Non-vegan cat food for 30 days, week 2: Natural schmatural
We're two weeks into our 30-day trial now, and we've seen some changes:
Meanwhile, poor Snow's gingivitis has gotten yet worse and she's had trouble eating the meat food. In fact, for the past couple of days she's turned her nose up at anything besides seitan, though danibear pointed out to me recently that the canned seitan they're so fond of has sugar in its broth, which could be contributing to her teeth problems! So we brought her in today for a steroid shot to give her little body a temporary boost, so she can eat the meat more easily (and get some relief, the poor baby!), and we can see if this diet change has an effect on her health.
Switching from raw meat to dry food and canned food is a definite improvement, but for troubling reasons. Of course it's less risky in that it's less likely to spread bacteria and disease. But I'm also finding that I'm somewhat intentionally distancing myself from this food's origins in order to be able to handle, smell, and clean up after it, and the more processed food helps me to cultivate that cognitive dissonance. If I really allow myself to see this stuff for what it is - remnants of suffering and death, evidence of terrible wrongs done to beings every bit as sentient and valuable and important as our cat friends - I find it so morally repugnant (and aesthetically revolting) that I have trouble dealing with its presence in our kitchen.
Oddly, they're really not as excited about the kibble as I thought they would be - they used to adore Evolution Kibble and then loved AmiCat even more when we switched to that. You can mix vegan kibble with water and nutritional yeast to make it moist, which is good for them and which they really liked - but if you mix water with meat kibble it gets pretty nasty. And the canned food is pretty gross too - in particular the "whole mackerel" which turned out to be a real little mackerel corpse, minus the head and tail and fins, curled up in the can. It stunk up our kitchen - and our bathroom, when Zora ate more than her share and threw it up all over the floor.
When we bought this new food (which is quite expensive...), we asked the folks at the local pet shop (we buy from locally owned businesses and not from major chains or from stores that sell live animals - represent!) if any of the brands they stocked were billed as "humane," and got puzzled looks, an "oh no I don't think so," and then were directed to the organic brands. So we've been feeding them only organic food, so at least we're avoiding giving them hormones. But I've been really saddened by our exploring this huge shop full of options and finding that companies and consumers who care about cats and dogs apparently don't care at all about the bison, pheasants, cows, pigs, lambs, turkeys, fishes, and other animals whose forced breeding, lifelong confinement, and slaughter they're supporting.
Also, pet food labels boast that the food inside is "natural," or "the taste of the wild," or "instinct"-driven - but since when did housecats eat bison (or for that matter, fishes or cows or chickens) in nature? Domesticated cats don't live in nature and have no "natural" diet, is the answer. We made them. They can get by on songbirds and mice but I've heard that the cats that live on such little animals often puncture internal organs with their tiny, sharp bones. Vegan foods might be a weird, human way of feeding a cat, but so are the meat foods everyone says are "natural."
We'll see what happens now that Snow has had her steroid shot - I'll post again in a week! If anyone has any questions or comments please feel free to post, I'd love to hear from others about this. I hope y'all don't mind me posting all these icky meat details - let's hope this trial will be instructive in the end...
Previously:
Non-vegan cat food for 30 days, week 1: Raw meat is gross
A non-vegan cat food 30-day trial
- Sid's allergy seems to have actually improved. It's been on-again-off-again for years though, so we're not sure yet if it's the food or if it's just a coincidence that she's not itchy right now.
- Zora's little scratch by her mouth has healed up. Again, this could be a coincidence - we haven't yet checked her gums to see if her gingivitis has let up.
Meanwhile, poor Snow's gingivitis has gotten yet worse and she's had trouble eating the meat food. In fact, for the past couple of days she's turned her nose up at anything besides seitan, though danibear pointed out to me recently that the canned seitan they're so fond of has sugar in its broth, which could be contributing to her teeth problems! So we brought her in today for a steroid shot to give her little body a temporary boost, so she can eat the meat more easily (and get some relief, the poor baby!), and we can see if this diet change has an effect on her health.
Switching from raw meat to dry food and canned food is a definite improvement, but for troubling reasons. Of course it's less risky in that it's less likely to spread bacteria and disease. But I'm also finding that I'm somewhat intentionally distancing myself from this food's origins in order to be able to handle, smell, and clean up after it, and the more processed food helps me to cultivate that cognitive dissonance. If I really allow myself to see this stuff for what it is - remnants of suffering and death, evidence of terrible wrongs done to beings every bit as sentient and valuable and important as our cat friends - I find it so morally repugnant (and aesthetically revolting) that I have trouble dealing with its presence in our kitchen.
Oddly, they're really not as excited about the kibble as I thought they would be - they used to adore Evolution Kibble and then loved AmiCat even more when we switched to that. You can mix vegan kibble with water and nutritional yeast to make it moist, which is good for them and which they really liked - but if you mix water with meat kibble it gets pretty nasty. And the canned food is pretty gross too - in particular the "whole mackerel" which turned out to be a real little mackerel corpse, minus the head and tail and fins, curled up in the can. It stunk up our kitchen - and our bathroom, when Zora ate more than her share and threw it up all over the floor.
When we bought this new food (which is quite expensive...), we asked the folks at the local pet shop (we buy from locally owned businesses and not from major chains or from stores that sell live animals - represent!) if any of the brands they stocked were billed as "humane," and got puzzled looks, an "oh no I don't think so," and then were directed to the organic brands. So we've been feeding them only organic food, so at least we're avoiding giving them hormones. But I've been really saddened by our exploring this huge shop full of options and finding that companies and consumers who care about cats and dogs apparently don't care at all about the bison, pheasants, cows, pigs, lambs, turkeys, fishes, and other animals whose forced breeding, lifelong confinement, and slaughter they're supporting.
Also, pet food labels boast that the food inside is "natural," or "the taste of the wild," or "instinct"-driven - but since when did housecats eat bison (or for that matter, fishes or cows or chickens) in nature? Domesticated cats don't live in nature and have no "natural" diet, is the answer. We made them. They can get by on songbirds and mice but I've heard that the cats that live on such little animals often puncture internal organs with their tiny, sharp bones. Vegan foods might be a weird, human way of feeding a cat, but so are the meat foods everyone says are "natural."
We'll see what happens now that Snow has had her steroid shot - I'll post again in a week! If anyone has any questions or comments please feel free to post, I'd love to hear from others about this. I hope y'all don't mind me posting all these icky meat details - let's hope this trial will be instructive in the end...
Previously:
Non-vegan cat food for 30 days, week 1: Raw meat is gross
A non-vegan cat food 30-day trial
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2 Comments
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Comment by Ari Moore on June 1, 2009 at 4:24pm - yeah, i think that's the most likely cause... they also sometimes get excited about a particular food and eat too much too quickly - again, vomit. they've calmed down now, thankfully! :)
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Comment by Eric Milano on May 17, 2009 at 6:44pm - I'm really interested to hear about your experiences, so keep them coming! I do know that cats often vomit when you switch their foods suddenly. My cats do it once in a while when giving them a new food...
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