Cats & Cat Health

Bravo! announces a voluntary recall of select tubes of three of its poultry products for cats and dogs. The pet food is being recalled because two of the products have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes, while the other product has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes

Both Salmonella and Listeria are organisms which can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and if there is cross contamination, in people, especially small children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.

Healthy people with Salmonella infection may only suffer short-term symptoms, such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.Long term complications can include arthritis and other more serious ailments.

Healthy people with Listeria infection may only suffer short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women…

Recalled Cat & Dog Food:

Product: Bravo Original Formula Chicken Blend frozen raw food
Product Numbers: 21-102, 21-105, 21-110
Sizes: 2 pound, 5 pound and 10 pound tubes
Batch ID code (on hang tag): 236
Reason for Recall: Salmonella, Listeria

Product: Bravo Original Formula Turkey Blend frozen raw food
Product Numbers: 31-102, 31-105, 31-110
Sizes: 2 pound, 5 pound and 10 pound tubes
Batch ID code (on hang tag): 236
Reason for Recall: Listeria

Product: Bravo Basic Formula Finely Ground Chicken frozen raw food
Product Number: 21-212
Size: 2 pound tube
Batch ID Code (on hang tag): 226
Reason for Recall: Salmonella, Listeria

read the rest of this press release

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Yesterday I made Alfie a batch of raw food using the recipe provided by Dr. Pierson DVM on her cat information web site.
Dr. Pierson has adapted the recipe that is provided by Anne here: making your own cat food.

I understand from reading both of these web sites that many people are reluctant to give their cat raw food. I find this surprising because cats can’t cook, so how would they have eaten anything but raw food in their natural state?It is becoming clear that cats do better on their natural diet than on the one we have been giving them. Not only that but we can not trust pet food manufacturers to provide a healthy diet. Lately there have problems with imported foods from China, but its not only the imported foods that have caused recent problems. I wrote yesterday about why dry kibble is bad food for cats.

Most of us have given cats cooked food because canned cat food is what we are told to feed them on. Canned food is better than dry food as long as the quality is high and it isn’t full of animal by-products, wheat and other ingredients that is harmful to cats. I bought some food for Alfie that was very high quality but he refused to eat it. I must admit t he smell wasn’t very nice.

Because he wouldn’t eat the canned stuff I decided I would make his food. Fortunately he is used to raw food. He is only 6 years old and right from the start I investigated cat foods and discovered that raw is best. I had never put any extra nutrients into it because he was also having some dry food which provided those extras. If he isn’t going to get dry food any more then I needed to provide a balanced diet for him. Hence my efforts with the recipe for home made cat food.

I need to buy an electric grinder! Yesterday I used the old hand grinder that I have had for years and it was tough going. I bought a whole rabbit and ground it bones and all, it caused the little grinder some problems. Anyway I battled on and got quite a good upper body workout for an hour pushing the rabbit through! I added egg yolks and some heart from the supermarket and also some beef cut into 1/2 pieces. ( I note that Dr. Pierson says that beef is not recommended for cats, only saw that after I had finished) The chunks are for his teeth- he has to chew to keep them healthy. I didn’t add the other supplements given in the recipe because I found an all in one supplement that had all these in it and I decided to use that instead. I will add it to his food at the time of feeding because I am a bit scared it will put him off eating it and I didn’t want to have all my hard work thrown away by adding it to the whole batch.

Smelling all this he came and sat in the kitchen and watched, so I gave him him some there and then, just to see if he liked it. He loved it!

Of course he is used to raw food. If your cat isn’t it might not be so easy. But it can be done. The trick is to do it gradually, adding it to his current food, a bit more each day. Dr. Pierson has some advice on that if you want to try this with your cat. Its worth it if it gives him a longer and healthier life.

Recommended Reading on Cat Health: Home Study Course Vetinary Secrets Revealed

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If you are spooked by all the cat food recalls and other problems with current commercial cat foods Dr. Lisa A. Pierson DVM has a website packed full of useful info on feeding cats. There is a list of the best quality canned food and info on why we shouldn’t give cats dry kibble. (Also this info is in my free e-book - under Free on the tabs above )

Dr. Pierson also gives a lot of detail on making your own cat food at home plus a homemade cat food recipe   recipe. I am not reproducing it here because its hers and also because she gives so much detail on her site as well as the recipe.  The recipe etc is here: Make Your Own Cat Food

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Technorati Tags: cat food, feeding cats, cat food, homemade cat food recipe

What do you feed your cat? With all the publiciy about poisons in chinese cat foods lately I guess we are all avoiding the Chinese fakeaways now.

But its not only China that is careless of our cat’s health. Did you know that many vetinarians are saying that we shouldn’t be feeding dried kibble to our cats? Its too dry and they don’t make up for it with drinking enough water- cats need wet food. Also dry food has various other problems - or so I have recently learned:

1. They contain insufficient animal based protein and an excess of vegetable protein.

2. Many contain animal by-products as their main or only source of protein. By-products are animal parts considered unfit for human beings to eat, such as feet, intestines, feathers, egg shells and can even include organs from diseased livestock.

3. They contain too much carbohydrate. Cats are pure carnivores that neither need, nor can they thrive, on the amount of carbohydrates in dry foods.

4. Cats do not always drink enough to make up for the lack of water in the food. Insufficient fluid causes kidney and bladder stones.

5. Many use unhealthy preservatives such as such as BHA, BHT and ethoxyquin.

6. They can lose nutrient value due to their long cooking time at very high temperatures.

7. Oils in them can become rancid after being stored in warehouses and supermarket shelves.

8. There may also be extremely dangerous and life-threatening fungal toxins found in them.

Sounds nasty doesn’t it? Do you want to risk it? I don’t and am now in the process of weaning my cat off it. Its not going to be easy and he is rather grunpy with me today. I am mixing a bit in with his new food- more on that next time- but I think he knows what I am up to!

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