The New Natural Cat

It is wonderful getting reacquainted with Anitra Frazier's book The New Natural Cat. I have bought this book at least twice possibly more. It is a great gift for someone who loves their cat(s). In 2007, I reviewed this book for eBay. Whenever I run across a worthy book, I review it in hopes that more people will find it.

The first fight I ever had with my X was over her decision to put her aging cat Spicy down. I suspected the dry cat food we were feeding them. I had already given away my copy of the The Natural Cat when my kitty passed. I didn't plan on having another cat, but sometimes cats will change our plans. I certainly never dreamed I would move in with someone who had 4! We had 5 cats at the time counting my cat Slate. It was during the holidays and her cat Spicy was failing. Back in those days I had a bank account, and I asked her if she could just wait a few days before calling the vet, and I used my debit card and ordered a used copy of The New Natural Cat from Amazon.com. Even though I knew about the 4D's that is the cornerstone of The Natural Cat, I knew that my X would not believe me if I just told her. I would be discounting and challenging all the years of her belief system and advertising that proclaimed she was buying QUALITY cat food.

It is a radical change of diet and change of thinking to decide to make pet food from scratch! It is a shame that she wouldn't have believed me without a book to back me up. But there is power in the written word that often overpowers the spoken word. My intuition guided me to let a book be the informer, instead of letting her shoot my idea down in a domestic fight. When the book came in the mail, I immediately opened it and read to my X about the 4 Ds of commercial pet food. It is a rude awakening to find out that by buying commercial pet food you are systematically making your cat and dog participate in a sort of cannibalism! It certainly isn't a subject that should be hashed out in a domestic argument. I know I didn't want to tell her what was in the Purina we bought at the grocery store.

It didn't take long for her to become enamored with the book, and the next thing I knew we were ordering a food processor and making our own cat food. It is a hard concept to understand that we poison our beloved pets everyday by feeding them toxic food. No one wants to believe they would do this. My X doesn't really value many books, so it was tricky to get her to even look at the hard truth that we were poisoning our cats. I knew it was urgent and that all our cats were having symptoms that probably stemmed from our choice of cat food which was Purina Cat Chow at the time. I left the book with my X, and I know she will use it and hopefully treasure it. Spicy not only lived but she became quite kitten like for awhile. As far as I know she is alive and well 6 years after her appointment with death.

It is hard to find a high grade commercial pet food. They are out there, but most of the commercial pet foods come from rendering plants. In some instances dead cats from the veterinarians office are thrown into the mix. I have heard they don't even bother to remove flea collars and tags. So not only are cats being fed their own kind, they are also being fed the chemicals and drugs that were administered at their deaths. The 4 Ds that are used in commercial pet food. The diseased, dying, disabled, and dead. It is not a pretty picture and if you see it clearly, you will not want to take a chance with commercial pet foods. I believe that our cats survived the 2007 pet food recall because they were no longer eating commercial cat food.

I gave this book away when I became catless for a while. The dear friend who has had the book is now catless, so it has returned to me. I notice that I have other cats showing up at the food bowl throughout the day. I admit that I am forced to use commercial cat food as I don't have an exact count of how many cats and critters eat dinner on my porch. One big black cat has a huge burr on his back. I know he is feral or semi feral and that I am probably not going to be able to remove that burr. I am sure if he had an owner the burr would be removed. There are lots of foreclosed homes in the area. Sadly, people sometimes leave their pets behind. I suspect my cat colony is the result of our country's present financial predicament. Ironically their care would fall to me, disabled and on a fixed income! I am reminded that Anitra Frazier started out as a cat groomer. I will be seeking the basic tools to try and take care of my cat colony. Please help me if you can. I will do everything in my power to help them thrive and survive.

Please donate to Stubby's upcoming oral surgery. I have been doctoring him everyday for his eye infection but his tooth has an exposed root and I can tell it hurts him. He is getting better. If there is any extra money in the fund, I will get some Frontline in anticipation of flea season. The donate button is in the top right corner of this blog.

*post note Stubby got a $10 donation today for his tooth extraction. Thank you to everyone who is helping out.