H o w I fe d. r A W. m y C a t s. o f 4 K i t t i. T a l e s. A r t i c l. p h o t o s. K l e i n. Ph.D.

Transcription

1 H o w I fe d m y C a t s r A W T a l e s o f 4 K i t t i s e A r t i l e & p h o t o s by David K l e i n. Ph.D. 1

2 From Vibrane Magazine Issue No. 10 by David Klein, Ph.D. I love ats. They light me up with joy, teah me plenty about sensory awareness and grae, and make me wonder about a lot of things. Their emotional similarities to us humans are fasinating. Playful little harlequins in fuzzy pajamas seeking exhanges of pure love, they add spirit to one s life. Few things are more speial than a warm purring kitty at my hands. I have been a raw vegan fruitarian for 30 years and running. Yes I m horrified by killing and repulsed by meat eating (my former meat-based diet almost destroyed me). But I have reognized that planet Earth is not a vegans-only paradise, and that life here, inluding fertile soil, depends upon life forms killing and onsuming others. That s just the way Nature is, and I ve hosen to aept that, and to feed my feline pets raw, wholesome, meat-based diets sine they are onstitutionally arnivores. They deserve to eat their natural biologial diet. I have no delusions of messing with their geneti disposition. No reature on planet Earth was designed to eat ooked food. Only humans and our pets eat ooked food and suffer throughout our lifespans from autointoxiation and the degenerative diseases and destrutive behavior that go along with that. Read Pottenger s Cats by Franis M. Pottenger Jr. and you ll learn about the geneti degradation and physial degeneration aused by ooked food diets over just three generations. The fat, lazy, feeble and miserable ats and dogs you ve seen have one major thing in ommon: they are toxi as a result of eating heat-proessed and hemially-adulturated pet foods. These pakaged onotions whih are a far ry from the foods they would naturally eat as hunter-foragers in nature, the foods whih would enable pristine health and high vitality, and render physial degeneration an impossibility, exept in ases of droughts and other natural disasters. The differenes between ooked-fed and raw-fed ats (and dogs) are enormous. Cooked-fed traits: The animals are smelly, moody, need lots of sleep, lazy or hyper, dull fur oat, loudy eyes, dry and saly skin, onstipated, fat, finiky, satter-brained, often unhappy, often diseased, often infested with bugs and other parasites and short-lived. Raw-fed traits: The animals are lean, energeti, slender, poised, alert, mostly heerful, healthy and long-lived. I have witnessed these differenes in many ases and gained great insight from my pet ats whom I ve fed raw diets. This artile will reount the experienes I have had with the four ats I ve ared for, fousing on how I ve fed them. However, I m sure you know that food is not the only essential we need to feed our pets. Other neessities must inlude plenty of loving affetion (hatting, resonant voalizing, stroking, srathing, playing, grooming, hugging), poise and peae in the house, dependability, a safe and seure territory and respet. I aim to treat my at with all of the respet and are that I would give myself and my beloveds. When the needs of pets are not being met, if you pay lose attention, you will notie that they are sad and unhappy. Their feelings an manifest in many undesirable behaviors, inluding despondeny, anxiety, overeating, roaming, anger, violene and worst of all, aner. Shower your pets with love not just good food and provide a wholesome life for them. Develop your intuitive skills for aring for them optimally. If you are wondering how to beome more intuitive, tune in to your pets they are the best teahers! Observe how aware they are of everything, espeially your mannerisms and emotional states around them, how they are guided by their senses and instints, how they really want to be loved, and emulate their best traits. Open up and be sensitive to your feelings whih inform you about what is good and promotes harmony, peae and health with your four-legged housemates. One more point before I get on with my four kitty tales: ats make great ompanions for elderly single people. There are many orphaned kitties in loal animal shelters awaiting a loving home, so please onsider suh a gift if the situation is right. 2

3 Wisky When I was about 14 years of age, on a nie summer day a very young kitty wandered into the bakyard of our suburban northern New Jersey home. She was a ute, spunky tortie who was obviously lost and searhing for food and shelter. I hadn t touhed a at in many years, following a horrifi allergy response to a friend s at I had pet when I was a kid. I had rubbed my eyes after petting that at and they swelled up and losed. My mother gave me antihistamines, whih sent me into the deepest sleep for several hours. When I awoke, the swelling was gone and my fear of ever touhing a at again was set. So, then along ame the tortie. My neighborhood friends, sister, brother and I played with her. I was espeially smitten. Dad had forbidden pets (or so I thought), and I felt it was risky to even mention the kitty to him. As dusk desended, the kitty wandered into the woods and would likely have been gone forever. Can t let that happen!, I thought. So, I asked my friend to pik her up and bring her into our garage. I got her a bowl of milk (I did not know any better), laid down some old bed sheets in a orner and showed Dad the sene. He liked her and had no problem with keeping her overnight. That was the beginning of a 16-year family affair. The at was really something speial. We named her Whisky, a ombination of Whiskers and Frisky, both of whih desribed her well. To this day, I still have never seen a more beautiful animal. She was shy, often aloof, yet extremely sensitive and full of regal grae and tender sweetness. Words annot really desribe how magial her air was. Whisky was a wonderful ompanion and playmate. During my eight-year olitis illness, my sadness, angst and turmoil were relieved by her presene and devoted friendship. She loved to nap on my bed and follow my buddies and me on long walks through the neighborhood woods and around the adjaent shool grounds. When we slept in a tree fort we had built in the woods, she slept on its roof. Her vitality was high over her first few years, but then she began to gain some exess weight and beome lethargi and moody at times. Why? We fed her ooked, ommerial at food. Canned meats, boxed kibble, moist, pakaged meat niblets with preservatives, water and nothing more. Mie, birds and other prey were not part of her diet there was not an abundane of them where we lived. I did not find out about Natural Hygiene and rawfood ommonsense until Whisky was about 14 years of age. She was in fair shape at that point, and I knew she would do better on a raw diet, as I was (I rapidly healed up from eight debilitating years of ulerative olitis). However, hanging Whisky s diet seemed untenable at my parents home. I at least sueeded in getting my family to ut the worst pakaged at food from her diet. After I rejuvenated, I moved out of my family s home to upper New York state to take a new engineering job. I thought hard about taking Whisky with me, but reognized that she belonged at her longtime home, and, sadly, I had to settle for seeing her only a few times a year thereafter. A year later, as my health was blooming, I took off to start a new hapter in my life in California. I needed warmer limes, abun- 3

4 dant organi food and a more health-minded soial atmosphere, and I found just that in the East Bay Area. The last time I saw Whisky before I left, she was sad and had lost muh of her vitality. I knew she missed me, my sister and brother, and she was run down on her toxi diet. My heart sank. A year or so later my dad informed me that Whisky had aner in her mouth, it was inoperable, and she was wasting away. She died at home. I felt helplessly sad. She deserved better far better. Whisky s spirit really touhed me, and she taught me a lot more than most people I d ever known. Looking forward, it was lear that I d never feed a pet ooked food again. I am thankful for the gifts Whisky gave, and have followed through on doing better with my future kitty ompanions. In 1991 I took a new engineering job in Santa Rosa, California and rented a ozy little redwood house in Sebastopol, whih is an hour and a half north of San Franiso. On Christmas day I deided to go to an animal shelter and give a kitty a new life. There I saw and heard a sruffy and young, srawny, rambuntious gray tabby boy who wanted out of his age. Rowrrr! Rowrrrr!! Rowrrrr!!! he exlaimed with his eyes fixed on mine and a paw reahing out for salvation. Do you want to ome home with me? I dumbly asked. ROWRRRRR!!! he replied. The deision had been made. Greystoke The animal shelter lerk sent us home with a free bag of kitty kibble and oupons for more. I tossed them in the garbage and welomed my new buddy to our home. Greystoke was his new name, and fun hijinks was his game. Greystoke was three months old, very skinny and stinky. His eyes were muddy brown and not at all lear. He slept a lot and loved his new home. His introdution to raw ground turkey, hopped fish and veggies and avoado was suessful from the get go no transition neessary! He was a rawfood how at to the ore, starving for real, good food. Over the next three months, Greystoke filled out, his muddy eyes beame luminous green, his sent beame sweet, and he beame the livest wire in the neighborhood. He loved me as his daddy and spent muh of his days hunting gophers in the loamy bakyard. Life was good for Greystoke, and he beame a strong and a most handsome at before long. I d never seen a at who was awake so muh; most ats sleep 14 to 20 hours a day beause their ooked diets are so toxi and devitalized. But not Greystoke he was superharged with raw energy most 4

5 of the day. A most memorable health issue ourred when he was around one year old. A large absess bubble formed on one of his hind thighs. After about three days of resting inside the house and enduring some pain, it was ripe and burst. He liked it lean and was fine. The large path of raw, pink flesh ompletely healed in four short weeks. No oozing pus, no blak rusty sab just lean regeneration of skin and fur. Greystoke ertainly was a self-healing powerhouse! I fed him three meals a day onsisting of raw ground or slied hiken, turkey, hopped lams, smelt, salmon and avoado, often with finely-hopped greens mixed in. Oasionally, I fed him raw egg, beaten up in a bowl. One time I gave him a dollop of raw almond butter. After he struggled to remove the stiky stuff from the roof of his mouth for five minutes, I didn t try that again. Instead, I oasionally fed him ground nuts and seeds. One he was very eager to try the honeydew melon I was enjoying. To my amazement, he howed down on a good portion of it. To my dismay, I found a pile of green melon vomit on the arpet the next morning. I might have offered him some banana later on, but he rejeted it and never went for sweet fruit again. He did get his fill of gophers, voles and mie fresh from the bakyard. All-in-all, at age one-and-one-half, he was one healthy, vivaious and handsome dude. We had tons of fun playing. Sine he had been neutered, his sex drive was halted, but his rambuntiousness was high sometimes too high. A neighbor got a new at, a male bronze-tinted tabby, who beame a regular visitor. Greystoke and he were about the same size, age and disposition, and they beame pals. The friendship soon turned from peaeful to an irritable wrestling rivalry. Sparks oasionally flew, with some biting. It seemed harmless, as I never saw any flesh wounds, but, nonetheless, I didn t like it and I broke up every wrestling math I saw. He was about 20 months old when I notied a one-inh bump protruding from the side of his left ribage. It bothered him a little when I touhed it. It grew to about two inhes in length over the next two days. I surmised that it was probably another absess, and my self-healing boy wonder would be fine. The next day the bump was suddenly ompletely gone. I was mystified and assumed that was the end of that oddity. But it didn t make sense and it haunted me. The next day was a Saturday, and I was off to attend the annual Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa. I fed Greystoke in the morning and again when I returned around dinnertime. He seemed tired but nothing seemed too unusual. The next morning I fed him and again and things seemed fine with Greystoke, or so I thought. I headed off to the festival again. 5

6 When I returned late in the afternoon, he was not there to greet me as usual. I searhed high and low and finally found him in a shallow depression under the dek. He was almost motionless. I pulled him out and was horrified there was not muh life in him. My heart pounded as I took him inside and set him on a blanket. He didn t go for water or food. I alled the emergeny veterinary hospital and they said bring him in. The veterinarian examined him, said he had a fever and was severely dehydrated and about a day away from death if he did not get fluids. Now I was devastated! Intravenous fluids were given and I agreed to x-rays and an overnight stay for Greystoke. Soon after returning home, the vet alled saying that Greystoke s hest avity was filled with pus. I told the vet about the bump on his ribage and he said that it was an absess whih had burst internally, filling Greystoke s thorai avity with the pus. The next step would be to remove the pus with a hypodermi needle. The ost for that and everything else so far would be around $800. I onsented and the proedure was done. I visited Greystok the next morning. The vet allowed me to feed him some raw meat. He ate and began to regain a little strength. I took him home and he quietly rested, and day by day beame more animated. Over the next two weeks, Greystoke almost beame his old energeti self. He seemed more peaeful. His wrestling buddy was peaeful, and all seemed well. Then I notied his vitality dipping bit by bit. He beame more and more lethargi and it was sad to see. Then one afternoon I found him resting underneath a fir tree in the bakyard, seemingly too enervated to froli around like his old self. I knew the sore. The internal toxiosis was gaining ground again. I took him bak to the vet, he was examined and I was told that the pus and fever had returned. My heart sank further. The vet explained that his best efforts were unable to detet a toxi foreign objet in his body, suh as a broken tooth from a fight, whih might be ausing the infetion. He explained that he ould attempt exploratory surgery to look for a foreign intruder, but that would mean even more suffering for Greystoke. He said that most people would opt for euthanasia instead of that torture. I am not sure how I made this deision, but euthanizing my best friend was the most painful one in my life. I said good-bye and ried bukets all the way home, and wept the next three days. The obvious biggest lesson there was no matter how well one feeds one s pet and how healthy and vivaious he or she is, longevity is not a sure thing life is fragile and every moment is preious. To honor the joy that Greystoke s life gave me, I vowed to do muh more to keep my future pets out of harm s way. Fighting with other pets wouldn t be tolerated any more. I still miss that boy and am saddened by his early departure. 6

7 If you visited the home I lived in, dubbed the red barn, in Sebastopol, California in the early 2000s, you surely met my roommate Earl. His offiial name was Earl Grey he was a gray tabby. I didn t like the name, but I loved Earl. Simba, A.K.A. Earl Here s how our onnetion began. The red barn sat on a nie rural property whih had a wonderful apple orhard on one half, and three residenes on the other half. Situated next to the red barn was a trailer, and at the front end of the property was the landlord s home. It was a lively little ommune of sorts. The fellow who lived in the trailer with his girlfriend also had a dog and two ats, one being Earl. Earl was negleted and somewhat abused. That resulted in obesity and despondeny. He was around ten years of age and weighed about 22 pounds. When I first met him, Earl was a grey, yeasty-smelling blob of misery with an unkempt matted oat of loose fur. He sat on a woodshed on the side of the barn and brooded all day. When his keeper ame home and fed his pets, Earl ate kibble that he had to ompete for. I had no idea that this big fellow was interested in any human ontat. For the first few weeks, I pretty muh ignored him, assuming he was disinterested in human ontat. One day I tried to warm him up with some stroking, but he seemed pained by my effort. This ould not go on any longer, I thought, so I asked his keeper if I ould feed him some raw meat. He said, Yes that s what I used to feed him. In fat, you an have Earl. What?! I told him that I ould never take someone else s pet, to whih he replied, It s OK he s not my favorite pet, and he s yours if you d like to take him in. I ruminated for a few moments then said, OK, I ll take are of him and feed him well. I immediately fed Earl some raw meat on the barn s dek, led him inside, and knowing he had a new home, Early never turned bak. Earl loved the aressing, brushing, ombing, raw food and all of the tons of affetion he got. His new lease on life revealed him to be a smart, sweet, loyal, proud and loving little boy...er, feline. The roly-poly Earl of the Red Barn was a rejuvenating wonder. His oat beame lustrous, his sent sweet, his eyes keen, and very slowly over the first few months on his 100% raw diet, the exess pounds ame off. Around six months after his adoption, he suddenly lost all the remaining exess fat and beame a fit and svelte 14-pound, handsome dude. Jumping onto four-foot high tables and grappling up onto tall fene tops and limbing trees was no problem for Earl. We had oodles of fun. One day he joined me in the mayhem of a rowdy bakyard stikball game with the landlord s kids and brought on huge smiles all around! It was wonderful to see how he enjoyed the ompany of the many visitors and o-workers who were in our lives over the next five years. 7

8 When Dr. Tim Trader and Dr. Douglas Graham gave a talk to an audiene of 30 or so people in the barn s living room, Earl arrived last and peaefully took a snooze on the futon. When my assistants for my Living Nutrition business were working away in the barn s offie, Earl often hung out and napped on the offie desk, keeping us alm and amused by his gregariousness and repose. When the Rawstok rew who had amped out in the living room awoke at 6:00 a.m. to head out to the festival at Bill Madonald s apple farm, Earl would shout ROWWW...ROWWW...ROWWW, demanding to be fed by whoever was within earshot. One day that ommand landed on Laurie Masters, who was laughing her head off as she ehoed Earl s pleas. Earl demanded raw food when he was hungry and respet at all times. His wishes were granted and he was a fully vested family member and offie o-manager. Earl was so healthy and beautiful over the first five years of our partnership that I thought he d live way beyond the age of 20. I did get one sign, however, that his previous diet and age were athing up with him. I was feeding Earl a varied raw diet of avoado, hopped veggies and hiken parts, ground turkey, fish and egg. Sine he was not muh of a hunter, and thinking he needed some bone as ats would obtain in nature, I oasionally added some hopped hiken leg bones and baks to his diet. A loal groery store sold those parts. Using a hathet, I hopped up the bones, blood marrow and all, on a wooden plank, and Earl munhed on the piees. I wondered if his intestines would be OK with that, but he seemed to have no problems. Cats, I had learned, have aidi gastri seretions whih are far stronger than those of humans, and dissolving bone is something a at an normally easily do. However, knowing that sharp piees must be avoided, I hopped and mashed the bone to small hunks with no pointy shards. I assumed that Earl would have no problem runhing on those hunks. But, I later learned a painful lesson. One day, Earl sustained an odd injury. The first or seond vertebra somehow beame displaed, resulting on his tail taking a 45-degree turn there. Perhaps he got his tail aught in a fene when jumping down, or he had fallen off a tree limb onto his rump. I took him to the vet and was told it was not painful and was best left alone manipulation to straighten it would only damage the ligaments. So, this rooked tail remained. The vet had given Earl a brief examination and reported to me that virtually all of Earl s teeth were missing. I was shoked and saddened, feeling responsible for ausing that ondition with the thik hiken bak feedings. So I fed no more bone to Earl. Earl managed just fine thereafter on his raw diet of finely ground, slied and mashed foods. 8

9 A year after the third and final Rawstok Festival I hosted in Sebastopol (2005), irumstanes in my life took a turn and I moved to a smaller home aross town. The new home was a temporary stepping stone to a muh better situation. It was a ottage surrounded by a vineyard and it was not very muh fun or stimulating for Earl; there were no hildren and he had less freedom beause of the landlord s dogs and feisty at. At age 16, Earl was vivaious and beautiful lean and lear-eyed with the softest oat of fur. I tired of the name Earl and thought he needed a more dignified one. If you ever Googled Earl Grey and laid your eyes upon a piture of his namesake as I did, you might understand why I wanted to disassoiate my buddy from the man known for the tea. I renamed him Simba. In the seond autumn of our stay at the vineyard ottage, Simba slowed down. I ould see how bored he was and that we needed to find better terrain. In early Deember, his appetite waned. By the end of the month, he was eating about one-half of his usual daily quantities of food, and he had lost a few pounds. Then his appetite beame very weak and he beame sluggish. One morning in early January, he was rying with pain and fear his legs were not working. Sared, he managed to drag himself under my bed to hide. I pulled him out and had friend Dr. Johanna Zee examine him. Johanna had run a veterinary lini in Vieques, Puerto Rio and had a lot of experiene with ats. She surmised that he had blood lots in his legs. Simba spent most of the next two days in a papasan hair in the living room and ate and drank very little. He gazed at me with no emotion, but he was learly hurting over the loss of his vitality and physial faulties. On the seond day, a Sunday, Johanna, her son and I went to San Franiso to see Cirque du Soleil. When I returned, Simba was right where he was in the morning, on the papasan. He did not try to move. He refused to drink water, and Johanna advised me that he didn t have muh time left. His organs were simply giving out. My mind reeled. A few hours later, seizures, blindness and mild delirium began. His body was there but Simba s spirit was gone. I awoke almost every hour that night to wath him. He managed to rawl onto the arpet, but he was almost lifeless in his wasted body. At 7:00 a.m. his heart seized up and his body expired. He was very thin, but as beautiful as ever. It was all very mystifying and disheartening to me. I buried him in Johanna s bakyard and arved a redwood headstone. I knew he didn t want to leave us. His spirit never has. What a sweet boy. 9

10 Carmella I moved to a nier home in Sebastopol that summer with plenty of privay and woods for exploring. After six months of grieving I felt ready to adopt again. I went to the Sonoma County Humane Soiety s well-endowed animal shelter in Santa Rosa one day and heked out the dozen glass-walled rooms filled with ats of all ages, sizes and breeds. None seemed interested in me and I felt no resonane with any of them. Almost ready to give up, I tried looking in the last room one more time. One little ritter aught my eye. I had spotted a ute tortie nestled behind some other ats. Was she the geneti heir of Whisky? As I losed in on her, she sensed my attention and began purring. Her motor beame more vibrant as I stroked and held her. That little bundle of love was oming home with me. The three-month old tortie with aramel-olored eyes had been given the name Lisa. I preferred another name, so I signed the adoption papers, renaming her Carmella. While she resembles Whisky from afar, her markings and personality are quite different. Carmella was a baby. She loved her new home, the rawfood offerings, uddles and lots of head srathes. She went from ooked to raw with no reservations. She grew quikly, and her eyes beame hazel. She delighted in hasing the squirrels who oupied the huge white pine tree in the bakyard, and in hunting and eating some of the gophers, pygmy mie and wood rats she aught. Sine the house had a pet door, she brought some of her live athes into the bathtub at all hours of the night. I ll skip the details of that! Carmella was always happy and playful. She stayed out of trouble, keeping a distane from the oyote and raoon interlopers who ame for midnight raids on her food bowl whih was set on the dek. Tiring of the long, old, rainy winter seasons in northern California, in early 2010 I deided to fulfill my fruitarian dream of living in a tropial land and set my sights on Maui. My only reservation about my plan was that the rabies shot, flight and quarantine might kill Carmella, but I ould not leave her behind. I was torn over my deision to get her a shot three months before our departure, but, happily, there were no apparent effets. I lined up a home to rent in Haiku, Maui, beginning in Otober, booked a flight and obtained a roomy pet arrier with a water feed bottle. Carmella was to be plaed in the speial argo hold for animals. I was assured that is was a safe, temperature- 10

11 ontrolled spae. I was nervous, however, having heard horror stories about some animals dying in plane argo holds. As our departure date drew nearer, Carmella was tested for rabies antibodies. She passed, meaning she needed neither further inoulations nor quarantining. I was greatly relieved. One more hurdle to go. hold. Carmella was just plain exited. Surprise! We left Sebastopol and set out for San Franiso International Airport with very different perspetives. I was exited about the new hapter in paradise that was about to unfold, yet edgy about how Carmella would fare in the pet arrier and argo Carmella was enthralled with the airport senery she viewed through the arrier age door and did not utter a sound or show any apprehension when the porter took her away to the pet hold. She learly loved the adventure! Amazing, onsidering that most ats an beome so freaked out by hanges and traveling to unfamiliar noisy plaes with lots of people milling about. Solitary onfinement in a age in the bowels of a roaring jet for five hours? No problemo por Senorita Carmella! Carmella probably enjoyed a good nap. When I piked her up at the animal quarantine station at the airport in Honolulu on Oahu, she was fine and dandy the adventure was still ool with her. I presented her papers to the animal ontrol offier and she was released. She had not relieved herself in the pet arrier and seemed very omfortable. I offered some dried salmon treats and she ate sparingly. We had a two-hour layover and Carmella was alm and ool in the arrier while we hung out on a grassy lawn. We boarded our onneting flight to Maui, landed, rented a ar and headed to our new home. It was a tropial foliage heaven for Carmella. What a gift! There were plenty of new ritters to hase gekos, hameleons, rats and mongoose and trees to limb. Life on Maui has been great for Carmella, and she keeps rolling with the hanges very well. Annette moved in and we got married, we moved twie, and Carmella adapted perfetly to the new living situations. She will turn five years of age next month and is healthy and fit at nine pounds. There has been very little drama; she is too fast for dogs and usually too savvy to get into trouble, it seems. Two inidents are worth retelling, however. 11

12 First inident: Soon after we moved to Maui, I learned that there was a neighborhood bully. A neighbor said that a disturbed at had killed his two newly-adopted kittens a ouple of months earlier. Two or three times when Carmella was out at night I heard sreaming skirmishes. I never saw the instigator, but guessed it was that stealthy Maui Mangler at. Early one evening, I heard some sreaming and then Carmella suddenly bolted into the living room through the pet door. Shaken, blood pooled on the floor from her bleeding nek. She was apparently bitten by the Maui Mangler. The blood flow stopped quikly and naturally. Carmella got a big dose of onsolation from me, then she walked upstairs. I followed her a while later, and after a searh, found her inside the bathroom abinet, behind the losed door under the vanity sink. She remained there, fasting and healing for over 24 hours. Then she ame downstairs, ate a breakfast, and all was normal again. Curiously, after that onflit, there were no further signs of the bad at again. Seond inident: I like to vary my pets diets, to avoid the ruts of routines. I notied bags of frozen pork hunks in a groery store freezer ase and bought one, figuring that Carmella would enjoy the flavor. She did, and I fed her that oasionally over the next few months. Then I notied a hange in her physial appearane: her oat, espeially her belly and rump, had beome a bit mangy with sparse fur, and she had lost about two pounds. Conerned, I realized that raw pork is notorious for parasites, so I stopped feeding her that for good. Still, the mange persisted. I Googled information about natural pet remedies for parasites. Ground raw pumpkin seeds was a popular remedy that several people endorsed, so I tried that. After adding some to her food several times, her oat beame healthy again and she regained the lost weight. I have ontinued to add some pumpkin seed meal to her meals one in a while. She also oasionally likes to munh on whole pumpkin seeds. Today, as usual, Carmella is thriving. 12

13 I ve learned a lot from being the are giver of my four kitty ompanions, and I am still learning with Carmella and wondering about her diet as it relates to her health and longevity. Does her diet ontain too muh fat, too muh fish, is the food pure enough, are there too few organs, too little or too muh of some partiular nutrients? I ll keep learning, with observation and intuition as my guides. May your love affair with kitty be long and extra speial, and may he or she live the best of all nine lives! If you have any insights and stories to share, your orrespondene would be purrfetly welomed! I d like to write more on this subjet in future issues. Now here are the basis of Raw Kitty Care 101. DDietary Transition I don t have any experiene with dietary transition. The three ats I ve adopted took to a 100% raw food diet right away. I have heard from other at guardians who have said that their ats would not eat any raw food in lieu of their ooked foods. I suggested blending in some raw ground meat, avoado and veggie pulp with their meals, and keeping bowls of plain raw egg and avoado near their regular food dishes, but I haven t yet reeived any positive feedbak on that. I also reommend raw at kibble and treats. If you have any suess stories about your finiky at, please share them. DWhat To Feed Meats. The goal, of ourse, is to feed our pets as similarly as is pratial to how they would eat as predators in nature. Cats are arnivores. Their digestive organs are the same as those of humans. However, their digestive organs and digestive seretions are designed to funtion best on a relatively fatty, high-protein diet of mainly raw animal meats as well as grass and other vegetables. So you should hop or slie meats as finely as possible to ease the digestive burden. Large hunks of food tend to lead to frequent barfing. Meat hoies: Fowl (hiken and turkey, slied or ground) Hoofed mammals (ow, steer, lamb, deer, buffalo). I don t feed any of these to Carmella I don t believe they are healthful; ats do not prey upon them. Fish (tilapia, salmon, white fish, smelt, anhovies, lams, sallops, et., slied, filleted, ground) Organs (liver, heart, gizzard, et.) I am not onvined that I need to add them to Carmella s diet, onsidering her hunting habits; I believe she is getting taurine and all the other essential nutrients she needs. Liver seems too toxi to feed to any at. Bone and marrow, finely hopped or ground. I rarely feed these to Carmella beause of her hunting habit. Vegetables. Cats have pointy inisor teeth whih are suited solely to tearing flesh. They do not possess flat molars whih we have for mastiation, that is grinding and rushing plant fibers, to release their nutrients. As suh, ats are not suited to digesting fibrous vegetables well. Nonetheless, the fiber and miroflora in raw vegetables will be very useful for their bowel health. Cats will eat grass, and when they eat rodents and birds they ingest their bowel ontents, whih would inlude semi- or fully-digested vegetables and seeds and grains. To inrease their nutrient intake, we an help ats by finely hopping, blending and juiing fibrous vegetables and 13

14 fresh-ut grass to make their juies more available that s where most of the nutrients are. Add the juiy pulp from your juier to ground and slied animal meats and avoado. If you are short on veggies, snip some green grass from your lawn or a flower pot if you are an apartment dweller standard grass is as good as wheatgrass. The veggie nutrients, fiber and miroflora will do wonders for any toxi pet. Avoado. The oily fruit is a great o-anhor for any at s (or dog s) diet. Mash the avoado up to make it easy for at to lik and swallow. Some authorities advise that avoado is toxi to pets. I have no personal or word-of-mouth experiene whih lends any redibility to that notion. My three raw-fed ats have loved avoado, provided that it s mashed up. Dogs love avoado as well. It imparts lustrous sheen to any oat of fur and helps resolve dry skin problems. Nuts and Seeds. Whole, hopped and ground raw nuts and seeds are suitable, provided that they are not old and ranid. Soft oonut flesh is also good. Nut and seed butters are very stiky, so mix them with water or a juiy blend of veggie pulp or avoid them altogether if your at struggles to get them down. Treats. Cats love raw, dried fowl and fish treats (ubes or whole small fish) and sea vegetable leaves. If your at has a persistent flea problem, there are yeast-based B-vitamin tablets for that ats love the flavor and enjoy them as treats. Catnip, fresh or dried, is an oasional must. Water. Distilled, reverse osmosis, filtered, spring and rain water are suitable. Keep lean water in a glass, stainless steel or erami (not aluminum) bowl at all times. D What Not To Feed Cooked and preserved foods of any kind are toxi, beause they orrupt animal s senses and they destroy health. Avoid ooked and dried kibble. Raw dried kibble is generally OK in moderation; however, it should not be offered regularly. Do not feed your at a diet with more than 25% raw ow/ steer beef, lamb or other hoofed mammal. Again, in nature, ats would not likely ath and eat them, but the biohemial profiles of these foods are not very different from the natural primary food soures of ats. The key here is offering these meats in moderation. Raw pork has too high of a risk of ontaining parasites to be safe in any amount. Do not feed your at a diet with more than 25% fish. In nature, ats would not likely ath and eat fish. The biohemial profile of fish is different, yet not neessarily harmful in moderation, than ats natural primary animal food soures (rodents and birds). Avoid fatory-farm raised, anti-bioti inoulated, GMO and proessed food. Avoid dairy (heese and ooked and raw milk). Avoid ooked eggs. Raw eggs are OK, but not on an everyday basis. Starhy and sugary (arbohydrate) foods are not part of a at s natural diet (exept for the small amounts of predigested grains they might obtain from the bowel ontents of birds and rodents). If your at does enjoy and is able to digest and keep balaned and healthy with oasional portions of raw squash, arrot pulp, orn and sweet fruit, I would like to hear about it! Grains (other than orn and sprouted grains, whih are not really neessary) should be avoided. Bitter and sharp herbs, inluding garli and onions, are toxi and an result in undesirable behavioral hanges. Chlorinated and fluoridated tap water, as well as fetid water of any kind, must be avoided. 14

15 DProuring Animal Foods If you are like me, you have no desire to kill and hop up fresh animals. Soure fresh and frozen animal meats from your loal groery store or buther. Some stores offer pakages of freshly-ground raw turkey, hiken and fish as well their parts. Most stores sell frozen, unproessed fowl and fish parts. Seek organi meats. If they are not available and you want to feed kitty the best food, there are online soure for organi frozen pet foods whih an be mailed to you. If you have aess to fresh hiken eggs from loal farms and farmer s markets, you are fortunate; otherwise, purhase organi eggs from stores. Kitty treats and raw kibble an be purhased at some animal feed stores and from various online mail order ompanies. I purhase Wildside Salmon Treats for Carmella from The Barfer Shoppe ( she loves them! DStoring & Serving Animal Foods Most vegans, like I, abhor having frozen meat in their refrigerator and freezer. This issue is solved by buying a separate freezer whih an be kept in your garage or utility room. Seond-hand freezers are often available via Craig s list and lassified ads. A refrigerator is not really neessary, exept for eggs whih, in my opinion, are innouous in my kithen refrigerator. I manage animal meat storage as suh: Bags of frozen hiken parts (breast, thighs, legs) an easily go in kitty s freezer. For onveniene, the parts an be removed from their pakage and plaed in individual zip-lok bags, and plaed in the freezer. Pakages of freshly-ground hiken and turkey are sold in many groery stores. I typially buy three pakages at a time. At home, I spoon about three ounes of the meat into zip-lok bags, then plae them in the freezer. I pat the mass down flat this quikens the thawing time. The frozen pakages require one to two hours to thaw out. Plaing them in a bowl or sink of hot water redues thawing time. I typially hop or mine elery, lettue, kale and/or grass or use veggie pulp from my juier and mix that into the meat in the serving bowl; the mixture is about 50% veggies and 50% meat. DWhen To Feed Cats usually want breakfast early. I feed Carmella ground hiken or turkey with hopped veggies two out of every three mornings, with slied fish on the other day. That fuels and energizes her for a morning of exploring and hunting in the neighboring jungle habitat. In mid-morning or around noon, I either plae a portion of mashed avoado in her bowl, or I beat up an egg in the bowl. For dinner, around 6:00 PM it s more meat and veggies. I only feed her no more than one fish meal per day, and I don t feed her fish every day. If I know or suspet that Carmella has found her own freshkill meal, I only leave some avoado in her bowl for dinner. About every third day, instead of a meat for dinner, I offer only avoado and hopped veggies. DHow Muh To Feed How muh food per serving is intuitive, based on experiene and observation. It s better to serve small portions than to overfeed. If the portions are too small, the at will likely give you an is that all there is? glare. In that ase, inrease the portion size a little bit. If kitty needs to lose weight, keep the portions small. If he or she expresses dissatisfation, give some loving uddles and play time several times per day, and offer a treat one a day between meals. Observe your at s waistline. His waist should not bulge out beyond the hips and the belly should not sag. Also observe the at s odor, oat and eyes to asertain if he or she is lean or toxi if toxi, you may be overfeeding, or, if the at is still 15

16 in the beginning stage of dietary transition, more time may be needed for his or her internal purifiation. If you an ath your at in the at of defeating, look for smooth, quik relief and for straining, whih may indiate overfeeding. If kitty is in transition and in proess of losing exess weight, signs of toxemia and bowel movement diffiulty are to be expeted they will improve as the weeks go by. Keep kitty satisfied, energized and lean with enough food and plenty of loving attention between meals so that he or she has more to look forward to eah day than just food. DFood Combining Inlude raw vegetable with almost every raw meat, avoado, nut and seed serving. Chop up your vegetables and mix or mash them together with the fatty foods. Also mix in the pulp from your veggie juiing operations, or use freshly-ut grass. Go with a roughly 50 perent proportion of meat, perhaps higher in the beginning until kitty gets used to the veggie mixture. Avoid mixing meat with egg and mixing any higharbohydrate foods with meat, nuts and seeds. DFasting is OK If your at is not hungry and wants to fast, that s perfetly fine. Allow kitty to take are of himself or herself in the way that omes natural. If kitty s appetite and behavior seem very unusual for more than a day, onsider an examination with a holisti veterinarian. Do not fore feed. Cats are self-healing marvels, and they know when food is not helpful. Let nature do the healing, and let your friend know you are there for him or her. 16

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