Prescription Pet Food Lawsuit

As I have mentioned many times, including in two recent posts (May 2016 and June 2016), there are many problems with prescription pet foods that are finally coming to the surface.

I'm sure you have noticed that people are fed up with a lot of things these days, and this includes the pet food industry, including prescription pet foods. And now finally, a couple of law firms have teamed up and are representing consumers in a class action lawsuit against the four main manufacturers of prescription pet foods -- Hill's, Purina, Royal Canin and Iams.

Have you purchased a prescription pet food in the last four years? Have you been told that your pet needed a pet food available by prescription only? Were you referred to an on-site veterinarian (Banfield, BluePearl, for example) to write the prescription, with or without the need to examine your pet?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, please call and speak with one of the lawyers at the number provided in this article, which also explains more about it.

It's up to us to speak up and speak out for the animals!

I haven't given any of our pets prescription foods in over two decades and would never consider giving them, but a lot of my clients do and have.

To read more about the class action lawsuit and how to join it, go to:

http://www.walkuplawoffice.com/Pet-Food-Fraud-Landing-Page_ppc_lp.shtml

To read Susan Thixton's (TruthAboutPetFood.com) article about the lawsuit, go here:

http://truthaboutpetfood.com/another-pet-food-lawsuit/

Please help support pet food advocacy work by going here:

http://truthaboutpetfood.com/help-support-the-truth-2/

(Update 1/9/17): To read Dr. Karen Becker's article about this lawsuit go here:

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2017/01/09/prescription-pet-foods-lawsuit.aspx

SUPPORT THE TRUTH

A Dog's Purpose - The Movie

Grab a kleenex and check out this trailer for an upcoming movie A Dog's Purpose. 

Never had a dog? This movie will give you insight into why these unconditional love-filled creatures are so special.

Reversing Cancer in Dogs

Yes! This is wonderful news. Check out this state of the art facility outside of Austin, Texas that is a one-of-a-kind sanctuary for dogs that have cancer! They not only treat them and are a forever home if necessary, but they are reversing cancer in some cases with diet and then adopting them out! This is amazing and so exciting!

Watch this short video or learn more by going to their website at Ketopetsanctuary.com

What Is Your Pet's Normal Poop?

Our pets can't tell us when they are not feeling well and we may not always be able to tell if something is up unless they are showing obvious signs. One good and easy way to tell if there is cause for concern in regards to your pet's health is by their poop. Their poop can tell you a lot!

It's easy to tell if something is going on with indoor cats because they use a litter box that you scoop daily. It can be challenging to narrow it down to which cat it is in a multiple cat household so knowing each cat's habits and observation are key. (This is also one of the reasons litter boxes should be scooped daily so if something does show up that warrants attention, you can get it checked out asap because the sooner you notice it and get it taken care of, the better.) It's more difficult with outside cats or cats that go primarily outdoors unless you observe them or can find their poop.

Our cats are indoor/outdoor. We have litter boxes inside and we also made an outdoor litter box in our backyard made out of sand for a child's sandbox with a layer of rocks on the bottom and landscape timbers for a frame. Our three-legged cat Kilo uses it all the time. He has a hard time digging in the backyard with only one front leg and finds it easier to dig in the soft sand. 

 When it comes to dogs, unless you pick up their poop regularly and/or take your dog for a daily walk you may not notice that something is off by way of poop detection. I have discovered worms and other serious issues going on many times over the years while pet sitting or walking dogs and the dog's guardian had no idea. It's important to watch your pets and know what their elimination habits are.

I see a lot of poop and I've seen every kind shown in the video below! Unfortunately, one very common type I see when it comes to cats in particular, is very dry, hard stools. This is an obvious outward sign of dehydration. This is due to a dry food diet. Cats are not physiologically made to sustain vibrant health on a diet of highly processed dry kibble and it shows in their stools among other things. 

Though this informative video shows a dog, the same holds true for cats as well.

Are You Over Vaccinating Your Pets?

Do your pets really need all those vaccinations? Learn the truth about pet vaccinations in this short no-nonsense video by holistic veterinarian Dr. Karen Becker. In this day and time you must be a proactive pet guardian and educate yourself.

Natural Action Water Portable Device Sale

If you have been sitting on the fence about purchasing a Natural Action Technologies Structured Water Device because of limited finances, now is the perfect opportunity to get a Dynamically Enhanced Portable Device for the best prices ever offered! The Portable Device is the most popular of the structured water devices. You can now buy used portable devices starting at just $147! And you still get the same 10 year warranty and 90 day money back guarantee! Plus bonuses including FREE shipping! Now is your chance to experience Structured Water! The portable unit is multi-functional and can be used for drinking, bathing, plants, pets, cooking -- everywhere you use water!

The reason for the now available used portable devices is because customers who have portable devices but want to upgrade to a Jivara 24 karat gold unit are taking advantage of the NAT/Nolte to Jivara Upgrade Program and are trading in their portable units. This made used portable units available for the first time!

Get one for your pets! Read what other pet lovers have to say after providing their pets with Structured Water:  

Of course the new Dynamically Enhanced Portable Devices are also available and are on sale for $317!

Don't see what you are looking for here? There are more options available! 

Pet Fooled, The Movie

The film the pet food industry doesn’t want a world of pet food consumers to see; Pet Fooled -- coming soon. To be released January 2017. Yes! Check out the trailer below. The film just debuted at the Catalina Film Festival. It is unknown if the film will be airing in theaters but will probably be available on Pay Per View type channels beginning in early January.

"Please see the film. And for those stubborn friends and family members who still won’t listen to you about pet food…send them to this film. Pet Fooled might just be the perfect change of attitude for many," says Susan Thixton of TruthAboutPetFood.com.

Pet owners in the Washington DC area can view the film at the Utopia Film Festival October 21 – 23, 2016. Facebook users can follow information on the film by liking their Facebook page.



After you watch the trailer above, check out this quick video clip (less than 2 min.) below of Mike Adams (HealthRanger.com) being interviewed by Ty Bollinger (TheTruthAboutCancer.com) about the same subject.

Litteroma - A Natural Litter Box Deodorizer

Stop buying those commercial litter box deodorizers consisting of fake fragrances and chemicals! Mother Nature has the answer to smelly litter box problems. Not only are these healthier choices but they have many benefits too. Besides, cats have a much keener sense of smell than we do and do not like the overwhelming chemical induced smells coming from scented litters or commercial deodorizers. I always recommend using a good unscented scoopable cat litter. (Not all cat litters are created equal.)

My natural litter box deodorizers are animal-friendly and made with two ingredients; pure baking soda and a special blend of medical/veterinary grade, pure essential oils. The blends themselves are created by holistic veterinarian Melissa Shelton, DVM,  who is an expert on essential oils and animals, and author of Essential Oils for Natural Pet Care: A Veterinarian's Desk Reference for the Top Health Concerns for Cats, Dogs and Horses (2011), and The Animal Desk Reference: Essential Oils for Animals (2012).

There are three different litter box deodorizers available, each with a different blend of veterinary grade essential oils (each blend created by Dr. Shelton). They come in clear plastic bottles (as shown) and have a dual shaker/pour top. Each bottle contains one pound of deodorizer. Choose from:

G I Goe Cat - is great for cats with any type of gastrointestinal concerns, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, indigestion or car sickness. Also good for cats that have an unknown or emotional aversion to the litter box. 

Smells Away Cat - as the name implies, is great for litter box odor elimination (as well as shoes, laundry hampers, dog bedding and more) and is also a great bug repellent! Bugs don't like it and stay away too! Some cats are more attracted to the litter box when this blend is used because it contains Catnip essential oil. 

All Cat - this blend helps support the thyroid, liver, kidney, heart health, reduction of inflammation, and all of the basic things cats are prone to. A tiny addition of Catnip essential oil in this blend helps to promote litter box use.

Not only are these deodorizers non-toxic and safe for cats, they have pleasant aromas that appeal to the most sensitive noses, animals and humans alike, and there are many benefits to the use of essential oils.

Essential oils are Nature's medicines and can effect us and our animals on many different levels; not only on a physical level but also on emotional, mental and spiritual levels.

For instance, my mother has a six-year-old cat that she's has since he was a kitten. Although he's always been good about using the litter box to urinate, he had an aversion to doing number two in it no matter how clean it was. She had tried things like different kinds of litters (Cat Attract worked for awhile) and adding another litter box without success. Then after giving her some of the G I Goe Litteroma to try (which I was using for our cat with IBD), she excitedly reported that he began doing number two in the box instead of beside it!

Litteroma - Choose from: GI Goe, Smells Away or All Cat - (1 lb)  $6.00 each

Please use the "Contact Form" on the right side of this blog to send us an email and let us know what you want to order. We will get back to you with payment and shipping/delivery methods. These are also available on our "Shop" page. 

Beneful = Bad News

After receiving thousands of complaints of sick and dead dogs linked to Beneful Dog Food over the last few years, it turns out the FDA actually did do some testing on the dog food and inspections at some of their manufacturing plants as well. But get this: They did the testing and inspections in 2013, but just released the results on their website in April 2016. Three years later. There was no public notice. If it wasn't for our pet food advocate Susan Thixton (TruthAboutPetFood.com) "finding" this information on the FDA's website and making us aware of it, I wouldn't even be telling you this.  

What their reports say are disturbing. For one thing, I'm sure you will be horrified to know that they found the same ingredients in Beneful that were in the foods that caused the largest and deadliest pet food recall in our history (2007), killing thousands of pets. And this is just the beginning. I'm not going to tell you everything they found because Susan Thixton has already done so in her article here:

http://truthaboutpetfood.com/fda-releases-concerning-information-about-beneful/

This company shouldn't be in business, yet dogs are still being fed this poison. And unless you stay informed by someone who keeps up with this stuff or someone who is always surfing the FDA's website, you wouldn't know any better. The FDA releases the information in such a way so as not to bring any attention to it or to let anyone even know about it, but yet if asked about it, they can say that it's right there in public view for anyone to see. You mean you didn't know about it? (Duh.)

They think we are stupid. They don't care about your animals. All they care about is that you keep buying their products which earns them millions. Read the reports. Decide for yourself.

I would never recommend this food to begin with, just based on the ingredients; and then you add all of these findings...scary, to say the least.

Any time I see someone who feeds Beneful to their dogs (dry or wet) I share these articles with them or tell them about what I've learned. Won't you please do the same? It is up to us to bring awareness, which is the key to keeping our pets safe and healthy.

Zoopharmacognosy: Animals' Clever Use of Nature's Medicine

Zoopharmacognosy is the study of how animals self-medicate in the wild. After watching a video of Dr. Karen Becker interviewing Caroline Ingraham, and also videos of it being applied to dogs, I was totally fascinated with this! 

Caroline Ingraham is the founder of Applied Zoopharmacognosy and has spent three decades researching and observing how animals heal themselves.

Dr. Becker states, "In applied Zoopharmacognosy, Caroline and other practitioners bring remedies to animals that don't live in the wild, providing them with a wide range to choose from to bring themselves back into health. Empowering animals to self-medicate often results in a swift and complete cure." She offers plant extracts in different forms including using essential oils. Caroline shares some interesting cases in the interview as well as explaining why sometimes dogs will eat things that poison them.

This is really amazing. This is the future of natural medicinal healing for animals! Back to nature, that's what it's about. Nature has the answers. Check out the videos here:








Read the transcript of the interview here.

Prescription Pet Foods - Ignored Ethics

As I recently mentioned in a previous article, prescription pet foods have a list of problems, including never being proven to be safe or effective at what they claim the foods to be for, which caused the FDA to recently put in place a new compliance policy guidance stating that veterinarians are now responsible for the prescription foods. (I wonder how many veterinarians are even aware of this?)

Another issue that Susan Thixton, owner of TruthAboutPetFood.com, founding partner of AssociationforTruthinPetFood.com, and author of Buyer Beware, points out in a recent article is that one of the AVMA's  Principles of Veterinary Medical Ethics (PVME), is being ignored when it comes to prescription pet foods. She's absolutely right. Read her article by clicking here.

This should be a wake up call for pet food consumers who feed their pets prescription foods. Do you really want to be giving your pets foods that have never been proven safe or effective -- according to the FDA themselves -- who, for this reason, recently gave all responsibility for these foods to vets? Foods that vets are selling and profiting from while ignoring the very ethical conduct they are expected to adhere to, which is “Veterinarians shall not promote, sell, prescribe, dispense, or use secret remedies or any other product for which they do not know the ingredients.”?  Foods that contain the very ingredients that you want to be avoiding? Ingredients that violate federal law? As Susan Thixton states, "Do you think many veterinarians prescribing Rx pet foods know what poultry by products or animal fat is? Have they read the science on carrageenan? It’s simple…most do not know." 

Other questions I have are: Do you think they (vets) know what GMOs are? And that the Rx foods contain them? If they did, do you think they would still prescribe them, especially considering they are now the responsible party for Rx foods?

Check out this excellent article listing the Top Ten Myths About Pet Food and Nutrition by Dr. Jean Hofve, Holistic Veterinarian, and see what she has to say about prescription foods, which is the first on her list.

Here is a very informative (13 min.) video explaining GMOs and some of the studies done on them, by one of my favorite health researchers Mike Adams, The Health Ranger.





And another (9 min.) short video from Anthony Samsel of the Glyphosate paper by Samsel and Seneff, sharing results of a study as well:

National Dog Bite Prevention Week

This week, May 15th - 21st, is National Dog Bite Prevention Week. 

Pet Sitters International, the world's largest educational association for professional pet sitters is urging dog lovers to think twice. Like their article states, when we are walking dogs, we try to avoid other people and animals for everyone's safety -- humans and animals alike. I've turned around and walked the other way and sometimes had to run to avoid an unwanted situation many times. The nightmare is when there is a loose dog running at you while walking a client's dog; or a small child running toward you to pet the dog you're walking, which is a dog that doesn't like being around children. As you can imagine, over the course of fourteen years I've encountered all kinds of situations. 

All dog lovers need to remember that not all dogs that are being walked are being walked by their guardians. Their pet sitter or dog walker may or may not know how that dog will react in any given situation. It's safest for us to just avoid others.

Prevention is the key and Pet Sitters International has some good tips for all dog lovers in this article on how to prevent dog bites....and be on the look-out for the new leash badges!

Prescription Pet Foods

You know how the FDA has strictly enforced the idea that drugs are the only cure or treatment of illness and that no one in the food industry is allowed to make any wellness or health claims when it comes to food products? 

But did you know that the FDA allows the pet food industry the same privilege as a drug? The FDA allows prescription pet foods to claim they cure or treat diseases AND they can do so without any of the requirements of a drug -- such as having to prove the effectiveness or safety! Doesn't that sound crazy? It's true!

And because these "food drugs" have not been proven for effectiveness or safety, (which the FDA themselves state) the FDA has a new Compliance Policy Guidance  which states that prescription pet foods are now the responsibility of the veterinarians! Not the FDA, not the pet food companies, but the veterinarians are responsible for the efficacy and safety of prescription pet foods. 

Whoa, that's pretty heavy. 

This puts vets in the position that they must learn about the ingredients in these foods, and as Susan Thixton of Truth About Pet Food puts it:

"And should a veterinarian not invest the time to learn the risks of many ingredients used in prescription pet foods – because the FDA dumped responsibility of the safety and efficacy of these pet foods into the lap of veterinarians, it appears the the FDA just set them up for consumer lawsuits (should the prescription pet food cause additional illness to the pet)."

"...should the prescription pet food cause additional illness to the pet."  How can they not, when these foods are full of GMO ingredients, carcinogens and other ingredients I would never want to feed my animals? The problem is, how would you prove it? 

Is it worth the risk of giving your pets foods that have not even been proven to be safe, let alone actually be effective at what they claim?

The last time I gave one of our pets a prescription food was almost two decades ago. It definitely had an adverse affect on our pet, (a dog who had never been on a prescription food before) of which the symptoms disappeared immediately upon removing the prescription food. She had never experienced the problem before the food either. I told our vet about it but they didn't or couldn't believe it was the food and dismissed it, though it was very obvious to us. It was the food and I didn't even know much at all about pet foods then. After researching pet foods and the ingredients in them for many years now, it's easy to understand. 

Still today, when I read the ingredient list of the prescription foods that I see people feeding their pets, I just cringe. Now that the FDA has created this new Compliance Policy Guidance (CPG) on prescription pet foods and given all the responsibility to vets, maybe now they will re-evaluate being in the pet food business altogether. I certainly hope so.

For more details on this subject including the ingredients of prescription foods and the new FDA CPG, please click here.

9 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Seafood Cat Foods

I know, cats can be finicky eaters...and they always seem to go for the seafood flavors, right? It's because they are really smelly and to a cat this is enticing. Pet food manufacturers know this. They know that if they just add some type of fish to their foods, the cats will go for it. In fact, I have discovered that some entire lines of can cat foods contain fish in the ingredients, even when it doesn't state so at all on the front of the label. It might say something like "beef dinner in gravy" or "chicken dinner in gravy" on the front of the label, along with "grain free" and "gluten free", so you think you're getting some quality food without fish in it.....wrong! Read the list of ingredients on the back and you will find fish among the top 5 ingredients!

9 reasons why you should avoid 

giving fish or seafood flavor foods (can or dry!) to your cats:

1    They contain PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl) and PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) which are flame retardant chemicals that are also derived from marine organisms. PCBs and PBDEs are endocrine and thyroid disruptors.

2    They most likely contain elevated levels of heavy metals including mercury. The FDA advises women of child bearing age and children to avoid certain fish entirely for this reason. If they are dangerous for children, cats are at an even higher risk!

3    Fish is one of the most highly allergic foods for cats, which causes inflammatory conditions.

4    It's not a species appropriate diet for cats.

5    Fish fed in high amounts can lead to thiamine deficiency.

6    Fish fed long term can deplete vitamin E and vitamin E deficiency causes a painful condition called steatitis, which can be life threatening.

7    Seafood is a rich source of iodine and cats are not designed to process a lot of iodine.

8    Magnesium content in fish has been linked to urinary tract diseases in cats; a diet with too much magnesium can cause ammonium phosphate crystals or struvite crystals.

9    Pet food regulations require menadione sodium bisulfite to be the ONLY vitamin K source for a fish based cat food. There is no other vitamin K source approved (regulations) for a fish based cat food. This is a synthetic form of vitamin K3, which for humans is known to be hazardous to our health if ingested and that prolonged exposure to it can produce organ damage. So how could it be okay for our pets to eat, especially when they are fed the same thing for every meal over long periods of time?


For more details on why you should stop feeding your kitties fish or fish-flavored cat foods please read this article written by holistic veterinarian Dr. Karen Becker  by clicking here. 

For more details on menadione sodium bisulfite and other unwanted pet food ingredients please read this article by Susan Thixton at TruthAboutPetFood.com on How Safe is Pet Food?

My Natural Cat

Kilo, our seven month old kitten is loving his new food My Natural Cat by Feline Instincts! And I couldn't be happier! Since he loves raw organic ground chicken so much (better than anything else), I was wanting to make a complete and balanced food with the raw chicken that wouldn't be too complicated or involved and I found the perfect thing! My Natural Cat is a natural nutritional supplement mix that is AAFCO and veterinarian approved. All you do is add water, salmon oil, raw ground meat (organic is best), mix well and it's done!

Kilo loves it and will even eat it cold, right out of the refrigerator! Wow. I started with the trial size (plus chicken liver), which makes mix for four pounds of meat. I portioned it into what he will eat in a couple days and freeze the extra. I take them out of the freezer and put them in the refrigerator as needed. You don't want it to be in the refrigerator more than 2 or 3 days. He has been going through it so fast that I had to hurry and order the regular size bag of supplement mix.

FelineInstincts.com also has a supplement mix for kidney support and a supplement mix for dogs too! (Sorry, no trial size available for dogs.) 

Here's how easy it is to make:

You will need a meat grinder unless you buy the meat already ground. I bought an inexpensive one on Amazon for under $70 that works great and is easy to clean. 

I buy organic, boneless, skinless chicken breast and thighs at Costco.

When buying salmon oil, look for wild caught salmon oil due to farmed salmon being fed GMOs or the fish being GMO themselves. I found wild caught Alaskan salmon oil capsules (1,000 mg) at HEB.

Update 6/25/16: Kilo still loves his My Natural Cat raw food! I am now also making the dog version for our dog Duke, who loves it too!

Note: The raw chicken mix is one of the foods Kilo eats. His meals are rotated between that and other foods and sources of protein. It is important to feed a variety of foods and sources of protein. Cats are not meant to eat the same thing all the time any more than we are. Variety is the key!

Update 7/31/19: Kilo still loves his My Natural Cat raw food. It is his favorite, but he likes a variety of foods.

Letter to Pet Owners Who Don't Use Professional Pet Sitters

As a Professional Pet Sitter it can sometimes be frustrating to hear the term "pet sitter" being used so loosely. Some people refer to their friends as the pet sitter, a family member, the child next door or the elderly woman across the street. The media does it too. You can call anybody a pet sitter, or anyone can put an ad online calling themselves a pet sitter, but these are not Professional Pet Sitters. There's a big difference. 

Pet Sitters International (PSI), the world's largest education association for professional pet sitters recently published an Open Letter to Pet Owners Who Don't Use Professional Pet Sitters. I applaud their message.

Click HERE to read the article.

Duke turns 14!

Our dog Duke turns 14 years old this month! And he's doing great! He just recently had his yearly physical exam and blood work done and everything looked great. In fact, his kidney values, which showed some elevation on a blood test just six months prior, had improved! That's something I don't normally hear! How did I manage that? I already feed him quality human grade, organic or raw foods with added supplements like probiotics, digestive enzymes and coconut oil along with the best water you can drink -- structured water. The only thing I did different since then is I added a daily kidney and liver supplement in his food. It seems to have done the trick! What good news! 

To celebrate his birthday I made him pumpkin muffins for dogs made with healthy ingredients. Duke loves them! I got the recipe out of a book called Doggy Desserts and customized it with organic ingredients. They're easy and quick to make. I've included the recipe if you would like to make them for your own dog(s):

Pumpkin Muffins for Dogs

Pumpkin Muffins for Dogs

2-1/2 cups unbleached white flour (I used Namaste Gluten Free Perfect Flour Blend)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda (organic)
1 tsp baking powder (organic, no aluminum)
1/2 cup all natural applesauce, no sugar added (organic)
1 egg (organic)
1 cup can pumpkin (organic)
1/4 cup honey (local)
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, chopped (optional)

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients until blended. Spoon the batter into muffin cups, 3/4 full. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes. The muffins are completely baked when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool before removing from pan. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Break apart into pieces for smaller dogs and for dogs who inhale food.

Yield: The book says approximately 8 muffins. However, I got 21 muffins out of this recipe! (though I did use a different kind of flour.)

Happy 14th Birthday Duke!

The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest

Though this is not necessarily directly related to the subject of pets, it's important enough I wanted to share with as many people as possible.

The Truth About Cancer: A Global Quest is the documentary everyone is talking about. It's already saved lives. If you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend watching it!  Everyone needs to see it. I watched it last year and bought the DVDs so I can share it with more people. I plan on watching it again as it is so full of information! This is not just for people who have or have had cancer, but also for those who want to avoid it in the first place. That pretty much covers everyone I think! You will be amazed at what you learn on this life changing documentary.

 FREE and on-line, this is a must-see 9 part cancer docu-series, April 12 - 20.

CLICK HERE to learn more and sign up to watch it for FREE.

What is Structured Water?

In this short video, inventor Clayton Nolte explains what Structured Water is.

CLICK HERE for a special sale on Structured Water units.

CLICK HERE for more options.

In Loving Memory of Chloe

It is with great sadness that we had to say good-bye to our nineteen year old cat Chloe this past Sun., March 6th. I recently wrote an article about having an allergy assessment done on her in which I also spoke about how well she was doing and had been doing.Though she was doing the best she ever had been in regards to her irritable bowel problems, she, like so many other cats, had developed kidney disease as well as painful dental problems. Shortly after I wrote that article, she began to decline and for the past few weeks was under hospice care until it was time for her to go. 

We adopted Chloe (originally known as Ethel) in October of 2000, when she was three years old from our veterinarian clinic. I was at the clinic one day and saw a couple of adult cats that were looking for homes. They were cats from a hoarding situation that got out of control and the owner had to relinquish her cats. The clinic was kind enough to take a few of them and find homes for them. Chloe was one of them and she caught my eye. She was very pretty and once they took her out of the cage for me to pet, that's all it took. She found her forever home.

Chloe lived with five different cats and four dogs over her lifetime with us. She liked dogs more than other cats. After coming from a cat hoarding situation and then enduring three male kittens growing up with us over the years, it's no wonder! She loved our dogs and always welcomed and enjoyed the various dogs that sometimes stayed with us from time to time as well. 

Chloe was a very verbal cat. People think that Siamese cats are constant and obnoxious talkers -- I would put my Chloe in a talking contest with any Siamese. She talked (and sometimes screamed) so much that it would make you have second thoughts about ever having another cat. She knew how to get my attention with her different meows. She had a meow for "where are you?", a different meow for "I'm hungry", another sound for "open the door", or "I'm going to the litter box". She would sometimes make sounds that sounded like she was in agony or distress, just to get me to come running. Once there, she would let out a little, soft "what?" She talked and told us about everything. She was a very good communicator and she used her verbal commands to make us virtually her slaves. She enjoyed it. For instance, she had a dog door that she used just fine when she wanted to, but would usually make us open the door for her instead. I often said she was a cat Goddess in a previous life and was used to having humans as servants and bossing them around. She was very good at it.

Chloe was the one who woke us up to let us know our house had flooded while we (and our dog) were sleeping in May of last year. She was wading through the water and kept meowing on and on until we got out of bed, only to step in water. She was not freaked out about it like our other cat Dusty. She took everything in stride (except going to the vet).

All of our pets are great teachers, and Chloe was no exception. Chloe taught me a lot about cats and about myself. Since she had stomach and digestive issues from the start, it was a challenge to figure out how to get her to a healthier state -- at least one of not constantly throwing up, and keep her there. She spent a lot of her life having diarrhea and vomiting, and was eventually diagnosed as having irritable bowel disease. She spent her whole life teaching me what she could and could not tolerate, and what she did or did not like, when it came to food. She inspired me to research and learn more about feline nutrition and well-being. It was Chloe who taught me the biggest lesson about cats that I had to see and experience for myself before I really got it -- and it's something that most cat owner's don't want to hear, for several different reasons -- cats should not be eating dry food.....at all. We are doing them a dis-service by feeding them dry foods.The BEST thing you could ever do for your cat's health, longevity and well-being is never give them dry food and if they are currently eating dry food, slowly wean them off of it. It's the best thing I ever did for Chloe and my other cats as well. And the intention here is to get them completely off of dry food and onto at the very least -- a grain-free can food diet, which is closer to biologically appropriate food for a feline carnivore than dry food will ever be. Ever.

We are grateful for the sixteen years we had Chloe as our beloved cat and for all that she taught us. She leaves a big empty (quiet!) void in our lives and will really be missed.

(Picture: She loved everything about dogs, including rolling and covering herself in dog hair!)

Our 14th Anniversary

It's February already and this month Cozy Critters Pet Sitters celebrates our 14th anniversary! Woohoo! It's hard to believe sometimes we have been providing this great service to our community for fourteen years. When you are doing what you love and are passionate about, and it's also providing a service to others -- well, that's what it's all about, isn't it? Not to mention everywhere and every time we show up for work we are greeted with such joy, enthusiasm, excitement and love! How many people can say that? We love what we do and we are so grateful for our clients, both human and animal, and all that we have shared, experienced and learned over the years. We look forward to what lies ahead in the years to come!


 A warm, heart felt Thank You!! to all of our clients for your continued trust and confidence in us.