When I lived in Fairfield, Iowa from 2006-2008, I had two options of veterinarians to bring my cat Simon to, and I chose the holistic one, only partly because he was closer to where I lived. Â Simon had had a lot of trouble with bladder crystals living in the Twin Cities, and I knew it was from the processed food, and I wanted some help choosing something less processed.
Dr. Bill Pollack is a character. Â He's lived in Fairfield long enough to raise two kids to adulthood, but he still has a strong New York accent (Brooklyn?) and the no-bullshit attitude to go with it. Â Try to pussyfoot around him with Midwestern tact, and he will cut straight to the point. Â On Simon's first visit, he told me in no uncertain terms that I would be doing Simon a grave disservice if I didn't allow him to go outside (which I had never allowed in the Twin Cities) and feed him a diet of raw meat.
Specifically, Dr. Pollack recommended bulk ground turkey, which could be obtained from the larger grocery store's meat counter in 1-pound tubes, frozen by the dozen in boxes. Â Bought by the box this way, the turkey was cheaper than canned cat food and smelled much, much less offensive. Â A single tube would last Simon about six days. Â I was also supposed to feed him organ meat, but I didn't have a lot of luck with this.
I should have taken a photo of the tubes of meat, because they said, "GROUND TURKEY with flavor not found in ordinary ground turkey." Â There was no indication of what caused the mysterious extra flavor, and I never worked up the nerve to try it myself, but Simon loved it. Â He was happier and healthier on that diet than he had been before or has been since.
When Simon and I moved to Emporia, Kansas to live with Jessie and her cat Warren, I went looking for bulk ground turkey and couldn't find anything but Tyson's Honeysuckle White brand, which is not cheap, and Simon turned up his nose at it. Â Apparently without the extra flavor it just wasn't worth eating! Â So he's been on Science Diet ever since.
I was thinking of this today because I gave Simon the schmalz left over from cooking some ground turkey, and he loved it. Â The turkey had been cooked with "poultry seasoning." Â Maybe that's the mystery flavor?
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