Conference misery::feline_v1

    Sorry, but I have a hard time understranding all those big words...
    So, what is a heinz body and is it found ONLY in the moist foods?
    (I guess what I am trying to ask is it in canned?)

    Sheesh!
    
    Check the cans for propylene glycol, not heinz bodies.  The heinz
    bodies are apparently formed in the bloodstream.
    
    Another conclusion would be that anything that supplies carbohydrates
    in the kitty's diet is at best unnecessary and at worst suspect
    or downright poisonous.  Guess I'll start marketing fresh rodents!
    
    
    						-- Ed

    This study was done only on soft-moist type foods, not wet foods.
    I would list examples but I don't know if that is allowable under
    the circumstances.
    
    The previous noter is right, in my opinion.  Any cat food that contains
    propylene-glycol would seem suspect to me.
    
    I believe the heinz bodies are formed in the blood stream, and are
    being linked to anemia.  They also found a possible relationship
    between propylene-glycol and diabetes.
                                                  
    Jo

    
    
    Good Lord, what next - maybe it's time to start making meals
    for 19 (home cooked, that is) - the H*^)&ll with cat food.
    
    I find it seriously irritating to hear this stuff (not that I
    don't appreciate it) thinking of what we all pay for cat food
    and how much we all care about our animals.  Are these cat 
    food companies using the planned obsolescence technique, for
    what reason I don't know....sorry to sound nasty, but between
    Ethoxyquin and propylene-glycol (I have seen that on so 
    foods, what is left to feed.  We ought to start a note
    with the title 'SAFE FOODS' and keep adding the product
    that don't contain harmful additives.
    
    Thanks for alerting us to the problem !
    
    E.T._grateful_18_times_over !! 
    

    Oops!
    
    I just re-read my .2, and it looks like I'm being critical of .1
    for asking some very important questions.  My apologies!!!
    
    The "Sheesh" was meant to convey, "Why are they poisoning their
    own customers, the idiots???"
    
    If I understood the base note adequately, there are several things
    going on in the kitty's body that the researchers are looking into.
    
    One is the formation of Heinz bodies.  Now, I thought this meant
    that the cat's coat was many different colors at first!  (8*)  But
    no, apparently this is something destructive that forms inside of
    the red cells in their blood.  And they've established that the
    more p-g cats eat, the worse the problem is.  Someone can certainly
    correct me here, but if I can decode the phrase "hemolytic anemia,"
    it means anemia caused by the destruction (lysis) of the red blood
    cells (heme) as opposed to maybe not having enough to start with.
    
    The significant phrase here is, "p-g cannot be considered safe even
    at levels consumed by cats eating commercial diets."
    
    Other effects on the cat's body are caused by p-g poisoning.  No
    explanation is offered for the increased urination, but loss of
    neural control over the bladder would be something to think about
    since they also mention that the loss of coordination is due to
    the drug effect of p-g on the cat's brain and nervous system.
    
    And to wrap the package up, the relationship between p-g and diabetes
    is supported by the relationship between Heinz bodies and diabetes.

    Altogether not a pretty sight!  Stupidly using preservatives I can
    understand; adding carbohydrates to the diet of an animal that has
    always lived on vermin I can't, unless it's back to the old "filler
    is cheaper than product" mentality.

    I repeat, "Sheesh!"
    
    							-- Ed

    This probably isn't the correct form of deductive reasoning, but,
    p-g causes increased urination, and p-g has been related to diabetes.
    Well, one of the symptoms of diabetes is increased urination, isn't
    it??  This is just an observation.  I don't feed soft-moist food
    to my cats, but one of my kitten buyers feeds it to the kitten she
    got from me.  Now I have a good argument for why she shouldn't.
    A better argument than "because it feels like rubber".
    
    Jo

    re: listing brands...
    
    So long as there is nothing but uneditorialized factual material, i.e.
    
    	Brand X		10g
    	Brand Y		12g
    
    there should be no problem at all.
    
    Gary

    FYI:
    
    Did you folks know propylene glycol is used a preservative in soda???
    
    Hmmmmmm........I wonder if it could harm us?