I'm trying to change my avatar to a falcon from an owl. However, the owl keeps showing on my profile when I click change. Friend made the tag for me. Can anyone help? I've attached it, so hope you can see it, or maybe needs resizing.
Thx
Val in MI

I see the Falcon, too, and it's very nice!
Carol
WV

After multi tries, and Firefox trying to make me use one addy (a gmail, lol).  Had to go thru IE, but I finally made it.

Val in MI

Excellent!  Glad to see you here finally 
Carol
WV

This thread is scaring me.  Pet owners have to be REALLY careful about "going raw".  Meat sold in the markets these days has often been treated with growth hormones and heaven knows what else, and many meat animals are fattened up before sale with non-optimal foods and drugs different from what they would normally eat.  I'm not sure I'd let my cats eat raw meat, just as I would not let them eat a wild mouse or bird due to any number of dangerous organisms that might be present in the prey.  I have never seen any statistics for barn and feral cats who eat prey bones and all.  It's always possible that their diet can sometimes kill them. Nobody knows.

Also, I sincerely doubt if it is safe to give bones to cats.  I would think it might result in damage to their digestive systems just like dogs, from splintered bone pieces getting caught and ripping sensitive tissue.

I'm not telling you not to feed your cats raw food, but I am suggesting that you carefully check out feline vet and food requirement sites on the internet before making up your mind.

Dot in PA

Since cats are obligate Carnivores, we cannot expect them to thrive on cereal, which is what dry cat food is.
Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins, one of the premier feline nutrition researchers, and other Vets who do research, and are not beholden to the food companies that provide them with bags of kibble,highly recommend a good raw diet for optimum health for cats.
More can be found at http://www.felinenutritioneducationsociety.com/
Raw bones, including poultry bones, are OK for cats, they don't splinter like cooked ones.  If a cat doesn't get the calcium from bones, he must have it as a supplement, ie: bone meal in a raw mixture.  Whole ground chicken or rabbit, bones and all, are great for cats.
Cats' digestive systems are designed to eat raw meat.  People shouldn't, of course, because of things like salmonella, etc., but cats with healthy immune systems are not bothered by salmonella.  Cats are not little dogs either, and are much more susceptible to obesity, diabetes, and urinary troubles as a result of eating  kibble than dogs are.
Mice and birds may well carry various parasites, and vets and breeders do not recommend that cats eat them.
But the myth that kibbles are good for cats is just that, propagated by the manufacturers.
Cats need to eat meat.
Carol
Tokira Siamese and Oriental Shorthairs since 1970

Another note re: feeding cats raw...
Raw chichen necks are great, as they help clean and stimulate gums.  The ads for crunchies all say they clean teeth, but really all they do is coat them with carbs 
My cats, however, just bat them around all night, and the outside kitties get them in the morning.
Carol
WV

I am going to also go raw and supplements.     

do you mean uncooked? explain further please.


Salem is my first cat and I want to do what is best for her

Uncooked is how they do it in the wild, but some would have to be cooked for obvious reasons.  AND they need something of substance to clean their teeth, hence bones or some type of crunchies.  Keep Salem away from the garlic    Nothing in this world comes close to garlic cat breath!  My Jasmine loved Fra Diovlo - heavy on the garlic.  The FUS ultimately got her, sadly.   

Carol (was it you?), I think, posted the chicken liver, turkey catfood recipie on the old board.  Would you do so again for Salem, please?   

Here Y' go :-)
The recipe, not necessarily precisely measured each time, starts with ground turkey 85/15, as cats have a high fat requirement.
I put in the blender:
1 1lb tub of fresh chicken livers
1/2 tub of water
about a quarter cup of plain (miller's) bran
1 tbsp cod liver oil
1-2 tbsp bone meal
5-6 capsules L-Lysine, 100 mg., emptied and the capsule shells dropped in as well
1 capsule Taurine 100 mg., emptied and the capsule also included
1 tbsp Fruit Fresh powder (this is Vitamin C, used to preserve freshness and color, as cats make their own vitamin C if they eat meat)
Sometimes a "glug" of olive oil

Blend very well, until it looks like a smoothie
Pour half into the tub the livers came in, and freeze for the next batch.  Add the remaining purée to 3 lbs of ground turkey and mix well.

I buy the supplements online, you can compare prices and get what works for you.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE:  NO garlic for cats!  The onion and garlic families cause Heinz Body Anemia in cats, and you sure don't want that. 

Carol
WV

Feline urinary syndrome (FUS) is sooo common in male neutered cats. Im so sorry your kitty got so ill.  I lost my Siamese kitty to FUS many years ago But then vets didn't have a clue what caused it. Diet is a huge factor.  Barn cats just don't get these illnesses because their mousers and eat bones and raw meat. ewwww.
 
I've had mine on raw for almost four years now, and am pleased with the response.  One (neutered) boy is almost 11, the other is 8, and my old Polly is about 15.
Cats' digestive systems weren't designed to eat cereal, they are obligate carnivores.  That means meat :-)

A Friend has a new webcam activated, her Pembroke Welsh Corgi mom and new babies.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/pemmom
Carol
WV

We switched to Diamond's "Chicken Soup" dog and cat food a couple of months ago after reading many glowing reviews and endorsements.  Two weeks ago, our 8 year old neutered male tabby, never before sick a day in his life, suffered an acute urinary blockage.  Two catheterizations and multiple IV treatments later, he has just about recovered.  While I can't directly tie his condition to his recent diet, our suspicions have caused us to abandon Diamond products and return to brands we've used without incident over the years.     

I've almost completely eliminated commercial cat foods from my household, and gravitated to feeding my four cats raw.  The only exception is my senior rescue kitty, who is 15, and likes her Nine Lives canned.  I mix the raw using chicken livers, ground turkey (all human grade from the grocery store), and supplements. Three years in, we have no more dental problems, and the piggy boys have slimmed down.  Anyone who has had Siamese will know what I mean about the piggishness and overweight...
I just got tired of one recall after another, and people losing cats to problems with the trash in commercial pet foods.
Carol
WV

[By roosting here together, the birds gain some protection. Proctor says it's basically a numbers game. The more birds in the roost, the less likely it is that you'll be the one that gets picked off by a Cooper's hawk or peregrine falcon.[/quote]Interesting article recently in the NY Times recently about just that:http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/where-tasty-morsels-fear-to-tread/CarolWV]

[/quote]

By roosting here together, the birds gain some protection. Proctor says it's basically a numbers game. The more birds in the roost, the less likely it is that you'll be the one that gets picked off by a Cooper's hawk or peregrine falcon.

[/quote]

Interesting article recently in the NY Times recently about just that:
http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/where-tasty-morsels-fear-to-tread/

Carol
WV

That's a GREAT photo!
Carol

DON'T USE PREMIUM EDGE CAT FOOD! We just received a notice from Veterinery Specialists and Emergency services that there is an outbreak of cats with seizures and neorological damage, and the common denominator is this food.

Is there any further info available on this?  People with whom I shared the warning are asking...
Thanks!
Carol

Over the Summer while babysitting this little bird was flew down in front of me.  Is it a Catbird?

There are a few in my neighborhood, which I occasionally see.  Being a long-time cat person, I am usually pretty good at identifying the imposter(s), but they are good enough to occasionally fool me 
Carol

It also looks like popcorn :-)
Carol

Check out this fungus!  It looks like a crocus - very cool. 

Most Dog and Cat Breeders have wrangled with vaccination questions for some time.  Over vaccination seems implicated in all sorts of health challenges, particularly immune system difficulties.
Dr Jean Dodds has been the most frequently published and quoted recently, with a new vaccination protocol:
<http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/DODDS-CHG-VACC-PROTOCOLS.HTM>
http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/DODDS-CHG-VACC-PROTOCOLS.HTM
Long, but well worth the read...
Carol
WV

When we're out camping, in Outer Boondock, WV, we hear, and see, lots of them.  Great music by which to sleep in a tent.  One landed on my leg one afternoon a few years back, and I was fascinated, until it took a test sample of my leg 
Carol

We have them here and call them katydids.  I grew up in Connecticut where they really did make a sound like "katy-did" on late summer and fall nights.  I remember looking out at the barn in back of my childhood home in the moonlight and hearing thousands of them, all being very loud.  That's how I went to sleep as a boy.