Cats are Carnivores

It's amazing how easily one can adapt to a new schedule. In my last post, I mentioned Anya and her feeding tube. Well, she needs to be fed about every 6-8 hours, which is how my brain has been dividing up my time for the last week and a half. Fortunately my shifts at work are somewhat short, so I'm able to manage the feeding schedule. First thing I do in the morning is fix her food; first thing I do when I get home and last thing at night is food. It feels a little surreal, but I don't mind.

She's getting stronger from the nutrition, and at her checkup yesterday I was told she hadn't lost any weight (yay!). They also have a diagnosis for her: inflammatory bowel disease. It can be caused by several things, but not least of which is a diet of all dry food--which she had.

Thanks to the awesome Larissa Ione, I had few research links at my disposal, and I definitely plan to shift Anya away from her all dry diet. I'd never given serious consideration to feline diet and nutrition before (always relying on my vet and/or bagged food labels to tell me things), but seeing things like "cats are carnivores" and "corn is cheap" spelled out for me really opened my eyes.

For anyone interested in the links, here they are:

http://larissaione.com/blog/extras/bestiary/diabetes/#Information2

http://catinfo.org/#Common_Feline_Health_Problems_and_Their_Ties_to_Diet_

I hope to post my Favorite Reads of 2009 post tomorrow at some point. I know I haven't blogged much this week, but between Anya and Christmas insanity...well, you know how it is.

Right now, Anya is staring at me. I'd better go pet her. :)