Immune System of Cats

Can the immune system of cats be improved by transfer factors? What in heavens name are transfer factors? Transfer factors are immune messenger molecules. "They are found in white blood cells, colostrum, and eggs. They are often given credit for the perpetuation of species by transferring immunity against many pathogens that would otherwise kill the offspring." (published under Wikimedia® creative commons license license = Attribution-ShareAlike License).

They are said to the smallest molecules in the colostrum (mother's milk). The mother passes on her immunity to her offspring through transfer factors. She is also passing on information about her immune system through the transference of transfer factors.

Transfer factors are manufactured for sale to be used by people. The same product can and is used by veterinarians to treat cats. This commercially available preparation is claimed to enhance and stimulate the body's own immune system to fight against all pathogens, viral or otherwise. The people who sell this preparation say that there are 3 important functions of transfer factors - (a) boosting the immune system, (b) increasing the intelligence of the immune system and (c) modulating the immune system - suppressing an over-active immune system (a overactive immune system can damage the body it is designed to protect and some nasty illnesses are as a result of an abnormal immune response)

So to recap transfer factors are produced in the body of higher animals, naturally, and can be manufactured for sale and are important in the creation of an effective immune system. More information is available in this book: A Guide to Transfer Factors and Immune System Health. This is another recommended read: Transfer Factor: Natural Immune Booster (Woodland Health)

Some (all?) veterinarians that practice holistic and homeopathic medicine recommend treatment by transfer factors. It is a proactive measure. For example Rob Robertson, M.D. says that almost all pet illness can be referred back to a failure of some sort of the immune system. So boosting it and making it more effective can help prevent disease. Another example is provided by Dr. Falconer DVM in response to a question about treating bone cancer in pets. He recommends the transfer factors product used for humans at 2 capsules a day as part of the treatment (src: Shirley's Wellness Cafe)

The concept, then, is that the immune system of cats can be compromised (suppressed) by various factors including poor commercially available food, unnecessary vaccinations and a host of other reasons and prescribing transfer factors can help to boost, balance and repair the immune system to aid recovery from illness. There are testimonials that support the claim that transfer factor treatment can cure a pet where all conventional medication has failed and the cat or dog is being prepared for euthanasia.

If we are interested, I guess the next time we are seeing the vet we should ask about them. My bet is that vets not practicing homeopathic medicine will scoff at this treatment. They may not even know about it. Where can we get the preparations? Well you can get the preparation designed for humans on Amazon for a start: 4LIFE Tri-factor transfer factor plus. The vets practicing homeopathy use human transfer factor preparations on animals it seems. However there is a feline preparation available on Amazon too: TF Feline Complete (Contains Transfer Factor) 60 - 2 gram servings.

OK, over to your guys if you want to explore more. It is important that the immune system of cats is optimized and this is one way of getting there it seems to me - worth a try I'd say.

Immune System of Cats to Cat Health Problems

Feline Allergies

Feline Distemper Symptom

Are Cats Hurt by Commercial Food and Vaccines?

Are cats hurt by commercial food and vaccines? It is argued by some that poor commercial food that are low in nutrients suitable to a cat and high in toxins (for commercial manufacturing reasons) can damage cat health. Combine this with the still prevalent concept of yearly vaccines and some veterinarians argue that there has been an increase in chronic ill health of cats and dogs.

One such person is Michael E Dym, who practices Classical Veterinary Homeopathy. He argues that illnesses and behavioral problems that were rare in the 1960s are more frequently encountered today. He blames, as I mentioned, pet food and unnecessary vaccinations. He says that most of the health problems originate in a breakdown in the immune system.



This can result in a wide range of illnesses such as: degenerative arthritis, chronic skin/ear allergies, digestive upset, seizures, gum/ teeth problems, kidney and liver failure, thyroid, adrenal and pancreatic disorders and cancer across all ages and breeds.

Sometimes diseases are being treated with cortisones and antibiotics to suppress the symptoms when a more fundamental diagnosis of underlying causes should be made. He recommends Homeopathy as an alternative.

My highly cynical thoughts for what they are worth are these. Vaccinations are profitable for veterinarians. Vets have high overheads and need big salaries because they are well qualified. That indicates a motivation to over treat either by way of vaccination or by suppressing symptoms with drugs. It is easier to suppress symptoms than find the underlying cause plus the problem is still there needing more treatments. Vaccinations can it seems cause more ill health than they are intended to prevent. In addition there are the huge drug companies. They need to sell lots of drugs and who buys them and on what terms? Of course vets buy them. There is a kind of juggernaut effect. Health has become too commercial. You cannot effectively combine health and profit without some negative aspects creeping into the equation.

Cats and dogs can get a hard deal. They have no voice. They hide pain and discomfort. There is an element of guess work. Food is cheap, which means poor quality. It should be more expensive. This would reduce the number cat owners, reducing ultimately the number of stray cats and euthanized feral cats (over 2 million per year in the USA).

Another vet, Dr. Pat Bradley, DVM, Conway, USA says that the most common problems that he sees related to vaccines on a regular basis are ear or skin conditions, such as chronic discharges and itching. He also sees behavioral problems such as fearfulness or aggression.

And yet another Dr.Blanco, D.V.M says that you can take healthy animals and often soon after the vaccination, things like itching of the skin or excessive licking of the paws can be seen, sometimes even with no eruptions. There are probably many more vets with similar opinions.

Are Cats Hurt by Commercial Food and Vaccines? Yes, sometimes. I think we need to think more about these aspects of cat care. I don't have my cat vaccinated anymore. She is old and has had enough of them. Anyway she stays at home all day with little chance of catching anything. And I think about cat food more. It is hard though to get involved in these things as it takes time and that is often in short supply unlike the drugs.

The only real food for cats is properly made homemade cat food. This is raw supplemented cat food. And vaccinations should be seriously considered and discussed with the vet and don't get bullied!

Are Cats Hurt by Commercial Food and Vaccines? to Cat Health Problems

See the website of Michael E Dym, VMD

See Cat Vaccination Recommendations

Is This Pet Food Dangerous?

Is this pet food dangerous as the video maker says? It is Wellness® Pet Food and in the video below the video maker says that fish bones are present in the food that have not been sufficiently crushed, which makes the dried food dangerous. The bones are very sharp.

Viewers of the video are unsure if this allegation is true or if it is a competitor slurring Wellness® for financial gain. If it is a deliberate slur, I would be very surprised if it was a competitor as it would leave them open to damages in a court of law.

If it is a deliberate slur designed to damage Wellness® then it is more likely to be an individual, who is frankly living very dangerously. If the video is taken off YouTube and no longer visible below please don't be surprised.



So who made the video? Well, the video maker's channel (the webpage provided by YouTube to him) is very thin indeed, meaning he has only made one video, the one above. His profile states that he is 85 years of age and living in the United States. The voice of the commentator on the video is not 85 years of age. There is no information about the person other than his as stated. This is unusual.

Some of the fish bone is embedded in the food, which would be hard to fake, it seems to me. There are some pieces of loose bone in the bag as well. But as a commentator said, it would be very unusual for loose bone to be floating around at the top of the bag. It would have settled on the bottom of the bag during transportation, unless the bag was stored upside down. It is possible then, although unlikely, that there could have been loose bone fragments at the top of the bag.

Other commentators have said that their purchases have been OK. For my part, I am more or less convinced that the answer to the question, is this pet food dangerous, is a categorical NO. Why? Because the product is so obviously inedible and dangerous as to expose the manufacturer to a large claim for compensation. And that, I would have thought, is highly unlikely to happen.

Yes, there have been some horrendous pet food recalls. The last was the melamine in pet food recall. But this was a hidden poison in the gluten additive of pet food. The ingredient came from China. In this case the defect is very visible and quality control would surely pick this up? This though begs the question as to how bones were embedded in the dry food? My thoughts are that this is not that hard to do for someone who is determined enough to fake this.

OK, I conclude that this is probably a scam but everyone will have to make up their own mind as I could well be wrong.

Is This Pet Food Dangerous? to Home Page

Autralians Confused About Cats

Yup, it seems to me that Australians are confused about cats. On the one hand they are allowed to shoot 'em up in some States (Queensland and NSW for example - there are probably more) as they simply don't know how to control the feral cat of Australia and on the other hand they save one cat that was trapped in a burning house. See:

Bengal cat shot in Australia
Ground shooting of feral cats

What is it to be? Aussies killing feral cats by the tens of thousands (and that isn't fast enough for some Aussies) and yet (rightly) they save the life of a 7 year old Persian cat (actually he looks like a Himalayan a pointed Persian) in Adelaide.

The point is that the Aussie government is confused about how to deal with the feral cat. The Persian cat was saved by a fireman, a completely non-political person, I suspect, just doing his job in a compassionate manner.

Politicians shouldn't be making self-interested decisions about feral cats. It should be in the hands of objectively minded apolitical scientists who understand cats and how to control feral populations.

Do Big Cats Roam in Britain?

Do Big Cats Roam in Britain? -- The papers are awash with the latest story of how big cats really do roam in Britain. But do they? This time the evidence is stronger than ever. It comes from a Forestry Commission Surveyor who was carrying out a deer survey using thermal imaging equipment at night in the Forest of Dean. View Larger Map The surveyor says this, "I couldn't tell you how big they were or what they were. They were just large, full cats." How can this be good evidence then? He couldn't tell how big they were. They might be a Lynx a medium sized wildcat extinct in Britain since the middle ages but they could simply be feral cats. Some domestic cats can be as large as or larger than wild cats (see a comparison). The Lynx weighs about 22 lbs the top end of domestic cat weight. Some Maine Coons weigh more though. Then there are the F2 Savannahs that can weigh more than 22 lbs. So there is a real possibility that these cats are feral or even stray cats. They might even be domestic cats out for a stroll at night to return to their cosy home in the morning! There are far more feral cats in the UK than wildcats. Maybe there are a few wildcats other than the Scottish Wildcat (which is exclusively in Scotland). But the chances of this "sighting" being a standard feral cat are higher than the cat being a Lynx or Panther, for example. Anyway, that's just me. But we are yet to actually see for sure a big cat in the wild in Britain despite the ton of supposed sightings. Do Big Cats Roam in Britain? -- the jury is still out. 

  From Do Big Cats Roam in Britain? to Wild Cat Species