Sandy Arora

This book describes in simple, easy-to understand language how to care for your cat "naturally": feed a raw food diet, use herbs and home remedies for simple ailments, how to monitor your cat's health and even deal with some behavior issues. The part that interested me most was the section on raw foods- the book claims that having a nutritionally correct, raw food diet will prevent many problems cats have- it got me to thinking that if I could grind up chicken carcasses and add all the show more strange-named additive powders (I'm unfamiliar with most of them) for my kitties, one would stop loosing his facial fur, the other quit having upset stomachs and fleas will find them both unattractive! I really skimmed over the pages about herbs and flower essences, because I can't imagine myself mixing up remedies at home. But if that's something you're interested in, this book is full of information and charts to help you get started. I've never used things like aromatherapy or acupuncture for myself, much less my cats, so I was kind of skeptical about some of the content. If I did decide to introduce a raw food diet, or try herbal remedies, I'd do more reading first. But this attractive, reader-friendly book (I went through the entire volume in one day) was a great introduction for me to the ideas.

And it answered one question for me: why does my cat like to chew on plastic grocery bags? and the other one lick photographs? Apparently these behaviors aren't as strange as I thought: the plastic and photo chemical coatings are made with animal fat or fish oils, and the residue has a smell that attracts kitties. I had no idea.

from the Dogear Diary show less

Okay, so I'll admit: I don't have a cat. I got this book on a recommendation from the Holistic Ferret Forum, because a lot of the homeopathy methods can work on ferrets too.

This book really focuses on holistic cat care, and it's a very interesting read (even though ... as I said above, I don't own a cat). I LOVE that it talks about raw feeding and the importance of real food -- and why dry commercial pet food just doesn't cut it. It even has a few recipes if you want to get into raw show more feeding, and if you don't, why wet commercial food is better than dry.

The part that is relevant to me as a ferret owner is where it gets into homeopathy (alternative medicine), which the book advises you to use WITH allopathic medicine, aka conventional Western medicine. There are a lot of holistic vets too, which the book says you can use together with allopathic vets. It's something I never considered! (Of course, if you live in a tiny rural area like I do, it's not always possible, but still: something to consider.)

The back says they translate the hard-to-understand language of homeopathy into layman's terms, but in those couple of chapters I still found things hard to understand. I'll have to read them over a couple times to understand. But don't get me wrong! The information is incredibly valuable, and I'm so glad I have this resource on hand. Essential oils aren't good for cats (or ferrets!), and I'm glad there are now options like flower essences and others out there. This book tells you how to use them--even if at first it seems a bit daunting.

There were a lot of annoying typos though, and I'm wondering if this is a bit of an indie? But I wish I could contact them and just "PLEASE LET ME EDIT FOR YOU", because ... there were just so many typos.

They also have a "Whole Health for Happy Dogs" book I believe ... maybe they'll make one for ferrets?

Anyway, so while there wasn't a TON of info that I could use, I still consider it a useful and valuable buy. show less

Sandy Arora has been researching and working with holistic cat health for eight years, running a web site and email list devoted to the subject. Her book provides her reasoning behind using a raw food diet for cats, and recipes to do so, as well as hints for transitioning cats to the raw food diet. She’s had remarkable success with her system, with chronically ill cats regaining health. Sadly, the recommended foods (the ideal cat diet doesn’t include easily available meats like pork & show more beef) are expensive and frequently difficult to find- emu, rabbit, pheasant and quail aren’t carried by most supermarkets, although one can raise mice pretty easily. Thankfully, she realizes that the ideal isn’t reachable by most of us, and tells us what to look for- and what to look out for- in commercial foods. There is also good information on litter boxes, dental health, vet care, etc. Where she loses me is when she reaches the part about homeopathic remedies for symptoms that could signal serious illness, although she does recommend a trip to the vet for symptoms like blood in the stool.

A good, solid book for an introduction to a raw/natural diet for cats, but do research outside the book for medical issues. show less