Cat Fell Dead at my Feet

sailfish · Oct 1, 2005

Ready to fly out the door to work 4 minuits after petting a purring 22 pound 11 year old tabby "Ginger" I looked down and he was dead. I burried him and hurried off late for work. The shock set in and the blame of overfeeding went back and forth for a week or two. We decided to get a new cat to company his buddy the "Feeb" and found ourselves signing contracts about feeding habits. It became all too clear at that point that some of us are killing the cats we love by feeding them foods high in protien drerived from corn. Our cats now eat Raw Diet and Wellness kibble. Any thoughts on the dangers of "Grocery Store" convenience food?

Here's the "Feeb"

plebayo · Oct 1, 2005

I just wanted to point out you can kill your cat just as easily by feeding RAW diet and not supplementing it enough or adding the correct ingredients. I would have to know more as far as your cat passing from eating pre-made food. I've never heard of an animal dropping dead from eating regular food. And at 22lbs, are you sure there wasn't something else going on? Honestly, can you blame it on the food, did you do a necropsy?

I'm very sorry for your loss. Hopefully the "Feeb" is doing well

cyberkitten · Oct 1, 2005

Only a necropsy would tell you what your kitty died from - I assume that is why you know? What did they say?

I do feed my kitty Wellness actually but have had cats live long lives before it ever came along so I attribute their longevity to good care, regular vet visits and prob good genes too. A combination of factors, just as with us humans.

I am sorry about your kitty. 11 is young these days for a cat to die! Was he ill at all? He just died????? That is really bizarre - I can't imagine it. I'd never make it to work that day it that happened to my YY. I'd want to know if she was poisoned or what? It makes no sense!! (not questioning you but even when my bunny died and he was geriatric, he was ill for a week or so first). And had a few bouts of illness the year previous. Same for other cats over the yrs.

hissy · Oct 1, 2005

I would agree that unless you had a necropsy done, you will have no true knowledge of what took the life of your cat. Blaming it on store bought food, or overfeeding is playing the typical blame game that is part of grief.

Raw diets can be just as dangerous- salmonella is a real concern, so is lead poisoning if you grind up bones for your cats with their meat.

We keep them as safe as we can. We give them regular vet check-ups and try to do the right thing by them. And if we make mistakes (and everyone does) then we learn from them- but until you have the proof of what took your cat's life, don't be guessing that it was commercial food, or water from the tap...or?

I am sorry for your loss

sailfish · Oct 2, 2005

I agree. Thre's no proof of what really killed the cat. The obvious was the cat was exyreamly overweight. That in itself was of at least a concern and plauged us for years. we had many conversations about how to feed our cats but always ended up with the free-feeding method. "make sure threre's food and water down at all times" We have had other cats and they all went down the same road. Overweight. The Feeb is two years old and headed in a similar direction.Our cats don't go out and we have always brought them in ro a vet at the first sign of trouble. After doing more reading on cat foods I was introduced to the idea that many of the more poupular grocery store brands of food derive the protien from corn.... Along with massive amounts of carbohydrates. This is probably why our cats are overweight. If for no other reason we have chose to switch from the brands with the high carbs to more natural protien based foods. I mentioned the salmonela to one of the champions for raw diet and she told me that although not as often.. salmonela can be contracted through dry kibble as well.

queenofegypt · Oct 2, 2005

Sailfish--I just wanted to say how very sorry I am to hear of your loss. It must have been a horrific shock to have sweet Ginger just die right there at your feet. Poor baby! At least he was happy (you said you had been patting him and he was purring) and he knew you loved him--and it was very quick so clearly at least he didn't suffer. I hope that you can find out what led to his death, I guess all of us worry sometimes of things we are/are not doing that could be unintentionally doing harm to our babies. I hope that your other babies are well. We know that Ginger is in a good and happy place now and I hope that is a real consolation to you. RIP, sweet Ginger.

queenofegypt · Oct 2, 2005

BTW--the "Feeb" is just beautiful--thanx for the picture! Give him a big hug for me!

stampit3d · Oct 2, 2005

I`m sorry for the loss of your kitty. No matter what the cause might have been..I`m sure it was extreemly difficult to lose a friend of 11 years.

navdoc · Oct 2, 2005

Sailfish said:
some of us are killing the cats we love by feeding them foods high in protien drerived from corn.

I have been told that corn is a carbohydrate, not protein based. I have been looking for a high protein-low carb diet for George. Vet and others stated that carbs com from corn, rice, etc. Protein is from chicken salmon, etc.

Click to expand...

sailfish · Oct 2, 2005

There are giant plants put together soley for the extraction of protien from corn. This protien is used in pet food. I know this becuase when I was working as a conctruction worker in a really big candy plant one of the "Traveler" pipe fitters just came off a job in the midwest catered to the extraction. I'm no chemist but when the idea that the protiens extracted from corn came along with a lot of undesireables it made some sense. I'm going low carb as I can with the new diet for my cats. I'm sure I have to work on suplements with the raw diet but for now I've got the kittens hooked on chicken and rabbit. The chicken comes with veggies mixed in. Perhaps as a filler but at this point I'm sure it's better than corn or rice.

semiferal · Oct 2, 2005

NavDoc said:
Sailfish said:

some of us are killing the cats we love by feeding them foods high in protien drerived from corn.

I have been told that corn is a carbohydrate, not protein based. I have been looking for a high protein-low carb diet for George. Vet and others stated that carbs com from corn, rice, etc. Protein is from chicken salmon, etc.

Click to expand...

Look at the nutrition label on a package of frozen corn. It contains carbohydrate but also a significant amount of protein - just like all other grains (wheat, rice, etc).

This is protein that humans can utilize very well. Cats, on the other hand, are obligate carnivores and cannot utilize the protein in grain efficiently.

However, according to feed control standards, protein is protein and corn protein counts just the same as chicken protein in determining whether a cat food meets government standards for adequate protein content.

Any food that lists "corn gluten" indicates that the product uses corn as a primary protein source. This is a big red flag.

I personally am a huge fan of raw but also totally support premium canned and dry foods as long as dry food comprises no more than 50% of the diet. Commercial cat foods, even the best foods, are sort of like drinking a vitamin and protein shake instead of eating a meal of healthful foods. The nutrition may be there, but it's not "real" food and there are benefits that you won't get.

Click to expand...

3cathouse · Oct 2, 2005

There are also alternatives besides raw. If you go to a well stocked pet supply or feed store, there are a lot of options - but you have to read the label. Abbey was 22-23 lbs, and she is down to 15-16 now, and still loosing. The key is to not free feed, and pay attention to the ingredients of the food - it will list the % of protien, etc. You can even get food from your vet, which is what we did until she lost most of the weight..

pat · Oct 2, 2005

NavDoc said:
Sailfish said:

some of us are killing the cats we love by feeding them foods high in protien drerived from corn.

I have been told that corn is a carbohydrate, not protein based. I have been looking for a high protein-low carb diet for George. Vet and others stated that carbs com from corn, rice, etc. Protein is from chicken salmon, etc.

Click to expand...

Corn gluten meal is used as a plant-based protein source, perhaps that is what they are referring to.

Click to expand...

Cat Fell Dead at my Feet

sailfish

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plebayo

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cyberkitten

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hissy

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sailfish

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queenofegypt

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queenofegypt

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stampit3d

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navdoc

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sailfish

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semiferal

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3cathouse

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pat

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