As usual, the first announcement of a recall is usually not the last. The Nature’s Variety raw dog and cat food recall I announced earlier has been expanded to all bags of raw chicken and organic chicken with Best By dates of 2/5/11 or earlier. My dog has just finished an entire bag of the chicken diet–his first time eating the raw food–and has showed no adverse reactions.

Unopened bags and empty opened bags may be returned for a full refund or replacement. Members of the Nature’s Variety e-mail list also received coupons for $3 off any bag of raw diet, $3 off any kibble, and $1 off any two cans.

In positive news regarding this recall, Nature’s Variety is, as of late 2009, using a High Pressure Pasteurization on all raw frozen diets. This unique process kills pathogenic bacteria through high-pressure, water based technology. Recalling the foods that were made prior to this process went into effect will ensure that all Nature’s Variety products on the shelves will have been manufactured with this safe, new process.

Visit Nature Variety’s web site to read the entire press release, posted today.

Aura the Ragdoll kitten has had quite the first 6 months of her life. In the hospital overnight with pneumonia, several bouts of green diarrhea and lost appetite, and couldn’t be vaccinated until she was 5 months old. (Although she was de-wormed and de-flead, both of which she needed.)

I had her vaccinated with a 3-in-1 modified live vaccine in January. I called all over town looking for a veterinarian that offered a 3-in-1 killed vaccine, and could only find 4 and 5-in-1 killed. Finally I found a vet that did 3-in-1, but it was live. I decided on that one because I’m not comfortable with pumping in a whole lot of viruses at once, and I’ve heard good and bad things about both live and killed vaccines, but most importantly I’ve heard that live vaccines usually take hold better with less need for boosters. Read more…

Diarrhea in cats can be a simple irritation caused by a minor change, or it can be caused by a treatable disease or life-threatening ailment. Persistent, chronic feline diarrhea should always be treated by a veterinarian, who can run a full blood panel to show possible problem’s in the cat’s body. But before running to the vet, there are natural diarrhea treatments for cats that can be tried at home.

1. Slippery Elm Bark is a natural herb that has been used for centuries to soothe the digestive tract. It is found in health food and vitamin shops in capsules and powder form. To treat feline diarrhea, mix about a teaspoon of powder or up to one capsule full of slippery elm powder into water and mix in with the cat’s food. Alternately, the powder can be mixed into wet food. This treatment can be used daily but an improvement in stools could be seen in as little as one day.

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I am very saddened to report that my favorite pet food company, Nature’s Variety, has initiated a voluntary recall.

This recall only involves their raw medallions, patties, and chubs, and is due to possible contamination of salmonella.

The only products affected are limited to Chicken flavored food with a “Best If Used By” date of 11/10/10. This includes:

* 3 lb chicken medallions (UPC# 7 69949 60130 2) with a “Best If Used By” date of 11/10/10
* 6 lb chicken patties (UPC# 7 69949 60120 3) with a “Best If Used By” date of 11/10/10
* 2 lb chicken chubs (UPC# 7 69949 60121 0) with a “Best If Used By” date of 11/10/10

My cat Charlie just finished a bag of Nature’s Variety Raw Chicken Medallions two days ago. I do not know if the “Best If Used By” date matched, but Charlie showed no negative symptoms while eating the food. He is currently eating the Rabbit and Venison flavors and will continue to eat them for the time being. I believe in this company.

Read the official press release here.

In what strange world does a convicted animal abuser get hoisted up above his non-criminal peers and heralded as a hero? Ours…where tv executives at networks like BET latch onto train wrecks like Michael Vick to use for ratings, and where money can buy you a “production company” and PR team with which you can film yourself acting like a human being and deliver the glorious footage into unsuspecting homes via tv and the internet.
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One of the reasons my newest pet is a kitten rather than an older cat is because I wanted to be able to wean her directly onto raw food, hopefully whole prey. It’s going pretty well.

I started first by purchasing a small feeder pinky mouse from the freezer at the pet store. Although it was barely the size of a quarter, I was still amazed to see Aura, my then 9 week old Ragdoll, take it down lightening fast. When she became an extremely picky eater, those pinky mice remained the one food she would not turn down. She would turn down premium canned food like Nature’s Variety and EVO, cheap “kitty crack” canned food like Fancy Feast, and even cooked chicken…but she would always eat those pinky mice.
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One day soon, this blog will start to be about more than my pet’s health issues. Not starting today.

A few weeks ago, I got some quotes on pet health insurance. Based on what I had read in my research, I felt that a company called Pet Plan was the best way to go. I was quoted about $12.50 a month for a Bronze plan with a $200 deductible and 80% reimbursement (their cheapest plan). But, my Ragdoll kitten was healthy, eating top quality food, and was spunky and mischievous. I talked myself out of getting her health insurance. I remembered how I got my other two cats when they were about 1, and how they never had any health problems for years. Bad idea.

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Get a free bag of Nature's Variety Raw!

My friendly local Nature’s Variety sales rep turned me on to this great coupon for Nature’s Variety Raw food for dogs and cats! “Nature’s Variety Raw Frozen Diets are formulated like the ancestral diet with 95% meat, organs, and raw ground bone, and with wholesome fruits and vegetables.”

Click here to register at their web site to receive a coupon in your email for buy one get one free of their 3 pound bag. This is a great deal!

There is also a coupon to try Nature’s Variety’s all new Sweet Spots, natural frozen ice cream treats for dogs. Get a free carton when you buy any holistic diet from Nature’s Variety.

Enjoy!

I can’t believe how long it has been since I posted. The excitement and worry of dealing with Charlie’s feline asthma seems like old news now. He hasn’t coughed since September 1st and is a pro with his asthma inhaler.  Yesterday, Charlie needed his teeth cleaned. They extracted 6 teeth, including his one last “fang.” I miss that fang. My poor old man is pretty gummy now. He is resting.

Aura at 8 weeks old - click to enlarge so you can see her beautiful eyes!

Introducing Our New Kitten

The biggest excitement and challenge we’ve been having around here is the addition of our newest employee, a Ragdoll mix kitten! Charlie is not fond of cats, or really any person or animal for that matter, so I knew getting a new pet would be a challenge. That is why, rather than getting an older cat out of the shelter, I searched for a Ragdoll kitten. Although there is no guarantee, Ragdolls were bred to be gentle and loving, and I needed that for Charlie (and I wanted some hope to find a cat half as sweet as Oscar was). I also knew I should find a young kitten and a female, to help make the introduction as smooth as possible.
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Here we are, almost one month after dealing with Oscar’s liver disease and death, and now we are going through a whole new adventure with our other cat Charlie, who is 14 and has been with me since 1996.

My cat has had asthma for years and I never knew it. I took him to the vet for his dry cough many years ago, but the vet didn’t seem to know what it was. He asked if there was vomiting or hairballs (there weren’t), said “I wish he’d cough right now so I could see it,” and sent me home with a shrug and a 7-day course of antibiotic which didn’t help. Since he didn’t seem concerned, I wasn’t concerned. Charlie never wheezed or seemed out of breath. He just coughed once in a while.

So years went by, and then Oscar passed away. Oscar passed on the eve of an August heat wave. For the next two weeks, I slowly started to notice–perhaps because I now didn’t have an eye on Oscar every minute of the day–that Charlie’s coughing was increasing. We tried to bring home a new cat in a foster-to-adopt situation, but the stress made Charlie cough more. So off to the vet we went.

Charlie was x-rayed and his lungs had the “classic donuts” associated with the inflamed airways of asthma. The vet said old, dead heartworms couldn’t be ruled out, but she wanted to lean toward asthma and either way, the treatment was with steroids. I was very nervous about this, but I felt better that so was she. She wanted me to start him on 5 mg of prednisone twice a day for a week, and slowly taper off until we found the smallest amount that kept his coughing under control. I was nervous still, because I knew from previous research that steroids can give cats diabetes, and Charlie is a bigger cat. So I did my research, as always, and became a less compliant cat mom for my veterinarian, as usual. Read more…