Warning to all cat owners!

hi, everybody I just lost my cat Grantas 17 years old with lots of health issues, such as bad teeth, arthritis, liver dysfunction, kidney and the heart. I have no kids so he was my little baby all this year. I even dont try to explain how I feel now and how guilty I am that I never knew that what i will tell you now! I believe that this will help you spend much longer and healthier time with your love one.

I made a huge research on internet before and after his death about all diseases, treatments, most common reasons and shortly I would say never feed your cat commercial or even worse dry food. I cannot understand how the factories and veterinary claim that it's a balanced Healthy profesional diet for your kitty but there you can find very little amount of meat and it's absolutely processed, canned food and plenty of grains, rice, sugar, vegetables,salt (read label and if you lucky you will find 5% more or less meat of all that)( dry food even have different type of fungus and no moisture). Its all poison to your love one. Cats are absolute carnivores in their nature, they don't have enzymes to digest all this. If you feed them daily they get constant inflammation in there little bodies, that could cause gum inflammation, diabetes, kidney diseases, liver, thyroid and finally heart problems and then you treating them in vets for crazy amounts of euros because you love them soooo much and the worse that the most medication more killing them then healing(You can make research on your own on any cat drug, usually it damaging their heart, liver or kidneys ). Im not saying that there is no other reasons for that, but the huge difference in your pet health is right FOOD.They need just fresh meats and poultry, taurine, omega 3 and some other nutrients in their diet. Yes, they need grass, but just to clean the stomach. You can easily make The food for your cat yourself just make some research in google "raw food for cats", or buy a bit more expensive ready made frozen raw food. Please please please stop poisoning your BEST FRIENDS! They are CATS not a cows! Any grains are poison for them!!!!

I"m so sorry for the loss of your little guy.  I have also lost THREE of my furries to kidney disease, and, like you, have no human children, so  my furry kids are my "babies" too .  It cuts like a knife knowing that I contributed to their untimely demise by feeding them what I thought was a good food simply because the Vet said so.  Since joining this site I have learned better and hope the last two remaining cats will fare much better.

Since you are posting your warning under our Raw and Home Cooked Forum, I guess you already know that many people here are very serious about what they feed their cats  .

Again, my sympathies for your loss. 

Rosita, I, too, am very sorry to read about your loss of Grantas. It's horribly difficult to lose a cat, particularly after many illnesses. I understand your feelings of guilt all too well: we fed our previous cat terrible food for years (much of it on vet recommendations...) and it mostly likely contributed to her numerous health issues. Like Grantas, she lived a long life and was a great friend, but I'm very sorry we didn't know how to feed her properly so she could have felt better through the years. (Brooksie and Grantas had many illnesses in common, too.)

Since I'm an optimist, I take the knowledge we gained during her last months as a gift to the two cats we adopted after Brooksie was gone. Edwina and Ireland came to us as kittens with sensitive Siamese cat stomachs but everything that I learned about feline nutrition has helped me put together a diet for them that, so far, keeps their digestive systems happy. Although I still feel guilty about Brooksie, at least I know Edwina and Ireland eat well. Based on other stories I've seen on The Cat Site, it sounds like many of us have similar experiences.

Again, I'm very sorry about Grantas. He was very lucky to have you caring for him.

i lost mine recently to diebetes and gum disease.  im glad she made it 2 11 yrs.  I had to put her down. i miss her and am glad i made that decision to stop her suffering 

I feel every word you are saying. I lost my 19 year old cat a year ago and not a day goes by that I don't think about him. It was only the last 4 years of his life that I was educated about a healthy wet food diet, and even then his food had peas and carrots in it. I feel so guilty that I fed him food that probably caused all his issues. My current little girl is incredibly protected and spoiled and I wish I could've given that life to my little boy. Hugs and condolences to you. Atleast the world is waking up and suppliers are providing us with nutritious food intended for a cat's natural biology. She is currently eating rehydrated freeze-dried raw food.

I recently lost my 12 year old fur-baby on 2/13/17. She had something that's named Triad's Disease it affects 3 major organs in Tiger's case. Gall bladder, large intestine, and pancreas. There is no known cure. According to the vet her stomach was severely inflamed.

All of this based on a "Vet" recommendation to feed my cat Science Diet dry cat food.

I had to put her down, because there was no way I could give her the attention needed for a cocktail of medicine that she woul have been on to TRY to extend her life. I'm so angry!!!!!!

But I know better and will do better. But I learned one valuable lesson......don't just TRUST the vet. Get a secon opinion and research for yourself.

Thats such a realization right there, just goes without saying. I can believe that vets etc can recommend the crap to our pets. There sickness makes money & lots of it !? Its no secret that much of the processed food are doing the same to us humans also...

Sorry for your loss. Its sad that we live in such an industry where our population thrives on what in the longrun will do more harm than good. There are some excellent resources out there. To me, it is important to link with like-minded people who are concerned about the overall well-being of their cats and animals and what benifits them in a greater way.

So very sorry for your loss of Grantas. Those who profit have misled so many of us. I also have lost both of my girls in the last two years and regret my not knowing of many things. That is why I'm here at TCS---to learn and be a better caretaker of kitties. I understand how special our cats are to us who have not been blest with human children. It's hard not to beat ourselves up. All we can really do is learn from our experiences and learn to improve our ability to care for our kitties. I wish you peace in this time of sorrow.

So heartbreaking! I'm so sorry for your loss. Although I have lots of kids my fur balls are still my kids. Someone mentions putting one of my babies down, I cry like a baby. All of you are making me rethink my feeding habits and such. Again I'm sorry you're hurting. Thank you for sharing this.

I am so sorry for your loss & I know how you feel.  My first cat Rizzo was fed dry food & then Tiki Cat fish varieties.  Also, I had some Meow Mix for the outside cats that he loved as well.  I just didn't know any better!  Normally, I check into these things but as my husband was very ill, I just fed him what the people who gave him  to me did.  Tiki Cat looks really good but I didn't know about not feeding fish.  He had to be put to sleep at the age of 13 and had probably had cancer of the intestines/stomach for three years.  In that I took him outside on a condo lawn that was poisoned about 5 times a year I am not sure which got him.

After a lot of research I only feed my new little girl commercial raw food.  I asked my vet about it and she said it was the very best thing to keep diseases at bay.  Then I asked why she told people it was okay to feed dry.  She said that, although not a good diet, cats have been surviving okay on it for decades.    Vets probably make a lot of money on the diseases that dry food causes.  Don't you just love these TV ads about their healthy ddry food.  Here is a link:  catinfo.org

Two years after his death not a day goes by that I don't think of him.  My new kitty is nice but he was my soul mate.  Take care.

It's so hard to lose our cats, especially having enjoyed a close relationship for so many years. However, having a cat for 17 years is actually a testament to your good care.  Pet food is certainly a complicated thing and cats in particular need a very specific mix of nutrients to thrive. Everyone does the best that they can. That said, I'm not one of the mind that commercial pet foods are responsible for the deaths of 17 and 19 year old cats, but rather likely playing a role, along with the care and love of their people to extraordinarily long lives.

It is very important to look at the ingredients in the foods, and depending on what country you are in, you may have access to more varieties of high quality food, or not. Also like what we've seen with the terrible issue at Evanger's plant, we as consumers, do not always know what smaller companies have control over in regard to their supply chain, or more likely in Evanger's case, dedication to paying attention to their sources of meat.

I don't offer fish to my cats in their foods except as an occasional taste change (and for their mini meal) because I'm not sure of the affect it has on their health, plus the issue with the sourcing of the fish (and conditions of those people having to supply it).

I agree it feels like a complete gamble on food, but I also look with healthy skepticism at some sources that contend that canned cat food is universally bad or contains problematic ingredients. I stay away from something that says chicken meal, for example, because of the presence of say feathers and thus an increase in potential for constipation. I look for foods that have say, chicken, or turkey named as such as the first ingredient. 

commercial freeze dried raw is fantastic food. My one cat can't have it and the others are less enthused.  

When younger kitties succumb to cancers it is hard to know what triggered it. The thyroid issue has come up before here, and some cats have more issue with it in some countries than others even though the cats in both countries eat the same foods from the same manufacturers.  But in general it's always great to try to feed our kitties the best we can.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I know how deeply it cuts.

Now that I know better I wouldn't give my cats dry food. However I have a 10ish & 11ish cats that only eat dry food with wet food at night that I often throw out. So sometimes you work with what you have. I equate dry food with frosted flakes, of course your kids think it is great. That doesn't make it good for them. I will say this though I have had cats and grew up with cats on dry/wet food diets that lived 20 years. Being an inside kitty seems to make for a longer life.

I'm trying to figure out a way to get my picky eaters in a mixed cat household to eat more wet food or maybe even some raw food (if I can find chicken free frozen.)

I am so, so, sorry for your loss. We've been lucky feeding just kibble so far, but now that we know better we're taking steps to do better. 

I am so sorry for your loss. I lost my first cat Ziggy to pancreatitis and the vet said he more than likely had stomach cancer,. I began to do a ton of reading and that led me to canned food and then raw feeding. I felt so guilty because I spent years studying animal behavior and did not give a thought as to whether all that dry food was ok for my cats. Everyone I knew with cats fed dry food and so did I . I thought the words 'grain free' meant good.He was a wonderful cat, I still miss him but, I am grateful that I now am doing right by my current cats.

I'm so sorry for your loss. It's been a few years since I had to put down my cat of 14 years. He initially got poisoned by tainted Iams. After that we were just on borrowed time. He got IBS really bad then the vet was pretty sure it was stomach cancer but he was to frail to do a biopsy. I know it's so easy to be angry and upset. It's easy to blame yourself. We followed what we thought was right. I believe it taught us to research and not take things for granted. My cat now is about to go to raw.

You did the best at that time for your cat. It's ok to miss them, I've missed them more than some humans (sad I know). We learn and go forward with other fur babies.