Letter to dvm360: Emphasis on feline nutrition vitally important

The December issue listed the top five feline illnesses and number one is chronic kidney failure (“Pets Best names top feline illnesses”). This has never been a surprise to me in my 40-plus years of practice. In my first year or so out, I observed that virtually all cats with urinary tract problems of any kind were usually on a diet of dry cat food. This for an animal that's classified as an obligate carnivore!

For years I have campaigned, in every publication possible, that a dry food diet is anathema to the feline species. Unfortunately, dry food is the big moneymaker in the pet food industry. As we all know, “Money talks, and all else walks,” so my message has not been an easy sell. It is only in the last few years that my own profession has begun to awaken to reality and realize how important diet is to the health of our felines.

Bud Stuart, DVM

Santa Barbara, California