Robert & Shannon Nelson wrote:
Hi Shannon,
Well I think not as that would include too much sugar and "beet as a
vegetable"; the sugar is inflammatory and the beet as a vegetable
changes feline pH to alkaline and it needs to be acid.
The beet fiber in better cat foods is just the fiber - the main part
of the beet vegtetable and the sugar has been extracted.
For food making at home, it's better to use rice bran - which really
is a superfood in terms of health benefits anyway where the beet fiber
is really just fiber.
Roughly 250 to 500 mg per pound of meat/fish - more for fish.
I buy it as powder from bulknutrition.com
However if the gut is well supported by suitable bacterial fermentation,
taurine is one of the many by-products of the right gut bacteria in
cats. It does not hurt with taurine to err on the side of using too much
however, so it's better to add some when the food source might be low.
Certainly it can be.
Depends whether it is shedding for weather reasons or health reasons.
Certainly gut health has a huge impact on skin condition, and that
relates to fur shedding of the unhealthy kind, yes.
All healthy cats will still shed fur as their method of temperature
regulation through "clothing change" however. I find my cats are usually
about 2 months ahead of the weather in their planning, especially for
cold spells. I can know when it will be cold in two months time by the
increase in food per day eaten, in preparation of coat building starting
2 months before a cold spell. How much extra they eat also tells me how
cold it will be:-)) ....WAY better than any weatherman.
I've not figured the shedding aspect as well as the growing fur aspect
- but that too may be in response to the feline advance warning system -
I'm not sure how long it takes a follicle to change phase in advance of
hair shedding. Assuming there is a need for "advance" planning, then I
would expect the nutritional aspects to be needed in advance as well. In
general a full layer of skin takes about 3 months to grow.
Cats who shed masses of hair unrelated to weather adjustment do have
serious health problems - and fur shedding then is a great indicator of
it being time to fix the health. The quality of the fur is an even
earlier indication - it gets dry or oily and matts easily, does not lie
down neatly, looks ungroomed or spiky (called a "staring" coat) or gets
brittle and breaks or bends easily, long before it sheds too easily.
It will happen easily if cats get the wrong kind of protein (wheat
gluten, soy, and other vegetable protein or by-products) or not enough
of the right kind as well as if the gut flora is not right.
It's hard to stress gut flora too much in cats - it essentially does for
cats what fruit and veg does for us - and then some. (I have an article
on it if you are interested.)
Namaste,
Irene
--
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."