<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Continued responses re Petfood from December, 05:

 

-----"Have you tried Felidae?
http://canidae.com/cats/cats_and_kitten/dry.html.  My cats love this and the
Platinum (lower calorie version).  I've been able to special order it at the
local organic grocer.  It is also available from Pet Food Direct, which has
very reasonable shipping charges.  They also offer coupons once you've
ordered from them once, for up to 23% off your order".  I have not checked
this out yet, just passing on.  Sounds interesting, I like the ordering on
line and reasonable shipping charges.

 

-----I feed my cats Felidae dry and canned food.  There appears to be no
wheat, etc. in it.  They also make a dog food of which the only canned dog
food that has barley is the lamb and rice I believe.  You can find a list of
ingredients on the site, www.canidae.com <http://www.canidae.com/> .  I
haven't checked this out yet.

 

-----I have dogs, but I just checked the website for Dick Van Patten's
Natural Balance, and it does list cat food.  I buy it at PetCo, and I like
it because not only is it gluten free, but unlike the Wal-Mart-typical
brands (where even lamb and rice allergy formulas are full of corn and wheat
and nasty preservatives.  Dick keeps the food real, and has wonderful flavor
options such as duck and potato, fish and sweet potato, venison and brown
rice.  Mind you, in the end, I've gone back to wanting to give them mostly
real food (for five years) I cook for them, then a vet sort of convinced me
pet food is better.) I needed a break at the time and was ready to
experiment.  He includes the extras that they need, like flaxseed oil, but
leaves out soy, wheat, barley, oats.  A lot of people feel that the
processed food leads to ill health, and for the lower quality ones this may
be true".  I haven't checked out Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance pet foods
yet, but it sounds interesting.  Just passing on info here.  I certainly
agree with the poster here that the cheaper brands of any pet food can be
disastrous to an animal's health with all the preservatives they add.

 

-----"I recommend that you check out this website, www.homevet.com
<http://www.homevet.com/> .  Dr. Jeff is a friend of mine (who happens to be
a vet who has celiac disease) and I'm sure he'll have suggestions or recipes
for gf cat food".  I have checked this site out quickly and it looks very
interesting.  I haven't done extensive reading though, plan on doing more
research here.  Like I said, I am a very busy person especially as of late.

 

-----"After reading a very interesting paper (50 pages) written by a vet
with CD www.dogtorj.com <http://www.dogtorj.com/> , we decided that our
pooch was experiencing health problems due to gluten.  We switched him to
lamb and rice and he is much improved.  Following is a link for gluten free
homemade dog treats:
http://www.gbroline.com/cathey/goldenbone/wheatfree.htm".  I have not tried
this website out yet, just came across it as I am summarizing, this sounds
very interesting!

 

-----This is from a DVM - "Cats have very complex nutritional needs that are
difficult to properly meet with homemade diets.  I personally strongly
recommend against trying.  In the "bad old days" before widespread use of
well balanced commercial diets there were a lot of cats dying from dilated
cardiac myopathy and their general life expectancy was much lower.  Consult
your veterinarian, but barring some health problem that needs a special
diet, I recommend feeding a good quality commercial diet and washing your
hands after handling it".  This DVM had her dog serum allergy tested by
Bio-Medical Services and whose dog tested borderline positive allergy for
soy, peanut, wheat and sweet potato.  She feeds her dog Purina Pro Plan
Performance - he is a picky eating and very active German Sheperd.

 

My solution for the cats is pending on receiving the WellnessSuper5 dry
catfood and additional research.  In the meantime I wear gloves when
handling their food and bowls and hate it - I am very sensitive, I am
forever wiping down the back door knob and area where I keep the animal food
bins and I want to avoid this source of anxiety.  Some of you said "don't
sweat the small stuff exposure" but that doesn't work for me - I am not
sweating it, I want to eliminate chance encounters of gluten exposure in
every sense without thinking twice about it, ESPECIALLY in my own home
environment where I can control such things.  Obviously my house is gluten
free as possible and as my knowledge grows I am ever more diligent to avoid
any source of gluten exposure.  From the many responses that I received that
say they have the same concerns and problem I do, the same paranoia, this
summary is for them.  Of course one needs to wash their hands after handling
animal's food, that is so obvious. For that matter, they should wash their
hands before they touch the animal food too, as bacteria can grow nicely in
warm, dark bags and contaminate the animals' foodstuff.

 

My solution for my Golden Retreiver is resolved and evolving.  I email order
from www.flintriver.com <http://www.flintriver.com/> .  They have all kinds
of pet food and their shipping is always free.  The cats, unfortunately, do
not like the taste of any of the dry cat foods.  When you order regularly
from them you get a 10% discount.  I buy the 10 lb. bag of lamb & rice for
$16.73 and I can reorder in a flash and they deliver very promptly.  You can
auto order too or they will send you a reminder it's time to reorder via
email.  Their food seems to be of excellent quality.  The formula is a
little dry though as I had seen my dog straining at stool at first until I
added a tablespoon of flaxseed oil and olive oil with each meal and that has
helped a lot.  She loves the food, there are several gluten free options.
You should check www.flintriver.com <http://www.flintriver.com/>  out just
to check out the pictures of the pets that are on the food that people send
in - they all look fantastic!  Hope this helps everyone, write to me if you
have other suggestions.  Thanks, Dorina, near Galveston, TX
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