Hi Tamarque,
(sorry to mess up your name last email - I know better - sorry!)
Those do LESS kidney damage than what they do put in there:
The toxins in Wellness for cats, are the fruit and vegetables.
They say:
"Wellness canned cat foods so your pet can get a variety of tastes and benefits. Full of healthy seafood and land meats, the Wellness Canned Cat Food also provides your cat with the best in nutrient-rich vegetables, fruits, and grains".
and
" This recipe also includes delicious sweet potatoes and carrots as an excellent source of vitamins, minerals and beta-carotene. Fresh, whole cranberries and blueberries are added to help maintain proper urinary tract health."
They are so wrong.
Those help human urinary tract, but they damage feline urinary tract and especially destroy kidney tissue.
Here is how:
If the feline urinary pH rises above about 6.0 (It should be 5.5), then it causes magnesium to precipitate into sharp crystals. Thrse do kidney damage by abrasion and by blocking small vessels forcing raised pressure in the rest of the tubules, and can even cause male blockages of urinary tract if severe enough. In additon the high pH causes the wrong bacteria and there can be a constant low grade infection in the bladder and/or kidneys.
ALL fruits and vegetables are indigestible to cats. Their liver lacks the enzymes to break down the complex molecules found in plants and especially in plant antioxidants which are complex molecules. So instead of being split ito beneficial coomponents (as humans have the heavy duty equipment adn design to do) they remain as great big toxins in cats, doing harm.
(All you need do is look at feline anatomy and check the liver sliver size to understand they have only the most basic enzymes for carnivore use in there. They are totally unable by design, to process plants. They NEED a substrate in the gut for bacteria to ferment - normally from the gut of prey which may have fermenting grains etc - but they do not digest plants themsleves.)
SO the fruit/veg (and any herbs) do harm both as toxins putting pressure on the liver AND as direct kidney damaging substances.
These toxins for cats are as I mentioned, a lot worse than a little BPA, or some meal (chicken meal is just ground dried chicken meat, it is perfectly good protein). Even chicken by-product (beaks and feet and whatever is chicken leeftovers), while it is poor quality protein indeed, is way better than blueberries and such that do direct serious damage and are toxic.
Actually it is one of the worst, if not THE worst, as far as kidney damage is concerned.
It is.
It has potato or sweet potato (which has 3 feline toxins and is kidney damaging via pH)
It has carrots which do not have available carotene for cats and which do harm from pH alkalinity. (Well cooked pumpkin does help the gut bacteria and carotene needs, in small quantities like half teaspoon max a day)
Cranberries have powerful toxins (the ones that are beneficial antioxidants for humans) AND do kidney damage.
Same goes for blueberries.
SO this is a recipe for insidious increasing kidney damage, followed by liver damage and predisposing chronic disease.
I know that is not what you intended when selecting it, but it is a huge problem that manufacturers do not care that cats are NOT small humans.
They have a totally different metabolism and a totally different internal design to handle THEIR needs.
I know you say you do not want dried food, but it is a LOT safer and healthier than the canned goo which always has gum-rotting gums like carrageenan or guar gum etc in there as if it is not tooth glue enough. Or do you clean the kitty's teeth after every meal?
I know that is an option but I confess I have not got the time or inclination.
I prefer to feed a good food with high animal protein, proper animal fat, and a low carb content that does not include pH and kidney damaging herbs, fruit and veg. Dry is an excellent option for that as it keeps the food fresh - another peculiar requirement of small cats. Free-fed dry food of a good quality results in the healthieast cats.
Your cat has outdoor hunting benefits and that will help - but is also exposed to outdoor toxins - which he will seek to overcome what feels toxic from Wellness. Wellness alkaline reslults also wreck the gut health, which is essential to a cat to give them the short chain fatty acids and the vitamins that we woudl get from fruit, and veg and options the cat can not use.
Toxins in food use up a cat's internal antioxidants to detoxify all those bluebereries, cranberries, potato and carrots. It will not have any left to fight off illnesses, especially chronic ones.
A dry food of high quality has no such dangers. It also allows for eating and nibbling all day so as to avoid the breakdown of body protein that also harms kidneys if ac at is without protein between meals, or the protein is not FRESHER than we can use it. Cats can not handle putrfaction of even microscopic amounts - they use their Jacobsen's organ to help them detect it as it does harm to them to eat such food, and this is why often a cat will refuse food that say a dog will wolf down.
It is HARD TO FEED CATs without using dry. You'd need to serve fresh kill meals or insects every 3 hours round the clock. Maybe you can do that - but the canned you use says otherwise.
I can understand that - it woudl need to be YOUR choice of kibble, with high animal protein and low carbs and all good animal fat - no fruit,veg,herbs...............not the run of the mill total junkfood dry at vet clinics and stores.
Cats do thet when their gut health is bad, so as to get some folic acid which they normally get via gut bacteria.
The frui and veg etc will kill the beneficial feline gut organisms. Cats have a very poor metabolism if their gut is in poor health. They are forced to use backup inefficient short chain fatty acids instead of mainly butyric acid as when things are good.
No rather feed his gut a fermentable fiver - one fermentable by FELINE gut bacteria - such as a little well cooked plain pumpkin, or rice bran or beet fiber (those are the top three). Plus extra taurine and a tad bit of PABA.
Then his gut will be healthy and he will not crave folic from grass.
It does not matter whether food is dry or wet - it only matters what is in it and in what ratio, and whetehr the teeth are clean after eating it.
A blood panel can be the least expensive way to help a sick cat.
A mobile vet who comes to your house is a good way to get the stress down, along with a dose of Aconitum napellus 200C beforehand. Vet technique matters. ASK!
If they can distract him suitably they can get the sample with least distress.
Example: Work fast: Put him somewhere he is not normally allowed, eg kitchen counter, run the tap water as another distraction, have a new toy, scruffle him quite hard somewhere to distract the use of a needle nearby and let the vet get it done fast before he knows what is going on - and treat him to a nice game with the new toy as an ending item.
Namaste,
Irene
REPLY TO: only
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Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."
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