Outraged over nutrition misinformation

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Robert and Echo

Robert and Echo

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I was just browsing through a magazine I enjoy and came upon a "Pet Health" column that gave a recipe for a homemade feline diet that was half (HALF!!!!) cornmeal. Unbelievable. It outraged me so much that I wrote my first ever letter to a magazine editor, as follows:

To: editor@naturalhomeandgarden.com

In the July/August 2011 issue of Natural Home & Garden magazine, your Pet Health column contains dangerous advice for feeding cats.

Cats are obligate carnivores meaning they derive their nutrition from meat and lack the physiology required for the proper digestion of non-meat food. Nearly 1 of 100 cats now develop diabetes with growing evidence that high carbohydrate diets (most dry cat foods) are directly linked to the occurrence of the disease. Veterinary research has demonstrated that a high protein wet food diet can actually reverse feline diabetes in the early stages.

"Natural" cat foods that include gravies, vegetables, and grains are marketed to appeal to pet caretakers. These diets may meet current pet food standards but they are bad for cats. The author of the article in question is grossly ignorant about feline nutritional needs and by publishing such misinformation, your magazine is contributing to the poor health and possible death of thousands of felines.

For clear and scientifically-based feeding instructions, please refer to a veterinary expert in feline nutrition, Dr. Lisa A. Pierson, who has an excellent website on the subject at http://catinfo.org,

Sincerely,

Rebecca A. Price MD
Founder, FelineDiabetes.com
Flagstaff, AZ
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I posted on their FaceBook page, too, but they removed the post.

And the letter to the editor came back "undeliverable."

Sheesh, I try to raise some hell and can't!
 
Rebecca said:
I posted on their FaceBook page, too, but they removed the post.

And the letter to the editor came back "undeliverable."

Sheesh, I try to raise some hell and can't!
Click to expand...

I was wondering if they would get back to you....guess not! Nice try though Rebecca!

That is pretty unbelievable although I guess it is better than dry food which is what most of the population is still feeding their cats. It says the article was written by a lady named Lynn Alley who "is a Southern California based writer who has been cooking for her pets for years". I wonder if Dr. Lisa knows or has heard of her.
 
I wonder if Dr. Lisa would be willing to write her own article and submit it to the magazine and maybe Dr. Lisa would add an actually HEALTHY recipe to make for their kitties. Do you think they would publish it?
 
Your post was not inflammatory and may have helped people. Not impressed that they removed it and sent your email back. Heads in the sand never benefited anyone. :-(

Thanks for trying.
 
We could link to the bad recipe in FaceBook and shoot it down on our private FaceBook pages, getting the word out that way.
 
Great letter, Dr. Rebecca! I agree with the USPS version of the letter. Maybe you can get Dr. Lisa to send one too (or together)?
 
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