Mother Nature knows what a cat should eat. So should you.
Here’s the thing.
Vets are defering to the pet food industry on vital health issues. That’s a problem.
Those of us who care about healthy nutrition for cats face confusion and obstacles. Many busy veterinary professionals are permitting the pet food industry to act as their proxy when it comes to nutritional counsel for their clients. The results can be disastrous for cats. I’d love for some of my layperson insights into treating one terrible malady and the lessons I’ve learned along the way about feline nutrition to be instructive to the veterinary community. And to people like me who were desperate for answers.
In 1994, when my gentle young cat, Duke, was a small kitten fresh from the animal shelter, he began showing signs of serious digestive illness. Runny stools. Later, diarrhea. Over the next several years, his condition worsened. Until he was suffering from full-blown all-diarrhea-all-the-time. Lots of tests, a diagnosis of feline 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 suffering and I was heartbroken about what he was going through.
To make the story short, Duke got well, literally overnight, when I finally came to understand that if I paid close attention to what I fed him—which meant diving deeper into healthy nutrition for cats—many seemingly intractable and allegedly “incurable” problems could disappear. Duke went on to thrive.
A Cat Taught Me About Healthy Nutrition for Cats
Duke got sick. Duke got well. This site was born. 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.
I am not a vet. 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 sole ‘credential’ is that I used diet alone to liberate a sick cat from a miserable disease that plagued him for six difficult years.
The impact that a proper diet can have on a cat seems most conspicuous and immediate for a cat suffering from digestive problems like IBD. But I learned along the way that all kinds of serious feline health disorders can be reversed or improved if we feed these magnificent creatures properly, by sticking as close to Mother Nature as we can manage. Just for starters, that means not feeding dry food to cats.
Read My Open Letter to Veterinary Professionals
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, maybe share this letter to your own vet.
This is not the only website offering guidance on an alternative way to feed a cat for optimum health. It is the only one, however, that I’ve managed to come up with. I recommend, too, Dr. Lisa Pierson’s website as well as my wise, cat-skilled and compassionate friend Terri Grow’s site.