Millions of cats have one veterinarian to thank for their lives
By Gina Spadafori
May 17, 2009
That veterinarian? My friend (and “Cats For Dummies” co-author) Dr. Paul Pion, co-founder of the fiercely independent Veterinary Information Network. Founding and running VIN was his second major achievement as a veterinarian. His first? I’ll let him tell it:
Until that time, veterinarians considered DCM an end-stage, incurable condition. No one knew why it happened, but in these patients, the heart muscle was considered “spent”—once function was gone, we thought, it could never be restored.
The key to unraveling this mystery was that Cindi Glassaur, El Blanco’s owner, knew that El Blanco had a taurine deficiency. Taurine is an essential amino acid for cats. It was well-known that taurine deficiency could cause blindness in the form of feline central retinal degeneration (FCRD). It was suspected that taurine deficiency could also cause reproductive and other problems. In fact, there was a small group of roughly 200 scientists worldwide who focused their research on the role of taurine in animals and people. But other than effects on the retina, no real clinical effects of taurine deficiency had yet been proven.
That was about to change.
Read the rest here (PDF), from the Winn Feline Foundation, a wonderful organization that supports research into curing feline health problems. Winn put up the money for Dr. Pion’s research.
Dr. Pion ended up discovering the link between taurine deficiency and dilated cardiomyopathy. His research led to a reformulation of the world’s cat foods, and the end to a heart problem that was killing an estimated 100,000 cats a year. His is considered one of the most important discoveries in the history of veterinary medicine.
And it may not have happened if Winn hadn’t given a grant to this young researcher more than 20 years ago.
Image: El Blanco on the cover of the journal Science.
So I gotta ask - what does Dr. Pion have to say about the science (if any) behind the dangers of feeding dry food to cats?
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 17, 2009 @ 10:38 am
He has said — and wrote in “Cats For Dummies” — that the perfect cat diet is to put one freshly killed vole in the blender and hit “frappe.”
That said, I believe he recognizes that many people desire the convenience of commercial foods, and his advice has been to vary the diet constantly so as not to rely on one brand or company.
I also suspect as a cardiologist (not a nutritionist or general internal medicine specialist) he would not extend the reach of his advice beyond that. Nutrition isn’t his area of interest — as anyone who knows his addiction to Diet Coke and his love of Devil Dogs will no doubt agree.
I’ll drop him a note and see if he wants to say more.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 17, 2009 @ 11:06 am
I appreciate the careful wording of your response. Should Dr. Pion choose to respond, I expect his response will be crafted with equal care.
That said - I think there’s a world of difference between saying “In the best of all possible worlds, THIS is what you’d be feeding your pet” v.s. saying “If you DON’T feed THIS to your pet, you’re putting her life in danger” or similarly “Feeding this OTHER thing to your pet will cause your pet’s death/illness/whatever”. And that’s where science comes in.
(I liked the part in the article when he first saw what he thought might be a very strong cause-and-effect relationship between the increase of taurine levels and the recovery from the DCM. But rather than rushing out to tell everyone about it, he did what a good scientist does and conducted the follow-up studies to confirm the hypothesis. As 3FabulousFelines remarked in another thread, correlation does not guarantee causation, or words to that effect!)
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 17, 2009 @ 11:50 am
I appreciate the careful wording of your response. Should Dr. Pion choose to respond, I expect his response will be crafted with equal care.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 17, 2009
I doubt it. :)
Dr. Pion says what he thinks and is not known for considering in advance how anyone will take what he says — nor does he much care.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 17, 2009 @ 12:58 pm
Gina said (re: Dr. Pion): “He has said — and wrote in “Cats For Dummies” — that the perfect cat diet is to put one freshly killed vole in the blender and hit ‘frappe.’”
Sounds like my 3yo orange tabby Oliver has the same idea - up to a point. Most of the birds and wildlife have received the memo about the dangers of venturing into Catland (i.e., our fenced backyard). Except for the voles, that is, and Oliver catches a few every summer. Oliver, apparently, didn’t get the memo about the “frappe” part, because he tends to leave his kill lying in the yard (step carefully!), or occasionally presents it at the back door.
Wish I could convert his kill instinct into a raw food preference - he’s pretty much a kibblehead, although he does usually eat some canned food each day.
Anyway, on behalf of the 50+ cats I’ve fed over the years, many thanks to Dr. Pion for his dedication and care.
Comment by cerridwen — May 17, 2009 @ 1:37 pm
I know Paul Pion mostly as the founder of the Veterinary Information Network, an invaluable resource for veterinarians. In fact, the first question I asked when I was looking for a new vet was “are you on VIN?”
I never knew that he was the first to discover the connection between taurine deficiency and DCM.
Thank you to Dr. Pion for his dedication to the health of animals and to the education of veterinarians everywhere.
Comment by Ingrid King — May 17, 2009 @ 2:23 pm
Impressive! I had no idea he was so young when he made the discovery.
I like the advice about varying the diet.
One of our cats has a sensitive stomach and will begin to throw up pretty much anything he’s fed exclusively for more than a few weeks at a time (particularly higher-end foods). He’s been this way since we started transitioning him off of KMR seven years ago. We haven’t been able to figure out what the culprit is, but we’ve nearly eliminated the vomiting by feeding a variety of foods as opposed to keeping him exclusively on a single product.
I’m also not nearly as neurotic about food now that they’re on a number of them. I figure if anything happens to be slightly deficient in a particular nutrient (or has too much of a particular nutrient), the other foods will help balance things out. Either way, the cats seem to appreciate the variety, and when we’ve had to temporarily resort to prescription food or eliminate a favored but discontinued product, they seem more amenable to the change because they’re not accustomed to eating the same stuff every day.
Comment by 3FabulousFelines — May 17, 2009 @ 2:29 pm
Gina pointed me here.
Thanks for the kind words.
I had forgotten about that “article” I wrote for WINN’s anniversary.
The only definitive comment I’ll make about the cat food debates is that anyone who tells you they know THE ANSWER is not worth listening to.
Pet food companies want you to buy their food — and for the most part if you stick to a major brand you can’t go too wrong. Still — without doubt, RESULTS WILL VARY :)
Feeding from cans and bags is convenient. And since for most it seems to work, that isn’t a bad place to start.
I still believe in mixing up what you feed. But I can’t say that my wife (also a DVM) follows that. But our cats seem happy and healthy and that’s about all you can hope to achieve.
Plant based dry foods are not a natural foundation for a cat’s diet, but for convenience and cost, they are commonly fed and most cats seem to do just fine.
How much commercial foods are at the root of diseases like feline hyperthyroidism and diabetes are intriging questions.
The hard part is sifting through all the opinion, emotion, marketing hype, and researcher bias when trying to decipher the “science.” Suffice it to say I won’t be surprised if we figure out how commercial diets are leading to these conditions in some cats.
At the same time, it is hard to argue with the observation that cats seem to be living longer in the decades since commercial cat food feeding has become more popular. Cause and effect? Who knows.
I won’t get into the raw food debate, other than to say I wouldn’t be happy if my wife (can you tell she does all the pet care) decided to go down that path. Suffice it to say, my concerns are more for human health than feline health. But still, I won’t claim that I know the definitive answer on this topic.
Raw foods, dry foods, canned foods — my observation is that consumer choices are often made more to please the pet owner (influenced by advertising, peer pressure, and pseudoscience) than the pet.
I probably have said too much already. But I’ll end reminding everyone that everything and everyone dies. Somewhere in the midst of spending huges amounts of time, energy and money trying to cheat death, we have to remember to enjoy life and accept imperfection — it’s the best we got right now.
I personally would much rather live well (for me that means purposefully and doing what I believe is right for those I love and all whose lives my actions effect) than long (or even prosperously).
And to set the record straight, although I consume a lot of diet coke, I have not had a devil dog in over a decade :)
Comment by Paul D. Pion, DVM, DACVIM — May 17, 2009 @ 3:27 pm
I am so glad that Dr. Pion discovered a cat’s need for taurine. I cannot make my cat into a vegetarian because of the taurine need. Brilliant man, although he might do better with his own diet. Diet coke and devil dogs, indeed!
I have always believed that a varied diet from different companies is best for my cats. Besides, any cat I have had likes a varied diet—that’s a cat for you.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — May 17, 2009 @ 3:33 pm
I have always varied my little monsters’ diets based out of sheer laziness. I’m convinced that is why they did not get sick during the melamine thing - they were never exposed to too much of one food.
Comment by Elaine — May 17, 2009 @ 4:57 pm
And to set the record straight, although I consume a lot of diet coke, I have not had a devil dog in over a decade :)
Comment by Paul D. Pion, DVM, DACVIM — May 17, 2009
I just snorted ice tea on my screen. So much for accuracy in journalism, huh Dr. Pion?
:)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 17, 2009 @ 5:05 pm
Dr. Pion = breath of fresh air in the discussion of the best way to care for pet cats.
“But I’ll end reminding everyone that everything and everyone dies. Somewhere in the midst of spending huge amounts of time, energy and money trying to cheat death, we have to remember to enjoy life and accept imperfection — it’s the best we got right now.”
Thank you.
Comment by Susan Fox — May 17, 2009 @ 5:23 pm
Oh, and our cats vary their diet with the occasional gopher, which I, the gardener in the household, really appreciate. But they haven’t found the “frappe” button, either.
Comment by Susan Fox — May 17, 2009 @ 5:25 pm
I have to confess that up until my last dental visit I, too, was a diet coke or diet pepsi addict.
After the dental hygienist got through scaring me how many thousands of dollars it would cost me to repair my teeth if I kept it up, I am now diet-drink free. Boohoo! :(
Susan, you are right, everything and everyone dies. Looking for perfection can lead to depression. I will try to remember to enjoy life in the now and accept imperfection.
My cats are not going to be perfect, their health not perfect, my services to them not perfect, and I, myself, cannot reach perfection.
That is why it is okay if Dr. Paul D. Pion, DVM, DACVIM has his devil dogs, if he wants them. (He will, anyway.) :)
Comment by Colorado Transplant — May 17, 2009 @ 5:51 pm
My remaining cat rarely ventures outside, so voles. moles, deer and white footed mice are out of the question. I don’t have a blender anymore any way. Besides the dogs would beat her to the chase and kill anyway. I do wish she’d exhibit interest in something other than kibble however.
But I am taking “Somewhere in the midst of spending huge amounts of time, energy and money trying to cheat death, we have to remember to enjoy life and accept imperfection — it’s the best we got right now.” to heart. Sometimes we lose sight of what the real goal is. Thank you for that reminder, Dr. Pion.
Comment by Anne T — May 17, 2009 @ 6:20 pm
I didn’t grow up with dogs or cats due to allergies, so getting to finally have a dog and the four cats has been maybe more of an exercise in mindfulness for me than for those who, possibly, take for granted having one or the other or both in their lives because they did grow up with them.
At some point, as my first dear cat passed age ten, the thought occurred to me that not only are we responsible for their lives while we have them, but the odds are that we will be responsible for their deaths, too. And that it is necessary to to always act in their best interests, not ours. I find that I am comfortable with that. I suspect that many people are not.
Comment by Susan Fox — May 17, 2009 @ 6:34 pm
Thank you Dr. Pion for your thoughtful and thought-provoking response!
(The devil dogs should be in the mail any day now! G!)
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 17, 2009 @ 7:17 pm
Ok, what the heck is a “devil dog”?
Comment by Susan Fox — May 17, 2009 @ 7:29 pm
Devil dogs aside, Dr. Pion, thanks for setting me straight in learning to accept things the way they are now. You are wise as well as brilliant.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — May 17, 2009 @ 7:33 pm
And after Gina so kindly provided a link!
Okay - here’s another one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.....r_Products
Comment by The OTHER Pat — May 17, 2009 @ 7:33 pm
Good lord, I think I just had a blood sugar spike.
Missed the earlier link. Thanks, Other Pat.
Comment by Susan Fox — May 17, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
I don’t know if this question is dumb or not—not until I get an answer from Gina or Dr. Pion.
Do humans get a taurine deficiency? Especially a vegan?
Comment by Colorado Transplant — May 17, 2009 @ 9:35 pm
If you’re not a vegan, you’re fine. Vegans can become taurine-deficient, but can supplement.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — May 18, 2009 @ 6:47 am
Thanks, Gina.
I am a vegetarian, but someone in my family is a vegan and is probably taking supplements.
Comment by Colorado Transplant — May 18, 2009 @ 7:30 am
I remember this. I had been working at Fancy (now Bowtie) for a couple of years at that point, on Dog Fancy by then, but we read each other’s boards (a term that no longer exists in the digital age) and I had cats then, so for all of us as editors and cat lovers it was major news.
Comment by Kim Thornton — May 18, 2009 @ 8:10 am