The Search for 'Optimal Holistic Nutrition'.....

In my search for optimal holistic nutrition for Walter, I was referred to a book by Dr. Pitcarin (DVM) called "The Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats" by another veterinary technician studying alternative medicine. She did warn me that it wasn't the most 'scientific text' that she had read for animal health professionals, but she had said that it was well priced and was full of great information.

Now, I don't want to make derogatory comments towards another animal health professional, but I skimmed the book last night and proceeded to return it to the bookstore today. I am truly interested in learning about complementary and alternative medicine, specifically how it can be used in part with western medicine, but after reading, for example, that animals shouldn't be fed commercial diets because of 'by-products' (did you know that lamb is considered a by-product, which is widely used in raw diets) and that when you change an animals diet to a 'natural' one (raw) you shouldn't gradually transition them to avoid potential GI upset, but rather fast them for 5-7 days (liquids only) so that you can build an appetite.

I have seen cats knocking on death's door who haven't eaten in 2 days, let alone 5-7. He did mention that conventional veterinarians would be opposed to this due to a cats sensitivity to getting hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver disease leading to liver damage), but he says that if your cat is young and healthy it shouldn't be a problem and it's only overweight cats or cats who have an underlying problem who would get this adverse effect. So my question is, how would the average owner know if their cat was even the slightest bit overweight, or if there is an underlying health problem (that hasn't been diagnosed) unless a complete and thorough exam was done prior to changing diets....or should you just take this guy's word and change their diet anyway?

Needless to say, even with a very open mind, this book stressed me out to the point of wanting to burn it.

On a positive note....I purchased a sample bag of Acana Grassland's dry cat food and some more cans of grain free cat food, which Walter decided he was finally going to eat today. The dry food he went after like nobodies business, and the canned (Before Grain Quail.....smells horrible by the way) was half eaten. There's a start anyways.
21111111 (written by Walter as he walked across the keyboard).

Well, nighttime feeding is coming around, and someone is sitting at my feet asking for more grain free cat food (right....)

Holistic food 1 Veterinary diets 3