Left photo: Bajay at 2 years old. already pregnant with her second litter when she came to stay.
Right Photo Bajay, this year, at 22 years old at the vet. She is not too happy in this photo.
My cat is twenty-two years old and still runs to her food bowl. What is the secret? What's in the bowl, of course. But let's regress a bit, last year she was under the weather and I took her to the vet. He ran a series of labs and when I spoke with him, he said "This is quite astounding, your cat has the blood work of a seven year old cat. Her films confirm this but would I like to re-check her levels at no charge." He re-checked and the same results were returned.
Good genes account for a lot, whether you are sizing up a cat or one of us. But how we work those genes is another matter. My cat, her name is Bajay, came into my life when I was working and living in the Middle East. One day, I walked outside to the wall where flowers were growing densely in a vertical fashion. Damascene Roses, honeysuckle and delphiniums were making there way up to the roof. While reaching for a few stems, I looked down and saw one of the most striking cats I have ever seen stalking something on the wall. I offered "Hi Kitty" and she took one look directly at me, hissed and spit, projectile style, a hot foamy gel like substance on me. I was instantly smitten. I immediately said - "You're Mine!" Truly.
She turned and ran off. I went to tell my former husband what just transpired and summed it up with - " I have found my cat" He said "Oh, and you still like her? Now I know the secret maneuver..." Anyway, the cat is still around and he isn't so obviously he did not know the secret maneuver, but let's get back to the real story.
This went on for about a week, but finally won her over with food, and she made her way inside. But always around dusk, she panicked and made it very clear she had to leave immediately. This happened every evening. I asked the gardener to follow her and find out where she goes. He came back and said, "Madam, you will have to change your shoes, as she goes into the sand..."
The next day we walked for, it seemed like two miles, yes, in the sand and he showed me where she lived under a rusted out metal old switching station which she dug under to get cover. She lived on whatever she could find in the trash or wherever, it seemed. Shortly after that, she strolls up to the house with three kittens walking single file in front of her, and she quite proudly behind them. I opened the door and the four of them with their heads and tails held high, walked in. I took them to the vet, and he estimated Bajay to be close to 2 years old. Not the start one would think would ensure a long life.
She was always in good health, but around the time she was 17, she came down with a bacterial infection that made it imperative that all her teeth be removed. Out they came. Some told me she was too old and possibly too frail to recover from such an operation. I knew she would come through. This is the same cat, who became so fearless when the air raid sirens and scuds shattered the windows in our house during the first Gulf War. She would lie on my chest and just stare at me as if to say "be still, be calm, it will be over soon" Each evening she did this as soon as the sirens came on, until the early morning when it was usually clear. Bajay never flinched when the scuds hit, and the glass shattered, never took her gaze off me. My ex-husband would frequently ask her if she had a sister.
So here we are 20 years later, and she still runs to the food bowl when called, still jumps up on my lap, and negotiates, on her terms, with the dogs. So what gets her to run to that bowl? I feed her a combination of barely cooked and raw rood as well as a prescription formula Royal Canin dry food and flats of wheat grass. Some say, how could you give that cat raw food - well, she thrives on it.
I read "Juliet of the Herbs" many years ago and she mentions that cats above all other animals know what they need when they are sick. Out in the wild, more than any other animal she observed during her decades of research, she repeatedly noted that cats would seek out, even if they had to travel a bit, the necessary plants and herbs to treat themselves when they were ill. Regardless if that remedy was self-administered internally or externally.
When my cat got old, I tried the experiment. As she had no teeth, I went slowly and cut everything up finely or processed it. I gave her a choice barely cooked, cooked, raw, dry and conventional. She always went for the barely cooked or raw every time and still does. I observed her energy levels and coat and was convinced that a combination of raw and barely cooked foods as well as an excellent dry food, in her case a prescription Royal Canin formula was the answer. I know many do not agree, but the proof in this case, is in the cat and her lab work.
Here is a link to Halopets.com There are a few easy recipes for cat and dog homemade food recipes that just require boiling or simmering to prepare the food. It is actually less expensive than commercial pet food and far more nutritious. The recipes are taken from the book "The Whole Pet Diet" by Andie Brown, founder of Halo Purely for Pets.
www.halopets.com/resources/homemade-pet-food-recipes/homemade-cat-food-recipes-html
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