This is a Sunday Sound-off post, in which I, or another CatCentric team member, gets personal with you and dishes out opinions, rants, book reviews, and so on, straight up and uncensored! This one’s from me. 😉
Allen and “Uncle” Oscar
I hear it all the time in private messages and in the CatCentric community. “My cat eats kibble and he’s doing just fine.” Or, “I know kibble is bad, but for the time being is there a ‘better’ dry for them to munch on?” And I’ll agree that even though we know cats are masters at hiding pain, it’s hard to look at one going about its usual business day after day and think it’s anything but fine.
But your kibble fed cat is not fine.
Have any of you ever had a moderate hangover? You know the kind… you’re not *really* nauseous, but you kinda feel like crap, achy and not wanting to do much? That’s dehydration.
And that’s how kibble fed cats feel every single day of their lives.
Anyone gone on a junk food bender, where you just ate a lot of fast food, pizza and hot pockets for a week or month or more? You know how slow and mentally foggy that made you feel, how stopped up and heavy in the tummy?
Kibble fed cats feel like this all the time, too.
Ever had eczema, arthritis, allergies, diabetes, or been so overweight your knees hurt just walking up a couple of steps? Sucks, right?
Kibble fed cats often suffer from a combination of these ailments.
Ever had a urinary tract infection? It’s bitchin’ painful.
Many kibble fed cats know this first hand.
Ever had to pass a stone through your urine? That’s excruciatingly painful, as way too many cats could attest to. If they could talk.
You know what you’ve NEVER experienced? Having your private parts lopped off because your diet made your urine so polluted it couldn’t pass through your own urethra.
You know what else you’ve NEVER experienced? Death from a bladder that exploded because you couldn’t pee.
Imagine the last time you had to wait “too long” to get to the bathroom. Now imagine that relief never came.
The data is clear. The harmful results of feeding processed kibble are clear. The progress back to a healthy state once offered fresh food is clear.
So stop thinking your cat is fine.
Stop trying to find the “best” kibble to feed those amazing creatures that share their lives with you, and start looking for whatever it takes to provide them with actual, life-giving food.
Stop aiming for the least amount of harm you can manage, and find a way to make do NO harm your baseline, minimum level of care. ♥
My beloved Ralph.
