Every living creature is “fine” until outward signs of a disease process are exhibited. That may sound like a very obvious and basic statement but if you think about it……
Every cat on the Feline Diabetes Message Board was “fine” until their owners started to recognize the signs of diabetes.
Every cat with a blocked urinary tract was “fine” until they start straining to urinate and either died from a ruptured bladder or had to be rushed to the hospital for emergency catheterization.
Every cat with an inflammed bladder (cystitis) was “fine” until they ended up in pain, passing blood in their urine, and missing their litter box.
Every cancer patient was “fine” until their tumor grew large enough or spead far enough so that clinical signs were observed by the patient.
Every cat was ‘fine’ until the feeding of species-inappropriate, hyperallergenic ingredients caught up with him and he started to show signs of IBD (inflammatory bowel disease).
Every cat was "fine" until that kidney or bladder stone got big enough to cause clinical signs.
The point is that diseases 'brew' long before being noticed by the living being.
This is why the statement “but my cat is healthy/fine on dry food” means very little to me because I believe in preventative nutrition - not locking the barn door after the horse is gone. I don’t want to end up saying “oops……I guess he is not so fine now!!" when a patient presents to me with a medical problem that could have been avoided if he would have been feed a species-appropriate diet to begin with.
Of course, in order to be on board with the 'preventative nutrition' argument, a person has to understand the fact that carbohydrates wreak havoc on a cat’s blood sugar balance, that a urinary tract system is much healthier with an appropriate amount of water flowing through it, that cats inherently have a low thirst drive and need water *with* their food, and finally, that cats are designed to get their protein from meat – not plants.
Information taken from http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_Just_Fine_on_Dry_Food Lisa M. Peterson DVM
Information on this site is for general informational purposes only and is provided without warranty or guarantee of any kind. This site is not intended to replace professional advice from your own veterinarian and nothing on this site is intended as a medical diagnosis or treatment. Any questions about your animal's health should be directed to your veterinarian