I've got 2 annuals coming up for Ling & MK and will post them here too.

Scooter, my adoptee August 2007 , dob 10-16-06, had hers in Sept 2007 & then Feb 08. It was all good for Feb 08.

She was raised on Purina cat chow in the shelter and was small for her age. Here, she eats no grain, no gluten wet foods. Rarely nibbles kibble treats.  Now, she's larger than her sibling shelter mate (taller, longer, heavier).  (Geneva also sprouted in spite of her health issues over the size and luster of her sibling shelter mate)

Scooter had a wellness check and the lack luster hair and acne are all resolved since going to wet foods- no grain products. She had to have antibiotics & cortisone then. 

Her wellness checkup showed she is great.  Albumin is down as is cholesterol by a couple of points. Her albumin/Globulin ratio & bun/creatinine ratios were great. (Fasting was done prior to bloodwork to avoid  skewing of the results by foods).  I'm having her teeth cleaned in May, which is the only residual issue.

Her activity level is "constant mischief".

And, over her objections we're transitioning to homecooking 

Well mine have been itresteing the last say three yrs

KANDIE Rip May 21 2007 - went from later stage to CRF to early stage two crf numbers on a 50/50 -75/25 raw/ canned diet ... her passing was quick and she never qualified for reg fluids ... she gained nearly 3 lbs of the 5 she lost from crf ... Her meds were herbs and whole food supplements .... at the time of her death the ER clinic thought she was about 12 she was just shy of 19

Gigi - problem child for all 7 yrs I have had her ...She was diagnoised with atypical Cushings officially may 28 2007 ... she was on a raw diet with some grain containing kibble ... I added supplements and thing s got worse ... well thru research and MOMS gut we went back to homemade /.// she get some grain free kibble and lots of varying degrees of cooked meat and redid the supplement s... WELL she has a much less swelled liver , clear eyes with less goop , almost no itching and the energy of a two yr old.. she is 12

Ben - Recently adopted .... took him off all grains for his epilepsy and added herbs and accupucture ... outside he is more alert less hyperactive and more responsive ... goes next week for check up ... he is eating 50 grain free dry and raw with supplements and the dreaded pheno

Zoey - has the best coat vet has seen ... well she eats one grain free and one grain containing dry with a taste of raw and homemade as she permits... she is only 4 so there is hope

All 5 of mine had the typical problems from commercial food along with T4,liver & kidney #'s back in May,June & July. Only 1 has had a full check yet,last Oct & all minor problems were gone & all #'s had improved. Some were back to normal & some were "high" normal. The others are all due in the next 2 mo's, I will post results then.

The posts so far are encouraging, and I'm so glad to hear that your food changes have resulted in improved health for your fur kids.  After all, that's what it's all about.

Katie's post gave me a idea  .  On my next trip to the vet, believe I'll print out this thread and give my doc a copy.  He's beginning to be more interested in nutrition, too.

I love it because (with few exceptions) most of the staff are sold on that brand which many clinics sell.  Ugh!  Once I asked, "Where is your natural cat food?"

Furry hugs.

5CatMom
₌^..^₌

Some interesting numbers from 10-year-old Isis, my kitty with cardiac arrhythmia probably caused by pet food toxins.  (She began being evaluated for possible hyperthyroid when the arrhythmia was discovered, since that is the most common cause.)

Isis ate Brand N canned food, some good-quality grain-free canned food, and lots of Brand N dry food during the 15 months before the problem came on.  I discontinued the Brand N canned at the time of the first recalls, but kept on feeding the dry until Isis got sick in mid-April 2007.  I then switched to some better brands of dry, and she ate canned and dry about 50/50, mostly grain-free, until I added some home-cooked in early 2008.  Here are Isis' T4 values:

mid-April 2007--4.1
2 weeks later--3.5
Late June 2007--2.9
November 2007--2.5

Normals at my vet's lab are 1.9-4.8.  There was a steady downward trend in the T4.  The only thing that changed was her diet--she's not on meds.  She has her next checkup in June 2008.  It will be interesting to see if the home-cooked has had any additional effects.

This could be coincidence, but I thought it worth noting.

Well check up today

Gigi has a ear infection the first in 2 yrs , prior to that it was continual and conventional vet wanted to do surgery .... she is going to switch meats ( I think her rotating intolerence showed back up_

Ben WOO HOO doing well unfortunately vet does not want to start weaning the phenobarbital just yet ...

5catmom; they are looking great!! My dog just had her six month geriatric physical yesterday, and I'm happy to report that not one single blood result or urinalysis was abnormal. In fact her SpGravity is now 1.030 and Urine/Creatine is less than 0.1. The vet tech's all came in to see her, they could not believe it was the same dog! I gave them a copy of her home cooked diet which the Vet scanned into their computer for future reference for other dogs in the practice! They went over every square inch, and could find nothing wrong! Homecooking has been the answer. Now they don't want to see her for a year. I hope everyone else is experiencing the same.

Katie