Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life

by Elizabeth M. Hodgkins

Book Overview

"Dr. Hodgkins's discussions are provocative, and disturbing, and the problems they identify will not be easy to rectify quickly. Nonetheless, they are long overdue." ---Alice Villalobos, president of the American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians and Director of the Animal Oncology Consultation Service, Woodland Hills (Torrance, CA) and Pawspice Care Clinic (Norwalk, CA) In this controversial new book, dedicated veterinarian Elizabeth...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312358016
• ISBN13: 9780312358013
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 283 Pages
• Weight: 1.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.8" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Groundbreaking book with accurate, well researched and vital information

Finally, a book that is NOT simply a recycling of the same old information, or vague mumbo-jumbo. This book is full of useful facts presented in a way that the lay person can easily understand, yet backed by the latest veterinary research and facts of feline physiology. Finally, a book that breaks it to the public that most commercial cat foods are recipes for obesity, irritable bowel disease and diabetes. Dr. Hodgkins explains how to evaluate a commercial cat food and how to choose a food that will promote a long and healthy life. Your cat's diet is fundamental to health - and as a specialized obligate carnivore, the cats' unique dietary needs are explained in this book. Dr. Hodgkins presents open-minded and logical discussions of choices that every cat guardian must make, such as indoors only or to allow your cat outside, how to choose a veterinarian, and a detailed discussion of common feline diseases and how to PREVENT them before they occur.

This book saved my cat

After 4 weeks of largely fruitless treatment by my veterinarian for my 9 year old cat's urinary tract crystals (going to the box every 45 minutes) and pre-diabetic signs (drinking water copiously), I started my own research. Every source led me to this book. After a short time of following Dr. Hodgkin's recommendations, my cat was cured. After several months, she is now healthier than she's ever been, has more energy, plays, lifelong dandruff is gone. I highly recommend this book.

I am a cat veterinarian who agrees with Dr. Hodgkins

Dr. Hodgkins' book is right on the money. Her background with the pet food industry makes her well informed on the subject of feline diets. Cats are obligatory carnivores which means they make most of their energy from meat, not carbs. I am also a veterinarian/lawyer as is Dr. Hodgkins and I have been recommending a meat diet for cats for the past 10 years. Clients who follow my advice have healthy cats who live long lives. My own cats live long healthy lives on the diet recommended by Dr. Hodgkins. As a lawyer, I would consider it malpractice if a veterinarian put my cat on a corn-based dry cat food. Far too long, the pet food industry has controlled pet diets without proper peer reviewed research on the contents of their pet foods. A rodent, the primal food for cats, is 3% carbohydrates, 40% protein and 57% fat, minerals and fiber. To be a healthy cat food, their diets must mimic that of their primal food source. READ THIS BOOK! Then talk with your veterinarian about improving your cat's health with a healthy, meat based diet.

What a relief that a book like this is finally out!

For so many years, it seemed that a lot of the sanity when it came to advice on how to properly care for, and especially FEED, a small cat, was only to be found in books published by non-vets. There are many great books out there with fabulous advice, but, sadly, many of them were never taken seriously by the mainstream veterinary community because they were written by people who lacked the 'DVM' credential. Dr. Hodgkins' book has, thankfully, changed all that. As a lay person, I've spent years now running a website on cat nutrition and steadily beating a noisy drum to draw attention to the folly of feeding the carnivores we choose to live with foods that have no relationship to what Mother Nature intended. It's been fabulous having the support of so many people, but I've longed for -- for years -- to have a book out there by a real, live veterinarian that spoke the truth about the dangers of feeding dry food to cats and articulated precisely how it is that so very many feline diseases are entirely avoidable if we simply get the diet right. This book is a dream come true. Aside from the wonderful, easy-to-understand style with which Dr. Hodgkins writes, it's jam packed with answers to the questions that so many of us have sought for years. Personally, I'm especially thrilled with the emphasis throughout the book on nutrition, as that really is the brick and mortar of health for cats. It's been astonishing to me over the years to see veterinary clinics fill up with more and more patients and more and more oversized bags of meat-flavored cereal (i.e., prescription dry food), with no one sitting up and taking notice of the relationship. Dr. Hodgkins' book is an extraordinarily welcome breath of fresh air. Every veterinarian ought read this book and keep a copy or two in the reception area to educate clients. It's written by someone with impeccable credentials, after all, and there's no easy way to dismiss what it has to say. This bell can't be un-rung. The tragedies that unfolded in earl 2007 with the massive pet food recalls began to wake people up to the dangers of blindly trusting what the pet food industry offers. But the pet food recall is only the tip of the iceberg. Even without the conspicuous problems associated with poor quality control, the sad truth is that the lion's share of commercial pet foods sold today--even when they're not 'tainted'--are terribly inappropriate for our cats (and dogs!) and contribute greatly to illness. So if you have a cat (or three), you really owe it to yourself to invest in this book. If I could give this book more than five stars, I would! Anne (www.catnutrition.org)

Best Cat Book Available

This is absolutely both the best and only cat book you will ever need. I found Dr. Hodgkins' web site for diabetic cats about 6 weeks ago and began following her instructions for diet and insulin. My 2 cats, 1 diabetic and 1 not, responded immediately! The difference in them is amazing--they are both happier and healthier than ever. No more hairballs, no more dry skin, no more dry, dull coats. Their eyes are brighter, they are more active and playful, and my diabetic cat's blood sugar is under control for the first time. It is nothing short of amazing and I am so grateful to Dr. Hodgkins. Her book outlines everything you need to know about caring for your cats. It's simple, straightforward and best of all, full of common sense. If you love your cat, read this book and follow the diet recommendations--you and your cat will be so happy you did.