Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Amazing Transformation of Buda the Cat


NOTE: cats are obligate carnivores, and they require TAURINE in order to live.  The food I am talking about below is supplemented with Taurine.  

I was recently chatting on Skype with my friend Diane Ellis,  my guest from NZ Vegan Podcast  Episode 60  about Buda and her new svelte and beautiful body, and we compared some photos that I had taken of Buda from before I switched her to the Vegecat homemade cat food supplements and recipes from Harbingers of a New Age, and then looked at some photos I had taken now, and we both gasped when we saw them!

The change in 5 - 6 months has been amazing!  Not only has she lost all that excess weight, but her fur is shiny and she is light on her feet.  She bounds across the lawn with all four legs off the ground, I had never seen her do that before now.

Buda is getting on in years.  I first met her just over 7 years ago in NYC in 2003.  I took her with me because she was not in a good situation, and she never had been in her life.  It wasn't as bad as some cats have been through, but she had been abused, neglected and unloved, and so my then boyfriend and I decided I would adopt her, and so I did.  The person she was living with then told me he thought she was around 6 years old.  If that were true (and I don't know if it is) that would make her 13 to 14 years old now.  I don't know how accurate his estimate was, but even if she was only 2 or 3 years old at the time that would still make her 9 - 10 now, which is starting to get up there.

If I hadn't switched her diet I hate to think where she would be headed.  I used to have nightmares about the dreaded diabetes and kidney disease and all manner of other sicknesses.  I was constantly worried for her.  I had tried to put her on "diets" when I was feeding her commercial food, but since the time I took her in to get spayed, back in 2003, she instantly doubled and stayed overweight from then on.  She had been going into heat constantly for years when I met her, so she was much slimmer, as soon as she was spayed she just ballooned in size and as her energy level was never very high to begin with, because she had been abused and was used to just hiding under the table and keeping quiet, she never recovered and just got fatter and fatter.

After talking with Diane on my podcast I swore I was going to get Buda and Zsebi off commercial pet food, and after a time, using the advice she gave me and trying out the different recipes until I found one they enjoyed, I succeeded. (P.S I don't make the kibble, I make the fresh cooked recipes).

As the weight loss was gradual over months, I didn't notice just how stunning it was until I went back and saw that photo of her that I had sent to Diane all those months ago.  The difference was breathtaking!

Check it out:

This is Buda in September, 2010

Look how fat she was poor baby.  And her fur was dull, and I am sure her little joints must have ached. Not to mention how ridiculously tiny her head looks. :(



This was taken on Valentines Day, 2011. 
Look at her shiny svelte body!  Isn't it amazing?

Her body is finally in proportion with her little head
Rubbing around my feet as I am getting her dinner :)


So there you have it, another success story!  Thank you Harbingers of a New Age and Diane Ellis!  We will be doing another podcast soon where I talk about Zsebi and Buda and their healthy new diet.  P.S this is a recent picture of Zsebi.  She is one of the most energetic and crazy little kittens I have ever known.  She loves the food!  She loves all kinds of food!  Buda is fussy, but Zsebi will eat anything, in fact I have to keep an eye on her.  She races around all day long, but I managed to catch her keeping still long enough to take a couple of photos :)


She hardly sits still so it's difficult to get a non blurry photo when she is awake, she is so curious she jumps up to see what I am doing
See what I mean? lol

So I wait until she is asleep with her little tongue sticking out hee hee