lap.

msolga, if you ever do come to the US, you must let me know...I live near DC and I am willing to be a guide!

All is quiet! No problems today! That's excellent, VN! Very Happy

Oh, if I ever can afford to come to your part of the world, VN, I'd love to be quided around by you! Ditto from this end. Start saving!!!! Laughing

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cyphercat wrote:

This is something I'm always wrestling with, because I also hate that Iams does invasive surgical testing on animals....

They do?

cyphercat wrote:

...and I don't trust the meat they put in most of the foods, because I know they will render any kind of rotted, nasty meat from roadkill, the diseased parts of the meat produced for people that isn't good enough to be sold for human consumption, etc., and put it in pet food. There was a series of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle a few years ago about how they can test pet food and find the chemical used to put animals to sleep in the food, because it's not unheard of for euthanised animals to end up being rendered and put into the food. So now I've switched to a veggie food (Cue gasps from everyone! ) that I supplement with human grade meat and fish and kitty vitamins. But I worry about this too...Sigh...

OH!!!!!!! Good grief! Shocked

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roger wrote:

I would never use the Hills K/D again either. The cat it was prescribed for flat wouldn't eat the stuff, and not much of anything else, either. If I ever have a cat that far along in kidney failure again, it's going to get exactly what it wants, not some healthy crap it isn't going to eat anyway.

I couldn't agree more, Roger! Flats was obviously deteriorating very quickly over the past couple of years. My attitude was to give him as much pleasure & joy in life as possible, despite his condition & despite the many, many vet visits which he hated. And that included letting him eat precisely what he enjoyed the most! Bugger this idea of making life even more miserable for any animal which is clearly in it's last years, anyway!

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msolga: Flatty was a cat? You just lost. I am so sorry for you too!

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Vietnamnurse wrote:

WONDERFUL Cyphercat!!! I would do the same if my cats were younger. They are so set in their ways that I have tried to do fresh and they will not accept it. Cats eat veggies in the natural world by eating the innards of the animals they kill. So we know they need veggies too. The next kitten I get is going to get natural food. My dogs are on the Billinghurst diet....raw plus veggies and the cats will be the same. By the way, msolga, Billinghurst is the Australian vet who became famous with the raw diet...."Throw Your Dog a Bone"!!!

Phew, thanks for the validation... I worry about whether this will meet their needs. All the cats my family has ever had have lived to be fifteen or older, and I so I sometimes worry that these two won't make it to a ripe old age and I'll feel like I didn't feed them what they needed. But what you point out about getting veg in the innards is quite a good bit of info, I'd never thought of it...Yucky, but true! Very Happy

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Yes, VN, he was definitely a cat! Very Happy

Thank you for your sympathy.
He was FIV, which I found out quite late in the piece. I decided to let him live his days out as comfortably as possible, under the constant surveillance of my vet. He actually had a pretty good life, considering his wretched start in life! (A dumped stray, in very bad shape.)
Something like 5/6 pages back in the previous Cat Room there's a detailed account of his last days, if you're interested to know.

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msolga...thanks, I'll go back and have a read...must have missed it.

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I think it was before I saw your first (return to A2K) post, VN.

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msolga wrote:

cyphercat wrote:

This is something I'm always wrestling with, because I also hate that Iams does invasive surgical testing on animals....

They do?

cyphercat wrote:
...and I don't trust the meat they put in most of the foods, because I know they will render any kind of rotted, nasty meat from roadkill, the diseased parts of the meat produced for people that isn't good enough to be sold for human consumption, etc., and put it in pet food. There was a series of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle a few years ago about how they can test pet food and find the chemical used to put animals to sleep in the food, because it's not unheard of for euthanised animals to end up being rendered and put into the food. So now I've switched to a veggie food (Cue gasps from everyone! ) that I supplement with human grade meat and fish and kitty vitamins. But I worry about this too...Sigh...

OH!!!!!!! Good grief!

Olga, how rare for me to be here at the same time you are! Is it the small hours there?

As far as Iams, this was something PETA had investigated and found that they'd contracted out their animal research to outside labs that didn't give the animals good vet care, didn't exercise or socialize them, left them ill after surgeries, etc. Let me find a link to that...

ah, here we are:

www.iamscruelty.com/ and http://www.uncaged.co.uk/news/2003/iams.htm

Iams says that it now does all of its testing in its own labs and that they meet humane standards, but I don't trust em... Confused

Now, I know the meat stuff sounds none-too-credible, but I know at least the part about using diseased, cancerous parts of chicken and stuff is true, I don't think that's even disputed. The rest, euthanised animals, etc, is supposed to be just in the really cheap pet foods, but again, I don't trust em! Here's one place I read about that: http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/petfood1.html

And here's a link that I just found while searching for the other ones, you'll be interested: Apparently Japan has been using whale meat in PET FOOD!!! While arguing that they need to keep whaling, blah, blah, blah... Rolling Eyes

http://www.salvonet.com/eia/cgi/news/news.cgi?a=145&t=template.htm

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Thnk you for going to all that trouble, cypher! I do appreciate that! Very Happy

That's it! No more Iams, when I do get another cat! Evil or Very Mad

(Soon!)

It is precisely 12:33 (midday) in downtown Melbourne, Oz right now. Nice to see you face to face, too! Very Happy

Oh & whale meat in cat food! <sigh> What can you say to that? Liars, liars, pants on fire!
I can't remember if you ever visited this thread last summer (your winter), cypber:

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=51564&highlight=

(a hot spot a few months ago during the annual Japanese whale cull in the Southern Ocean!) But it's so distressing that whale meat is being used for a purpose like this! Outrageous! Grrrrrrrrrrrr! Evil or Very Mad

I'm going to read all those links in more detail soon. Thank you!

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How neat to imagine you so far away, right in the middle of your day! That is one of the best parts about this ol' internet thingummy, it brings the other side of the world so close. Smile

Anyway, I did see that thread, actually; that's what came to mind immediately when I saw that article. Pretty incredible, to make all the claims that they do about needing the meat, etc., and then use it for that. That's people for you-- give me cats any day!! Sad

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Yes, cypher, it is quite unusual to be actually talking as we speak! Normally I just talk to myself, mainly. Laughing

And I'd usually be at work now, but it's a public holiday today. Actually, I'm on holiday for 2 weeks! Very Happy

May I post that link to the whale thread? Or perhaps you'd like to?

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Olga -

you haven't had a break away yet - get your act together and come up for a weekend - before you take on responsibility for a new critter!

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