Author Topic: Are we not getting the word out?  (Read 23597 times)

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Offline Pookie

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #75 on: July 25, 2011, 08:35:30 AM »

So, I guess the last lesson here is...
People are swayed by their wallets.


 clapping1 clapping1 clapping1

Very good point!
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Offline Lola

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #76 on: July 25, 2011, 01:51:05 PM »
Quote
However, when one of my kitties began to have serious problems... literally to the brink of death (at 3 years old)... you're darn tootin' I began to question a few things.  
It began when my vet initially said that his problems might be pancreatitis.  So, me being me, I went home and gooled everything I could find for 3 solid days.  The path from all that googling led me to question my pet food choices.  

People OFTEN have no clue, UNTIL one of their pets becomes seriously ill.  AND if they have a vet that isn't educated in nutrition... bangshead

I know TWO people who recently had their cats die...under the supervision of "wonderful" vets.  Two different vets.  Both cats had blockages.  Both were fed dry.  Both had vets prescribe RX "food."  I didn't "dog" their vets.  I sent both of them links to catinfo.org...and others.  I asked them to at least consider another vet's point of view.  Consider ADDING wet food to the RX carp. (Not mixing the dry and wet.  Adding wet meals.) Nope, on both accounts.  BOTH CATS ARE NOW DEAD.  And both people still think their vets are wonderful.
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Offline CarnivorousCritter

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #77 on: July 25, 2011, 06:17:01 PM »
I wonder if there was a "certified" car Mechanic who was telling people that putting Canola oil and baby powder in their cars fuel tank was the right thing to do, how many people would keep on taking their cars back to him when it keeps "having problems"?   Wonder if his business would flourish, too?  

No different than a cat lacking amylase enzymes, grinding teeth... a thirst drive... isn't it?
« Last Edit: July 25, 2011, 06:22:40 PM by CarnivorousCritter »

Offline Pookie

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #78 on: July 26, 2011, 09:17:37 AM »
I just had an idea people, mol!! Ok for those of us who use Google to look stuff up on the net.  Lets do this:
Google cat nutrition, now wait until you find catinfo.org, it may be a few pages, Im not sure, I havent done it yet so, anyhow. Click on catinfo.org, now do this whenever you think about it. You can also put the word out to your friends to do this who are passionate about cat nutrition.  Now you ask why do this? Well the more hits that the site gets when you search for cat nutrition, will move her site near the begining.  So there is more chance people will see it. You dont want to put feline nutrition as the search, as most lay persons will not put that in when they are searching for advice.  You could also try searching for "best food to feed cat", then search until you find catinfo.org.
It takes up some of your time, but it does work,. :)

Just to expand on Shadow’s idea, how about Googling for things like “cats, vomiting” or “cats, ibd” etc.  Those are the types of searches I did when I was trying to figure out what was going on with my kitties, and I never found catinfo or catnutrition, and it never occurred to me that the problem was nutritional or food-related.  (Yes, I still feel like an idiot . . .)  It wasn’t until a co-worker suggesting home-cooking and I did a search for cats and home-cooked recipes that I found catinfo.  So I’m wondering how many others are doing the same searches I did and not finding Dr. Pierson’s site?

Just a suggestion.
 ;D :D ;D :D
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Offline Mo

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #79 on: August 06, 2011, 11:04:56 AM »
Here is something I did last week, and it worked!

I took the libraries copy of "Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer Stronger Life" and moved it from its normal shelf to the center of the library, where they have the staff recommended books/new books on a table.  The same day, someone checked out the book, after I know it hadn't been checked out for a few months :) 


Offline CarnivorousCritter

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #80 on: August 06, 2011, 12:24:03 PM »
 thumbsup1 thumbsup1 MO!!  

I was thinking of finding blogs, such as truth abt. pet food, where you can have a hyberlink to a website in your name when you comment.  There are probably tons of blogs with people asking questions where we would answer with our perennial favorites,  www.catinfo.org, www.felinenutrition.org , ... www.fnes.org ... and maybe put this site's url in our hyberlinked name above our comments?  

(I also wish there was site for both because doggies have issues too but I digress.)

Offline Shadow

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #81 on: August 06, 2011, 12:24:44 PM »
Here is something I did last week, and it worked!

I took the libraries copy of "Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer Stronger Life" and moved it from its normal shelf to the center of the library, where they have the staff recommended books/new books on a table.  The same day, someone checked out the book, after I know it hadn't been checked out for a few months :) 


Awesome Mo !!!
"Education is the key" to make informed decisions about the health of our pets

Offline Lola

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #82 on: August 06, 2011, 12:49:41 PM »

(I also wish there was site for both because doggies have issues too but I digress.)


I'm thinking I am the ONLY one here with dogs??

Good idea at the library, Mo!  You ARE clever...
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Offline Pookie

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #83 on: August 07, 2011, 03:37:21 PM »
You GO, Mo!!!!   thumbsup1 thumbsup1 thumbsup1 thumbsup1 thumbsup1 thumbsup1 thumbsup1
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"Pass on what you have learned."  -- Yoda, Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi

Offline Auntie Crazy

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #84 on: September 01, 2011, 03:24:24 AM »
Hi, all!

I skimmed this thread and didn't see these suggestions:

-Contact the good folks over at the Feline Nutrition Education Society via feline-nutrition.org (not "felinenutrition.org" - that's a parking site) and ask them for a stack of their feline nutrition 'postcards'; pass those cards out to everyone you know, leave them in public places, give them to the guy delivering your pizza tonight. :-) Get permission from your local library to leave a stack, or talk a local pet store owner into putting one in every bag he/she sells.

-Print off the Society's one-page guides and distribute as above. See if you can talk a few veterinarian buddies into leaving these guides on their coffee tables.

-Contact the Society and ask them what more you can do to help. I'm not sure how close they are currently, but they will be getting involved in changing legislation efforts and feline nutrition studies - both very worthy but time-consuming endeavors.

-Create your own business-sized cards and pass them out to everyone you come in contact with that may have a pet; strike up a conversation in line at the grocery store (especially if you're in there buying meat for your fur-kids!); at the bank; at school; at work, etc. If you have any parties, include the cards with the party favors. Get creative! Here are my cards, front and back (the back needs updating, petsareforlife.com is no longer active):


-Contact Susan Thixton via TruthAboutPetFood.com and ask her what help you can provide. She also has some political / regulation activity going on and could use some help.

-Buy as many copies of Susan's book "Buyer Beware: The crimes, lies and truth about pet food." as you can (they're only $13.95) and pass them out to pet-owning friends, family members, and co-workers. Keep one with you as a "loaner" wherever you go and ask whoever "borrows" it from you to "lend" it forward (so-to-speak *smile*).

These are a few the ways I've spread the word! Hope some of you find them interesting and applicable. :-)

AC
AC's Crew: Allen, Rachel, Meghan, Spencer, Heather & Ralph

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Offline Lola

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #85 on: September 01, 2011, 11:26:23 AM »
Aunt Crazy,
NOT being snarky, but you may want to read a little info about TAPF here:
http://parenting-furkids.com/index.php?topic=160.0

Susan does a LOT of good... but I stopped "following" her, once I paid for a subscription to her Pet Consumer Report.  Let's just say...her and I (and vets that she often quotes) don't see eye to eye with a lot of info in her pet food reports. 
She says she doesn't recommend foods, but...she RATES them.  IMHO...that is recommending (or not) certain brands. 
The biggie for me, was her giving lessor ratings to ALL canned food..."due to moisture content."   bangshead

Just my  2cents  YMMV
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Offline Auntie Crazy

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #86 on: September 02, 2011, 10:42:38 PM »
Aunt Crazy,
NOT being snarky, but you may want to read a little info about TAPF here:
http://parenting-furkids.com/index.php?topic=160.0

Susan does a LOT of good... but I stopped "following" her, once I paid for a subscription to her Pet Consumer Report.  Let's just say...her and I (and vets that she often quotes) don't see eye to eye with a lot of info in her pet food reports.  
She says she doesn't recommend foods, but...she RATES them.  IMHO...that is recommending (or not) certain brands.  
The biggie for me, was her giving lessor ratings to ALL canned food..."due to moisture content."   bangshead

Just my  2cents  YMMV

Susan isn't rating the food products, she's rating the first five ingredients only; five ingredients, five paws. Furthermore, her expertise and focus is on ingredients, not on nutrition. From where she sits, water isn't something she can "rate" and therefore, doesn't count.

Of course, from a feline nutritional perspective, water should be counted as an ingredient, and a vital one at that... but cats, as obligate carnivores, require a specialized diet - and not everyone is aware of that.

No one can manage all aspects of a topic. It's considerably unfortunate that Susan's particular gift has resulted in a rating system that seems skewed against water, when water is so incredibly necessary in a cat's diet, but that in no way negates the research she's done in her area of interest. I know of no one else who does the footwork and makes the phone calls necessary to ascertain the kind of info she provides on the various ingredient sourcing and manufacturing processes in which the pet food industry indulges.

AC
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CatCentric.org: A feline nutrition, raw feeding, cat care, health & behavior blog & resource site.

Offline FurMonster Mom

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #87 on: September 03, 2011, 02:34:35 PM »
Susan isn't rating the food products, she's rating the first five ingredients only; five ingredients, five paws. Furthermore, her expertise and focus is on ingredients, not on nutrition. From where she sits, water isn't something she can "rate" and therefore, doesn't count.


Hmmm... speaking purely as a 3rd party observer here...
If she doesn't count water, then she should do exactly that... skip it and count in the next ingredient.  In other words, treat it as if it is invisible.
If she is comparing "rateable" ingredients, and she can't "rate" water (which is actually a logical stance) then she should not count it as one of the five rateable ingredients.
This is exactly why people talk about comparing foods on a "dry matter" basis.

Personally, it's not the approach I would take, because I have my own hypothesis on how water fits in with the nutritive values of food.... But it's just my own personal hypothesis, not based on anything but my little pea brain mulling various tidbits around.   Bumpurr1
(hint: it has to do with molecular bonds, how digestive enzymes recognize/target those bonds, and how H2O bonds with pretty much everything).
« Last Edit: September 03, 2011, 02:36:13 PM by FurMonster Mom »
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Offline Auntie Crazy

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #88 on: September 03, 2011, 03:24:17 PM »
Hmmm... speaking purely as a 3rd party observer here...
If she doesn't count water, then she should do exactly that... skip it and count in the next ingredient.  In other words, treat it as if it is invisible.
If she is comparing "rateable" ingredients, and she can't "rate" water (which is actually a logical stance) then she should not count it as one of the five rateable ingredients.
This is exactly why people talk about comparing foods on a "dry matter" basis.

...

I agree. Totally. And Susan and I have had this conversation. :-}

However, it's hard sometimes to shake oneself loose of a "rule" we've made within our own minds; she's decided the first five ingredients are all she's going to look at, and that's what she's going with. As someone who is naturally extremely analytically-inclined (even a touch OCD) and who has had to learn to fight my own inclinations at times in order to get a job done, I understand why she's having difficulty making the leap. I don't like it since it creates the perception that kibble is healthier than canned - when nothing could be further from the truth - but I do understand it.

My recommendation - anytime you're viewing her ingredient ratings, automatically add a paw print if it's a canned product. And when you're discussing her ratings with others, do the same thing and tell them why.

AC
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Offline Lola

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Re: Are we not getting the word out?
« Reply #89 on: September 03, 2011, 03:48:01 PM »
I guess my beef with her was when I read that she AUTOMATICALLY removes a point from all wet foods "due to moisture content."  TO ME...she "views" moisture as a bad thing, and therefore rates accordingly, in her view.  

The average Joe, that is clueless about water being screaming important would EASILY assume...by her reduced rating and wording...that moisture is a bad thing.  NOT good.  IMHO

I was a major "cheer leader" of hers for a loooooong time.  Moisture is just toooo important, in a feline's diet, to take away paw points.  She doesn't take away paw points in her dry food ratings...for not having enough moisture.  

And...if Susan doesn't get the importance of moisture, what else doesn't she get?  If her and I didn't see eye to eye concerning fruits in cat food, that would be a differnt story.  But water...too important.   2cents
« Last Edit: September 03, 2011, 03:52:20 PM by Lola »
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