Whisker Fatigue

My big handsome boy Naveen.  You can see why I call him my little lion boy.

Let's talk about those cute proprioceptors on your cat's face, otherwise known as whiskers if you aren't a major science nerd like I am.  Whiskers are constantly underestimated by us (relatively) bald humans. These hypersensitive sensory organs are rooted deeper than other hairs and are anchored by rich nerve endings.  Your cat's whiskers serve many functions, all to help relay what is going on in the environment around them especially when it may be too dark to see normally.  

Whiskers pick up air currents and vibrations as well as provide spacial reasoning.  Spacial reasoning, what's that? A cat's whiskerspan runs from tip of whisker to tip of whisker and is generally as wide as he is.  This allows a cat to know if he can easily fit through an opening or not.  Whiskers also allow cats, who are naturally far-sighted, to 'see' up close when they are walking about in the dark.  It's often the reason your cat might walk along the wall in a hallway, rather than walking right down the middle.

Now, because these whiskers are sooo sensitive, they are easily over-stimulated.  I like to think of them as introverts like me!  Because I am an introvert, I get easily over-stimulated and exhausted by a lot of commotion, noise, etc.  Similarily a cat's whiskers are so physically sensitive and are constantly relaying information to your cat's brain that certain movements can be downright irritating to them.  Unfortunately even eating their food can be physically fatiguing to their systems.

In deep food bowls, a cat has to push their face down in order to reach their kibble, causing their whiskers to constantly rub against the sides of the bowl.  This can cause a lot of sensory irritation, turning meal time into a chore.


Signs of whisker fatigue can include:

• leaving food in the bowl but still acting hungry
• acting hesitant to eat
• pacing around their food bowl
• pulling food out of the bowl to eat on the ground
• standing by the food bowl prior to eating, trying to decide to eat

What can you do?  Try out a new feeding dish! I'm a fan of ceramic or stainless steel bowls for animals since they are easy to clean and do not hold onto bacteria the way plastic dishes do.  A great food dish option is Dr. Catsby's Food Bowl for Whisker Relief. Shallow dishes also apply to canned food, not just kibble!

Whisker fatigue can also stem from a crowded water bowl.  Great options for relief would be the Catit Fountain, and the Drinkwell 360 Fountain.


Soon after replacing your cat's dishes with whisker friendly options, you may notice their pickiness subside.  If not, they may have something else going on that you would want to discuss with your vet.

Kitty, showing off her pretty whiskers

Just Say No

 Say No to feeding weird ingredients and chemicals!

TOP 5 TREATS TO NEVER FEED YOUR PET!
Posted by Planet Paws on Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Milkbone Ingredients: Wheat Flour, Wheat Bran, Meat and Bone Meal, Milk, Wheat Germ, Beef Fat (Preserved with BHA), Salt, Natural Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Brewer's Dried Yeast, Malted Barley Flour, Sodium Metabisulfite (Used as a Preservative), Choline Chloride, Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Manganous Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin Supplement, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement), BHA (Used as a Preservative).

Snausages Ingredients: Wheat Flour, Beef, Soy Flour, Corn Syrup, Water Sufficient for Processing, Propylene Glycol, Liver, Animal Fat (BHA Used as a Preservative), Dried Cheese Product, Chicken By-product Meal, Calcium Sulfate, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Phosphoric Acid, Vegetable Oil, Titanium Dioxide (Color), Garlic Powder, Sorbic Acid (Used as a Preservative), Potassium Sorbate (Used as a Preservative), Natural Smoke Flavor, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40, BHA (Used as a Preservative), Citric Acid (Used as a Preservative).

Pup-eroni Ingredients: Beef, Meat By-products, Soy Grits, Sugar, Liver, Salt, Propylene Glycol, Garlic Powder, Caramel Color, Natural Smoke Flavor, Potassium Sorbate (Used as a Preservative), Sodium Nitrite (for Color Retention), Red 40, BHA (Used as a Preservative), Onion Extract.

Temptations Ingredients: Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Corn, Animal Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Rice, Dried Meat by-Products, Wheat Flour, Natural Flavors, Corn Gluten Meal, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Salt, Calcium Carbonate, Taurine, DL-Methionine, Vitamins (dl-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate [Source of Vitamin E], Vitamin A Acetate, Niacin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Biotin Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin B6], Folic Acid Supplement), Minerals (Zinc Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Manganese Sulfate, Potassium Iodide), Dried Cheese.

Beggin' Strips Ingredients: Ground wheat, corn gluten meal, wheat flour, water, glycerin, ground yellow corn, sugar, soybean meal, bacon (preserved with sodium nitrite), salt, bacon fat (preserved with BHA and citric acid), phosphoric acid, sorbic acid (a preservative), calcium propionate (a preservative), natural and artificial smoke flavors, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Yellow 6, added color. T-4005

Think Outside of the Bag - Dehydrated Dog Food

When your chickens and ducks lay a gazillion eggs a day and there are only 2 humans in your family, you need to start getting creative with how you use your eggs! Currently on the most productive day we could get 9 chicken eggs and 5 duck eggs a day, but we average 8 chicken eggs a day and 3 duck eggs, giving us just about 7 dozen eggs a week.  Beauties, aren't they!?

 

Most people know by now that I feed our dogs a homemade raw diet, where raw eggs are included on a frequent basis.  Dog's Naturally Magazine has some good info about feeding raw eggs to your dogs.  Because our eggs are fresh and from birds that free-range in our 9,000 sq ft garden, I'm comfortable feeding them a few times a week to our dogs.  I would not feel the same about store-bought eggs that come from chickens living in terrible conditions.

 

Since feeding a raw diet, I still included one day a week where I fed just regular grain-free kibble that they used to eat daily.  I want their bodies to still tolerate kibble for when we go on vacation and someone else watches them.  But I decided to move onto bigger and better alternatives and purchased a box of Honest Kitchen's Base Preference at my local Pet Club. This 7 lb box of dehydrated food will make a total of 29 lbs of food once we finish it.  I chose the Preference Base because you add your own protein (which we have lots of!) and this will replace our kibble day every week.

In preparation, the other week I scrambled up a bunch of duck eggs, dehydrated them in my Excalibur dehydrator at the proper temperature and time, and then stored them in my Reditainer Extreme Freeze containers (perfect for long term freezer storage).  This morning was our first Honest Kitchen meal and I used the feeding guideline on the back of the box.  I should have known better, especially since I was once a food rep for a high end kibble company, but the feeding amount recommendations were a bit too much. Just a word of caution, Know Thy Pet, adjust their food if it seems too much or too little.

I measured out the base mix and my dehydrated duck eggs, added the proper amount of water, stirred and waited a minute or two.  All while anxious dogs tried to be patient for breakfast.  I have to say, I think the base mix smells really good ... I was getting hungry ;)

 All mixed in and ready for some hungry dogs!  I threw in their Omega 3 fish oil capsules, which they think is doggy candy, and all 3 pooches started slopping up their breakfast!

For dinner, I will use canned sardines in place of eggs to try out a new flavor.  The dogs adore their sardines and they are super healthy for them!

Sweet potatoes, peas, cabbage, organic coconut, apples, spinach, pumpkin, bananas, celery, organic kelp...

The base mix can be a real timer saver for some.  Can you believe I make my own veggie/berry mix for our dogs? I steam veggies in a large pot, add canned pumpkin, sardines, and raw berries, then blend everything down and freeze into ice cube containers, then store in ziplock baggies.   It really isn't a lot of work, it just takes effort.

Kitties, you're not forgotten about! Honest Kitchen makes complete meals for you with Grain Free Chicken and Grain Free Turkey flavors!

Check out some of the many different flavors below!

Think Outside of the Bag: Different Pet Food Options

There are quite a few different food options out there besides kibble.  Yes kibble is cheap and very convenient but there are much healthier options out there.  When you look at kibble, do you see fresh chicken, veggies, and fish?  No because the ingredients have been so highly cooked and processed that the healthy stuff has been cooked out of it and preservatives and color dyes have been added to form little brown balls of kibble.

Let's take a look at some different feeding options...

Dehydrated Pet Foods... The Honest Kitchen is one of the best known dehydrated pet foods. The Honest kitchen produces dog and cat foods, grain-free and grain foods, and a full complete meal or a veggie/fruit 'base' where you add your own protein. Foods are reconstituted with water (at each meal, not all at once), so a 10 lb box makes 40 lbs of food in the end. This particular brand has been on my radar for a long time and I have ordered the 7 lb box of 'base' where I can add my own raw protein.  Even though I feed a raw diet, I have been feeding 1 day of kibble every week simply to keep their bodies used to it if we ever needed to feed kibble in an emergency situation.  Using The Honest Kitchen's dehydrated food once a week can now replace kibble all together.

Homecooked foods... There are a number of excellent resources out there for you to prepare your own cooked pet food.  The nice thing about cooked foods is that you can re-freeze after a large food prep day, so no daily cooking for your pet.  Cooked foods are a great fresh option if you are skittish about feeding a raw diet.  Like feeding raw, you can buy ingredients in bulk when prices are low, and freeze them until you're ready to food prep.  Homecooked and raw foods both share the benefit of knowing exactly what you're feeding your pet.  In a time where pet food recalls are almost a weekly occurrence, it's reassuring to know you're in control of what your animals eat.

Chubs...  I often hear people refer to chubs as raw food... it's not.  Chubs are refrigerated pet food sealed just like the ground beef/turkey chubs in the grocery store.  Chubs are essentially the commercial version of a homecooked diet.  FreshPet is carried in PetSmart stores and I have seen other stores like Target carry different brands.

Raw Food.. Raw food can either be homemade or commercially made.  It can also be 100% raw meat, or also contain fruits and veggies.  There are several commercially made raw foods like Nature's Variety and Stella & Chewys. I've found that feeding commercially made raw can be difficult when you live in a smaller town and maybe only one or two pet food stores carry it.  Homemade raw is how I've feeding the past 18 months or so.  It is more affordable if you have freezer space to stock up when prices are good and if you do your homework on buying options.  I currently feed about 12 proteins in rotation - some of these are store bought products like chicken quarters and pork, some I get from my raw feeding co-op where we using buying power to lower prices.  Can you believe I get ground elk/deer at only $2/lb!!  This is the benefit of belonging to a non-profit (volunteer) co-op. Homemade raw food requires doing your homework so you know your pets are getting a balanced diet, it requires freezer space to stock up when prices are good as well as storing the prepared food, it also requires you to be on top of keeping your kitchen sanitary.  Many people are concerned about salmonella and e.coli when feeding a raw diet, but fact is when you feed your pets raw meat you're a lot more meticulous of keeping your kitchen clean.

Ultimately these options all have 2 things in common: higher water content which helps with renal health, and ingredients that are not cooked until they form brown balls otherwise known as kibble.  One thing I need to stress if you decide to prepare your own pet food - Do Your Homework! Read read read, join a group of others who have been feeding homemade so they can help guide you, and ultimately 'know thy pet'.  This means all pets are different, have different nutritional needs and react to foods differently.  You know your pet best and need to be an advocate for their health.

If you want to slowly introduce fresh foods to your pet, you can start by adding steamed veggies, or cooked (and bland) meats.

There are also several books out there on home prepared foods - I recommend books by Steve Brown,  Dr. Karen Becker and Beth Taylor.  (I have been to Dr. Becker's nutrition seminars and Beth Taylor was a hydrotherapy client when I lived in IL).

Dr. Jean Dodds has an article on the 6 Forms of Processed Pet Food

Intro to Raw by Steve Brown

WebMD on raw food 

Here are some great books to check out...