What Bob Dole Taught Me About Raw Food

In 2006, my mother died unexpectedly. She was survived by her cat, Bob Dole. Yes, he was named after the same Bob Dole who was the 1996 Republican candidate for president. Like his human namesake, this Bob Dole had an injury — his left front leg instead of arm — when he first appeared at my mother's house as a stray in 1998.

 

Already feeling overwhelmed by my own cats, I was reluctant to adopt Bob. Faced with no one else to take him, I decided to at least get him back on his feet and find him a good home. Bob had only been to a vet once in his life, something my mother and I fought about many times. The only time he was vetted was to finally get him neutered. He'd been intact for about eight or nine years and spent his days outdoors. I don't want to think about how many offspring he's sired.

 

Though crushed with grief, I was clear-minded enough to know that Bob was not stepping one paw into my house until he was fully vetted. I already had six other cats' well being to consider!

 

Of course, the news was not good. Bob's teeth were in horrendous condition. Many of them needed to be removed. Years of eating kibble and packs of low quality wet food had taken their toll. Not only that, but Bob was FIV positive. I was broken hearted. At the time, I didn't understand that I could have an FIV positive cat with ones who weren't infected. I just thought it was a death sentence for him. After the biggest loss of my life, I wasn't ready to give up on Bob, but I was scared that I'd put my own cats' lives at risk.

 

I got Bob's dental done. They shaved him down and gave his bright orange coat a "lion cut," as he'd become badly matted. They ran a complete blood test. The results made them suspicious that Bob might have diabetes also. His liver values were through the roof. At that point, I was about to throw my hands up in the air and walk away, but it was Bob. I couldn't do that to him. He was a sweet-hearted cat with an odd, bubbly purr and bright green eyes. Bob never asked to be left outdoors and fed inappropriate food or not get vet care. Somehow I would help improve his outlook.

 

While Bob was recovering in his own room, sequestered from my cats, I began to do some research online about how to treat diabetes. I found information about the dangers of grain in cat food and the ill effects it triggered in a cat's health. I suddenly realized that it was probably the reason for so many health issues that my own cats faced, including diabetes.

 

I had my vet run more tests to make sure Bob had diabetes. I did more research. I realized that another of my cats, who had died from cancer, had been overweight and diabetic, too. I'd been free-feeding her kibble for the better — really worse — part of her life. My heart sank.

 

I'm just a regular Joe. I'm not a vet or nutritionist. I see the pretty picture on the box and it looks like the food is nice. It has only rice and "real" meat — meat by-products, that is — in it, so it should be good and the dry food cleans teeth, right?

 

By the time Bob was diagnosed with diabetes, I was not only furious, but feeling duped by the pet food industry. I would not feed any of my cats food with grain in it again. It just did not make sense to feed an obligate carnivore grain.

 

Then, something happened that really opened my eyes. My vet was out sick, so I met with his partner to discuss treating Bob's diabetes. I'd already decided which insulin I was going try first and I'd located some grain-free canned food I was going to feed him. This vet told me to put Bob on a diabetes "management" dry food. I was shocked. I challenged the vet. It made no sense to me to give a cat grains or carbs when he was diabetic. He showed me a very glossy, slick presentation book that the pet food company had prepared. It showed a nicely lit package shot and a promotional blurb about how good this food was for keeping my cat on the road to wellness. For once I was not buying into the marketing hype.

 

I told the vet he was out of his mind. I asked him why give the cat carbs when it was protein he needed. He said that they created the food in a sanitary facility and it was made to the highest standards. I asked him to read the ingredient list. The first few ingredients were corn gluten meal, soy flour and corn starch. I saw my least favorite, "poultry by-product meal" listed there, too. I told him that it made no sense to me to feed that crap to my cat and while I would follow the amount of insulin he prescribed for Bob, that was all I would do. Feeding Bob would be up to me. He looked at me like I was nuts and probably thought I was rude, too.

 

Four weeks later, Bob's diabetes went into remission. Four years later it has not come back. His liver values have improved dramatically, as well. You tell me who's nuts.

 

That began my journey, my quest, to try to figure out what to feed my, now seven, cats!

 

It was one thing to get Bob weaned off of grained food; getting my other cats to do it was going to take a miracle. Not only were my cats picky, but some also had other health issues to deal with. What was I going to do? In 2006, there weren't many resources for grain-free feeding. I'd only seen one article about making your own cat food. And feeding raw? Are you kidding me? My dad was a microbiologist! My maiden name was Feminella. Guess how many times I was called Salmonella in elementary school. There was no way I was going to feed my cats raw meat!

 

A friend, who's a vet tech, suggested a pet food shop in a nearby town. She said the owner really knew about cat nutrition. I felt like I was going to see a shaman on a mountain top. At last I would get some answers, since my own vet didn't seem to have any.

 

I ended up having more questions. I learned at that time there were a few choices for feeding grain-free in both canned food and dry kibble. My ears perked up. I could feed dry food? Hallelujah! Of course I wouldn't feed just dry. I thought at the time that I'd mix it up and the dry would keep my costs down and be less fussy for me to deal with. So little did I know.