| To begin with why would you want to? Isn't it easier | | | | my mother had demonstrated was how easy it was |
| just to go down to the pet food store and load up | | | | to feed a pair of cats with quality food cheaply and |
| with all those cases of cans and packets of dried | | | | have a pair of very healthy animals. All this without |
| food? Most of us would honestly answer yes. Indeed | | | | spending a huge amount of time (that I claimed |
| this was my standard approach with the first cats I | | | | never to have) and without visiting a pet food store. |
| and my wife owned. | | | | A considerable saving of both time and money |
| In stark contrast, my mother never bought any | | | | Both our cats are alive well and fit and are almost 20. |
| commercial pet food. What struck me most forcibly | | | | Now, like my mother's pets, they seem immortal. |
| was that her cats, the ones we grew up with lived | | | | These are just some of the reasons to go it alone, |
| to be a great age, so much so that we thought of | | | | the pet food recalls of `07-`08 have made thousands |
| them as part of the furniture; they were always | | | | of pet owners worry about just what does go into |
| there! Both her cats were almost 30 years old when | | | | those cans. Those of you who read my article on |
| they died of plain old age. More importantly they | | | | "Recipes for a Cat with Kidney Problems" will know |
| were always healthy, full of vigour, energy and | | | | that I highlighted the link between diet and disease. |
| vitality. I cannot once remember them being taken to | | | | Commercial pet food is thought by many experts to |
| the vet. | | | | have serious deficits in its nutritional content. |
| My "stewardship" of cats was sadly different; we | | | | This is due to extreme temperatures used in the |
| lost one at 7 and the other passed away aged 9. | | | | processing plant. Saturated animal fats are added to |
| Their deaths were never satisfactorily explained but | | | | make the food taste better along with colouring, |
| kidney and liver failure were cited. It took us nearly | | | | preservatives and other chemicals. In short, your |
| two years to get over their loss and get another | | | | cat's immune system becomes susceptible to disease |
| pair. | | | | through a build up of toxins in the blood, lymph nodes |
| Fairly soon after we purchased two new cats, I | | | | and tissues. Your pets begin to get the same serious |
| noticed a gradual change in their behaviour. One was | | | | problems as humans who consume junk food; |
| becoming an overweight couch potato, and the other | | | | obesity, diabetes, lethargy and, sadly, an early death. |
| seemed ever more lethargic. When my mother | | | | Are we killing our own cats through ignorance? |
| visited she commented adversely; she was scathing | | | | So what can be done? A return to a more natural |
| about the tinned food, telling me to junk it. Opening a | | | | diet is clearly important. We have to remember that |
| tin was for her, a last resort. Like many of my | | | | cats are naturally hunters, and they would normally |
| generation I reckoned I was cash rich but time poor. | | | | eat raw meat, which contains all the nutrients they |
| Ultimately, it is how we choose to spend our time | | | | require. Cat food made in a rendering plant by adding |
| that matters. | | | | chemicals, colouring, fat and "meat by-products" that |
| I made the decision to follow my mother's methods | | | | contain no actual meat IS NOT nor will it ever be, a |
| after she came to stay with us for several months. | | | | natural diet. I have been able to demonstrate that by |
| She went off one morning early and arrived back | | | | preparing my own homemade cat food, sourcing the |
| with a variety of food she sourced herself; some of | | | | raw ingredients is the secret to cat longevity. This |
| which amazingly was free! She set about both | | | | provides my cats with all the nutrition they need. |
| cooking and creating raw food for our cats. The | | | | More than that, it sustains their immune systems; |
| resultant smells from the kitchen spawned a new | | | | preventing those expensive trips to the vet. |
| expression here, 'dancing cats,' for they weaved | | | | To see our cats so active, fit and healthy is a joy, |
| around and through her legs and climbed up the | | | | and I recommend you take control of YOUR cat's |
| kitchen units. A far cry from their normal lethargic | | | | diet and health. Don't let them die of ignorance; just |
| behaviour and the wasted food they usually left | | | | spend your time differently, that time you were so |
| behind. | | | | sure you never had. I previously said that 'experts' |
| By the time she left the cats condition had changed | | | | thought commercial pet food contained poor |
| dramatically, our former couch potato no longer | | | | nutritional content, and for further reading you can |
| needed its daily turning out of the house, and the | | | | do no better than read Ann N. Martin's excellent |
| male was always out, active and hunting. The cat | | | | book, "Food Pets Die For. |
| litter tray was no longer needed - what a relief! What | | | | |