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Those reading this thread who would like more info on the AVA's history and agenda might find Nathan Winograd's latest blog post helpful and / or interesting: Friends Don’t Let Friends Kill Dogs.
Although there are many sources, here's just one recent post on a study linking kibble to urinary tract issues, from the Winn Feline Foundation: Feline Urethral Obstruction.
Finally, the insinuation that raw feeding and the alternative "Atkins" diet are similar in concept is... laughable. Feeding cats what they've been eating their entire evolutionary history isn't "alternative", it's simple common sense. Prior to the mid-1900s, when commercial pet foods began enjoying increased popularity, cats were fed table scraps or allowed to hunt on their own, and the message that commercial foods were "better" than a cat's natural diet wasn't marketed by the pet food industry until 1964, less than 50 years ago.
In truth, it's the heavily-processed kibble and, to a lessor degree, canned foods that are alternative diets. That a return to feeding more natural, less-processed fresh food to a cat - with it's very specialized digestive physiology - is such a hard sell is proof of the success of the pet food industry's marketing machine, and nothing more.
It's well-known that eating whole, fresh, less processed foods is healthier for us, and our digestive systems are generic enough to pull nutrition out of just about anything we care to eat. How much more important is it to give an obligate carnivore the single fuel its body is so beautifully, uniquely, and extraordinarily well-designed to process?
Best regards.
AC
Although there are many sources, here's just one recent post on a study linking kibble to urinary tract issues, from the Winn Feline Foundation: Feline Urethral Obstruction.
Finally, the insinuation that raw feeding and the alternative "Atkins" diet are similar in concept is... laughable. Feeding cats what they've been eating their entire evolutionary history isn't "alternative", it's simple common sense. Prior to the mid-1900s, when commercial pet foods began enjoying increased popularity, cats were fed table scraps or allowed to hunt on their own, and the message that commercial foods were "better" than a cat's natural diet wasn't marketed by the pet food industry until 1964, less than 50 years ago.
In truth, it's the heavily-processed kibble and, to a lessor degree, canned foods that are alternative diets. That a return to feeding more natural, less-processed fresh food to a cat - with it's very specialized digestive physiology - is such a hard sell is proof of the success of the pet food industry's marketing machine, and nothing more.
It's well-known that eating whole, fresh, less processed foods is healthier for us, and our digestive systems are generic enough to pull nutrition out of just about anything we care to eat. How much more important is it to give an obligate carnivore the single fuel its body is so beautifully, uniquely, and extraordinarily well-designed to process?
Best regards.
AC
