Subj : Re: best food
To   : Susan Cook
From : Carol Shenkenberger
Date : Tue Aug 08 2000 12:32 pm

*** Quoting Susan Cook from a message to Carol Shenkenberger ***

-=>Carol Shenkenberger was heard babbling frantically about Re: best food !

 CS> But arent most cats 'run of the mil domestics?'  Hence that would be
 CS> the majority you would see. 
 CS> I understand what you intend and agree that pet owners need to be
 CS> aware, but my vets (I have had several over the years) were more
 CS> specific on the exact things to watch for.  Please do not alarm people
 CS> needlessly is all I ask. It's as bad as saying 'all pets are happier
 CS> with the same brand food every day of their life and the same flavor'.
 CS> Poppycock. That one is just a marketing schema and while it doesnt



SC> I apologize, Carol.. I tend to get really rabid over this.. and yet I
SC> seen many male cats live to be ripe old ages living on the cheapest
SC> brand names, fish flavors included. My parents cat, C.C. is 13 and is
SC> fed "Friskie's" tuna .. which is a very low quality cat food.. yet he
SC> as healthy as a horse. It is not my intend to offend (so I sincerely
SC> apologize if I come off as an offender), yet in my line of work I have
SC> seen so many young male cats with this problem so I just wanted to
SC> pass on what I have seen. Please realize that I mean what I say straig
SC> from the heart, but I appreciate a reality check once in a while to
SC> keep me in line!

Grin, no harm and sorry if I accidently made you feel bad or anything.  It's a 
good warning!  It's just not as blanket as it at first seems and that was all.

The critical part I was given by several vets (military moves, cats get new 
vets and I check on this and other things each time).  Like Salt for humans, 
there was a time whrn first identified as a 'problem' it was advised for all 
cats.  Later evidence showed (just like humans and salt) not all cats have a 
problem with it, nor even the majority.

It's more apt to be a problem with males, but females can have problems too.
It's more apt to be a problem with 'fixed' males (hormonal changes suspected to 
be related but not proven.  Fixed females show no higher incidence last time I 
asked on that).

Cats who will have problems either eat fish based canned/dry cheap versions as 
the primary diet and develop the problem young, or are shifted to such a diet 
when they are older and develop the problem.

Highly inbred pedigree cats are FAR more prone to this.  I'm sorry.  There was 
a list and I have forgotten the specifics other than a memory fragment of one 
version hitting as high as 20% for fixed males?

I'd love it if you could check and see if that matches current information as 
cat owners really DO need to be aware of the issues and you seem best placed to 
get real data on that out to the people.
                                       xxcarol

--- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4
 * Origin: SHENK'S EXPRESS Norfolk VA 757-486-3057 28.8 Dual (1:275/100)

.