>From:	Robert W. Avery <[log in to unmask]>:
>Wow, a 10-day fast for your cat blows my mind!

Doug:
Not as much as the cat's mind.

>tell us more. How did you decide when to start feeding her again?  Was
> she sick or did you just decide to fast her?

Last winter, when I was doing a 15-day fast, I just decided to put
her on her longest yet (I think she did 5 days the previous winter
when I was on another long fast).  She was very slim to begin with,
& combined with the fact that around day 7 she had a little tantrum
& started tossing things around in the kitchen (I suspect this was
the return of true hunger) leads me to suspect that I over-fasted
her a little, but it was no big deal & she did not seem out of sorts
except for the little tantrum.  I just broke her fast at 10 because
I thought her weight was plenty low.  It's real easy to fast any
pet, especially if they do not see you eating too if they are in the
habit of mooching off your meals.  My cat does not eat in the AM, so
either she has no natural hunger then or just knows that it is not
going to happen until the late afternoon, early evening when I get
home.  Hunger passes anyway after 20 minutes or so.  She associates
me being in the kitchen with feeding her, & since I stayed out of
the kitchen during my own fast the meowing did not really start.
Anyway it is only a day or so before ketosis kicks in & she was not
all that concerned about eating.  It's no big deal, she's fasted
plenty of other times, & knows that when I'm not eating she isn't
either.  When she is not confronted with the kitchen stimulus,
hunger does not really pop up.  It just does not really bother her.
One thing I did note is that I overfed her a little after breaking
her fast, & she just kind of went zombie & went off to recuperate
from the overfeeding.  Obviously her appetite was greatly diminished
after the fast, & she would only desire rather small portions.  She
was much more affectionate/sociable when fasting (probably some of
this was a desire to get body heat from me).

>My understanding is that cats (and dogs to a lesser degree)
> need more sulfur (which is in protein foods) in their diets than we do.

Off the top of my head I would doubt that there would be much more
of a requirement, or that this requirement could not readily be met
from a broad diet.

>  A vegetarian cat/dog book I saw suggested supplementing
>fruits/veggies/grains with liberal use of raw eggs.

I think I might have it, is that the old one which Health Research
put out?

>A 30-year cat sounds like a reasonable target to me.  I met a
> cat-food cat that lived to 19; her owner died shortly after of cancer.

My aunt had one that lived to be 21 raised conventionally, until my
uncle ran over it with a truck.  I should get my act together & get
my cat on antioxidants, as I think 30 would be a conservative target
if these were tossed in too.

--Doug Schwartz
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