FRIDAY, BREEDER RANT -- I have to speak up about the guilt and marketing that cat ownersface when deciding what to feed their critters.
I've had a reallygood relationship with a family that has had one of our catsfor a year and a half now, but they and their cat was put through a lot of stress because of the recommendations of other experts.The cat left here as a kitten thriving on a diet of Iams Kitten and Innova for dry, plus spoonfulls of Friskies canned to deliver vitamins twice a day. I always feed a mix of at least two brands, one of which must be widely available because my kittens go to places where brands like Innova aren't always accessible. (We don't feed Iams anymore, by the way, since they added fish oil and we ended up with pukers. We're trying other foods now.) The kitten went straight to its new vet for an exam where the vet insisted that what I had fed was "junk" and that the brand he sold was what the cat should eat. The vet-recommended brand contained both corn and fish which our breed, Devons, can sometimes besensitive to, so I avoid it as best I can and recommend that pet owners do the same.
The family switched the cat's food and the cat ended up with a rash and vomiting, etc. After playing around with the diet with input of both the vet and myself, the kitten thrived again on Eukaneuba Sensitive stomach for dry andFriskies. A year later, the family added another cat to their family.
The other breeder's contract required an exclusively raw diet for the new kitten. The family attempted to get their first cat onto raw, too. The store that sells them the raw insisted that the Friskies and Eukanueba were junk.The cat wouldn't eat the raw and stopped eating. So, the health food store put them onto one of their super premium brands, similar to the Innova the cat left here on.
Well, I've been communicating with the family for two days now. Their cat has been puking on the new diet recommended by the health foodstore off and on for a week now. She's been to the vet, she's been xrayed and they've run tests. Since yesterday, she's stopped eating again. I say, the cat thrived on Eukaneuba dry and on canned Friskies, others can recommend something else, but when you have a fussy cat with possible allergies, why try to fix what ain't broken?
I say, if you are worried about jeopardizing the contract on your new kitten, stick the first cat in the bathroom or in a kennel to feed it. She needs to eat! But, seriously, if the new kitten noshes on someFriskies or some Eukaneuba dry leftover from the first cat--accidentally or not--I really doubt that the other breeder will raid the family's home and take their kitten back. I hope the pet store owner and vet will trust the intuition ofthis family to KNOW they are good, loving owners who aren't doing anything wrong.Poor cat. Poor family.
Sometimes, when it comes to feeding your babies, you have to trust what your cat tells you. You see it in their appearance, you see it in their behaviour at the food dish, you see it-- and smell it, or not! -- in the litterbox, you see it in their test results and you feel it in your gut. How dare the experts out there tell these folks they were doing wrong and they had to make changes when everything that they saw and felt was right.
FRIDAY EVENING:
Email from the cats family -- "We went and got Friskies and fed her half the can just to get her toeat. This has been the first time in 2 months that she ate with nohesitation. We just wanted to get her eating and tomorrow I will mixsome dry in with it. Hopefully she keeps it all down tonight, shedidn't throw up today so it's only when she eats. ___ and I juststood there smiling and watching her eat."
SATURDAY MORNING
Another email -- "[She] has eaten two meals now and not thrown up. She still doesn't look great though. Funny, a sign that you know your cat so well iswhen you can tell they aren't feeling good just by their fur. She'susually very beautiful and she grooms herself all the time and hasthese beautiful silky waves. Now her hair is all wiry and rough. I hope she's just recovering from not eating for a few days."
BREEDER RANT, CONTINUED
Hey, what can I say? This girl won't live -- literally -- without her Friskies canned food. Her family is easing her back on to the Eukaneuba Sensitive Stomach formula she thrived on, too. Was I right, or was I right? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Around here, Friskies are a treat, but for this cat they are bringing her back to health. Frankly, I believe that ANY canned food is better than most dried ones. Cats need meat and water and that's what canned food is. "Moms" and "dads" do know best. This cat's family didn't need to second-guess themselves.
Our contract has never specified a diet for our kittens when they are placed in forever pet homes. We do recommend that they at least start off on what we feed here and that changes are gradual and not take place for a month to reduce stress. We also advise of any problems we've had with specific foods or ingredients in the past so they can be avoided. Our kittens' new vets recommend a change in their diet in at least 50% of our placements. Usually that goes fine, but we've had a few situations now in which it hasn't. Invariably, they end up back on the diet they started on, or one very similar.
What should I do? Educate pet families. And have a strong, open and responsive relationship with them. I do believe that is best... unless anyone else has a better idea.
...Pam
