Okay, section by section,
1) I didn't mean
best I meant
good - just because you like something doesn't make it good for you, just because some cats thrive on whiskas doesn't mean it is good for all cats in the long term, for example, just because some people smoke 60 a day and don't get lung cancer doesn't mean it is good for the populous as a whole to smoke 60 a day.
Best doesn't fit that scenario.
2) War rationing - we won't need to worry about the lack of rodents (though I suspect that the fertile breeding cycle of mice, rodents etc will outlast the cats appetite) - as as there won't be enough human food and cats will become a welcome source of protein. As happened on Guernsey in the occupation in WW2. Gross as it seems, it is a common scenario in war torn countries. That, and dog, become a life sustaining delicacy. The point was that cats
haven't evolved to no longer be carnivorous and want to eat grains and vegetables - and that just because they are 'pussy cats' in the house, doesn't mean they now aren't capable of being excellent hunters in the outside, especially if it was needed. 50-100 years of domestication does not evolution make.
3) Evidence for dental and renal problems - unfortunately this is down to anecdotal tales, first hand experience, and that infamous internet research, which as I'm not a scientist can't be counted :001_tt2: - however, I am able as a university graduate with 40+ years of life experience to read scientific research by real scientists that is posted on the internet and make up my own mind. Also I have friends who are INCREDIBLY intelligent (Oxford AND Cambridge grads with doctorates who work in the scientific fields (genetics and reaserch publication)) whom I am able to talk about these things with, so I don't sit on my own making up this stuff.
In my opinion, the upsurge in these problems IS down to the new lifestyle and food we give our feline and canine companions.
4) Research on the internet - your bugbear - if I had researched at the library would it be better, even if what I read was on the internet too, even though I'm not a scientist? Or is it the use of the word 'research'? Research as a word can mean
1. diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications, etc.: recent research in medicine.
2. a particular instance or piece of research.
3. to make researches; investigate carefully.
4. to make an extensive investigation into: to research a matter thoroughly
Synonyms:
1. scrutiny, study.
4. study, inquire, examine, scrutinize
Since when has it been that only a scientist can study, or enquire, or investigate carefully? As a by point, what is it with scientists needing to hold the moral high ground about research and their perogative to be the only people who can do it properly? It is research to me, it is the finding and collating of facts, and occasionally opinion, from many sources, confirming those sources, double checking, cross referencing, and then making an informed decision on ALL the facts available to me (both for and against) without having to take yet another degree to be allowed to have an opinion.
5) Raw meat - cats stomachs and intestines have evolved (over millenia) to be able to deal with meat that for many other species, humans included, would cause problems. They are sufficiently able to cope with raw meat - otherwise all those feral cats would be keeling over and we wouldn't have the problems that some areas do have - it would be easy to solve - just throw a raw chicken wing at them. The raw meat that I buy is made to the highest standards, with preparation that meets all expected governmental health guidelines (and is actually MORE stringent than some practises for meat for human consumption), it has the required amount of vitamins, taurine, heart and offal, and bone all added to it. It is frozen until I decide to use it then thoroughly defrosted and stored in the fridge and used within 2 days. Ham stays in my fridge longer, and in this house, is probably eaten when questionable
.
6) Minnii - eating raw - force a cat? Have you tried it? Impossible! However, yes, I believe that a balanced raw meat diet is the way forward for my cats, and slowly I wish Minnii to take part in that diet. My kids like MacDonalds but I refuse to feed them that on a daily basis as I beleive it is bad for them so I 'force' them to eat healthy food instead, i.e I only provide heathy food so they don't really have a choice, same for the cats except I'm nicer and do it more slowly. Minnii is gradually coming round, it's been 3 months now and now she will eat some on a voluntary basis even when other food is down. Progress not forcing. Having been bought as a kitten who really only ate dry as that was what she was weaned onto, I am very happy with what I am doing. I wish others would follow suit but it is their choice. If I can get her onto a mainly raw diet in a year or so I will be happy. The trouble is when cats eat sugars and carbs they shouldn't have they get addicted to them, just like humans do. The palette needs re-educating, slowly but surely that's what I'm doing. Re-educating her, hopefully she will enjoy a long and healthy life because of it - and the best thing? It's really, really cheap! 20p a day PER CAT. Cheap, healthy and tasty (once the palette is re-educated) Even Whiskas can't beat that!
7) Conspricacy theory - now I'm a cynic I admit it, and much as I would like to believe that Whiskas and Felix type food companies have done all the relevant 'scientific research' to prove a 4% meat food with added fillers like rice and grain and vegetables have no effect on a cats health LONG TERM, when the cat in the wild doesn't eat any of these foods and it's constitution has a great deal of trouble digesting and processing these foods, I don't. I don't even believe that they have compared 70% meat to 4% meat products. I accept they put in all the required vits etc. So cynical me looks to the money side of things. This stuff isn't that bad that it kills cats short term, and cats lives are varied and the causes of problems can often be attributed to more that one thing as pet cats aren't lab cats and aren't a controlled study group. However, the global economy being what it is, market forces and advertising being as large an influence on Joe Public as they are, someone somewhere is raking it in. It does the job, badly, but it does the job. Why mess with a formula that gives maximum profit, that people buy in large numbers, to change to formula would increase the price, so would lose market share, lose profits, etc. Why mend something which in their eyes isn't broken, just for the good of cats? It
might give them an extra 2-3 years life but it
would costs millions in profit.
8) Vets as part of the conspiracy? - very little of vet training is given over to cat dietry requirements, vets are paid a rather large commision on the dry food they sell at the surgery - a large incentive in a commercial practise (there is no NHS for cats). Not saying vets are in on the conspiracy just that often they know no better - 5 years at vet school isn't enough to know everything about every animal. My vet is happy I feed raw. Says I know more than him. He admits he prefers cows, sheep and horses to small animals.
9) RSPCA - any food is better than no food. The RSPCA have better things to do than go chasing down huge commercial companies - I'd rather they spent the publics' money on abuse and welfare cases and shutting down puppy farms etc not corporate lawyers and research the companies should be doing. Feeding whiskas isn't cruelty just, in my opinion, ill advised. However, needs must.
Hope that provides more discussion material.
