Expert: Ali - 4/13/2009

Question
i have a pregnant cat not 100% sure on her date but would guess around 9 weeks shes been doing nothing but sleeping under my bed for the last 48 hrs when going on the litter tray i noticed a discharge that came out thick and sticky with a hint of green, kind of like a snot like consistency sorry about how that sounded, my dad said this could be her mucus plug? ive felt kittens moving around fine, but what i wanted to ask since yesterday afternoon her tummy has been getting hard and tight to touch sometimes she will growl abit get up and then lay back down, is this the first stage of labor, shes been showing signs of nesting for awhile nipples are very erect and pink and has her milk in but she just seems to hide under my bed alot, ive had a few sleepless nights because im sure she would have had them buy now, how can i tell if things are progressing normally i do notice her purring under the bed sometimes also this morning

Answer
Caroline,

Unfortunately it's difficult to know for sure what's happening based on a pet parent's description and the fact that I'm not a veterinarian. I've learned that when acting as an expert it's best to assume that situations like this are very serious, because in many cases they are. I apologize for the inconvenience and expense, however I am glad that the mom and kittens are doing well. I'm sure that if I hadn't recommended a vet visit and your cat or her kittens had died you would have been just as angry or even more so with me if I had recommended a wait and see approach. It's always best to be safe and see the vet when a cat is not themselves because cats tend to be very stoic and when they show signs of something being wrong things can be much worse than they appear.

Over the years I've learned that it's best to use common sense when deciding whether or not to take your cat to the vet - I've found that the decision to consult the vet or not should be done the same way that you would decide whether or not to see your own doctor - somewhat of an "if this was happening to me would I see the doctor?" approach. It's been my experience that greenish vaginal discharge in a pregnant cat can be related to fetal death/distress and in some cases it's indicative of one or more placentas separating prematurely and I prefer to recommend that a loving pet parent such as yourself play it safe rather than taking chances with the lives of the loyal pets they love.

I apologize again for the expense and inconvenience of having to take the cat to an after hours clinic, you said yourself that your cat is your life and she is worth the expense, I made the safest judgement that I could under the circumstances because ultimately what matters most to me is that you end up with a healthy, happy mom and healthy, vigorous kittens. I am not a vet, I can only offer educated guesses based upon over 20 years of experience caring for cats with all kinds of medical histories, and unique needs. I feel that it would be in your best interests to know that there is an Ask the Veterinarian category on this site - perhaps medical inquiries would better addressed to your satisfaction in that section of allexperts.com. Congratulations on your new arrivals! I've taken the liberty of including some information about basic socialization and care of the kittens and their mom, nutritional information, and other information that you may find useful.

I also wanted to pass on some basic information about caring for mom and her little ones during the first few weeks of their lives. Mother cats don't require human help to wean their kittens, they normally do so during the first 12 weeks of a kitten's life. It's a good idea to set up a nest box for mom and her little ones, a large cardboard box lined with old towels or a blanket will work nicely. Kittens aren't born with the ability to maintain their own body temperature so providing them with a warm place to be is important - it's not a good idea to use heating pads or heat lamps though because if the kittens can't get away from the heat source they can become overheated which is potentially dangerous for them. The bedding should be replaced and washed whenever it becomes soiled or wet to prevent the kittens from getting too cold and providing the cleanest environment possible reduces the risk of viral and bacterial infection. Kittens don't have much of an immune system when they're born so it's important to keep mom and her newborn litter isolated from other pets in the household because viral infections that may not affect older animals can be quite serious in young kittens. It's also important to make sure that anyone handling mom or her newborn family washes their hands thoroughly in hot, soapy water to reduce the risks of infection. It's a good idea to keep mom indoors and away from any intact male cats because female cats can become pregnant quite quickly after giving birth which isn't healthy for the resulting kittens or their mother.

Nursing moms need quite a bit of high quality food in order to meet their own nutritional needs as well as those of their growing kittens. I usually suggest that pet parents check out a site created by a veterinarian to educate pet parents about the nutritional needs of our living room lions. This site was recommended to me by my vet after the Menu Foods fiasco nearly claimed my oldest cat's life and my faith in commercially available diets was at an all time low.An important point to consider is that cat foods may vary in price, however not all foods are created equal. When it comes down to it choosing a pet food is the same as anything else - you get what you pay for. I have taken the liberty to include a rather eye opening article that I think somewhat sums up the dirty little secrets of the pet food industry. Sadly although many pet food manufacturers claim that they have included nothing but the best and healthiest ingredients this is usually not the case. Often times ingredients change without notice based on what’s cheapest at that time, especially when you are talking about the cheaper foods commonly sold in grocery, big box and discount stores.

If you're interested in feeding your cats a homemade diet it's important to know that it often works out to be more expensive intially than most commercially available foods, it takes time to prepare the food properly and it takes being committed to buying the highest quality meats and ingredients you can. I have done my own research into making homemade food for my cats and I must confess that my cats get a combination of a high quality homemade diet (like the diet described on the catinfo.org website) and a high quality, holistic cat food made from human grade ingredients called Spot's Stew Sensitive Cat by Halo which is available in canned and dry forms, this food is made from human grade ingredients. Another high quality holistic cat food made from human grade ingredients is Wellness, this food is available in canned and dry forms and is designed to be fed as a combination of wet and dry food which can get a bit expensive in a multiple cat household. A 6 lb bag of Spot's Stew Sensitive Cat costs roughly $25 CAN and lasts my three resident cats a month or so. I have enclosed the ingredient list for Spot's Stew Sensitive Cat so that you can compare ingredients and quality of the food with other foods you may be feeding if you wish to do so. The ingredients are as follows for Spot's Stew Sensitive Cat: Turkey, Pea Protein, Whole Dried Eggs, Oats, Pearled Barley, Pea Flour, Turkey Liver, Salmon, Flaxseed, Salmon Oil, Pea Fiber, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Green Beans, Carrots, Cranberries, Zucchini, Alfalfa, Inulin, Calcium Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, Taurine, Salt, Folic Acid, Zinc Proteinate, Iron Proteinate, Cobalt Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Choline Bitartrate, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Ribflavin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Bifidobacterium Longum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite.

If you are thinking about feeding your cat a homemade diet it's important to be thorough in your research because cats require fairly complex nutrition and getting it wrong could cause some pretty serious health problems over the long term. It's very important that homemade diets use organic ingredients whenever possible and high quality lean meats are a must for the long term health of cats. Some hidden advantages to feeding high quality foods include fewer litter box deposits, less litter box odor and cats who are healthier throughout their lives. It's a bit simplistic to break down the daily cost of your cat's food because there are other hidden factors. High quality foods made from human grade ingredients are more digestible, the cats have fewer bowl movements, less diarrea and their feces is less pungent - ultimately this means that you'll use less kitty litter per cat over their lifetime. Cats that are fed higher quality foods will tend to eat less because the food has substance and they're getting what they need from it so smaller serving sizes is yet another hidden benefit to feeding good quality food. When cats are getting what they need to meet their nutritional needs they usually have softer, smoother hair coats and fewer skin problems. Many common health issues seen in cats today are related to poor nutrition - providing your cat with high quality, nutritious food will mean that you spend less money at the vet clinic and starting off the new arrivals on high quality food will help them to get the best possible start in life.

I found the article below on a pet care website - bear in mind this article hasn’t been checked for accuracy, it sums up a general view of many pet foods claiming to be “nutritionally complete” or “whole food that your pets need” that market their product in grocery or discount stores with minimal cost. Another revealing fact is that many pet food manufacturers don’t manufacture pet food as their primary product - for instance Procter and Gamble makes Eukanuba and Iams pet foods - they also make soap, shampoo, household cleaners, personal hygiene products like anti-perspirant….Given that their primary focus isn’t on manufacturing a whole pet food with ingredients designed to promote optimum health I have concerns about their food and the potential for other products to end up inside a bag of pet food just as they did during the recent Menu Foods recall of most pet food brands as a result of pets becoming seriously ill and dying because there were ingredients like melamine found in a substandard ingredient from China.

“Whole chickens, choice cuts of beef, fresh grains and all the wholesome nutrition your dog or cat will ever need.”

These are the images pet food manufacturers promulgate through the media and advertising. This is what the $10 billion per year U.S. pet food industry wants consumers to believe they are buying when they purchase their products.

This report explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying compared to what they are actually getting. This document focuses in very general terms on the most visible name brands - the pet food labels that are mass distributed to supermarkets and grocery stores - but there are many smaller, more highly respected brands that may be guilty of the same offenses.

What most consumers are unaware of is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food industry, also known as the agriculture industry. Pet food provides a place for slaughterhouse waste and grains considered "unfit for human consumption" to be turned into profit. This waste includes cow tongues, esophagi, and possibly diseased and cancerous meat. The "whole grains" used have had the starch removed and the oil extracted - usually by chemical processing - for vegetable oil, or they are the hulls and other remnants from the milling process. Some of the truly whole grains used may have been deemed unfit for human consumption because of mold, contaminants, or poor storage practices.

Four of the five major pet food companies in the United States are subsidiaries of major multinational food production companies: Colgate-Palmolive (Hills Science Diet Pet Food), Heinz (9 Lives, Amore, Gravy Train, Kibbles n Bits, Recipe, Vets), Nestle (Alpo, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog) and Mars (Kal Kan, Mealtime, Pedigree, Sheba). From a business standpoint, multinational food companies owning pet food manufacturing companies is an ideal relationship. The multinationals have a captive market in which to capitalize on their waste products, and the pet food manufacturers have a reliable source from which to purchase their bulk materials.

There are hundreds of different pet foods available in this country. And while many of the foods on the market are virtually the same, not all pet food manufacturing companies use poor quality and potentially dangerous ingredients.

Ingredients

Although the purchase price of pet food does not always determine whether a pet food is good or bad, the price is often a good indicator of quality. It would be impossible for a company that sells a generic brand of dog food at $9.95 for a 40-lb. bag to use quality protein and grain in its food. The cost of purchasing quality ingredients would be much higher than the selling price.

The protein used in pet food comes from a variety of sources. When cattle, swine, chickens, lambs, or any number of other animals are slaughtered, the choice cuts such as lean muscle tissue are trimmed away from the carcass for human consumption. Whatever remains of the carcass - bones, blood, pus, intestines, ligaments, and almost all the other parts not generally consumed by humans - is used in pet food. These "other parts" are known as "by-products" or other names on pet food labels. The ambiguous labels list the ingredients, but do not provide a definition for the products listed. (See the API Pet Food Shopping Guide for a more detailed list of ingredient definitions.)

The Pet Food Institute - the trade association of pet food manufacturers - acknowledges the use of by-products in pet foods as additional income for processors and farmers: "The purchase and use of these ingredients by the pet food industry not only provides nutritional needs for pets at reasonable costs, but provides an important source of income to American farmers and processors of meat, poultry and seafood products for human consumption.

Many of these remnants are indigestible and provide a questionable source of nutrition for our animals. The amount of nutrition provided by meat by-products, meals, and digests can vary from vat to vat. James Morris and Quinton Rogers, two professors with the Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California at Davis Veterinary School of Medicine, assert that, "There is virtually no information on the bioavailability of nutrients for companion animals in many of the common dietary ingredients used in pet foods. These ingredients are generally by-products of the meat, poultry and fishing industries, with the potential for a wide variation in nutrient composition. Claims of nutritional adequacy of pet foods based on the current Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient allowances ('profiles') do not give assurances of nutritional adequacy and will not until ingredients are analyzed and bioavailability values are incorporated.

Another source of meat you won't find mentioned on pet food labels are dogs and cats. In 1990 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that euthanized companion animals were being used in pet food. Although pet food manufacturers vehemently denied the report, the American Veterinary Medical Association confirmed the Chronicle's story.  Many pets are euthanized with sodium pentobarbital and then rendered.  This poison does not break down and goes into commercial pet food and feed for cows, pigs and horses.  I must admit that this point has been made many times over many years - if it’s true that has to be one of the scariest things to consider in the case for making high quality food for pets and livestock from ingredients that we would actually consider eating. When you think about this it makes you question the safety of many common foods found in the average human diet - after all, if these ingredients are making into food used to feed livestock are they ultimately making it into the human food chain? For the detailed report by the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine on popular commercial pet foods containing pentobarbital, click here.  When you read the report, please know that AD (animal digest) is animal waste (to be polite)!

Protein is protein once it is rendered. What is rendering? Rendering, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is "to process as for industrial use: to render livestock carcasses and to extract oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting."

What can the feeding of such ingredients do to your companion animal? Some veterinarians claim that feeding slaughterhouse wastes to animals increases their risk of getting cancer and other degenerative diseases. One factor is that the cooking methods used by pet food manufacturers and rendering plants do not destroy many of the hormones used to fatten livestock, or medications such as those used to euthanize dogs and cats.  

Animal and Poultry Fat

You may have noticed a unique, pungent odor when you open a new bag of pet food - the smell of restaurant grease from a hundred fast food restaurants. What is the source of that delightful smell? It is refined animal fat, kitchen grease, and other oils too rancid or deemed inedible for humans.

Restaurant grease has become a major component of feed grade animal fat over the last fifteen years. This grease, often held in fifty-gallon drums, is usually kept outside for weeks, exposed to extreme temperatures with no regard for its future use. The next few times you dine out, be sure to look out back behind the restaurant for a container with a rendering company's name on it. It is almost guaranteed that you will find one. "Fat blenders" or rendering companies then pick up this rancid grease and mix the different types of fat together, stabilize them with powerful antioxidants to retard further spoilage, and then sell the blended products to pet food companies.

These fats are sprayed directly onto dried kibble or extruded pellets to make an otherwise bland or distasteful product palatable. The fat also acts as a binding agent to which manufacturers add other flavor enhancers as well. Pet food scientists have discovered that animals love the taste of these sprayed fats. Manufacturers are masters at getting a dog or a cat to eat something she would normally turn up her nose at.

Wheat, Soy, Corn, Peanut Hulls, and Other Vegetable Protein

The amount of grain products used in pet food has risen over the last decade. Once considered filler by the pet food industry, grain products now make up a considerable portion of pet food. The availability of nutrients in grain products is dependent upon the digestibility of the grain. The amount and type of carbohydrate in pet food determines the amount of nutrient value the animal actually gets. Dogs and cats can almost completely absorb carbohydrates from some grains, such as white rice. Up to 20% of other grains can escape digestion. The availability of nutrients for wheat, beans, and oats is poor. The nutrients in potatoes and corn are far less available than those in rice. Carbohydrate that escapes digestion is of little nutritional value due to bacteria in the colon that ferment carbohydrates. Some ingredients, such as peanut hulls, are used strictly for "filler" and have no nutritional value at all!


Two of the top three ingredients in pet food are almost always some form of grain products. Pedigree Performance Food for Dogs lists Ground Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, and Corn Gluten Meal as its top three ingredients. 9 Lives Crunchy Meals for cats lists Ground Yellow corn, Corn Gluten Meal, and Poultry By-Product Meal as its first three ingredients.  

Since cats are true carnivores - they must eat meat to fulfill certain physiological needs - one may wonder why we are feeding a corn-based product to them. The answer is that corn is much cheaper than meat.

Of the top four ingredients of Purina O.N.E. Dog Formula - Chicken, Ground Yellow Corn, Ground Wheat, and Corn Gluten Meal - two are corn-based products ... the same product. This industry practice is known as splitting. When components of the same whole ingredients are listed separately - such as Ground Yellow Corn and Corn Gluten Meal - it appears there is less corn than chicken, even though the combined weight of the corn ingredients outweigh the chicken.

In 1995 Nature's Recipe pulled thousands of tons of dog food off the shelf after consumers complained that their dogs were vomiting and losing their appetite. Nature's Recipe's loss amounted to $20 million. The problem was a fungus that produced vomitoxin, an aflatoxin, which is a subset of mycotoxin, a poison given off by mold contaminated the wheat.

Although it caused many dogs to vomit, stop eating and have diarrhea, vomitoxin is a milder toxin than most. The more virulent strains of mycotoxins can cause weight loss, liver damage, lameness, and even death. The Nature's Recipe incident prompted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to intervene. Dina Butcher, Agriculture Policy Advisor for North Dakota Governor Ed Schafer, concluded that the discovery of vomitoxin in Nature's Recipe wasn't much of a threat to the human population because "the grain that would go into pet food is not a high quality grain. Which means that the grain used in pet food is not fit for human consumption and therefore not a threat to the human population.

Soy is another common ingredient that is sometimes used as filler in pet food. Manufacturers use it to add bulk so that when an animal eats a product containing soy he will feel more sated. While soy has been linked to gas in some dogs, other dogs do quite well with it. Vegetarian dog foods use soy as a protein source.

Industry critics note that many of the ingredients used as humectants - ingredients such as corn syrup and corn gluten meal which bind water to prevent oxidation - also bind the water in such a way that the food actually sticks to the colon and may cause blockage. The blockage of the colon may cause an increased risk of cancer of the colon or rectum.

Additives and Preservatives

Many additives are added to commercial pet foods to improve the stability or appearance of the food. Additives provide no nutritional value. Additives include emulsifiers to prevent water and fat from separating. Antioxidants prevent fat from turning rancid and antimicrobials reduce spoilage. Added color and flavor make the product more attractive to consumers and their companion animals.

How prevalent are synthetic additives in pet food? Two-thirds of the pet food manufactured in the United States contains preservatives added by the manufacturer. Of the remaining third, 90% includes ingredients already stabilized by synthetic preservatives. Premixed vitamin additives used to supplement pet food can also contain preservatives. This means that your companion animal may eat food with several types of preservatives that have been added at the rendering plant, the manufacturing plant and in the supplemental vitamins.

Additives in Processed Pet Foods

Anti-caking agents, Lubricants, Antimicrobial agents, Non-nutritive sweeteners, Antioxidants, Nutritive sweeteners, Coloring agents,
Oxidizing and reducing agents, Curing agents, pH control agents, Drying agents, Processing aids, Emulsifiers, Sequestrants, Firming agents, Solvents (vehicles), Flavor enhancers, Stabilizers, thickeners, Flavoring agents, Surface active agents, Flour treating agents, Surface finishing agents, Formulation aids, Synergists,
Humectants, Texturizers, Leavening agents.

Adding chemicals to food originated thousands of years ago with spices, natural preservatives and ripening agents. In the last 40 years, however, the number of food additives has greatly increased. Of the more than 8,600 recognized food additives today, no toxicity information is available for 46% of them. Cancer-causing agents are sometimes permitted if they are used at low enough levels. The risk of continued use at these cancer-causing agents has not been studied and the build up of these agents may be harmful. Ethoxyquin (EQ), for example, was found in dogs' livers and tissues months after it had been removed from their diet, and as of July 31, 1997, the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine requested that manufacturers reduce the maximum level for EQ be cut in half, to 75 parts per million.

While the law requires studies of direct toxicity of these additives and preservatives, most of these additives have not been tested for their effect on each other once ingested. Three commonly used preservatives, BHA, BHT, and EQ, have a proven synergistic effect that may lead to the development of certain types of cancer.

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxtoluene (BHT) are the most commonly used antioxidants in processed food for human consumption. For these antioxidants, there is little information documenting their toxicity or the safety of long-term use in pet food.

In animal feeds, the most commonly used antioxidant preservative is ethoxyquin. While some pet food critics and veterinarians claim ethoxyquin is a major cause of disease, skin problems, and infertility in dogs, others claim it is the safest, most stable preservative available for pet food. Ethoxyquin is not approved for use as a preservative in human food, however.

Nitrate is the exception to the rule when it comes to safety. Nitrate is used in meat for human consumption. When nitrate combines with bacteria, the chemical can change to another form with carcinogenic properties called nitrosamines. Very small amounts of this chemical can cause acute and chronic liver damage.

"Natural preservatives" and antioxidants are known as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and mixed tocopherols. While the avoidance of using pet food laced with chemical preservatives is something to consider, some critics think that natural preservatives are somewhat less effective than chemical preservatives.

The Manufacturing Process - How Pet Food Is Made  

Although feed trials are no longer required for a food to meet nutritional standards and profiles, most manufacturers do require a palatability study when developing a new pet food. Animals are fed side by side, one animal fed a new food while the other is fed a similar formula. The total volume eaten is used as a gauge for the palatability of the food. Most pet food companies keep their own animals for taste testing.

Dry food is made with a machine called an expander. First, raw materials are blended, sometimes by hand, other times by computer, in accordance with a recipe developed by nutritionists. The mixture is fed into an expander and steam or hot water is added into the mixture. The mixture is subjected to steam, pressure, and heat until the temperature reaches 305 degrees F. The mixture is then extruded through dies that determine the shape of the final product. Then it is cooked at a high temperatures and high pressure. Then the food is allowed to dry for another 30-45 minutes. Once the food is dried it is usually sprayed with fat to make it more palatable. Although the cooking process may kill bacteria in pet food, the final product can lose its sterility, during the subsequent drying, fat coating, and packaging process.

Ingredients are the same for wet and dry foods. The main difference between the two types of food is the water content. Wet or canned food begins with ground ingredients mixed with additives. If chunks are required, a special extruder forms them. Then the mixture is cooked and canned. The sealed cans are then put into containers resembling pressure cookers and commercial sterilization takes place. Some manufacturers cook the food right in the can.

There are three primary types of wet food. The "all meat" product is defined by AAFCO as "When an ingredient or a combination of ingredients derived from animals, poultry, or fish constitute 95% or more of the total weight of all ingredients of a pet food, the name or names of such ingredient(s) may form part of the product name of the pet food; provided that where more than one ingredient is part of such product name, then all such ingredient names shall be in the same size, style, and color print. For the purpose of this provision, water sufficient for processing shall be excluded when calculating the percentage of the named ingredient(s). However, such named ingredient(s) shall constitute at least 70% of the total product.

The "dinner" product is defined as "When an ingredient or a combination of ingredients constitutes at least 25% but less than 95% of the total weight of all ingredients of a dog or cat food mixture, the name or names of such ingredient or ingredients may form a part of the product name of the pet food if each of the ingredients constitute at least 3% of the product weight excluding water used for processing and only if the product name also includes a primary descriptive term such as 'dinner', 'platter', or similar designation so that the product name describes the contents of the product in accordance with an established law, custom or usage or so that the product name is not misleading. If the names of more than one ingredient are shown, they shall appear in the order of their respective predominance by weight in the product. All such ingredient names and the primary descriptive term shall be in the same size, style and color print. For the purpose of this provision,
water sufficient for processing shall be excluded when calculating the percentage of the named ingredient(s). However, such named ingredient(s) shall constitute at least 10% of the total product.

The "flavor" product is formulated to have a specific flavor, and it is defined as "No flavor designation shall be used on a pet food label unless the flavor is detected by a recognized test method, or is one the presence of which provides a characterisitic distinguishable by the pet. Any flavor designation on a pet food label must either conform to the name of its source as shown in the ingredient statement or the ingredient statement shall show the source of the flavor. The word flavor shall be printed in the same size type and with an equal degree of conspicuousness as the ingredient term(s) from which the flavor designation is derived. Distributors of pet food employing such flavor designation or claims on the labels of the product distributed by them shall, upon request, supply verification of the designated or claimed flavor to the appropriate control official.

What Happened to the Nutrients?

R. L. Wysong, veterinarian and long time critic of the pet food industry, has said, "Processing is the wild card in nutritional value that is, by and large, simply ignored. Heating, freezing, dehydrating, canning, extruding, pelleting, baking, and so forth, are so commonplace that they are simply thought of as synonymous with food itself. The processing practices for grain and meat used in pet food severely diminishes its nutritional value.

To make pet food nutritious, pet food manufacturers must "fortify" it with vitamins and minerals. Why? Because the ingredients they are using are not wholesome, and the harsh manufacturing practices destroy what little nutritional value the food had to begin with.

Contaminants

Commercially manufactured or rendered meat meals are highly contaminated with bacteria because their source is not always slaughtered animals. Animals that have died because of disease, injury, or natural causes are a source of meat for meat meal. The dead animal may not be rendered or cooked until days after its death. Therefore the carcass is often contaminated with bacteria - Salmonella bacteria contaminate 25-50% of meat meals. While the cooking process may kill bacteria, it does not eliminate the endotoxins that result from the bacteria. These toxins can cause disease. Pet food manufacturers do not test their products for endotoxins.

Escherichia coli (E Coli) is another bacteria that can be found in contaminated pet foods. E Coli bacteria, like Salmonella, can be destroyed by cooking at high temperatures, however, the endotoxin produced by the bacteria will remain. This endotoxin can cause disease as well.

Aflatoxin - This is a toxin that comes from mold or fungi, as in the case of Nature's Recipe. The improper drying and storage of crops is the cause of mold growth, which can result in Aflatoxin contamination. Ingredients that are most likely to be contaminated with this toxin are cottonseed meal, peanut meal, and fish meal.

Labeling

The National Research Council (NRC) of the Academy of Sciences set the nutritional standards for pet food until 1974, when the pet food industry created a group called the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). At that time AAFCO chose to adopt the NRC standards rather than develop its own. The NRC standards required feeding trials for pet foods that claimed to be "complete" and "balanced." The pet food industry found the feeding trials to be too restrictive, so AAFCO designed an alternate procedure for claiming the nutritional adequacy of pet food. Instead of feeding trials, chemical analysis would be done to determine if a food met or exceeded the NRC standards.

The problem with chemical analysis is that it does not address the palatability, digestibility and biological availability of nutrients in pet food. Thus it is unreliable for determining whether a food will provide an animal with sufficient nutrients.

To compensate for the limitations of chemical analysis, AAFCO added a "safety factor," which was to exceed the minimum amount of nutrients required to meet the complete and balanced requirements. By establishing its own standards and disregarding the NRC standards, AAFCO established itself as the governing body for pet food. In essence the pet food industry developed their own standards for nutritional adequacy.

The 100% Myth - Problems Caused by Inadequate Nutrition

The idea of one pet food providing all the nutrition a companion animal will ever need for its entire life is a myth... Cereals are the primary ingredients in most commercial pet foods. Most people select one pet food and feed it to their dogs and cats for a prolonged period of time. Therefore companion dogs and cats eat a primarily carbohydrate diet with little variety. Today, the diets of cats and dogs are a far cry from the primarily protein diets with a lot of variety that their ancestors ate. The problems associated with a commercial diet are seen every day at veterinary establishments. Chronic digestive problems, such as chronic diarrhea, are among the most frequent illnesses treated.

Allergy or hypersensitivity to foods is a common problem usually seen as diarrhea or vomiting. Food allergies have become an everyday ailment. The market for "limited antigen" aka "hypoallergenic" diets is now a multi-million dollar business. These diets were formulated to address the increasing intolerance to foods that animals have developed.

Many commercial pet foods are made with ingredients that have poor protein digestibility. Diets containing protein with less than 70% digestibility cause diarrhea in dogs. Some fillers used in these foods can also cause colitis, which is the inflammation of the colon. Most pet food companies do not publish digestibility statistics and they are never seen on pet food labels.

Acute vomiting and diarrhea is often a symptom of bacteria contamination and the toxins bacteria produce. Dry commercial pet food is often contaminated with bacteris, which may or may not cause problems. Improper food storage and some feeding practices may result in the multiplication of this bacteria. For example, adding water to moisten pet food and then leaving it at room temperature causes bacteria to multiply. Yet this practice is suggested on the back of some kitten and puppy foods.

Pet food formulas and the practice of feeding that manufacturers recommend have increased other digestive problems. Feeding only one meal per day can cause the irritation of the esophagus by stomach acid. Feeding two smaller meals is better.

Urinary tract disease is directly related to diet in both cats and dogs. Plugs, crystals, and stones in cat bladders are caused by commercial pet food formulas. One type of stone found in cats is less common now, but another more dangerous type has become more common. Manipulation of manufactured cat food formulas to affect acidity in urine and the amount of some minerals has directly affected these diseases. Dogs also form stones as a result of their diet.

History has shown that commercial pet food products can cause disease. An often-fatal heart disease in cats and some dogs was shown to be caused by a deficiency of an amino acid called taurine. Blindness is another symptom of taurine deficiency. This deficiency occurred because of inadequate amounts of taurine in cat food formulas. Cat foods are now supplemented with taurine.

Rapid growth in large breed puppies has been shown to contribute to bone and joint disease. Excess calories in manufactured puppy food formulas promote rapid growth. There are now special puppy foods for large breed dogs. But this recent change will not help the countless dogs who lived and died with hip and elbow disease.

There is also evidence that hyperthyroidism in cats results from commercial pet food diets. This is a new disease that first surfaced in the 1970s, when canned food products appeared on the market. The exact cause and effect are not yet known. This is a serious and sometimes terminal disease and treatment is expensive.

Many nutritional problems appeared with the popularity of cereal-based commercial pet foods. Some occur because the diet is incomplete. Some are a result of additives. Others are a result of contamination with bacteria, toxins and other organisms. In some diseases the role of commercial pet food is understood, in others, it is not. The bottom line is that diets composed primarily of low quality cereals and rendered meat meals are not as nutritious or safe as you should expect for your cat or dog.

Despite the appealing blandishments of pet food advertisements with their claims of providing "complete and balanced nutrition," if you're not exceedingly circumspect, you may end up feeding your pet chicken heads, road kills, spoiled or moldy grains, cancerous material cut from slaughterhouse animals, tissue high in hormone or pesticide residues, and even shredded Styrofoam packaging, metal ID tags and minced flea collars.  

A growing number of veterinarians state that processed pet food (kibbles and canned food) is the main cause of illness and premature death in the modern dog and cat. In December 1995, the British Journal of Small Animal Practice published a paper contending that processed pet food supresses the immune system and leads to liver, kidney, heart and other diseases. Dr. Kollath, of the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, headed a study done on animals. When young animals were fed cooked and processed foods they initially appeared to be healthy. However, as the animals reached adulthood, they began to age more quickly than normal and also developed chronic degenerative disease symptoms. A control group of animals raised on raw foods aged less quickly and were free of degenerative disease.  

The pet nutrition industry is a multi-billion dollar industry full of hype and false claims. Consumers are being duped into believing that they are feeding their pets healthy foods, when in actuality they are feeding nothing more than inferior meat meals, cheap grains (including corn and soy), fillers, by-products, pesticides, preservatives and toxins.  Never before has the pet-food industry been rocked by widespread contamination and rampant recalls. In all, more than 5,600 products by dozens of pet food makers have been recalled, from chain supermarket brands to prescription-only foods. This is a staggering number of products, and is unprecedented in this business. Thousands of deaths are due to the contamination, and many thousands more have suffered illnesses. We shudder to think of the long-term impacts of the compromised liver and kidney function and how this will affect thousands of companion animals in America. Leading experts believe that the severe reactions experienced by some cats and dogs were the result of an interaction of chemicals, between the melamine and a list of other culprits, including cyuranic acid.  Read the latest about the pet food recall. Thousands of Cats and dogs suffered kidney failure, and many died after eating the affected pet food.  

Dr. Don E. Lundholm, D.V.M. - "We are seeing disease conditions in animals that we did not see years ago. Many of these may be traced to nutrition as the source..."

The primary ingredient in many dry commercial pet foods is not protein but cereal. Corn and wheat are the most common grains used but, as with the meat sources, the nutritious parts of the grain are generally present only in trace amounts. The corn gluten meal or wheat middlings added to pet foods are the leftovers after the grain has been processed for human use, containing little nutritional value. Or they may be grain that is too moldy for humans to eat, so it's incorporated into pet food.

Mycotoxins, potentially deadly fungal toxins that multiply in moldy grains, have been found in pet foods in recent years. In 1995, Nature's Recipe recalled tons of their dog food after dogs became ill from eating it. The food was found to contain vomitoxin, a mycotoxin. Harmful chemicals and preservatives are added to both wet and dry food. For example, sodium nitrite, a coloring agent and preservative and potential carcinogen, is a common additive. Other preservatives include ethoxyquin (an insecticide that has been linked to liver cancer) and BHA and BHT, chemicals also suspected of causing cancer. The average dog can consume as much as 26 pounds of preservatives every year from eating commercial dog foods.  

Ideally kittens should stay with their mother and siblings for the first 12 weeks of life, this is partly to allow weaning to take place naturally and these first weeks are very important in the social development of kittens. In the first 12 weeks of life kittens learn the skills that make them cats, they learn how to stalk, pounce and kill prey, defend themselves and they also learn how to respond appropriately to feline and human body language. Kittens removed from their family too soon tend to have more issues with biting and scratching people because they don't understand that being bitten hurts. It's important for the kittens to be handled by people of differing ages, genders, and backgrounds if at all possible, this will ensure that the kittens are comfortable with people which will make them more adoptable when the time comes.

I recommend having a kitten sized litter box filled with unscented, clumping kitty litter in the same room as the nursery box mom and the kittens will live in for the first few weeks of their life. Mom will begin potty training her little ones earlier than most people think and there really is some truth to the term 'copy cat'. Having plenty of fresh food and water available for mom at all times is important, if you want to keep the kittens and their mom in a quiet, dimly lit room of their own for the first little while you'll need to make sure that the food/water dishes are as far away as possible from the litter pan because cats are very clean animals and they don't like to go to the toilet where they eat.

As soon as the kittens are able to start following mom out of the nursery box she will start teaching them basics like cleaning themselves, how to eat solid food, using the litter box, bite inhibition, how to understand body language and defend themselves as well as how to stalk, pounce and kill prey. Mother cats start disciplining their little ones fairly early on in life and it's important to allow her to do so in order to get the healthiest, happiest and most well behaved kittens. Kittens are baby predators, they have sharp claws and as they get older their baby teeth will come in - it's important to start each kitten off on the right path in life, biting or scratching are fairly common behavioral issues in cats and they're fairly preventable with the proper early socialization. Toys become an important part of socialization in a kitten's life for the first time around 3-5 weeks of age depending on the individual kitten's personality. Be sure to keep a close eye on any toys that the kittens play with - if they show signs of wear or are damaged they should be thrown away or repaired to prevent any accidents with ingesting foreign objects. I would highly suggest covering electrical wires once the kittens are out and about because many kittens have a fascination with wires and will chew on them which can be quite a serious problem if they're plugged in.

Pet overpopulation is a very serious problem affecting shelters and rescue organizations worldwide. Sadly many healthy, adoptable cats and kittens are euthanized every day in North America alone because shelters run out of money, space and resources for each animal and they're forced to make difficult decisions in order to ensure that their doors are always open to pet parents surrendering pets for a variety of reasons as well as good samaritans bringing in stray pets so that they can be safe from predators and being hit by cars, in shelters homeless pets have food, water, shelter, medical care and a second chance at life in a forever home. Spaying and neutering pets has several medical and behavioral benefits besides the obvious benefit of population control. Cancers of the uterus, ovaries and testicles are prevented in cats that have been spayed or neutered. The earlier in life a cat is spayed or neutered the lower their chances are of developing breast or prostate cancer. Unspayed female cats are also at risk of developing a potentially fatal uterine infection called pyometra, this infection causes the womb to fill with pus - if the uterus ruptures and spreads infection throughout the abdomen the cat's chances for survival are substantially reduced. The only cure for pyometra is to spay the cat immediately, however if the cat has this diagnosis the surgery is riskier, more complicated and usually more expensive.

Spaying and neutering saves countless lives worldwide every year, it's a responsible and ethical choice that prevents some serious medical issues. The leading cause of death in North American cats is euthanasia secondary to behavioral problems. Spay/neuter surgery reduces the likelihood that a cat will begin using urine/feces to mark their territory outside of the litter box and throughout the neighborhood. Cats that have been spayed or neutered are far less likely to wander over long distances in search of intact cats to mate with, they tend to fight less frequently (treating injuries or abscesses that were caused by fights can be quite expensive for the pet parent and stressful for the cat). Spayed and neutered cats don't howl to advertise their availability to mate, toms don't caterwaul or fight to determine who wins the right to mate with a receptive queen. Aggression is significantly reduced following spay/neuter surgery because over the space of several weeks sex hormone levels drop off, choosing to sterilize a cat can prevent certain types of aggression towards people or reduce the intensity of the aggression enough that committed pet guardians, holistic vets (trained in conventional medicine as well as one or more alternative therapies including homeopathy, Reiki, acupuncture or massage to name a few) or vets practicing conventional medicine only (depending of course on a pet parent's individual preference) and behaviorists can solve the problem over time.

Most queens deliver their kittens quite comfortably on their own without any help from us. I encourage pet parents to try and give the new mom some privacy during her labor and delivery because getting too close and having too much noise or light can cause mom stress which could result in her labor stalling which isn't good for anyone involved. It's a good idea to let mom deliver in a clean, prepared cardboard box lined with old towels or blankets in a quiet, dimly lit room. Sometimes mother cats prefer to deliver their kittens during the night when the household is quiet and everyone is asleep. It's perfectly normal to hear mom meowing, some queens will yowl dramatically while delivering which can be a bit unsettling but if everything seems to be going okay it's best not to interfere. Given the fact that your queen is due to deliver anytime within the next while it's a good idea to have a few basics on hand just in case mom needs any help with her little ones. If you happen to know that mom is in labor and she's delivering kittens on her own you can just sit back and watch from a polite distance - it's perfectly normal for mom to clean each kitten off as soon as they're born and eat the placenta. The reason mom licks her little ones is to clear their airway so that they can breathe normally, moms eat the placentas partially to protect the nest from predators and partly because they contain a hormone called oxytocin which helps the womb to contract well and is thought to have a calming effect on mom that helps her to bond with the newborn kittens.

I usually have some clean hand towels, just in case mom rejects a kitten, sometimes cats will reject kittens due to some sort of congenital problem, but if you dry the kitten off, clear the airway and get it breathing there's a chance that s/he will survive perfectly well so long as s/he can nurse. It's not a bad idea to have a kitchen scale measuring in grams up to 2 lbs, this will allow you to weigh the kittens at birth, most healthy newborns weigh around 100 grams or so at birth, some are slightly smaller while others are larger. In my kitty first aid kit I keep a bulb syringe (can be found in the baby aisle of the pharmacy) to clear fluid and mucous out of a newborn kitten's airway if the kitten needs help - sometimes kittens needing a bit of extra help to clear out their passages will actually blow bubbles out of their nose/mouth.

I also make sure to keep some brand new oral syringes and a kitten milk replacer such as KMR, Just Born or Mammalac around just in case mom rejects one or more kittens or she isn't producing enough milk to satisfy her babies. Kittens who need supplementary feedings should be fed with all four paws facing the floor to prevent them from accidentally inhaling their formula. It's been my experience that kittens often won't accept some types of nipples sold with bottles meant for feeding orphaned kittens, syringe feeding can be simpler, but it needs to be done calmly. You'll want to gently place the syringe tip into the corner of the little one's mouth while slowly depressing the plunger so that the kitten has time to swallow without the risk of choking. If you need to feed anyone by syringe or bottle I'd be more than happy to help you out and send off more detailed tips.

If mom strains for more than an hour without producing a kitten she should be seen by the vet because there's a possibility that the kitten is too large or in the wrong position to be born vaginally. If mom becomes anxious in the days after the birth and seems to walk with a stilted gait (somewhat like an old wind up toy) she may have a calcium/magnesium deficiency, this is an emergency and should be treated by a vet ASAP.