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Dedication
Introduction
Making the Switch
Tools and Techniques
The Recipes
Treats and Supplements
Afterword
Copyright Statement
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This book is dedicated to the beloved memory of
Spike Oreo Thomas.
Spikey, we wish we’d known then what we know now.
Chances are, you have picked up this book because you share your life with one or more of the marvelous, complex and emotionally rewarding entities that are cats. You wish them to experience a long and happy life with you, and you are willing to go to some effort to give them that.
If that’s the case, welcome to the Raw Meat Cat Food Cookbook!
In 2004, our beloved 18-month-old cat Mehetabel lost control of her bladder on our white duvet cover. It was only a small amount of urine but what we found alarming was that it was tinged pink. Over the next few years we would learn more about feline urinary-tract health but at the time the following terrifying equation was what came to mind:
urine + blood = imminent kidney failure + death of our cat
We rushed Mehetabel to the vet, who prescribed antibiotics and a urine test and who – to our relief – seemed fairly unconcerned. The antibiotics appeared to clear up the problem in short order. However, when the urine test results came back, it turned out Mehetabel was suffering from struvite crystals which form when a cat’s urine is not acid enough.
Left untreated, these crystals can cut, scar, cause swelling, and eventually block the cat’s urethra permanently. The vet recommended switching Mehetabel away from her then-current food (a premium brand of dry kibble) to a medicated brand formulated to acidify urine. We went away with the new food, hoping that all would now be well.
And so it was, kind of…
Mehetabel still suffered a relapse every few months, but by keeping her on the medicated food, plus administering water from a silicone bulb, plus getting antibiotics whenever a blockage/infection flared up… it wasn’t ideal but it seemed to be the best we could hope for. We soldiered on with Mehetabel’s health issues, using the “official” ways of dealing with them, for the next six years or so.
However, in 2010, another of our cats began to display similar symptoms. Jet was about 11 years old at the time (she came to us as a young adult stray), and had been losing weight and condition despite adoring her commercial, individual (wet) packet food. She was passing what we could only assume were crystals; her bright red urine contained small, glistening, mucus-balls that could easily have been mistaken for parts of her insides. We got the test results we expected and put her on the recommended acidifying diet, but she kept going downhill and continued to pass blood and mucus.
It was time to acknowledge that the vet, armed mainly with a selection of drugs and commercial diets, could not provide a long-term remedy. That’s not to belittle the veterinarian profession in any way; it’s just that if a problem requires a re-think by an animal’s owner, then the animal’s vet is clearly not the person who needs to provide a solution.