A "must read" book by Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins: "Your Cat - Simple Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life"
An essential for your library - Michelle Bernard's groundbreaking book: "Raising Cats Naturally"
Cat Nutrition - Meow!
I'm very glad that you found your way here.
Two cats grace my life. I don't presume to know more about feline biochemistry than someone who has graduated from veterinary school. I don't treat scores of animals every day or perform all manner of delicate surgeries and lifesaving procedures. My only credential is that I used diet alone to liberate a sick cat from a very miserable disease that plagued him for six difficult years.
In 1994, when my young cat, Duke, was just a wee kitten fresh from the animal shelter, he started showing signs of digestive illness. Runny stools. Later, diarrhea. Over the next several years, his condition dramatically worsened, until he was suffering from full-blown "all-diarrhea-all-the-time." Lots of tests, a diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and then on to the usual gamut of scores of special prescription diets and various other approaches. None of which made a whiff of difference for him. He was weary of the suffering and I was heartbroken over what he was going through.
To make a long story short, Duke got completely well again, quite literally overnight, because I finally came to understand that if I paid attention to what I fed him, many seemingly intractable and allegedly "incurable" problems could disappear. It was a hard lesson to learn, although I'm happy to report that Duke not only survived it all, but went on to thrive. The impact that a proper diet can have on a cat is probably most conspicuous and immediate for a cat suffering from digestive problems, but I've learned along the way that all kinds of very serious feline disorders can be reversed or dramatically improved if we feed these magnificent creatures properly. What is involved, quite simply, is sticking as close to Mother Nature as you can manage. Good common sense.
My experience with Duke opened my eyes in a big way to how many well-meaning, overworked, and overwhelmed vets are often overlooking the most obvious answer when it comes to dealing with feline illness, especially--but certainly not exclusively--digestive problems. By design or default, many busy vets are permitting the pet food industry to act as their proxy when it comes to nutritional decision-making for their clients.
The results, sadly, are disastrous for far too many cats.
Mother Nature Knows What a Cat Should Eat: You Should Too
Buoyed by Duke's turnaround, in early 2003, with the assistance and endorsement of Lisa Pierson, DVM, I assembled an open letter to veterinary professionals that laid out what I had learned and snail-mailed it out all US veterinary schools. I included a list of recommended reading and resources. Throwing all humility overboard, I even put together a sample client handout that vets might consider using. Finally, I included more detailed discussion of my personal experience helping Duke to help distraught caregivers whose cats suffered from the same problem but could be easily helped using a home-prepared diet.
This site is my way of getting the word out to a broader audience online. I'm hopeful that some of my lay insights into treating one terrible malady and the many lessons I've learned along the way about feline nutrition might be instructive to the veterinary community and to lay people like me who were desperate for answers.
If you're a vet, I respectfully ask that you take a few minutes to read my open letter and consider it. If you're a lay person, please feel free to pass this letter along to your own vet.
So? Welcome to catnutrition.org. I really am glad that you found your way here and hope you find something here that's helpful to a cat in your life. If you look at the navigation bar at the top, you'll see links to information on foodmaking, disease, overall care for cats, and FAQs. The navigation bar at the side has my open letter to vets, a suggested handout that vets might consider giving their clients, and much more, including testimonials, information on what you might do should you decide to help support the maintenance of this website, some credits to a few of the very deserving people who have helped me along the way, and even a link to my blog.
So surf around, take your time, read what I've got to offer, and see if there's not something you find useful. This is not the only website out there with (hopefully) useful information on how to feed a cat. It's just the only one that I've managed to come up with. This site, needless to say, is dedicated entirely to Duke. One awesome cat and an amazing nutrition and love mentor.
A French-language translation of the text of this page, courtesy of Virginie Francois-Ross, is available as a PDF document by clicking here.