August 31, 2003 written 12:25 PM

Later today, I'll be picking wild blackberries for my cats to add to their food. Wild blackberries are much more species-appropriate than the dried out blueberries and cranberries added to many commercial cat food brands. I'll suffer through thorns and the heat for my cats, they are worth it!

I just discovered yet another new brand of dry food for cats called Serengeti Herbal Felid Diet that is "a unique felid diet that makes use of fresh ingredients and actually simulates a natural diet of a wild cat but in a dry food." The ingredient list is:

"Chicken meal, Fresh Chicken, Brown Rice, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract and citric acid), Barley, Fresh Potatoes, Flax Seed, Cold Water Fish Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract and citric acid), Fresh Eggs, Dried Chicken Liver, Anchovy Fish Meal, Dried Whole Milk, Dried Whey Extract, Nutritional Yeast, Kelp, Casein, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Lecithin, Choline Chloride, Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Bifidobacterium Thermophilum Fermentation, Bifidobacterium Longum Fermentation Product, Enterobacter Faecium Fermentation Product, Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Product, Fresh Blueberries, Fresh Cranberries, Zinc Sulfate, DL-Methionine, Taurine, Iron sulfate, Carnitine, Zinc proteinate, Vitamin E supplement, Creatine, Manganese sulfate, Iron proteinate, Manganese proteinate, Vitamin B12 supplement, Vitamin A supplement, Niacin, Vitamin D3 supplement, Cobalt Proteinate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Copper sulfate, Cobalt Carbonate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Copper Proteinate, Sodium Selenite, Papain, Yucca Schidigera Extract."

You know on National Geographic last night, I saw lions raiding a garden and then roasting potatoes with rosemary and later in the show, milking cows. On a show the other night, leopards were shown fishing for anchovies.

It must be a good time to enter into the pet food business. If you have any skill in marketing you can probably make a good amount of money selling your product. All it takes is something unique, like in the example of the food above "Serengeti Herbal Felid Diet." It sounds like something perfect to feed our cats. It is not. Cats do not eat rosemary, anchovies, milk, yeast, blueberries, cranberries or yucca. These items are added to the cat food because they "look" healthy, but in reality, they are an attempt to correct what is wrong with the food itself.

Rosemary is a preservative (for the fats in the food), sure it's better than BTA or other preservative, but it's still a preservative. You should not feed your cat food that can sit out on the countertop for weeks or months without spoiling.

Anchovies are added for their omega fatty acid content, but omega 3 fatty acids are far too fragile to survive the shelf life of dry cat food. This company itself suggests, "spraying" salmon oil onto their food to improve the omega 3 fatty acid ratios. Too bad the salmon oil they recommend is in cobalt blue containers. Salmon oil cannot be properly stored unless it is maintained in an airtight container. The minute that bottle is opened, oxygen gets in and the fats start to go rancid. Capsules are the only way to properly preserve salmon oil.

Why milk is in the food is beyond me, probably to help raise the protein levels or perhaps for calcium. Once cats are weaned, milk is no longer a part of their natural diet.

The blueberries and cranberries are added to help acidify the food to maintain proper urinary tract health. Unfortunately, acidified dry cat food can lead to formation of calcium oxalate crystals. A cat's natural diet (raw meat) maintains a proper pH balance, dry cat food does not.

Yucca is added to reduce stool odor, which wouldn't be a problem if the cat were fed a proper diet.

While the ingredients in the above food my look healthy and it may seem like a high quality food to feed your cat, it is not. There is no dry food on the market that is good for your cat. Dry food is inherently bad for your cat. Water, the most important nutrient your cat needs is missing. That cannot be replaced or substituted for. The natural diet of a wild cat contains at least 65% water. There is less than 10% water in dry food. You cannot moisten the food to replace the water. You cannot count on your cat drinking enough water to rehydrate the food. It is an imperative nutrient that is virtually lacking in dry cat food.

Feed your cat a properly balanced raw diet or feed a high quality canned food. Do not feed dry!!

August 30, 2003 written 7:43 AM

It's Saturday and I need to get into the shower and then out to do errands. How wonderful to have a three day weekend - with a paid holiday! I haven't had a paid holiday since Martin Luther King Day 2002!

Unfortunately the Demon is back. Alcohol helps me quiet the noise down. I love the soft feeling I get after a glass of wine. Troubles cannot reach me once I've had a glass of wine, although, if a reach a certain point, the troubles become amplified. It's a difficult balancing act. I had an appointment with my homeopath on Wednesday. It's nice to be able to tell someone your deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings. He doesn't judge me. He understood why I got so upset when a web site I designed for my friend a few years ago was destroyed by a man employed by my friend who has too much time on his hands. It's ugly, I hate it and my work was destroyed. I really shouldn't have cared. I have two web sites of my own to design and redesign to my heart's content, but I have a problem with getting attached. I set a couple of angry e-mails to my friend that resulted in him calling me mentally ill. Maybe I am mentally ill. Who in their right mind would do what I do?

Cats, the irresistible draw of fangs and fur — a lady I helped in Canada with her kitten's litter box issues called her kitten a dust-bunny with fangs — what a perfect description! Nothing compares to cats. They are such magnificent creatures! Because it's Saturday I let my cats out to run. Hermione and Tangle just love it. As I was writing I saw Hermione run across the back yard with her tail cocked to one side. Tangle appeared a few seconds later in the same manner. It's cool now, 73 degrees, but with 87 percent humidity! It's going to be another hot day. Summer came late this year. The cats will soon be coming in to get out of the heat.

Off to clean litter boxes and then do errands.

August 29, 2003 written 5:32 AM

A new job and two new foster dogs. Very weird, I'm fostering for the North Carolina Rottweiler Rescue a Doberman and a Pitbull Mix. I'm not sure why a breed-specific rescue group is bringing in other breeds when there are Rottweilers waiting to come in to the program. I do not understand rescue. I do not understand dogs. I wish I could rescue cats, but I can't upset my fragile feline balance here. They'd get stressed and stress equals illness.

I got "reprimanded" for breeding by a homeopathic vet I converse with from time to time. It's no wonder she doesn't like breeders. She's doing feral cat rescue and I keep sending her tasty tidbits from the two conventional breeding lists I am on. I read the digest last night and wondered to myself why I read it. I know why, because I like to know of the problems I do not experience. I hate to read about what they are doing to their cats. It's upsetting and it often makes me very angry. A lady posted asking about the levels of mercury in cat food. I do not doubt there's mercury in cat food, but she should look at her vaccines for mercury. I almost posted that, but decided it was not worth the grief I'd get.

It's no wonder why these people have sick cats, tell me, is this a cat? No wonder why they get sick and die. I can imagine what the vet who does not like breeders would say if I sent her that link. The scary thing is, these little buggers are going to get even more extreme (short in the muzzle) when they age. These are not cats. I think people often breed animals to meet their ideal of what a cat should look like. Many Persian breeders give the appearance of being well groomed, are often blond, wear a lot of make-up and I think that's what they are looking for in a cat. A Persian is a blond that needs a lot of grooming and maintenance. I do not like Persians. I think they are an unhealthy poor example of a feline.

My cats are rough and ready. I could put every single one of them in a show tomorrow with the only preparation being clipping their claws. Except for two that snort (a mistake in breeding on my part) they can breath (the two that snort can breath as well, they just snort, not cat-like I know, but I learned by my mistake and it won't happen again!). I don't know, given what I see going on down here in North Carolina with companion animals, no one should breed.

August 26, 2003 written 9:00 PM

This is just amazing to me. Thanks to Anne for bringing it to my attention. These are the ingredients in Science Diet's new weight management food for cats. It's called an "Atkin's Diet for Cats." You see, the people at Science Diet have just admitted (whoops, realized) that obese cats lose weight easier if they are fed a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. So this is their answer in a canned food.

Pork by-products, pork liver, water, corn starch, powdered cellulose, soy protein isolate, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), guar gum, locust bean gum, carrageenan, rice flour, taurine, DL-methionine, L-carnitine, minerals (calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, dicalcium phosphate, potassium chloride, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite), beta-carotene, vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin D3 supplement, vitamin E supplement, ascorbic acid (a source of vitamin C), thiamine mononitrate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement).

PORK!!! What are they thinking?

Science Diet states that 25% of cats (17.7 million) are considered overweight or obese. Really? I wonder why? Probably because many of them have been consuming Science Diet food products.

WHY PORK??

They've loaded the food up with stopping-up ingredients (cellulose, guar gum, locust bean gum and carragennan) to reduce the carbohydrate reading, but it's still full of cheap ingredients so Science Diet can make a buck.

From Hill's own book, Small Animal Clinical Nutrition, "The crude protein content of pet foods give a measure of the amount of nitrogen available to the animal but provides little information about the nutritional value. Crude protein digestibility is determined by calculating the difference between the quantities of crude protein eaten and that present in feces."

The only reason I can think of for using pork is because they have to add more meat to raise the protein levels and pork by-product is probably cheaper than most meat products.

While if you run choice pork loin in a nutritional database, it has a respectable amount of protein to fat content, however, do you really think pork loin is considered pork by-product? I seriously doubt it.

I still think Science Diet will soon be manufacturing a behavioral modification diet next, Science Diet's b/d, I can see it now.

August 25, 2003 written 5:56 AM

There is pretty serious danger in having a cat that is addicted to one particular type of food. Just this past week a lady posted about a cat that got pyometria (an infection of the uterus) and in the past had only wanted to eat Whiskas brand dry food. She had always been a very thin cat. She wanted to put weight on her and help her to recover from her surgery (she had to be spayed). She wouldn't eat anything else. I doubt she'll get her to eat anything else either.

Just today a lady posted about a cat that had blocked (urinary tract) and the vet had suggested Hill's c/d, he won't eat it, nor will he eat Hill's w/d. I don't blame him, given the ingredients in these foods, I wouldn't eat them either. What a shame.

When you have a bunch of cats who are eating dry food on a free choice basis, you can't tell who's eating what, how much or if any particular cat is off his food. By the time you realize you have a problem, it may be by the time whatever is troubling the cat is in an advanced stage. Feeding time is when I am able to evaluate my cats' health, not that I'm not always watching them, I am. I know who's eating well and who is not. If I notice a cat off his food, I can pay even closer attention to that cat, looking for symptoms that will lead me to a remedy.

The man who hays the fields around my house is finally out cutting. I did the happy dance yesterday when I saw him in the field behind me cutting a path around the fields. He does that before he cuts the whole field, I'm not sure why. I went out walking immediately after he cut the path and found a bonanza! Dead field rats! Most were too beat up to carry home, but one was still in perfect shape. I stuck it in my pocket (much to the disgust of my walking companions) and carried it home. Varekai, a second generation naturally raised five-month old kitten, showed her true heritage. She hauled that rat off and started gnawing on its head. She knows where the good nutrients are! A bit later I found her sitting in the middle of the floor licking her chops. The rat was consumed. Keep in mind — these are country field rats, not your as-big-as-a-cat city variety.

I walked this morning at 5 AM in the fields with the dogs. It was a bit spooky! I had a big flashlight with me, but a flashlight only illuminates so much. We came upon two young raccoons. Luckily the dogs (two fosters) listened to me and left them alone. They were awfully cute. I love living in the country!

August 24, 2003 written 3:56 PM

My keyboard is not sticking! I had better not get used to it because tomorrow the temperature goes back up to the high 80s, low 90s and back to a sticky keyboard. It is the summer and it is the South.

My keyboard is not sticking but I can't say the same for the poor cats whose caregivers feed them Tender Vittles (a/k/a Tender Little Meat-Flavored Marshmallows) because they heard that it stopped diarrhea. Somehow it does. Here are the ingredients for Tender Vittles chicken flavor:

Water sufficient for processing, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, ground yellow corn, soybean meal, chicken, ground wheat, beef tallow preserved with BHA, phosphoric acid, brewers dried yeast, fumaric acid, salt, tricalcium phosphate, sorbic acid (a preservative), choline chloride, calcium propionate (a preservative), potassium chloride, taurine, dried whey, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, niacin, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, manganese sulfate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, pyridoxine hydrochloride, copper sulfate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite.

Semi-moist foods are higher in moisture than dry food and are prone to spoilage from mold and bacteria. Therefore, they require certain chemical ingredients to inhibit spoilage such as, in the case of Tender Vittles, BHA, phosphoric acid, calcium propionate and sorbic acid.

In addition, semi-moist foods are susceptible to moisture loss that would make the product dried out and hard (which the consumer does not want, Tender Vittles are supposed to be like little marshmallows). Humectants are added to retain moisture. Most semi-moist pet foods have high moisture contents, but low water activity (to keep mold and bacteria from forming) because the humectants bind free water making it unavailable to microbial growth.

Humectants in turn decrease the amount of moisture in the digestive tract, which can lead to intestinal blockage and a host of serious digestive tract problems such as cancerous intestinal lesions. This is probably what produces relief for the cats with diarrhea, which leads the caregiver to believe the cat is cured. This is hardly the case. The diarrhea stops because the humectants in the food are binding the water. Can this be healthy? I would not think so.

As for the preservatives in Tender Little Meat-Flavored Marshmallows:

BHA is a well-known cancer-causing agent. BHA causes squamous-cell carcinomas in stomachs of rats and hamsters. (Cancers of this type are among the most lethal and fastest acting, the swiftest effects being seen among animals with light colored fur. Many white cats die within months after getting squamous-cell black tumors on their skin). BHA is also known to cause enhanced stomach and urinary bladder carcinogenesis

Excessive consumption of Phosphoric acid can lead to loss of bone calcium/calcification of soft tissue — especially the kidneys in humans. Persons having diarrhea, inflammation of the gastro-intestinal tract, ulcers, tartar on their teeth, asthma, and other problems associated with such conditions, should never consume foods and drinks containing phosphoric acid. It is also believed that the continued consumption of phosphoric acid will send a signal to the stomach that it needs to secrete less acid. Low gastric acidity results in poor digestion, especially for a carnivore and constant digestive disturbances. You should never light Tender Vittles on fire because the smoke from Phosphoric Acid can be toxic. Phosphoric acid is added to Tender Vittles to inhibit microbial growth and probably to make the food taste more acidic which is what is preferred by cats Dogs are attracted to sweet foods.

So, Tender Vittles may stop diarrhea, perhaps only temporarily, but at what cost? Even if the preservatives and humectants do not cause intestinal blockage, long-term use will quite likely contribute to some form of cancer. Unfortunately, most caregivers only see the immediate results, the diarrhea stoppage. I have to wonder if these people do not question why Tender Vittles stops diarrhea. I certainly have for some time now. I could of course be dead wrong in my analysis, but what I've set forth above certainly makes a lot of sense to me.

I have a dream that one day more caregivers will question the ethics and processes behind commercial cat food and start to look towards alternatives to ultra-preserved food in a bag. I have a dream that one day more caregivers will understand that diarrhea is there for a reason and if they dig deep enough, they'll find the reason. Then they'll find the cure. They certainly are not finding it by feeding Tender Vittles.

August 23, 2003 written 8:41 AM

I just finished my first week of a new permanent job. I am absolutely thrilled to finally have a real job. It's been a long time coming. The economy is incredibly bad and shows little sign of improving. This world we live in has been turned upside down and is a very scary place. We live in fear of a terrorist attack. New York City and several other large cities recently experienced a blackout lasting, in some instances, days! A worm is crawling around the Internet, undetected by virus software, invading personal computers and sending spam using the computer's address book. I've been getting so much e-mail with those dreaded subject lines. My keyboard is sticky from the 88% humidity that has been locked in North Carolina for what seems like months. Everything is just plain sticky!

We got more rain early this morning (how surprising) and it was nice to sleep in this morning listening to the rain. It was even better to be in bed listening to rain instead of driving through torrential downpour, lightening and thunder like I did on my way home last night. It's very different from last year's drought. Mother Nature always knows how to right herself.

I just finished reading two digests of the Fanciers Health mailing list at Yahoo Groups. I could obtain a proper small animal pharmacist education just by reading this list. I cannot believe the number of drugs used and suggested on these cats. My cats would probably pack up and move out if I started using conventional drugs on them. Just clipping their nails and cleaning out their ears incites a riot. My cats are spoiled, plain and simple.

All the drugs I read about this morning, in only two digests, prompted me to make this little graphic. I call it "Breeder Against Drugs!"

As I write this, Charya, my little almost-feral blue tabby girl (mother to Olie, grandmother to Tangle) is lying next to the keyboard calm as can be. They do, sometimes, come around.

August 23, 2003 written 6:46 AM

We're Blogging! A "web blog" is another name for an on-line journal. Those web geeks have to every once in a while create a new name for something many people have been doing for years. NRN has been in existence since 1998 and was part of the creation of my book, Raising Cats Naturally. I am making a commitment to update this page DAILY. I may not say much, but it will be here.

I'm currently working on an involved piece on the dangers associated with feeding carbohydrate-laden dry cat food. As with my vaccination piece, I'm learning a lot. Dry food is really, really bad for your cat. Ditch the dry food!

A quick tip on getting your cat on his way to a healthier diet. If he's currently eat dry food (as so many poor cats are these days). First, get him eating on a schedule. Feed twice a day, morning and night. Leave the food down for approximately 30 minutes, then put it away in an air-tight container. Your cat will protest vehemently. Ignore it. Even if he starts chewing on body parts in the middle of the night — you can live without the tips of your fingers, toes or nose. Your cat cannot live without his liver, kidneys or organs a dry food diet may destroy over time.

Got to go and clean the litter boxes and head out for my long trek to work. More later.

August 10, 2003

I've been busy! I haven't updated NRN in some time, but it's not because I haven't been writing - I have - all by hand. I haven't written this much by hand since I stopped commuting by train to Boston. There is something to be said for writing by hand instead of on a computer. It takes me back to the guts of writing. The problem with writing by hand is that I need to take the time to transpose what I've written into the computer.

I've been dealing with my Demon-in-a-Bottle. I had successfully kept this Demon in his tightly capped bottle for a number of years before moving to North Carolina. Even with the difficulties of my move, he stayed in his bottle. I don't remember when he first escaped. Was it around Wiley's death or after my house break-in that tipped the scales in the Demon's favor? He's always been with me, carried around in my back pocket. Always singing that siren song, "I'll help you get through. I'll make it so you don't have to feel any pain, fear or stress." It's always tempting.

It was the publication of the book that pushed me over the edge. I cannot handle success. The Demon has been helping me cover up my pain, stress and fear on a daily basis from sometime in February up until July 7. I tried to put him away - I hate him! I hate the drugged feeling. I hate the addiction. I couldn't stop. I didn't have the strength and the pain was so great.

Homeopathy didn't offer long-lasting relief. The well-chosen remedies tried and failed. No wonder, like so many other things, alcohol is an obstacle to cure. Like it was making me foggy, it fogged up the symptom picture. Who was describing the symptoms, the Demon or me? Which were the real feelings and which were the ones either covered up or amplified?

The anger, jealousy and suspicion were horrible to live with. I hated myself and almost everyone else I came in contact with. I stopped talking to people. I didn't answer the phone and I didn't answer e-mail.

I was writing like a fiend, but it was mostly my anger pouring out, my hate and jealousy. I've burned many bridges throughout my life. You'd think I would learn.

I don't know what it was that gave me the strength to stuff the Demon back in the bottle and close the cap for good. Every time that I've done it over the past 15 years or so has been progressively harder. Either the opening to the bottle gets smaller or the Demon gets bigger. It's done. While I still have some anger episodes, I am more in control of them. I'm afraid. I feel very alone. I feel everything - no more suppression. I still am not sleeping well. My night terrors have returned full force. They always do when I do not have the Demon to help me sleep. They'll pass in time. Soon I'll contact my homeopath for another work-up. I'm sure the next remedy will act better. Meanwhile, the Demon is still singing his song, but it gets hard to hear with each day he stays in his bottle.

I got angry with the folks on the just say no to vaccines list at Yahoo Groups. Like so many natural health lists for pets, it's dog driven. While I've been raising my cats naturally as long as many of the dog breeders on the list, somehow I lose credibility because I breed cats. Many of the dog breeders have cats, but they take second place to their dogs. I got tired of being ignored and left the list. There was really no reason to do this, but I was angry and hurt. In the grand scheme of things, mailing lists are not that important. The longer I stay sober, the less I care about what goes on with these various lists.

What my anger did was push me to study vaccination. When I started feeding my cats a raw diet and using homeopathy I was told vaccinations were bad. I didn't question that and stopped vaccinating my cats. I suppose there may have been some initial fear early on, but the homeopathic vet I was using at the time had all the right answers. When I started breeding, I considered giving only panleukopenia vaccinations, but because early on in my breeding career, my kittens were too sick with upper respiratory infections, they never got vaccinated by me. I had the vials of vaccine in my refrigerator, but I never used them.

Then I became more afraid of the vaccinations than I was of the diseases - but I didn't know why. Just like I once parroted Feline Future on diet, I repeated with holistic veterinarians said on vaccination.

First I researched diet and wrote my book. Now, no one can question my knowledge on feline nutrition. Even through I use the same basic recipe as Feline Future, it's backed up with my knowledge of how and why.

The vaccination pages on my web site were a compilation of articles written by other people. I started the first vaccination page with a paragraph I wrote, but the rest of it was from other people. The vaccination information I wrote started out with a blurb I planned to use as information to send to potential kitten buyers. After I got mad at the just say no people I broke out the vaccination section and focused on just that.

What I ended up with is ten pages of information on the perils of vaccination. I learned a lot! I've always wanted to take one of my unvaccinated cats to have blood drawn for a panleukopenia titer, but I realize now a titer means nothing. A titer measures antibodies in the blood. If the titer showed a high level of panleukopenia antibodies, it would only mean the cat had been exposed to panleukopenia. I know none of my cats have been exposed to panleukopenia, so they'd have low titers. Before my research I would have worried about a low titer and may have considered vaccination. Now I know the antibody or humoral part of the immune system is only one part of the whole picture. The other part, the cellular immune system, is the one that creates the symptoms that we recognize as disease: discharges (mucus, diarrhea, vomiting) fever, pain and malaise. Ha! There's no need to subject any of my cats to having blood drawn or wasting money on the test.

The purpose of a vaccination is to stimulate antibodies. We've been lead to believe antibody activity = immunity. That is not true. A titer is nothing more than an allopathic test - just another number.

This knowledge makes me appreciate the homeopathic point of view. An individual who has strong, even violent symptoms when exposed to a natural disease agent is thought to have a strong vital force. One that only has mild symptoms or none at all may have a weak vital force; although if that individual is not susceptible to the disease agent, no symptoms of disease are to be expected. An individual with a well-developed cellular immunity will express a lot of symptoms when sick, under the hood, where we can't see unless blood is drawn, antibodies are doing their thing as well. Vaccination, with its over-stimulation of the antibody portion of the immune system and conventional drugs designed to stop the body from expressing symptoms are working together to create very confused, either over- or under-active immune systems.

The reason for multiple viruses vaccines commonly used in veterinary practice is to achieve a strong antibody response that is thought to be a good thing. I've never liked combo vaccines any more than I like combo homeopathic remedies. It's too much for the body to deal with at one time. Yes, the immune system is a wonderful process, but exposure to three or more viruses at one time just doesn't happen in real life. It gives me the willies just to picture a veterinarian lining up vials of 3-in-1 combo vaccine, FeLV (often given separately, but some combo vaccines contain FeLV as well) and rabies (yes another) with three separate syringes, all ready to inject into one poor kitten or cat - and thinking its okay to do this! I know most people think vaccinations benefit the cat, but I truly do not think they do what we have been lead to believe - make the cat immune to disease and thereby healthier.

In the studies conducted by vaccine manufacturers where the cat is vaccinated and in two weeks (or so) later "challenged" with the disease, it appears that since the cat did not get sick, the vaccine worked. If only it were so simple. Production of antibodies is not the sole job of the immune system. The antibodies recognize the disease, but they do not expel the disease, the cellular immunity does in the form of mucus, vomiting, diarrhea, etc. The process of vaccination means a disease agent is injected which is supposed to trick the immune system into thinking it has the disease without actually getting sick. Getting sick is a normal process, something that the immune system is supposed to deal with in its own manner. If a tiny bit of disease is injected and the cellular immunity is not allowed to expel the disease, does it mean the disease remains with the host, thereby desensitizing the animal to the natural disease?

The homeopathic thought is that two similar diseases cannot reside in the body at the same time. For example, a person cannot get sick with both small pox and measles at the same time. While cats can get sick with calici and rhinotracheitis at the same time, while they are both upper respiratory infections, they act quite differently. Calici usually causes ulcers in the mouth (or eyes), rhinotracheitis is more of a cold.

So, if a cat were injected with the panleukopenia virus, the antibodies start racing around ringing the alarm, but the cellular immune system is left sleeping. The disease stays in the cat's system, not causing symptoms or anything noticeable except for antibody production. The animal is then exposed to the natural disease (as a test of immunity) and he doesn't get sick. A medicinal disease (as in a vaccination) is always stronger than a natural disease. So the cat doesn't get sick from the natural disease. Eureka! Or so you'd think, but that medicinal disease is still there. In fact, studies have shown protection given by the panleukopenia vaccine is very long lasting - about seven years. One vaccine is never enough for most veterinarians and caregivers. A kitten is vaccination at 8, 10 and 12 weeks and then at a year old and often it continues annually for the rest of the cat's life.

If a vaccine was already given and antibodies were stimulated, why would anyone think it would be necessary to keep repeating the procedure? What you end up with are a bunch of whacked-out antibodies who are so stirred up from disease agents invading the host that they start to get confused. Who are the bad guys and who are the good guys? When the immune system starts getting confused, you have the onset of autoimmune disease like allergies, arthritis, IBD and cancer.

Anyway I look at it, I see no benefit of vaccination. I'd much rather risk exposure to the natural disease than to vaccinate, thinking I've protected my cats, but knowing I probably would make them more at risk for chronic disease.

The updated vaccination page is here; the page I finished to inform potential kitten buyers of my natural rearing practice is here.

Until later ...

BACK to the June, 2003 issue