Posts from — April 2005

April 29, 2005 written 10:24 AM

While watching television last night, I happened to notice that just about every commercial that aired during the hour or so that I watched was an advertisement for a prescription drug. My memory is there was a time that commercials about prescription drugs were not allowed, but maybe I’m wrong. It seems there’s a drug to deal with every ailment these days, from allergies to high blood pressure to high cholesterol to erectile dysfunction. Is this a good thing or is it evidence that human beings are not very healthy and need to take a whole lot of prescription drugs in order to make it through the day or night for that matter? We may be living longer, but is this because there are so many different drugs available to manage our various ailments? If so, how did all these ailments come about? My opinion is that it is because of the diet so many people consume on a daily basis, not enough sleep or exercise and too much stress. I find the drug commercials to be as irritating as the car dealer commercials that air during local news programs. A good part of the spam I receive via e-mail is for prescription drugs.

Everyone (including myself sometimes) wants a quick fix. Gone are the days that you took up a running (or other exercise program) to loose weight. Now there’s Cortislim and various other miracle drugs. It is difficult to set aside a certain amount of time during the day to exercise and even if you have the time, exercising is often painful and who wants to suffer pain, even if it is for a beneficial thing. This is one reason why I wanted a dog when I first moved to NC, because it would force me to exercise. Angelus is very good at that. Last night I went for a walk with him that lasted over an hour and I enjoyed it. It helped reduce the stress I was feeling and of course it was well-needed exercise.

There are many times that I wish that I could open a bag or can of food for my cats and dog. Sometimes I do use canned food — canned salmon or mackerel! Some of my cats would be happy with fish being served every night, but it is my responsibility to make sure they get a well balanced diet. Rooney would be happy if I let him eat my food every night, as would Angelus.

I found a neat new way to make cat food preparation more enjoyable — play really loud disco music! The only problem is that I need to take care that I don’t accidentally chop off a finger while I’m boogying with a cleaver in my hands. Ah, the crazy things you can do when you live alone. Prepare cat food naked while listening to loud disco music — just kidding about the nakedness, my being naked would be a very scary thing given that I do not exercise enough.

Oh WOW what a rush! I had received the questions the interviewer was going to ask during the radio show and I had prepared the answers in advance, but the interviewer didn’t ask the questions in order. Oh God! I was flipping through my pages of notes to find the question she had asked until I got fed up with that and just tossed my notes on the floor and answered candidly. It went fine. I know my stuff, I really didn’t need to prepare as well as I did.

I hope whomever does the final editing of the show will be able to remove the sounds of several of my cats rooting around in the closet next to where I was sitting, Hermione (who is no longer limping) and Yukon skittering along the floor in pursuit of a piece of rabbit fur and Angelus bouncing around in his crate in the next room because he wanted to help Hermione and Yukon catch the piece of rabbit fur.

I can’t wait to hear the show on the 19th! Unbeknownst to me the last 15 minutes of the show were an advertisement for a pre-made raw food product – something I cautioned against during my interview. Oh well. I know there are people who cannot or will not prepare their own food so I guess there has to be raw food companies out there. I’m waiting for Hills or Royal Canin to launch their raw food products. The FDA has approved irradiation of meat and it is predicted that fast food companies will be the primary purchasers or irradiated meat. From Mercola:

“However, a number of studies have found that eating irradiated food can have detrimental effects. Mice and rats have been found to have a greater incidence of kidney disease after eating irradiated food. Another study found testicular damage in rats fed irradiated food. Yet another study in India found that malnourished children eating irradiated wheat may develop an increase in abnormal white blood cells, a condition known as polyploidy. Unfortunately, irradiation is seen as shortcut by the meat industry to avoid addressing dirty slaughterhouses, rampant bacterial contamination, and other impacts of industrial agriculture. Certified organic meat cannot be irradiated. ”

It sounds like just the type of meat pet food manufacturers would be happy to use in their products.

It saddens me to think of the state of food production in the United States. It seems as though more and more prepackaged alternatives are hitting the shelves. Look at the cartons of milk that do not require refrigeration and all the different prepackaged dried and frozen meals. Sure, they may taste good, but what are the ingredients? Fewer people want to take the time to prepare their own meals, why should they prepare meals for their dogs or cats?

Why indeed? It’s easy to go to a vet and get a fix for whatever problem commercial food has caused in your dog or cat and you can bet the food won’t be blamed for the problem. After the diagnosis, voila, here’s a new type of food (which probably costs twice as much as the original food you were feeding) to feed your critter to manage the problem. Note I said manage, not cure. These foods do not cure the problems, they only make the symptoms go away.

It was brought to my attention recently that Royal Canin is now working with Waltham to produce veterinary foods. The type of food that was mentioned in my conversation was their hypoallergenic food, “HYPOALLERGENIC HP 23.” I couldn’t believe the ingredients when I saw them:

“Rice, soy protein isolate hydrolysate, chicken fat, rice gluten, cellulose powder, natural flavors, beet pulp, fish oil, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate, inulin, vegetable oil, sodium silico aluminate, monosodium phosphate, choline chloride, borage oil, taurine, vitamins [dl-alpha tocopherol (source of vitamin e), inositol, niacin, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin c*), d-calcium pantothenate, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin b6), riboflavin (vitamin b2), thiamine monocitrate (vitamin b1), vitamin a acetate, folic acid, vitamin b12 supplement, vitamin d3 supplement], l-tyrosine, dl-methionine, trace minerals [zinc amino acid chelate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, manganese amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, sodium selenite, calcium iodate], marigold extract, preserved with natural mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract, and citric acid.”

Ah, excuse me, but aren’t you all feeding a carnivore here? Where’s the meat man? Yet the crude protein listed on the specifications is 23%, who cares if said protein is coming from the grains. What cat in its right mind would eat this food? Oh, I see they have chicken fat as one of the ingredients. Heck, pour chicken fat over chunks of cardboard and the cat would most likely eat it. Cats do love rendered chicken fat. They’ll eat most anything if it is first soaked in chicken fat.

You see, “ROYAL CANIN Veterinary Diet feline HYPOALLERGENIC HP 23 is a highly palatable, highly digestible, lactose and wheat gluten free, hydrolmyzed soy protein isolate diet that is indicated in the diagnosis and management of adverse reactions to food.” And sure enough, it meets AAFCO standards for growth and adult maintenance. Why don’t they just eliminate the grains, which are where the problems begin with cats fed a dry food diet, and use cardboard instead? It would be cheaper for all concerned and perhaps cats have a greater ability to digest cardboard than they do grains.

These companies make my stomach turn.

EXCITING NEWS! I am being interviewed for a radio talk show and the show will air on Thursday, May 19 at 9:00 AM Pacific time on Healthy Life (just need to click on the “Listen Live” button on the home page at that time). It should also air again at 4 AM PST Sunday and 6 PM PST Monday, then an encore show airs at 10 PM Pacific time on Thursday, May 26.

Then by May 27 the show will be archived for 6-10 weeks. Please spread the word! I’m very excited about this.

The last two kittens from Oleander’s October litter went to their new home on Sunday. The two ladies who bought them couldn’t have been more pleased. The kittens have already taken over their new house and are running the show. I am thrilled to be getting requests for kittens from individuals who are truly holistic-minded. I do not need to worry about these kittens. They are going to be maintained in a manner that I believe is appropriate. They are going to be respected for what they are.

The local home for the two younger kittens fell through. That’s okay. My kittens always find their appropriate home. Unfortunately, they have had some eye issues. I’ve been spoiled recently with kittens with no upper respiratory symptoms. These guys are not following suit. Perhaps it’s because Charya was bred sooner than I would have liked. Damned cats taking breeding matters into their own paws. It needs to stop. Intact female cats are happiest when pregnant or caring for kittens. It’s hard to keep them otherwise. I will prevail. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to do it, i.e. becoming smarter than my cats.

Angelus is doing wonderfully. I cannot tell you how thrilling it is to see progression. Angelus can do things today that he couldn’t do last week. For example, last week he would go in the pond up to his shoulders to retrieve a toy. He gradually progressed to a frantic dog paddle a few inches to get the toy. Last night, he was able to swim to the middle of the pond! I’ll make a retriever out of him yet.

Last night I got home and let the cats outside. It was a gorgeous night. I worked with Angelus on straight lines, curves, etc. He did a wonderful job of avoiding the cats who kept getting in his way. Then we went to the pond for retrieving and swimming. When I came back, three of my cats, Maud’Dib, Matrix and Hermione were in my garden attacking the lone catnip plant. They were all happily rolling around in the dirt.

Poor Hermione injured her paw! Not sure how she did it but I have my suspicions. Ms. Hermione likes to climb up on the roof. She may have taken a tumble off.

Until later …