For those who were following a thread, about a month ago ( prior discussion ) on my kitty, Dr. Ruth. I just thought I'd give an update.

She had been suffering from feline EGC (eosinophilic granuloma complex), more fully described in the prior thread. I decided, along with the vet, to decline the steroid treatment usually prescribed.

Taking a suggestion in the thread, I switched all the kitties' food bowls from plastic to glass right away - yeah, I gave them three of my salad bowls, LOL! Hey, it was all that was handy at the time, and I haven't gotten around to getting them their own bowls of ceramic or metal. Maybe I'll just get myself some new salad bowls. (... any excuse ...)

I also immediately switched them to a completely raw food diet - which their Uncle Brutus (the dog) has been on for years. First I was preparing it myself, which was a royal, time consuming, pain in the posterior. For Brutus it's easier, since he can crunch bones just fine. Then I found I could get the minced meat & bone on the web, and just throw in an occasional something extra. MUCH easier.

Anyway, the "gang of three" love the new diet and Dr. Ruth has been free of any outbreak for the last month!

My fingers are crossed.

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160+)
Maintaining nicely (110 +/-)
~~ Redhead until further notice!

That's wonderful, Maggie. I love a happy pet story on Christmas.

What product are you feeding Dr. Ruth? Just curious, since I have no kitties. My furkids seem to be doing great on frozen raw from Oma's Pride and/or Bravo



BC
172/108/108
Zone since 4/98

Hooray for little dr. ruth!!! She's got to be so much more healthier and happy with mama Maggie to watch over her...LOL! I am happy that she is doing better.
Cheers to the gang of 3 and uncle brutus! hehe!

Shelley

***sg***

Brenda,

Brutus gets lots of chicken wings, beef soup bones, pork ribs, etc. He also gets organ meat on a random basis. I shop for him at the supermarket. Plus he gets eggs, kefir and raw veggies, since he's more omnivorous than the kitties. I used to always grind his raw veggies, since that's the way he'd find it in his prey's stomach. But dogs are also opportunists, so If he wants to gnaw on a cauliflower stem, for instance, I let him. He's the picture of health.

The kitties, my little obligate carnivores, need an almost exclusively meat, bone, organ diet. What I'm getting for them is a variety of meat&bone mince that Ian Billinghurst now sells through his BARF World Business(biologically appropriate raw foods). Barfworld It comes frozen, in one pound plastic bags. Kind of like when you buy frozen sausage. I buy it in large quantities and keep them in the downstairs freezer, defrosting one a day.

I went to Billinghurst first, since he seemed trustworthy. I consider him to be the "father of raw foods", LOL! It was my brother-in-law who gave me the book "Give Your Dog a Bone" years ago, which is how I came to switch my little guy to natural foods. I'm sort of hunting around for a local source since the shipping is expensive. But they do a wonderful job, those tubes are rock hard frozen, packed with dry ice and in a big styrafoam cooler when they arrive. I just add some organ meat and an occasional egg to their diet.

I only thought the other day about checking with some of the pet world type stores around here to see if anyone carries a raw food product. I'll check that out while I'm off for a few days.

Do you get your stuff locally or do you have to get it delivered?

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160+)
Maintaining nicely (110 +/-)
~~ Redhead until further notice!

Maggie, I'm fortunate enough to have a local distributors for both Oma's and Bravo. Well, by "local" I mean within an hour's drive (one way). I try to buy a month's supply at a time.

The websites indicate that both have distributors in New York, but I don't know how close they may be to Hooterville . Here are the sites:

www.omaspride.com
www.bravorawdiet.com

In addition to their raw/bone/veg mixes, which come in tubes as you describe, each company also sells a wide variety of critter "parts."

I can't feed RMB's since poor DH just can't handle the idea, but I do think the kidz get most of the benefit of a raw diet without all the hassle. Except of course, the teeth cleaning and recreational aspects. I'm glad your guy is doing so well on RMB's, and certainly glad Dr. Ruth has come around. Raw has done wonders for my allergy ridden youngest, and put the play back in my 10yo Kumus feeds raw, too.



BC
172/108/108
Zone since 4/98

I've got to chime in in support of a raw diet for pets. I so totally believe in it. My sister convinced me to switch my dog to a raw meat diet just before we had to put her down (put her down mid-Nov., she was on the diet for about 3 weeks prior). She had cancer of the mouth, very aggressive, and at her age - 14 and a large dog at that - they didn't suggest treating it as they would have had to remove most of her upper jaw on the left side.

But naturally she wasn't feeling well and she wouldn't touch food - human or pet - we were cooking hamburger and stuff for her every night and normally she would have eaten it, but she was just turning her nose up at it. So my sister suggested giving her raw hamburger because its odor is very appealing. Given the location cancer we couldn't do it properly - with the bones and stuff - but all I have to say is WOW. She had SO much more energy and spunk those last few weeks. I wish I had done it a lot sooner.

I can totally relate to your DH's reaction. It reminds me of when I first switched Brutus.

I read and re-read the book. I read a lot of stuff on line. In my HEAD I knew this was the best thing for him. But BONES? (In some ways, it was the same sort of head change necessary to adopt this way of eating. Getting rid of years of mis-information that had become dogma.)

So I put a few raw chicken wings in his food bowl and put it down for him on the back deck. (we both like to eat al fresco in nice weather.) He sniffs it and looks at me, tail wagging, but expectant, like "Yeah, but where's my food?" I explain to him that I'm remorseful for having fed him stuff that wasn't good for him, but that this was REAL food.

Even though I was trying to reassure him, my anxiety level was through the roof!

He licked it. He sniffed it. Looking at me the whole time. Finally, he picked up one of the wings and carried it down the steps to the lawn. Eventually the licking turned to biting and soon he was tearing it up and crunching. When he was done, he stood up, wagging his tail, and bounded back up on the deck to get another one, which he attacked with even more gusto. The whole time I've practically got my finger on the speed dial for my vet, thinking he was going to choke or something. I was on pins and needles the first few days!

Now I feel good when I hear him crunching through his RMB's.

The cats are a different issue, as I see it. I've had cats all my life and some have been prodigious hunters. I KNOW what size game they eat and which parts. They generally bring it home and offer me some before chowing down. There's nothing in the supermarket that has bones that small. So for the kitties (and my guys aren't even a year old yet) the prepared chopped up frozen stuff makes more sense.

Thanks for the links! The closest place I could get one of them would be about an hour and a half away. Three hours of travel to get cat food doesn't fit in with my schedule, since I place a high value on my "cost per hour." LOL! For the time being, I'll pay the shipping until I can find somewhere closer to shop. I'll keep checking back to see if distributors are added.

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160+)
Maintaining nicely (110 +/-)
~~ Redhead until further notice!

I am fortunate to live about 15 minutes from a great pet health food store called, Shebang's Natural Selection. They make ground meals at their store and also sell the RMBs. They also have a website, the link is below.

My vets are not supportive of the raw diet, which makes it difficult. It's a long story and I won't go into lots of detail here. At the present I'm feeding a holistic kibble to the boys and waiting to repeat labs. There are many great books out there on feeding a raw diet. Billinghurst is considered to be the authority on the raw diet, he's wonderful.

For those of you who feed a raw diet, be aware that your dog's lab reports are going to be "off" compared to the numbers your vets uses. The standard profile used for labwork was developed years ago using results from kibble fed dogs.

Another thing to remember, you may need to add a few supplements to your dog's raw diet, check with your supplier.

Do not switch your animal from kibble to raw without prior instruction. Be aware that your animal may go through a period of detox, which can be unpleasant for your pet for a bit. Being LC folks, we are well aware of how that works.

It's a great diet for your dog or cat, go for it!

SHEBANG'S NATURAL SELECTION

Take care~
Susan


LCE Member since 01/02

Susan, sorry to hear your vets are not supportive, but I think they are in the majority. There is just as much animal nutrition taught in vet schools as there is human nutrition in medical schools--zero!

To any of you considering a raw diet, or those repelled by it: People tend to draw hard lines on the raw food issue, but in this as with many issues, I stand firmly and staunchly in the middle By that I mean, as Maggie says, intellectually a raw food diet would seem the most "natural" for our dogs. However, in many cases there's not much that's natural about our dogs themselves, considering how humans have manipulated dogs' genes since antiquity. Plus, it's not entirely possible to replicate a wolf's diet, even though we can try...I think it's more important to select a diet based on what is optimal for the individual dog, which may or may not be raw. Some dogs just don't do well on raw; a few actually do better with some grain in the diet! Just as in humans, as much as we advocate LC, there's no one eating plan that's perfect for everyone. I'm delighted my two are doing well so far on raw, and that I've seen significant improvements in Token's allergies; however, I'm willing to change in a heartbeat if necessary. There are benefits and risks to commercial, home-cooked, and raw feeding.

A great book advocating the individual approach is K9 Kitchen by Monica Segal. Also www.k9kitchen.com

Red, I'm so sorry you lost your beloved dog, but how wonderful you were able to give her some enjoyment of her food in her last weeks. I know it must have meant a lot to her.



BC
172/108/108
Zone since 4/98

Redsoxfan, I'm sorry for your loss. I understand the heartbreak. Brutus the First died of osteosarcoma of the leg. It was a terrible experience, trying to keep him comfortable as long as I could and then having to finally put him down when the medication was no longer working. I was with him to the last moment. It took a lot out of me.

Susan, you're lucky to be able to get raw foods nearby. As I said, the shipping is killer. My vet is "tolerant" moving toward "favorable" on the issue. She says Brutus is a "picture of doggie health and there's no arguing with success" so I guess the diet's good for him.

I understand what you mean, Brenda, about turning on a dime if it meant my buddy's health. BTW, that link goes to a domain name that's for sale. Looks like she's here now: http://www.doggiediets.com/MonicaSegal.htm

Maggie
5'1" ~~ Atkins since '98 (160+)
Maintaining nicely (110 +/-)
~~ Redhead until further notice!

Thanks, Maggie, new link noted.



BC
172/108/108
Zone since 4/98