Slightly OT:

[Belinda Sauro]

here's been some talk abuot kitty diets so wanted to share this, it came from a nutrition list I'm on: The following is excerpted from a personal message I received from her in which I requested her viewpoint of the afore-mentioned food as a veterinary homeopath, feline specialist, tutor for the British Institute of Homeopathy in the USA for the advanced veterinary homeopathy degree there as well as a 30+ year breeder of champion cats (mostly Norwegian Forest Cats).  I had sent her the full ingredients listing for Innova EVO as per the manufacturer's website (www.naturapet.com) and below is her response.  Any added comments by myself are included below hers. *************************  "Innova I unfortunately know only too well. It was available at the vet clinic where I worked until 50% (I am not exaggerating) of the male cats came down with FLUTD on it. The rosemary is a no-no for the gut - kills the bacteria - but worse still, the vegetables make the urine alkaline, predisposing stones and blockage. Also the highest incidence of IBD was for cats on Innova, as the vegetables are very irritant to the delicate gut lining - especially as it is forced to be alkaline with the apples, carrots, potato, and other vegetables that do not belong in cat food. Namaste, Irene ==== Irene de Villiers, B.Sc; AASCA; MCSSA; D.I.Hom. Veterinary Homeopath and Feline Information Counsellor E-mail address: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website address www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots ************************** Explanation of short forms used above: FLUTD = Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease and IBD = Inflammatory Bowel Disease Rosemary extract is more and more being used by some commercial pet food manufacturers as a natural preservative for its antioxidant abilities (vit e, mixed tocopherols and/or vit c are MUCH, much better).  The problem with rosemary arises in cats as... a) rosemary is a plant and cats don't do well over the long term with most (not all) plant materials due to their inability to properly detox most plants, therefore these materials act as a toxin and build up over time within the cat's body, eventually causing damage. b) rosemary also has antibiotic properties (as does garlic, another no-no for cats as, besides killing off good gut bacteria, causes hemolytic anemia) and so, just like most allopathic antibiotics, are indiscriminant in their killing of bacteria and so they also kill the normal bowel micro flora (healthy gut bacteria) in cats. As for the Royal Canin (RC) Slim 38 having corn gluten meal as one of its protein sources...while it is agreed that corn is not the most desireable element and yes it IS preferred to not be included, it is STILL less harmful over the long term than some other ingredients like wheat, fruits, vegetables and (most) herbs.  She also says that research specific to cat digestion actually illustrates that in fact, cats CAN utilize corn protein to a certain extent so it isn't as bad as might be thought. A "lesser of two evils" so to speak type of thing.  Wheat, fruits, vegetables and (most) herbs do far more damage over time! Apparently, the RC Slim 38 has been reformulated by the manufacturer (much to Irene's, and my, dismay).  It is being replaced by one called Beauty and Fit (also to be called RC Slim 37) whereby they have decreased the over-all protein content to 37% from 38%, no doubt a cost-cutting measure as is seen more and more frequently everywhere these days.  I believe they have also added some toxic elements which were not used in the Slim 38 and which she and I are very unhappy about as well.  I am unsure myself of exactly what these may be as I have not yet had the time to peruse the ingredients listing due to my afore-mentioned circumstances preventing me from doing so. Irene has often cautioned that just because a cat doesn't drop dead in front of us doesn't mean that unseen damage is not going on inside which will rear its ugly head at some point in a myriad of ways.  Our pets must "tolerate" much from us because they cannot verbalize to us how they feel and so we may well wind up "killing them with kindness" in our attempts to do what we think is best for them.  Unfortunately, much of the literature that is widely available is taken from research extrapolated from humans and/or dogs to cats and the unique physiological differences of the cat as the only true carnivore is wherein lies the danger as it sadly doesn't seem to be taken into account by most pet food manufacturers. -- Belinda Happiness is being owned by cats ... Be-Mi-Kitties ... http://www.bemikitties.com Post Adoptable FeLV/FIV/FIP Cats/Kittens http://adopt.bemikitties.com FeLV Candle Light Service http://www.bemikitties.com/cls HostDesign4U.com (affordable hosting & web design) http://HostDesign4U.com ----------- BMK Designs (non-profit web sites) http://bmk.bemikitties.com