Cat Food

When Brenda Christ's 7-month-old Himalayan kitten started vomiting, lost his appetite and barely moved for two days, the Hanover, Pa., resident knew right away what to do. First, she rushed little Winslow to the vet, who diagnosed an acute case of kidney failure. Next, she found out from the vet that the likely culprit was half a can of Iams Flakes with Tuna cat food - the sixth can the cat consumed from a batch of 24 that cost $8 at a local megastore. Finally, she called Iams to notify them of her problem and sent them the unused cans of food in an envelope they mailed her. Then she waited ... and waited ... and waited some more.

Students at Hannah More School are holding a benefit drive to help the Humane Society of Baltimore County. Students are asking for meat formulas of baby food, blankets, towels, small rugs, canned dog and cat food, large rawhide bones, cat litter, animal toys, cleaning supplies and medical gloves. The Humane Society would also welcome food scales measuring up to 4 pounds. Donations will benefit dogs, cats and other pets housed at the Humane Society of Baltimore County and other local nonprofit animal shelters.

Contaminated dog food kills 23 animals, sickens 18 more WASHINGTON -- Contaminated dog food that was sold in 23 states - including Maryland - killed nearly two dozen dogs and sickened 18 more, the Food and Drug Administration said yesterday. The deaths and illnesses sparked an FDA investigation into the pet food made by the Diamond Pet Food Co. at its Gaston, S.C., manufacturing plant. The FDA said that 23 animal deaths have been linked to the pet food. The company, based in Meta, Mo., issued a recall of 19 varieties of dog and cat food Dec. 21 because some of the pet food made at the Gaston facility was discovered to contain aflatoxin.

Help! My bedroom is infested with a tiny black or dark brown insect that looks like a flea, but crawls rather than hops. My cat's dry food was loaded with these things. (They aren't weevils like you find in flour. They're bigger.) My friend in another state suggested an "ozonator," which is supposed to kill all bugs, bacteria, mold and mildew. I'm looking for a non-chemical, safe method to deal with these invaders! You're describing a cigarette beetle or drugstore beetle. As curious as the names sound, they are rather common pantry pests, probably introduced to your home via the dry cat food.

Nitwit is a good-natured calico cat who likes to sleep on the top bunk bed in her owner's spare bedroom. She jumps from the floor to the dresser to the bed. That's pretty impressive when you consider that 8-year-old Nitwit weighs in at a hefty 18 pounds, which is a little beyond pleasingly plump and edging toward obese. "She's an eating machine," says her owner, Renate Reed of Annapolis. Nitwit's weight doubled in the six months after she was neutered, to the shock of both Reed and her veterinarian.

My cat Elvis was king, or maybe she was queen, of our household. She had a great sense of cat humor and a playful personality, and she offered endless unconditional love. She knocked things over, sneaked out of the house, ate our food before we sat down and batted things under the furniture. A few years ago, Elvis bought the farm. Our other old-timer cat, Angel, died the next week. After four years, we still mourn the loss of our pets. Our kids asked when the cats would come back. We told them there was no returning from cat heaven.

Lee/Jackson birthday Celebrate the birthdays of two Civil War generals Saturday at the Lee/Jackson Monument downtown. Watch as Confederate and federal re-enactment troops take part in ceremonial displays with period music. The ceremony honors Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, born Jan. 21, 1824, and commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army Robert E. Lee, born Jan. 19, 1807. Refreshments will be available after the ceremony. The ceremony begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Lee/Jackson Monument at Art Museum and Wyman Park drives.

Start eating smaller portions. Get regular exercise. Cut out between-meal snacks. Chase a catnip mouse four times a day. It's not exactly the advice your doctor would give you if you gained a few too many pounds, but it's pretty close. Obesity, unfortunately, is becoming as big a problem for America's millions of house pets as it is for their owners. "It's the No. 1 nutritional problem I see in dogs and cats," says Dr. Craig Thatcher, a spokesman for the American Veterinary Medicine Association whose specialty is veterinary nutrition.

LOS ANGELES - To care about the color of cat food - to really fuss over, say, a roast-beefy red - you must loathe hues of rust and old gravy. You must adore the way that an Italian grape skin extract can hold its purple with such might during the heat of pasteurization that it won't brown out. No matter where you turn, the world must explode at you in tangerines and peacock blues and glorious color, the way it does for Gabriel J. Lauro, food scientist....

To care about the color of cat food -- to really fuss over, say, a roast-beefy red -- you must loathe hues of rust and old gravy. You must adore the way that an Italian grape skin extract can hold its purple with such might during the heat of pasteurization that it won't brown out (this is tricky, though). No matter where you turn, the world must explode at you in tangerines and peacock blues and glorious color, the way it does for Gabriel J. Lauro, food scientist. Lauro is the unpaid director of the Natural Color Resource Center at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.