A video I made for people into animal rescue

[GasSavers_maximilian]

The beloved Azami...get ready for the drool!

[GasSavers_maximilian]

I forgot to ask, Theholycow, but does smokey have a white patch? I understand an all black cat is pretty rare, is that true?

[theholycow]

Smokey does have one or two white patches. She also has mixed-in white hairs like someone whose hair is just starting to grey.

Buttons had no white at all, 100% black.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Originally Posted by theholycow

She also has mixed-in white hairs like someone whose hair is just starting to grey.

Regrettably, I know exactly what that looks like.

Originally Posted by theholycow

Buttons had no white at all, 100% black.

I thought the white in the lower right hand corner in the picture of Buttons was a white patch. Must've been a towel or something. I didn't know that a black cat with a bit of white was called a tuxedo cat.

[theholycow]

More of Buttons:









I sure do miss her.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Thanks for the pictures; black cats are really cool!

Originally Posted by theholycow

I sure do miss her.

Was she a special cat? I know all pets are missed, but some are just more endearing. Hoshi is sweet and all, but Azami was definitely my favorite.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by maximilian

Was she a special cat? I know all pets are missed, but some are just more endearing. Hoshi is sweet and all, but Azami was definitely my favorite.

I grew up with her around, and she had a different personality from any other cat I've met. She knew exactly when to cuddle and when not to. She was always there. She knew when someone needed her. She liked random stuff that you might not expect; she liked buttercream cake frosting, and the smell of cedar. She was never aloof, never mean, never antisocial. She was very calm. She was friendly and trusting. If you wanted her to, she'd curl up on your lap or hang around your shoulders like a scarf, and she'd stay like that until you didn't want her to.

Buttons was a rescued stray.

Smokey is aloof and selfish. She was rescued from a broken-up couple who probably would have abandoned her.

Darwin has ADHD or something, though I hope he'll grow out of it. He was adopted as a small kitten. I don't have any recent full-grown pictures of him online, but here's one shortly after we brought him home and one when he was almost as big (but not as fat) as he is now.

[theholycow]

So, cat question:

Smokey apparently does not chew her food. I didn't realize it until today.

She is a finicky eater and gets skinny if I only provide dry food. That bothers me because Buttons lived for almost 20 years and I credit it partially to Meow Mix. Anyway, I give her canned food so that she'll eat. If I give her anything with too much gravy, or anything other than finely ground stuff (pate), she vomits white slime along with her food. She does well with pate.

I finally realized today that she doesn't chew. I gave her a couple treats, and later found them vomited, unbroken.

What should I think of all this? I guess it's ok to just keep giving her the food that she keeps down.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

I found this page from a blog run by a vet. It's news to me.

Cats, however, are carnivores. Although they will scavenge if afforded the opportunity, their main source of sustenance is prey animals. They capture and kill their prey. They use their teeth to tear off pieces of meat and internal organs. The pieces are swallowed whole.

Cats? teeth are designed for this purpose. They have few molars. Their molars, unlike ours, aren't designed for chewing and thoroughly macerating food. It isn't normal for them to spend much time chewing.

It generally isn't harmful for cats to swallow food without chewing it. In fact, I know several cats who have no teeth. These cats often consume hard food and swallow it whole.

I always recommend avoiding treats or foodstuffs that cause difficulties for individual pets. But, for the most part, swallowing unchewed food is normal feline behavior.

Some people may use this fact to discourage feeding dry food or any form of commercial cat food as "unnatural". However, I have yet to see any reputable evidence that dry cat food is bad for cats. I have seen theoretical evidence, I have seen plenty of material published on thoroughly biased advocacy websites, and I have seen anecdotal reports from forums that are not scientifically run. But I haven't seen any solid studies that scientifically document health problems caused by commercial cat food. At least not yet.

[theholycow]

Interesting. Buttons definitely liked to chew her Meow Mix, and Darwin chews whatever dry food he gets (and leaves lots of little bits of it behind). It's good to know that it's normal not to chew, at least. Now if she could keep unchewed food down...well, pate it is.