The Happy Beast - Blog - Cat Health

Cat sitting in a green bowl | The Happy Beast
Natalie Soonthornswad

Retrain the Cat Brain: Solutions for Eliminating Kibble

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As we approach our July 4th Kibble Independence Day, we want to prepare and support our customers who are transitioning their cats off of kibble (dry food) by shedding some light on the inner workings of the cat brain and why you may be encountering some challenges along the way.

Why are cats such finicky eaters?! It’s fresh meat, just take a bite! (At least that’s how I’ve felt when transitioning some of our foster kitties.)

The most important lesson that any animal learns is how to identify and secure a food source. Wild animals teach their young what food is by bringing them dead or nearly dead prey in order to teach them how to hunt and what their natural food source is. A young animal needs to know how their prey looks, smells, and tastes.

We humans, teach our cats the same lesson when we offer them food, whether it’s kibble, canned, or raw food. Cats learn what their “prey” is from a very young age. This is why it is often much easier to transition a younger cat onto a raw food diet than it is with an older cat. Our mantra for transitioning any cat is “stay persistent and consistent in your attempts.” Some cats learn quicker than others, but as long as you don’t give up, your attempts will eventually be rewarded.

In addition to understanding the benefits of feeding a “zero” kibble diet, we think understanding how cats relate to their food has the potential to give us a bit more patience in the process. Our foster cat, Carlos, has just started eating about 1-2 oz. of fresh food per day, and it has taken close to two months. Compare this experience to feeding one of our foster kittens, 6-week-old Clementine, who has devoured raw food without hesitation. The experience is as different as night and day, which also speaks to the importance of introducing healthy food and habits as early on as possible.

Common Challenges & Solutions:

  • My cat is now waking me up at 5am to EAT!!! Get an automated feeder to help adjust to feeding your cat only twice per day rather than the “free feeding” that we often see with cats on a kibble diet. At The Happy Beast, we carry a great automated feeder from Petsafe that includes a tray so that you can fill it with either canned or freeze-dried raw food. You set the timer and the top is released at the designated chow time.
  • Keeping cats off of kibble. Some cats will put up a fight when it comes to trying a new food. Maybe they will eat the new food really well at first, but then a few days later won’t even look at it. Do not cave in and give them their old kibble! If you give in, you will essentially be starting the entire process over. Of course we don’t want you to starve your cat; the process simply requires offering a variety of different options throughout the day. We suggest rotating foods and, at a minimum, trying three different flavors and three different brands. When you find a brand and flavor that works, you can use that as the foundation of for your cat’s calorie intake, but it is still important to offer them different types of food since you never know when you will find a “new favorite.”
  • My cat is now crazy with energy! Most cat’s will feel a renewed sense of energy once they have transitioned off of kibble and onto a fresh food diet. Take this opportunity to start a new play routine with new toys or supervised outside time. Or introduce a cat harness and be the wonderful weirdo who walks their cat down the sidewalk! 🙂

For more info about Kibble Independence Day or transitioning your cat off of kibble, check out a few more of our recent blog posts. Good luck and stop by the store if you have questions or would like to talk more.

 

Foster Cats at The Happy Beast
Natalie Soonthornswad

Why We Love Fostering Felines

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There are many reasons why we foster cats here at The Happy Beast. The first is we simply love cats and will make any excuse to spend the entire day in their company. We also use the opportunity of fostering cats to indirectly help our customers. For instance, our experience in helping our IBS foster cats reinforced our drive to help get our cat customers off of kibble, and to eliminate it from the store completely by July 2016. (You can read more about that decision in this blog post.)  Now for the update you’ve all been waiting for…

The Happy Beast foster cat Dottie

Dottie with her new friend.

We are happy to announce that Dottie was adopted in the beginning of April and is doing really well in her new home! Dottie was originally rescued from a cat hoarder by Almost Home Adoptions and had been living at the shelter for several years. She is missing her right hind paw and has IBS, so it took just the right family to come around and give her a home. Like most cats, she was a bit scared the first few days, but gradually came out of her shell and is now quite comfortable ruling the roost! Her new family is in love with her, which is exactly what she deserves, after many years of waiting for a home. We miss her dearly, but know that a quiet home environment is what is best for her and what will allow her to reach her highest potential.

Around the same time that Dottie was adopted, we acquired a new foster whose family needed a temporary guardian of their beloved cat, Carlos. He is a welcome addition to The Happy Beast family, very social and playful, and has really become the perfect companion for Fancy (who really enjoys the company of other cats). Carlos is a hardcore kibble addict and we have gone to great lengths to keep him from tearing open our bags of dog food. He is a high energy cat and his drive to break into dog food is likely due to boredom and his natural instinct to hunt. He just happens to be hunting dog food, instead of mice. A cat with this personality would really do best with safe outdoor access so he can climb trees and run around a yard. In the meantime, I take whatever down time I have to play with him, and his absolute favorite toy is the Go Cat Da Bird! Even Fancy likes to get in on the action. I try to play with the cats for 20 min 3 times per day in an effort to curb his naughty behaviors.

Cat snuggle ball

Carlos and Fancy cat fur ball.

Fancy (our other IBS kitty) is doing great! Her stools finally began to solidify after 4 months of an exclusive raw diet. Quite frankly this is a miracle I thought we would never see. We think that she really likes having another cat to cuddle with. Fancy’s inclination for the company of other cats is nothing like I’ve ever seen in the 30 cats I’ve had in my life! Initially, she played hard to get with Carlos and would hiss at him when he would get too close. After a couple of weeks they were sleeping next to each other and next thing we knew, they were cleaning each other and spooning. However, Carlos’ kibble habits did have a negative effect on Fancy. Carlos tore open a bag and Fancy must have decided to take a couple of bites because the next day she had bad diarrhea and we had to give her a bath, which is basically like bathing a wild animal. She’s small but incredibly feisty and doesn’t like to be messed with. It took about a week to recover from this “kibble episode” but she’s back on track and continues to have nicely formed stool as long as she is on an exclusively raw diet.

Stop by the store to see them for yourself and let us know if you have any success stories of your own. For example, we just received a some great news from customers Melinda & Jon about their newest family member. These are the kinds of stories we live for. 🙂

We adopted a new kitten as a rescue who was under-nourished and neglected. At The Happy Beast we were supplied with information about the best foods for her. It has only been a few weeks and already we see much improvement in her temperament, her coat and her eyes. She is gaining weight and obviously feels much better.

Cats eat meat! Phasing out kibble for cats at The Happy Beast
Natalie Soonthornswad

Cats Eat Meat! Phasing out kibble for cats at The Happy Beast

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Starting this month, we’ve decided that The Happy Beast will be phasing out kibble for cats, and that we’ll stop carrying it completely as of July 2016! We know this may come as a surprise to a few of you so we wanted to explain our thinking and provide an opportunity for our customers to ask questions. We’re looking forward to this next stage in our growth and evolution and hope you’ll join us!

For years, we have committed a great deal of our time to educating our customers and increasing  awareness about why kibble can be detrimental to a cat’s health. Despite this, we’ve continued to sell it. Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult to sell something that we believe contributes to a variety of the health issues we see in cats today. Selling kibble has become the equivalent of preaching health and wellness on one hand, and then eating a diet of fast food and potato chips on the other hand.

We think it’s important to point out that this topic is not black and white and there are certain circumstances where we recognize the benefits of providing a high-quality kibble for cats. For instance, shelters, rescue groups, and individual’s feeding barn cats, may not have the time or economic ability to feed a diet of raw or canned food to dozens of cats. Then again, we cannot ignore the fact that when you look at the Top 10 Reasons cats go to the vet (reported by VPI pet insurance) we feel that a majority of those visits could have been avoided or remedied by feeding a biologically-appropriate diet of raw or canned food that consists primarily of animal protein.

What really got us moving in this direction was my recent interview with Dr. Angie Krause. In that interview, I learned that by the time Dr. Krause entered veterinary school in 2003, she was taught that cats should be on a canned food diet, and that kibble was no longer accepted as a good diet option for cats. I was both pleasantly surprised by this information and disheartened. If the vet community was now being taught that kibble is not appropriate for cats, then why is it still used and recommended so prolifically?

Let’s quickly review a couple of the most common areas of discussion: the potential health issues and the perceived reduced costs of feeding kibble:

Where kibble falls short and the potential health issues:

Read more in our “Kibble Transition Guide for Picky Cats” blog post

  • Too low in moisture. Can lead to kidney and urinary tract issues.
  • Too low in animal protein. Animal proteins provide the full spectrum of amino acids, including Taurine, which a cat needs, whereas plant-based proteins such as peas and potatoes do not. Peas and potatoes are the most common “binder” found in grain-free kibble, and can make up as much as 44% of the total kibble diet!
  • Too high in Carbohydrates.  All kibble, even “grain-free,” contains an average of 25% carbohydrate (a cat’s natural diet is generally less than 2%). This excess amount of carbohydrates promotes obesity because it is higher in sugar and causes cats to overeat. Cats tend to overeat kibble because the carbohydrates in it do not trigger satiety like fats and proteins do.  Additionally cats lack the enzyme, Amylase, which is responsible for digesting carbohydrates

Perceived reduced costs of feeding kibble:

  • Admittedly, it’s difficult to determine exactly what the cost savings would be to feed a biologically appropriate diet (and avoid extra vet visits) versus the average cost an owner would incur at the vet in order to treat a specific health condition.
  • From my personal experience, I know that I spent well over $8k over the course of four years to help my cat with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The cost to feed raw for an average ten-pound cat would be about $240/year, and the cost to feed canned would be about $480/year. (Costs vary depending on the diet, but yes, feeding raw can be even cheaper than feeding canned!) For my cat, switching him to a raw food diet made a tremendous difference; both in terms of his overall health as well as avoiding extra visits to the vet. I only wish I had made the transition sooner.

In summary, we know that change can be difficult. For example, why should a pet food company shift away from producing a profitable line of kibble cat food when the consumer demand still exists? Or why should a pet food store stop selling it? For us, we’ve decided to stop walking the line of this debate and stop carrying kibble for cats. We’re excited to have you join us, and we’ll continue working to provide the best-possible education and products to improve the health and happiness of cats.
We’d love to have you stop by the store or comment on this blog post to ask any additional questions. Or just use the hashtag #CatsEatMeat on social media to show your support and join the movement!

Natalie Soonthornswad

What is the Difference Between Raw and Canned Food for Cats?

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According to VPI (Veterinary Pet Insurance), gastrointestinal issues are among the top ten reasons cats visit the vet. We feel very strongly that feeding a species-appropriate diet reduces the occurrence of GI issues, saving you money by eliminating treatment by a vet. In a blog post from last month, Dr. Angie Krause stated that she believes the need to see a vet would reduce by 50% if animals were fed a species appropriate diet!

Our ultimate goal is to see our customers (those wonderful cat guardians) get their animals off of dry food and onto a high moisture, high protein, low carbohydrate diet. Most people are familiar with canned foods, but raw foods are still a relatively unknown food option. There are three big differences between Raw and Canned food.

  1. Raw / Uncooked vs. Cooked (obviously)
  2. Amount of carbohydrates
  3. Use of thickening agents (e.g. Guar Gum, Carageenan, etc.)

In this post, we are going to focus on #3, because #1 is a much bigger topic (2.2 million Google Searches for: benefits of raw food diet!) and #2 has previously been discussed in our blog Flimflam Food: The Truth About Grain-Free Pet Food.

Although canned foods are a much more appropriate option for cats than dry food, it is still important to pay attention to the ingredients. Most canned foods still have a higher than ideal carbohydrate count (over 5% carb) and almost all brands utilize a thickening agent such as potato starch, tapioca starch, carrageenan, guar gum, xantham gum, locust bean gum, and agar agar. These additives are used to give the product a certain texture and consistency. Let’s focus on what these thickening agents are and their potential side effects.

  • Potato Starch – Extracted from potatoes, used as a thickening agent and does not provide any nutritional benefit. It is very important to pay attention to the amount of starch used as any amount above 5% is too high for a cat.
  • Tapioca Starch – Extracted from cassava root, used as a thickening agent. Consists almost entirely of carbohydrates and has no significant amount of essential vitamins or minerals.
  • Carrageenan – A polysaccharide extract from red seaweed. It is commonly used as a thickening agent in both human and animal foods. Studies disagree about the effects on the GI tract, but it should be noted that certain studies urge caution because of the belief that it irritates the GI tract by causing inflammation.
  • Guar Gum – Fiber from the seed of the guar bean, used as a thickening and stabilizing agent. Side effects include increased gas, diarrhea, and loose stools for digestively sensitive cats. Studies have shown that guar gum inhibits the digestibility of both fat and protein in older cats and those suffering from digestive issues, such as Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD). Read more about IBD on our blog. 
  • Xantham Gum – Used as a thickening agent and engineered in a laboratory by the US Department of Agriculture in 1969. To date, no studies have been conducted on its effect in cats, however it should be noted that Xanthan gum was identified in 2011 as the cause of a deadly form of colitis responsible for several infant illnesses and deaths.
  • Locust Bean Gum – Derived from the seed of the carob tree, it is used as a thickening agent. No studies have been conducted on its digestibility in cats. In human studies, individuals reported similar side effects to guar gum (e.g. increased gas, diarrhea, and loose stools).
  • Agar Agar – An indigestible fiber source extracted from red seaweed. In the digestive tract, it absorbs water, increases bulk, and stimulates bowel movements. It has been used for centuries as a laxative. No studies currently exist on its affects on a cat’s digestive tract.

For a healthy cat, these thickening agents might not pose a serious harm to their initial state of health. But because gums, such as Guar Gum reduce digestibility, cats with GI issues are unable to get all the nutrition that they need, and symptoms such as diarrhea may persist due to their potentially inflammatory and laxative properties. Additionally, as cats age, digestive function becomes less efficient and the body has a reduced ability to compensate for less digestible foods.

Cats with IBD, like our foster cats Dottie and Fancy, need to be on an exclusively raw food diet. We have “experimented” with different brands of canned foods, all containing various thickening agents. The results are always the same: loose and excessive stools even when given less than ¼ tsp!

Raw food is our number one option when it comes to cats. Raw food most closely simulates their natural diet of rodents, rabbits, and birds. It is the least processed of all the commercially-available food options and does not contain fillers or thickening agents. Compare the ingredients in a raw diet for cats with those of a canned diet.

  • SmallBatch Raw Chicken Formula: 97% Chicken, 1% Produce, 2% Supplements: Chicken, Skinless Chicken Necks, Chicken Backs, Chicken Livers, Chicken Hearts, Chicken Gizzards, Salmon Oil, Organic Dandelion Greens, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Organic Kelp, Organic Bee Pollen, Organic Barley Grass, Organic Cranberries
  • Mauri Brushtail Canned Food: Brushtail, Brushtail Broth, Pumpkin, Ovine Plasma, Calcium Carbonate, Fish Oil, Locust Bean Gum, Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum, Vitamins & Minerals: (Choline Chloride, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Biotin, Sodium Selenite, Folic Acid, Calcium Iodate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Calcium Pantothenate, Niacin Supplement, Iron Amino Acid Chelate , Zinc Amino Acid Chelate), Cranberries, Taurine, New Zealand Green Mussel.

Raw food is more digestible than cooked food, and especially more digestible than the protein found in kibble. Due to its higher digestibility, raw food is the best option for a cat suffering from GI issues. While feeding your cat raw meat, initially seems odd, when we take the time to consider the fact that cats don’t cook their prey, the concept of raw doesn’t seem so far fetched.

Let’s take a look at the cost to feed both raw and canned foods, I think you will be surprised at the cost (in a good way!) Remember there are lots of variables that can drive up and down the cost, for instance feeding a “novel” protein such as Rabbit or Venison will cost more, but feeding Raw “chubs” (big blocks of meat) will drive your cost down.

COST OF RAW FOOD: 3lbs Bags with 1oz sliders:

  • 8 lbs: 160 cal/day: 3oz of raw: $30/month
  • 10 lbs: 200 cal/day: 4oz of raw: $40/month
  • 12 lbs: 240 cal/day: 5oz of raw: $50/month
  • 15 lbs: 300 cal/day: 6oz of raw: $60/month

Cost of Raw Food Chubs (2lb sausage shaped)

  • 8 lbs: $18/ month
  • 10 lbs: $24/month
  • 12 lbs: $30/month
  • 15lbs: $37month

COST OF CANNED FOOD: Calorie/oz varies between brands, it’s important to check your calories so that you are feeding them the proper amount.

  • 8 lbs: 160 cal/day 4oz-5oz: $32/month
  • 10 lbs: 200 cal/day 5.5oz: $42/month
  • 12 lbs: 240 cal/day: 6.6oz: $50/month
  • 15 lbs: 300 cal/day: 6.75oz: $62/month
Feline Nutrition with Veterinarian Dr. Angie Kraus | The Happy Beast
Natalie Soonthornswad

Feline Nutrition with Veterinarian Dr. Angie Krause

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As many of you know, we spend a lot of time educating our customers about appropriate feline nutrition and which commercially-available foods meet our criteria for a proper diet. You can imagine my shock and disappointment when a coworker of my husband’s was told by his vet that cats are omnivores! I couldn’t believe my ears. The domestic cat is part of the Family Felidae which consists of 41 known species, all of which are known to be obligate carnivores.

An obligate carnivore requires a diet of meat and organs to survive, their bodies do not produce enzymes that can convert plant matter into essential amino acids and vitamins. Taurine is the most commonly known essential amino acid that cats must acquire from meat alone.

Over the years, we have had several personal conversations with local vets about feline nutrition and what their nutrition curriculum consisted of while in veterinary school. I decided to take this opportunity to sit down with veterinarian Dr. Angie Krause, DVM, CVA, CCRT from Boulder Holistic Vet, and formally interview her about feline nutrition.

As it turns out, our conversation about feline nutrition was short and simple: proper nutrition means feeding a biologically-appropriate diet that is high in moisture, high in protein, and low in carbohydrates. In essence, we should come as close to feeding a mouse, or other typical prey animal, as possible. This also means that for your cat to achieve optimum health, you should eliminate or feed as little kibble as possible. Kibble is too high in carbs and too low in moisture to meet the needs of a strict carnivore.

Of course my burning question was “why have vets recommended a kibble-based diet?” Dr. Krause said that by the time she had entered vet school in 2003, she was taught that veterinarians had gotten it wrong when it came to feeding cats. Cats had previously been lumped into the same category as small dogs, and were fed as such. However, it is now a well accepted truth that cats have very specific needs and that a diet high in carbs and low in moisture is not well suited for these strict carnivores.

Dr. Krause believes nutrition is everything and that if individuals fed their animals a biologically-appropriate, less-processed diet, the need to see a vet would decrease by 50%! She said that when she first started practicing at a conventional vet clinic, a majority of the feline cases she saw were inflammatory in nature (e.g. Pancreatitis, Irritable Bowel, etc.). When she switched to an integrated vet practice, where patients were feeding healthier foods, she saw a huge shift in the type of conditions she would see. This furthered her belief that nutrition plays a vital role in the overall health of companion animals; cats in particular.

The importance of nutrition became clear to Dr. Krause through her own health crisis. When she was just 18 years old, Dr Krause got mono, followed by chronic fatigue syndrome. The doctors told her that she would suffer the effects of her illness for the rest of her life. Dr. Krause was incredibly active and couldn’t accept this prognosis. At just 18 years old, Dr. Krause followed her intuition and used nutrition to make a full recovery. The key to her recovery was the removal of sugar!

We are all shaped by our experiences and what I valued most about my conversation with Dr. Krause was that she has personally experienced the effects that nutrition can have on our overall health and the power it has to bring us back from disease and illness.

Learn more about Dr. Kraus and her practice with Boulder Holistic Vet.