Cats living long lives

Last week I got an e-mail from a woman telling me she had been been researching feeding methods since she adopted two 2 kittens.  She said she read my arguments (as well as those of others) on wet vs. dry food.  She then told me that her last two cats lived to be 20 and 19 years old on dry Purina cat food.  She said neither cat had any health problems until a few weeks before the died.  She also said that she had several dogs who lived long lives on dry food.  She asked why she would dream of messing with something that has worked for her?

Well, my first thought was, why are you asking my opinion if you already feel you are doing the right thing.

I wrote her back and told her that cats who were born 20 years ago would likely be healthier than what cats as a species are today.  In Pottenger’s studies, he noticed that in progressive generations, his cooked-food-fed cats became less healthy.  It stands to reason cats from multiple generations of kibble-fed cats are going to get progressively less healthy.  Also, you need to take into account vaccinations.  Vaccine damage travels through generations.

I told her this and she wrote back saying her two elderly cats died within the past year (well, yea, but they were still born 20 years ago) and that they both received annual vaccinations so she didn’t understand why I mentioned that it might be bad for them.  She said that she kept her cats indoors for their safety.  It is beyond me why people with indoor-only cats believe that they still need to be vaccinated.

She further said that she was considering putting her current kittens on “Blue” kitten food (whatever that is) just to up the anty in nutrition over the Purina Brand.  She said that there were no hard and fast rules, and every cat/dog is different (which I agree with) and that even her vet said if Alpo/Purina is keeping her pets healthy and living to this advanced age that he wouldn’t knock it (but I’ll bet he’s missing the extra income he might be receiving from her if she put her animals on a brand of food he happened to sell from his office).

I sincerely hope that her current animals continue to do as well as her previous ones; but I’d love to be a fly on her wall over the next ten years, just to see …

Some cats and dogs can consume poor quality food and be vaccinated every year and have no apparent health issues, but those animals are becoming fewer and further between.  Just during the month of October I received a half a dozen e-mails from people with cats in renal failure and having diarrhea issues.  Some were older cats, but several were quite young.  The other thing that needs to be taken into account is how I would view an animal that another person considers “healthy.”  “Healthy” is a very relative term.