Rosemary Extract and cats

janchodge

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My cat has been suffering from licking her fur off of as much of her body as she can reach for about 2 years. This did not happen until I put her on "healthy" dry food.  I have changed food, for proteins, no grain, then a simple formula of chicken and rice.  I have been continuously researching ingredients all this time and trips to the vet are always inconclusive as to the cause of her itching and licking.

I have now found the common ingredient in all these "healthly" foods is rosemary extract. 

There is an article that comes up, when you Google rosemary extract, that states that rosemary extract is a neurotoxin in cats and small dogs and that animals being treated for epilepsy are actually having a reaction to the rosemary extract.

I just now found a food brand named "First Mate" which has no rosemary extract or chicory which can also trigger a disturbance for a cat.  They make a no-grain and one with some good grains. 

My 4 cats were just fine on the "unhealthy" food.  I don't believe the no-grain formulas, green pea and whatever other "healthy" formulas  are so ideal.

I just started the First Mate food today.  I will write again in about 30 days and report the results for you.
 

ldg

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Yes, Rosemary extract can certainly be a problem for some cats. :nod: I do hope you've found the source of her problem! :cross: :vibes: Poor thing sounds like she's been miserable! :(

As Dr. Pierson says, every cat seems fine on those unhealthy foods - until they aren't. (Although she was really referring to kibble in general). This is her webpage: http://www.catinfo.org

And you're right. Now that grain-free is basically a marketing gimmick for so many foods, they've replaced the carbs in grains with other things that cats have no business eating like peas, potatoes, tapioca, etc. Cats are obligate carnivores, and they're meant to eat moist food high in protein. :) There's little "idea' out there - which is why I feed homemade food. :nod: Our poor Chumley was like your baby, and had licked bald spots on his legs and mowed his abdomen clean. :(
 
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janchodge

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I have found yet another article that states that NO KIBBLE is healthy for a cat - because they are obligate carnivores.  No grain is healthy for a cat.  This has been my thought for some time.  The article went on to elaborate on, my thought also, cats in the wild do not eat potatoes, blueberries, etc.

Also in the "healthy" foods are things like Yucca Schidigera.  This is supposed to help their digestion and reduce the odor of their stool.  However, their stool would not have a strong odor if fed a proper diet.

Also Yucca is poisonous to cats as is rosemary extract. 

The proper diet for a cat, is raw meat, period.  They do not have the teeth, jaws or digestive design to eat and digest grains, herbs and berries.

So, I intend go to the raw diet.  I will miss my friends at the pet health food store who tried to help me solve this problem. They have no idea.

I have spent hours and hours researching this.  Veternarians, also human doctors, know little about nutrition because it is not part of their training.  They are too busy torturing cats in dogs for no useful reason as part of thier "education".
 

CarmiesMom

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The thing I wonder about is if there's enough Rosemary extract in ground turkey to hurt a cat like if I scramble up some ground turkey and want to feed my cat some will it hurt them?
 

Flybynight

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C CarmiesMom
If you buy ground turkey from a grocery store, it will not have any seasoning. Don't add anything to ground meat you feed your cats as a treat. No, salt, pepper, etc.
 

Caspers Human

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And you're right. Now that grain-free is basically a marketing gimmick for so many foods, they've replaced the carbs in grains with other things that cats have no business eating like peas, potatoes, tapioca, etc.
If you think that your cat's food is causing her problems, change food. Keep her on that different food for a while in order to see if there are any positive changes. Once you have determined whether the change in food brings about a change in your cat's well-being, you can use what you've learned to come up with a long term solution.

Remember... All pet food is marketed toward humans. Not cats.
Cats can't read. They don't care about pretty pictures on the package.

Don't be taken in by the "Naturalistic Fallacy." (The false belief that "natural" things are better.)
Apples, peaches and other stone fruits may be natural but the seeds and pits contain cyanide. If you eat enough of them, apple seeds can make you sick or even kill you. Granted, you'd have to eat a lot of apple seeds to get sick from them but I'm trying to make a point.

My point is that companies will put all sorts of naturalistic claims that their food is better because it contains "natural" ingredients or contains some "magic ingredient" that is supposed to make your cat into a happy, glowing angel-like creature like you see on TV commercials.

The truth is that it's all, 100%, marketing BS! Don't be taken in by it! Don't read the front of the package. Read the back... the fine print.
That's where you'll find out what you need to know.

I suggest getting some kind of regular, store-bought food that you think is okay. It doesn't have to be anything special. Just read the back of the package to be sure that it doesn't have a lot of crap in it.

Don't worry so much about "grain-free"... yet.
Of course, if your cat is sensitive to grains or other things, I agree that you should avoid grain. I'm just saying don't rule out a product because it's got some grain in it.

This is only just a test... an experiment. Feed your cat this new food for a couple of weeks and see how she responds.
One of three things will happen. She'll get better, she'll get worse or she'll stay the same. If she gets better, good! If she gets worse, stop feeding that food. If she stays the same, try something else. Once you have determined the results of your experiment, check the ingredients again and use that information to decide what food you should switch to for long term feeding.

Our cat, Casper, eats Purina Cat Chow and canned Friskies. We tried several different brands of foods. Some were expensive. Some were cheap. Some of them aggravated his urinary crystal problem. Some of them upset his digestion. We tried the special (and expensive) foods that are supposed to keep cats from getting crystals. They didn't make much difference except that our pocketbook was thinner at the end of the month. Finally, our vet told us that the research she read indicates that fancy, "Urinary" foods are no better than a good quality regular food. She recommended Cat Chow. We tried it and it worked so we kept buying it.

We adopted Casper in 2016. He was two or three years old when we got him. He's eight or nine years old, now. He's been eating the same thing, all along, and he's doing well.

I think you should buy the best cat food that you can afford but I'm also saying don't get taken in by marketing pretense.

Cats don't give a flyin' frogleap if their food was harvested by vestal virgins on a Himalayan mountaintop under the harvest moon. All they care about is whether whatever is inside that bag, box or can you bring home tastes good.
 

CarmiesMom

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If you think that your cat's food is causing her problems, change food. Keep her on that different food for a while in order to see if there are any positive changes. Once you have determined whether the change in food brings about a change in your cat's well-being, you can use what you've learned to come up with a long term solution.

Remember... All pet food is marketed toward humans. Not cats.
Cats can't read. They don't care about pretty pictures on the package.

Don't be taken in by the "Naturalistic Fallacy." (The false belief that "natural" things are better.)
Apples, peaches and other stone fruits may be natural but the seeds and pits contain cyanide. If you eat enough of them, apple seeds can make you sick or even kill you. Granted, you'd have to eat a lot of apple seeds to get sick from them but I'm trying to make a point.

My point is that companies will put all sorts of naturalistic claims that their food is better because it contains "natural" ingredients or contains some "magic ingredient" that is supposed to make your cat into a happy, glowing angel-like creature like you see on TV commercials.

The truth is that it's all, 100%, marketing BS! Don't be taken in by it! Don't read the front of the package. Read the back... the fine print.
That's where you'll find out what you need to know.

I suggest getting some kind of regular, store-bought food that you think is okay. It doesn't have to be anything special. Just read the back of the package to be sure that it doesn't have a lot of crap in it.

Don't worry so much about "grain-free"... yet.
Of course, if your cat is sensitive to grains or other things, I agree that you should avoid grain. I'm just saying don't rule out a product because it's got some grain in it.

This is only just a test... an experiment. Feed your cat this new food for a couple of weeks and see how she responds.
One of three things will happen. She'll get better, she'll get worse or she'll stay the same. If she gets better, good! If she gets worse, stop feeding that food. If she stays the same, try something else. Once you have determined the results of your experiment, check the ingredients again and use that information to decide what food you should switch to for long term feeding.

Our cat, Casper, eats Purina Cat Chow and canned Friskies. We tried several different brands of foods. Some were expensive. Some were cheap. Some of them aggravated his urinary crystal problem. Some of them upset his digestion. We tried the special (and expensive) foods that are supposed to keep cats from getting crystals. They didn't make much difference except that our pocketbook was thinner at the end of the month. Finally, our vet told us that the research she read indicates that fancy, "Urinary" foods are no better than a good quality regular food. She recommended Cat Chow. We tried it and it worked so we kept buying it.

We adopted Casper in 2016. He was two or three years old when we got him. He's eight or nine years old, now. He's been eating the same thing, all along, and he's doing well.

I think you should buy the best cat food that you can afford but I'm also saying don't get taken in by marketing pretense.

Cats don't give a flyin' frogleap if their food was harvested by vestal virgins on a Himalayan mountaintop under the harvest moon. All they care about is whether whatever is inside that bag, box or can you bring home tastes good.
Right my old vet before he retired said the fancy schmancey pet foods were good but they weren't enough better than his go to Purina cat and dog chow to make the monitary difference though he did suggest we supplement with canned and when our dog who passed in 2016 developed a stomach issue he recommended science diet sensitive skin and stomach then when she developed diabetes a few years later he told us to switch to grain free unfortunately I had been hospitalized due to breaking my back for a few days and no one had noticed when she started drinking more than usual so it wasn't caught in time and she only lived a week after diagnosis..but yeah I agree the fancy expensive foods aren't always the best my cousin lives on a farm and buys his cat food from Orschleans farm and home store their store brand my cats won't hardly eat unless they have no other options even the ferals..so.its all about what your pet will eat.mine do like the American Journey Salmon grain free from chewy but it's extremely expensive and with 7 indoor and 3 ferals I can't afford to pay $40 for 12lbs when Purina cat chow is $13 for 12 lbs and I can get it at the grocery store instead of online.
 

Telstar

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I just started the First Mate food today. I will write again in about 30 days and report the results for you.
First Mate is a decent dry food, I have used it once in my kibble rotation and didn't cause any issue to my cat. Only one formulation is available in my Country, and it's with chicken, with "chicken meal" as first ingredient. Not particularly fond of "meals" ingredients, but it's better than no animal proteins at all.

BTW I do not think the rosemary extract was the cause, it could be intolerance to a protein source, such as chicken that is almost everywhere. Did you try some monoprotein based on rabbit, pig, venison, etc?
 
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