Canned Cats and a Paws-On Test

Hi all,

it has come to our attention that commercial pet food is even more dangerous than we thought. It was reported in the news today that one of our colleagues in Austria got stuck in a Kitekat can. The poor cat was very hungry and, hoping to find a small crumb of 4% meat food at the bottom of the can, stuck its head deep inside. Local residents heard the cat banging its be-canned head against whatever was in its way, hoping to get rid of the empty can. Other four-legged colleagues had already gathered around the canned cat when the fire brigade arrived and very gently helped her regain her freedom.

Two-legged friends, please feed your cats real food, so they are not starving and don't have to look for cheap commercial food inside empty cans. This would also eliminate the possibility of cats finding empty cans in the streets because real meat doesn't come in cans. We love our BARF food and feel very energetic because of all the essential nutrients we get, and it is one of our deepest wishes for all four-legged colleagues to be fed high-quality food as well!

© Feuerwehr Krieglach

We also have some good news, guys. It has been reported that Apple's new touch ID sensor doesn't only recognize human fingerprints, but also toes, noses, nipples, and, most importantly, cat paws. This means that we can use our two-legged daddy's new iPhone 5S, once he gets it. We are so excited we haven't slept in hours. We're already dreaming about unlocking the phone, opening all the apps and then sleeping on the warm phone. Mhhh... Purrr... Then we'll call or two-legged mommy and just purr into the phone. Lastly, we'll take self-portrait photos of our cute fur until the phone's memory is full. Isn't our life purr-fect?

Proof:

Love, 

Hattoir and Honzo (this is what our two-legged grandparents thought we were called)

Book Review: Schwarzbuch Tierarzt

Review of “Hunde würden länger leben, wenn...: Schwarzbuch Tierarzt” by Jutta Ziegler

by Marlies

I just devoured the book in two days, so I thought I’d write a review for my furry sons’ blog. As far as I know, the book is only available in German, in case you’re interested in finding out more after reading this post, but I’ll try to summarize the main points as diligently as possible for those who don’t speak German. 

The main message that can be taken from the book is that you shouldn’t trust your vet unconditionally, but instead question whether it is really necessary for your pet, for instance, to get vaccinations (every year), eat expensive diet food or take dangerous medications. The author points out that many vets are driven by profits, so they don’t necessarily have the patients’ best interest in mind. 

Most illnesses don’t just develop out of the blue or are genetic, but are caused by negative environmental factors and/or bad nutrition, especially the latter. Commercial pet food, both canned and dry, is not adequate for carnivores, as it contains mostly cheap carbohydrates, poultry meal made from feathers and beaks, cellulose made from wood, additives, artificial flavorings, genetically modified vitamins and so on. I’m ready to throw up now. I’ve read in other books that most cat food only contains 4% real meat. Isn’t it incredibly awful to feed a cat food that isn’t at all like the food it usually eats in nature, namely mice? 

Everything a cat needs is contained in a mouse: fresh, raw meat, bones, taurine, the contents of its stomach, moisture, and so on. Of course we can’t feed our cats mice, unless they catch some in the garden, so experts have been developing a raw diet, called BARF (biologically appropriate raw food), that tries to mimic what a cat would get from eating a mouse. It is really no surprise that cats just aren’t built to digest anything but real meat, of which commercial pet food contains very very little. 

Jutta Ziegler shows that a large number of illnesses could be prevented by just feeding pets their natural diet instead of cheap, low-quality commercial food. Those include allergies, diabetes, obesity, psychological disorders, various kinds of organ dysfunction, hormonal imbalance, joint and bone conditions, and so on.

Moreover, Ziegler points out how problematic it is to subject pets to yearly vaccinations. There is very little proof that it is actually necessary and the few studies that exist are usually sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. It is very problematic that the majority of vaccines for pets contain a high percentage of heavy metals and other dangerous substances, so it is really important to think about which vaccines are really necessary, and which ones cause more harm than good. The same, of course, also applies to medications, of which some even contain nerve poison. Often, antibiotics or cortisone are just prescribed to a pet as a precaution, even though it can be very dangerous, especially if used repeatedly. There are a large number of problematic medications for pets, most of which couldn’t get licensed for sale to humans, so they are used for pets, including weight-loss pills, anti-depressants, anti flee and tick spot-on treatments, etc.

So, to conclude, it is very important to look at the source of the problem and feed your pet the best food possible. I will try to review a few BARF books I’ve read in the near future and update you on how the BARF feeding is going with my furry sons as soon as they’ve joined us in late October or early November. 

Aren't we incredibly cute?

Hey guys!

We've had a very exhausting week "at work" (playing, eating, sleeping,...), so we'll just post proof of how cute we are tonight! 

Enjoy! 

Obese Cats Anonymous

Today, we’re happy to feature an exclusive interview with the chair-cat of the Lower Austrian branch of Obese Cats Anonymous (OCA), Mr. Baghira Hennessy Angelo Lincoln Petrowitsch, MPc (Master of Professional Cuddling). 

Hattori & Hanzo: Mr. Petrowitsch, thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. We hope that this commitment doesn’t affect your sleep schedule negatively. Tell us a little bit about your engagement with the OCA. 

Baghira P.: I’m glad to be here. Obesity really isn’t fun for both cats and their two-legged housemates. I used to be obese myself, weighing almost 9kg not too long ago. I was very lethargic and slept most of the day. It was a viscous circle; I ate and felt exhausted so I ate more, which made me feel even more awful. 

H & H: What prompted you to start a weight-loss program? 

B. P.: I have to really thank my two-legged housemate Stephanie’s granddaughter Marlies because she said the situation had to change. I had just dislocated my shoulder by jumping down from the couch and felt quite miserable. Stephanie always thought my fat belly looked cute and said that her friend Renate’s cat was even fatter than me, so she really downplayed my problem. Anyway, I really needed help. My diet changed completely and at first I didn’t like it at all. Marlies tried to explain everything in detail, but of course I didn’t want to listen. I just wanted unhealthy food, and a lot of it too. My new food was made from 100% real meat instead of carbohydrates and meat-by-products, but my body was craving the additives and artificial flavors. 

H & H: You are right, we are still very little, but we already know that cats need food that mimics a mouse. Mice don’t contain a significant amount of carbohydrates, so our stomachs are not built to process them. But of course “regular” cat food doesn’t actually contain a lot of meat because it would be too expensive. Blame capitalism! 

B.P.: Exactly, so because my “regular” cat food mainly contained ingredients I couldn’t process, I felt exhausted and had no energy. It only took a few days after switching to 100% real meat cat food until I felt more active and was able to work out for a few minutes. As I started losing more and more weight, I began to enjoy playing and running around in the garden. I’ve already lost more than 2kg. 

H & H: Wow, what a success story, especially considering your age, 14 years. 

B.P.: Thank you. But I couldn’t have done it without all the support I received. Stephanie always told Marlies: “oh come on, he doesn’t want to play any more, he’s too old.” The truth is that I haven’t felt this good in a very long time. 

H & H: Confidential sources slipped us information that you are afraid of toy mice. Do you want to comment on these allegations? 

B.P.: I also got an upset stomach from eating expired bugs once, so what? 

H & H: Haha, you are hilarious. Thank you for being so honest with us. Our readers will appreciate it. Is it true that you have a very unusual hobby, puking hairballs on Persian carpets? 

B.P.: Well, I don’t know if you can call it a hobby. Stephanie has the whole living room covered with those old dusty carpets. I thought if I repeatedly threw up on them, she’d replace them with shiny new Russian flying massage carpets. Haha, basically I just do it to test if she still likes me. 

H & H: You watch too much TV, Mr. Petrowitsch. But us cats are very cute indeed, so it is hard not to love us. Let us get back to our topic of obesity though. Do you have weak moments? 

B.P.: Yes, those certainly exist and you have to accept that they happen from time to time. Sometimes when I am really hungry, I pretend I am starving very badly when the first two-legged cat gets out of bed in the morning. I do the same with all the other ones. When I’m lucky, I get up to three pouches of food before they figure out my strategy. 

H & H: Very sneaky. But you deserve it. All the best for the future and your continued weight-loss. 

B.P.: Thank you, it was a pleasure.

B. Petrowitsch before losing weight

B. Petrowitsch now

Purr-fect Weekend

Meow, meow! It’s Hattori. As mentioned in our last post, we met our forever family last weekend. It was very exciting for us and we got along very well with them, even though we were a little cautious at first. You never know. Our forever-mommy is called Marlies and she’s a human rights advisor-intern with the UNODC and a PhD student in Development Studies, but to be frank, I only care about how much time she has to play and cuddle with us. We are a bit skeptical because it has come to our attention that she used to be a vegetarian and can’t prepare meat without being grossed out, but hopefully our forever-daddy won’t let us starve. 

Apparently, I am a lot like my future mommy because I am very active, adventurous and vocal. I play until I fall over and sleep like a baby until I’ve gathered enough strength to play again. Daddy’s told me that mommy usually keeps going until she just falls asleep in front of the TV. 

I am ashamed to report that I couldn’t resist my curiosity to try a bit of my future daddy’s black tea when they were visiting. My little stomach couldn’t handle all the caffeine and I got diarrhea... cute little kitten diarrhea. Ok, maybe I wasn’t cute for a very short period of time because I had poop all over my fur. My four-legged mommy tired to clean me up, but sadly we weren’t able to hide the corpus delicti because when she tried to clean the cat toilet, she got poop all over her face that our breeder-mommy Lucie had to remove with a cotton ball.  Oh well, we are still very little and learning. Also, my dear brother enjoys peeing against the wall, especially before Lucie moved the litter box underneath the office desk, and farts occasionally. Daddy says it’s ok, quoting an Austrian saying: “Wer fü pforzt, der braucht koan Orzt” (He who farts, doesn’t need a doctor). The two of them will certainly get a long very well! Hanzō?

Howdy, friends! This is Hanzō. I do get along great with my forever-daddy Herbert. He is quiet, like me, and values his alone-time. Marlies says most computer programmers are like this. Herbert is just finishing his PhD and will start his job as a video game programmer very soon. I am looking forward to sleeping on his warm computer and helping him write lines of code by just randomly pressing keys on the keyboard. Maybe he can also program a cat-play video game in order to keep Hattori busy. I do enjoy playing cat-fight with him, but he is just too active. He climbs on almost everything, books, bookshelves, chairs, and so on. 

I found it very funny when my brother had diarrhea because it helped our forever family tell us apart. We are twins after all, so I understand it must be difficult for them. Whenever they weren’t sure who was who, they checked our cute buttocks. You could hear them talking in two-legged cat language: “ah, it’s yours, it’s the one with the poopy butt." Haha. 

Marlies knitted a blanket we can sleep on for us and we really like it. Sadly, my hyped-up brother always tries to fight with it. Hopefully, it will still be “alive” when our forever family comes to visit us next time. Talking about our cozy blanket makes me yawn and think about a cute cat nap. Mmmhh, napping, purring while napping, purring and dreaming about cuddling with cat-mommy ... I can’t keep my eyelids open any longer... aahhh, good boy, Hattori is joining me... falling over... ccchhhhhhh... chhhhrhhhchhrr...  

Sweet dreams, little angels! 

Welcome

Hi there! We just turned six weeks and are finally old enough to have our own blog! In case we haven't met in purr-son yet, let us introduce ourselves. We are two very cute and adventurous Russian Blue cats, named after the famous Japanese samurai (and Kill Bill character) Hattori Hanzō. We were born to our beautiful cat-mommy Fiona Borusja of Blue Majesty in Marlen, Germany, on July 30, 2013. Our cat-daddy, Rudolf Ewjatar, lives in Poland, but we don't think mommy misses him too much because she is so busy taking care of us, cleaning us, and teaching us how to behave properly.

Last week, our forever family came to visit us and we found out we're moving to Vienna, Austria, in a few months. The word is that they have good sausages and alcohol there, but unfortunately only for two-legged cats. For now, we prefer mommy's milk and black tea (Hattori can tell you more about that later), but we've also recently started being introduced to our BARF (biologically appropriate raw food) diet. Probably it's almost as delicious as sausages with beer, and maybe even a bit healthier.

That's it for now, two-legged friends. We're planning on individually posting about our adventures soon. Stay tuned to find out about the similarities between Hattori and our forever-mommy and Hanzō and our forever-daddy.

Meow, until next time!

Your Happy Samurai

© Blue Majesty Holistic Cattery