Pet Care: Late cat appears in photo

Dear Dr. Fox: I enjoyed the interesting chapter in your book “Animals and Nature First” about animals having an afterlife, and the evidence from readers’ accounts and photographs they shared with you.

I am enclosing a photo of our family taken a few years back that shows our deceased cat, Willy, in the lower left corner coming out from behind my son’s legs. You can see the cat shape distinctly and his black and white face. The picture was taken about three months after Willy passed on. – M.D., St. Louis, Mo.

Dear M.D.: I am glad you enjoyed this particular chapter in my new book, published with CreateSpace.

I hesitated to include it because skeptics might use it to ridicule the entire book, which has more to do with rectifying our relationships with animals and the natural environment than exploring the supernatural. But the metaphysical evidence of life after life, of animals being living souls like us and having spirits, all contribute to awakening us to the great mystery of life. As a veterinarian, I think treating all living beings with respect and compassion is the best preventive medicine, and a long overdue step in healing our relationships with the rest of the animal kingdom.

I would very much appreciate receiving photographs from other readers who have caught what appears to be the image of a deceased companion animal in the picture. Kindly provide information as to the age of the animal and when he or she died and when the photo was taken. A few such images are posted on my website www.twobitdog.com/DrFox.

Dear Dr. Fox: I have an indoor/outdoor male cat, 9 years old. He has been eating the Hill’s Science Diet cat food as recommended by our vet when he was little. The label shows that the main ingredient is chicken byproduct meal, followed by grains. This does not seem healthy.

Could you please recommend a food for a healthy adult cat? I have a bad feeling we followed advice that may be harmful to our cat. He is healthy except for a cyst on his back. – J.B., Winston-Salem, N.C.

Dear J.B.: You are right to be concerned about what the veterinarian sold you to feed to your cat.

Even though your cat’s health seems OK, I would transition him gradually over a five- to seven-day period to a healthier diet containing whole foods and, ideally, organically certified, fresh ingredients. For my preferred list of dog and cat foods, please visit my website. There, you can access the archives, which have my syndicated newspaper answers to many pet health and behavioral questions like yours.

Some cats, dogs and humans adapt to certain diets that cause no health problems, while others don’t do so well, succumbing to various diet-linked illnesses such as diabetes and arthritis. Genetics plays a significant role, which should mean that good breeding and good nutrition go hand in hand. Some pet food “experts” contend that it’s simply a process of natural selection – those cats who do OK on a manufactured non-carnivorous, high-cereal or even vegetarian diet will eventually become the majority in the population through survival of the fittest.

But it’s not that simple now that there is a majority population of neutered animals being fed manufactured pet foods that may not provide optimal nutrition. Some will do fine and others, sooner or later, won’t. But those who happen to do fine will not pass on their genetic attributes, however, because they have been neutered. So the natural selection process argument for adaptation is null and void!

Send your questions to Dr. Fox in care of The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, ND 58107. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns. Visit Dr. Fox’s website at www.twobitdog.com/DrFox.

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