May 3, 2003

The Truth Behind the Curtain.

The horrific conditions under which cats and kittens are sometimes kept for the purposes of breeding and showing has yet again been exposed. This one hits close to home because I know this person, Heidi Erickson. I took Heidi to a number of cat shows when I lived in Boston. After spending only a short period of time with her and seeing the condition of her cats and belongings, I was afraid to go inside her apartment. At the time I was taking her to shows she lived in an apartment in the Harvard Square section of Cambridge. This apartment had to cost her close to $1,000 per month and was probably less than 1,000 square feet. I didn't know how many cats Heidi had — even if I asked I'm sure I would not have received an honest answer. She is a pathological liar. Although I felt terribly guilty about it, I finally had to tell her I could no longer take her to shows. I used the excuse that she was always late, took up too much room in the car and that her cats bothered my allergies. All of these things were true, but the real reason was she scared me. I knew something terrible was going on in her life and I didn't want to be a part of it.

A better person may have tried to help. Maybe it would have made a difference, but I doubt it. This addiction of cat collecting and the associated isolation and often lack of care for these animals is an addiction akin to alcoholism. A person suffering from such an addiction doesn't truly accept help until they have hit what is their rock bottom. This person has not hit her rock bottom as she's denying there is or ever was a problem. Heidi insisted that she was working with a genetic scientist in Boston (who denies knowing her) and that she was preserving her cats for future cloning. She also opined that some of her cats froze to death over the winter and she was waiting for spring to bury them. I can't imagine a Persian freezing to death nor can I imagine an apartment in a crowed Beacon Hill Apartment building (where the breeder was keeping her cats when the authorities caught up to her) getting cold enough for any mammal to freeze to death. I think more likely than not some of the cats may have died from the heat because she had plastic up on all the windows to keep the odor from escaping. An apartment on Beacon Hill can get very hot — deadly hot without ventilation, especially for a Persian.

The authorities say they found 60 dead cats and kittens. Some were found in the freezer and some throughout the apartment. They found a large collection of medicine bottles, needles and syringes. They removed five live kittens and a Great Dane, all in poor health and suffering from ringworm.

Apparently Heidi wasn't living in the apartment. When she sold kittens she brought them to the potential buyer's home, never allowing the buyer to come to where she kept the cats. A very stupid agreement on the part of the buyer — especially if she was local.

Who knows what all these cats died from. Heidi told the authorities that it was normal for 40 percent of kittens to die. That may be true under poor conditions, but if you are breeding under reasonable conditions, you should not be experiencing a 40 percent death rate. I had one instance where I lost half the kittens in one litter, but I got to the bottom of the problem and it has not happened again. If a 40 to 50 percent death rate is common in any cattery, there's a problem. A serious one.

Persians are not one of the more healthy breeds. Unfortunately they have been bred more for show than they are for health. The number of medicine bottles Heidi had in her refrigerator is probably no more or less than many breeders keep on a regular basis. As far as I'm concerned, if any breeder needs that many medicine bottles, then that breeder should re-evaluate the health of the cats.

Unfortunately, such is the mentality of many cat breeders. On one list, many breeders think maybe the authorities tossed dead cats out of the freezer to add to the "outside-the-freezer" body count. They also thought maybe the press was exaggerating the story. The thing that really got me was that it was cautioned that a breeder should make sure all their drugs, needles and syringes are neatly put away — as if breeders are continually getting raided by authorities. I wish they were — then fewer cats (and dogs) would suffer under such conditions.

Regarding the drugs. A person posted on another list wondering if a kitten with a URI that does not respond to Clavamox will die. Ha! Everyone opened up their virtual medicine cabinets for that one — even one lady who is supposedly into natural health. Of course a kitten with a URI will die, they all said, and Zithromax and Baytril worked far better than Clavamox.

Let's take a few steps back. URIs are viral, therefore, antibiotics are of little use. Remember when they used to randomly give children antibiotics for colds? That practice has pretty much ceased, but not for cats. Given supportive care, a kitten should survive a URI. If not, then the kitten is a weak animal. There should be some respect for survival of the fittest. The problem with many of these breeders is that some of these kittens that had URIs that they nursed through with antibiotics (and sometimes more antibiotics) are used in breeding programs. It isn't rocket science to figure out what type of kittens these cats go on to produce. That's okay as long as there continues to be a good supply of antibiotics, vaccines and of course Nebulizers.

What would these breeders do if their drugs were taken away? Probably go stark raving mad trying to nurse sick kittens and cats. The good thing would be is that they'd have to cut back on their numbers and would have to take a closer look at the underlying health of their cats so that URIs were not so common. It's far easier to treat a bunch of cats and kittens with suppressive medicine (like antibiotics) than it is to use natural methods or simply supportive care.

I regress here.

As I said, I knew there quite possibly was a problem with Heidi, but I wasn't certain because I never went inside her apartment. I mistakenly thought that living in an apartment in Harvard Square would have prevented it from getting too bad because the neighbors would complain about the smell. Nothing like the odor of unclean cat litter boxes or stud cat urine to set off neighbors. I lived in constant fear of that happening and getting evicted throughout the years I lived in Boston — and my cat boxes don't smell! How do other people get away with it? Many of them claim to be disabled in some manner. It seems to work.

Apparently the landlord of the Harvard Square apartment paid Heidi to leave. What about references? How did she get an apartment on Beacon Hill without references? Where did she get the hefty down payment necessary to move in? She wasn't working; she couldn't hold a job.

The times I beat myself up, I should stop and think of these people. Should I ever sink so low, I'll drown myself in the pond.

Properly caring for a large number of cats is a huge amount of work. I didn't realize how hard it was cleaning litter boxes until I tried to do it while falling over sick with the flu on Thursday. The litter boxes got cleaned and my cats were fed their normal food.

This world sometimes isn't a good place for man or beast, but if you take on an animal or start breeding, you should take proper care of these animals as they do very much depend upon you.

The only peace I find in all of this is that I believe in karma. These people will ultimately get what's due them. If it's not in this life, it will happen in another. Unfortunately, this doesn't help the animals that suffered, but that is their karma as well, as harsh as that may seem.

To read more about this breeder, there are several articles available:

Cat Breeder: City Fabricating Case

Landlords Speak Out About Woman With Alleged Cat Morgue

Woman Accused Of Storing Dead Cats Doesn't Show For Hearing

On a lighter note, as I write this, another big thunderstorm is brewing. The one we experienced yesterday was like a hurricane, impressive, but scary. I have the sliding glass door open and I can see cats running back and forth across the lawn. The fresh air and the approaching storm has them excited. One of the cats running is Bella. It's so nice to see her well again. It's been just about a year now that she's been healthy. Hopefully she'll remain this way.

Oleander's kittens remain very healthy and fit. Their temperaments are a bit funky, but I'm working with that. If I had more time I'd start doing nursing home visits, but the long hours I put in during the week are exhausting me. My weekends are so precious these days.

May 26, 2003

It troubles me to hear of homeopathic veterinarians practicing in a manner inconsistent with the method detailed in the 5th and 6th editions of The Organon. I am thinking the instruction they receive as conventional veterinarians somehow bleeds through their homeopathic practice. Maybe the impatience of most caregivers contributes to their deviation from Classical Homeopathy. I write this after speaking to a woman who's been using a very well known and respected veterinary homeopath who has been telling her to treat her cat with several different remedies given in succession over a period of days. That is not how homeopathy is practiced. You give one well-selected remedy in the lowest potency necessary to cure. Then you wait and keep careful notes as the case progresses.

No caregiver wants to sit by and watch their cat vomit, scratch, drool or ooze gook. I can understand that. It drove me nuts watching Tangle scratch and I hate to hear Olie snort and it's frustrating to see her go through her periodic down times. While my cats rarely vomit or have diarrhea; I don't like it when they do. Like most people, I don't like it when they are anything but healthy — but they CANNOT always be healthy. They are going to go through their various illnesses, traumas, mood swings and so on. They are never going to be exactly how I want them to be 100 percent of the time. I accept that, or at least try to. I cannot change it. I can do my best to feed them a proper diet and keep their environment clean and as stress free as possible, that that's about all I can do. I could drive myself crazy trying to do anything else.

There was a time when I'd give a remedy as soon as I saw a symptom. Heck, I'd sometimes give remedies before I saw symptoms. It didn't work and my cats were often in various states of aggravation from the remedies I gave too high (a potency) and too frequently. Today I'm more guilty of not giving remedies. I will frequently give the cat time to work through whatever is ailing him. I sit and I watch. I'm sure they are never in any danger because I wait. Most of what I see is underlying chronic disease or very minor acute ailments. I have faith that my cats have reasonably good underlying health and do not need me hovering over them with my Materia Medica and remedy kit.

Most caregivers want whatever is wrong fixed — yesterday. Homeopathy usually does not work that way. It takes time and patience and of course skilled prescribing. Who has time and patience these days? Especially if your cat is throwing up on the couch or your dog drives you nuts in the middle of the night scratching himself raw.

It's unfortunate that whatever symptoms your dog or cat may be exhibiting are probably due to something you did — be it feeding commercial food, vaccinating, flea control medicine, antibiotics or steroids. I am sure most of this was done with the advice of a person in a white coat, a breeder or maybe someone on an Internet mailing list. It's all done in the spirit of healing the cat, but it usually does not heal. It suppresses or does outright damage.

My cats have reasonable good health because their immune systems are not dealing with vaccinations, antibiotics, steroids or bug medicine. They are fed high quality raw meat with minimal supplements. There is no chemical or additive that they have to digest or absorb that may cause harm. I'd rather deal with the occasional URI, flea or tick.

I am amazed (although I shouldn't be) at how defensive breeders can be. "My cats never produce deformed babies or runts or my cats are healthy." I doubt that's true, but if that's what they want to believe, then I can't change it. It's also interesting that whenever you talk to a breeder about feeding raw, one of the first things they say is, "I won't feed live mice to my cats!" Who's asking them to feed live mice? I guess I'm know to have done that so they think that's what needs to be done. Of course, if I could feed live mice to my cats, I surely would, but at this point in time, it is not possible.

My stud run is finally built. You can see photos here. I'm very happy to have them close to the house and I'm sure they're happy to be on green grass (with all the horrible bugs and parasites) with ample sun. Jedi is turning into a regular pride lion out there. Bella was insisting on getting into the run today. I let her, expect her to be nasty to Jedi. She wasn't at all nasty, what she wanted to do was to try out their barrel house. I'm going to have to go and drag her out of there at some point because I don't think she'll share.

Here is a photo of the color and pattern on one of Olie's kittens, the one I'm keeping. I think I'm going to call her A-Patchie:

There is a lady who has been posting for several months now about a cat who is very, very sick. I do not know how any cat can have so many different diseases at one time, but such is the way conventional medicine works. Cat has Disease A. Veterinarian gives Drugs X and Y. Drugs X and Y may work, or they may not, in which case the cat goes back to the veterinarian and gets Drugs U and R. Later on, new symptoms appear and the cat is diagnosed with Disease D, in addition to Disease A, which was never really cured, just managed or suppressed. Drugs H and E are prescribed for Disease D, in addition to Drugs U and R for Disease A. It gets to the point where the cat is on a half a dozen medicines a day. I have to give these people credit. I can just barely get itty bitty homeopathic remedies into some of my cats. How in the world do they give all these drugs to their cats??

I offered to help this lady a while back, but she refused. I stopped reading her posts until recently she posted a long synopsis of the cat's current list of diseases, the drugs she's on (which drugs include, in addition to conventional medicine, herbs and several different homeopathic remedies). The cat goes through stages of crisis and relapse. It's an older cat too. As long as the cat is still walking, the lady thinks she's improving.

The most recent post prompted me to write her privately, gently suggesting that she may want to consider letting the cat go to the spirit world. She wrote an angry note back to me essentially telling me to mind my own business and that she thinks the cat is not sick enough to be put to sleep. I think she's clinging to the cat for her own selfish purposes and not taking the cat into consideration. She's right though, I cannot see the cat. I can only see the e-mail messages she posts to as many as four different mailing lists asking for help. Oh she gets help, people suggest all sorts of things for her to try.

It prompted me to post this e-mail message, which will probably result in my getting banned from the list or minimally flamed to death:

People tend to think of death as an end to things. I do not think that is the case. I believe death is nothing more than the beginning of a new life. I do not think our animals ever leave us when they pass into the spirit world. They just leave their bodies. It doesn't make the death of a loved animal any easier, but death is not an end by any means.

On November 1, 2002, I had to put my soul mate to sleep. No, I didn't have to put him to sleep, I elected to end his suffering. This kitty, Wiley, had lived with me for nine years and was the light of my life. He was so very special. Everyone who met him, loved him immediately. I don't think Wiley was truly a cat, I think he was an alien in cat's clothing. Wiley suffered from acute renal failure. It came on with no warning. He went into respiratory distress the evening of November 1. I brought him to the emergency vet. They wanted to do more tests, x-rays, etc. I already had the blood work, I knew what his numbers were and I knew he was in bad shape. In fact, the veterinarian who did the blood test couldn't believe he looked as good as he did. Wiley hated to be messed with and I was so glad throughout his life to have been able to treat him homeopathically so I didn't have to mess with him. For me to have to give him daily fluids or other conventional therapy would have made him miserable. I did not want to do that to him. I elected to have him put to sleep.

I read a while back a piece in a Buddhist magazine wherein most Buddhists believe we do not have the right to end the suffering of an animal. I can see that point of view. It is the animal's karma and we should not interfere. Perhaps I should have let Wiley die in the night, as I'm quite sure he would have — but I didn't want to see him suffer. Get this, I did not want to see him suffer, so maybe I put him to sleep to eliminate my suffering not so much his. This is something I think of a lot lately.

Clinging to a very ill cat because you do not want to let him go is not any better. They can't talk, that's what makes it so hard.

If you have a very sick cat (and by this I mean a terminally ill cat) that you are keeping going using allopathic medicine — which medicine is *not* curing the animal, it is only prolonging the inevitable, you are interfering with the animal's karma. Damn, I hate conventional medicine — it does not cure!! In fact, in some respects, I think it makes the animal suffer more than it already is with its side effects. That is not right either.

I'm not telling any of you I think if you have a sick cat you should not do anything, however, as all of you know, there are alternatives to conventional medicine. Homeopathy, for example, can and does work miracles on animals (and people of course) and it does not have the horrible side effects of conventional medicine. Of course, it needs to be practiced by an experienced homeopath and it does not work as fast as conventional medicine. It also sometimes does not work.

I hate to think of any cat suffering through a chronic disease using conventional medicine. It makes me so angry, especially since most of the chronic diseases that cats suffer through today are directly related to commercial food, vaccinations, etc. These vets are, I'm sure for the most part unknowingly, making our animals sick and then treating their illnesses with medicine that is only managing or suppressing the disease.

I do not want to upset or anger anyone by this post. I'm hoping it may encourage you to look at life and death in a different light.

End of post

As I said, I expect I'm going to get nailed for this post, but at this point, I don't care. If I see a cat that I think is suffering, I'm going to say something, as tactfully as I can. I am not going to sit by and let it happen.

Until later ...

BACK to the April, 2003 issue