Sun, Jul-20-03, 13:58
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Registered Member
Posts: 2,889
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Plan: Atkins
Stats: 280/203/200
BF:
Progress: 96%
Location: Dallas, TX, USA
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Veterinarian 'fesses up: "Now we find that we've been wrong."
Saturday, July 19, 2003
Follow Cats' Lead for Taking Bite Out of Heat
By Dr. Jeff Nichol, For the ABQ Journal
link to full article
Question: We are confused about our very beloved cat Suzy (almost 13). A year or two ago I clipped out your column about dry food. Our Suzy was then overweight and gaining. You said Science Diet r/d was the best weight reduction diet. We followed your advice and Suzy is now looking good. BUT, in the past few weeks you have been very emphatic about feeding cats only canned kitten (?) food. We don't know what we should be feeding Suzy. She has a tough time with canned food. She smashes it down while eating it and then won't touch it again until we push it all into a pile in the middle of her dish.
Dr. Nichol: I, and my colleagues, have confused and confounded the pet owners of America. Dry food for cats has been recommended for as long as I have been in practice (28 years and counting). Now we find that we've been wrong. There is egg on our collective veterinary faces.
Hills prescription diet r/d does work well to manage obesity. The problem is that r/d (low fat, high fiber) causes weight loss partly at the expense of healthy muscle mass. Now we know we can do much better with a high protein, low-fat, low-carbohydrate diet. Assuming that Suzy's 13-year-old organs are functioning properly, she'll be slim and much healthier on canned kitten food — no fooling.
A cat Suzy's age should have a senior lab profile to make sure that all systems are running strong. If she checks out well, I suggest a very gradual transition to canned kitten food over as many months as it takes. If she never learns to enjoy it, well, at least you tried.
Suzy's unwillingness to accept canned food isn't unusual. Cats get "habituated" easily as youngsters. This means that if you raise a kitten on dry food, you may find it difficult to convert her to canned later. Try offering small amounts often. If Suzy ever wants to climb Mount Everest, she'll need to be fit. Of course you and I could do it; we just choose not to.
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