The Feline Hospital

06/17/2024

Please join us in wishing a very Happy (if a day belated!) 2nd Birthday to handsome Jax! They grow up so fast!

06/17/2024

Iris has found a wonderful home!! Thank you all for the well-wishes for her and for helping share the post.

06/13/2024

Please meet Iris, a lovely 10 year old black and white female who is in desperate need of a home. She is friendly and playful, and overall healthy other than early-onset arthritis, which is well-managed with a monthly injection and a supplement in her food.

Iris just lost her person. She is temporarily staying with a family member who can't keep her; she is lonely and they want her to have the loving home and attention she deserves. Iris does not like dogs, but has been an only cat for a long time so it is unknown how she would do with other kitties. She may do well with another senior cat, or at least a laid-back cat who won't play with her too roughly.

If you think you could have room in your heart and home for this pretty little green-eyed girl, please email us at [email protected] and we will pass along the contact info for the family friend who has undertaken rehoming her.

06/08/2024

Please join us in wishing a very Happy 10th Birthday to Lily-Grace!! Isn't she just stunning?

06/07/2024

EDIT: KITTY HAS BEEN FOUND!!! Thank you!

06/05/2024

of course I have to share cat jokes

Right on time for Graduation!

05/30/2024

This senior diabetic girl is wonderful, but keeps getting passed over for younger cats. We thought maybe one of our clients might have room in their heart and home for this special girl. Please contact Northeast Animal Shelter at (978) 745-9888 to inquire about her.

Are you the jealous type? Does the idea of your best friend’s other friends disgust you? Chloe gets it. Listen, we’re not here to pass judgement or be therapists, but we are here to find homes where our animals can live their best lives with people who get them. And Chloe, well, she doesn’t want to share you with other cats. She WILL give you enough attention and affection to make up for her possessive nature, though. That we can guarantee.

Chloe LOVES people, including children, and has lived well with a dog in the past. She is 14 and any potential canine companions should be able to be gentle around an older lady. Chloe has diabetes, which makes it especially hard to compete with all the younger cats around here, but it is easily managed. Those interested in learning more can visit our Salem shelter during open hours, 11:30-5 every day, no appointment needed. Let’s get this senior cat a home for National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day!

Photo by Cami Johnson

05/21/2024

Dear Feline Hospital Friends and Clients,

The Feline Hospital will be CLOSED tomorrow, Wednesday 5/22, and we will re-open as normal on Thursday 5/23. We will also be CLOSED Monday 5/27 for Memorial Day. We will re-open as normal on Tuesday 5/28.

If you think you may have an emergency with your cat while we are closed, please go to the emergencies page on our website for information on your nearest ER/urgent care:
https://thefelinehospital.com/emergencies/

We hope you have a safe and pleasant long weekend and holiday!

05/03/2024

👏National Small Business Week👏feels like the perfect time to share that we’re winners of the Homebase Top Local Workplace Award. We may be biased, but we're pretty sure we have the best team in the world here!!

05/02/2024

Please join us in wishing a very happy 18th Birthday to the lovely Gigi! Isn't she stunning??

p.s. thank you all for the well wishes, we are on our way to recovery!

04/30/2024

Dear clients and friends,

In an unprecedented occurrence at The Feline Hospital, over 75% of our staff are out due to illness, including the doctor. As a result, we will only be open for food, medication, and scheduling tomorrow, 4/30. There will be a receptionist in the office from 8:30-4, and we will be closed at 4pm and reopen on Wednesday. If you have an emergency with your cat, we encourage you to seek out urgent or emergent care.

We thank you for your patience, and look forward to recovering and being back in the office to take care of your beloved cats.

04/11/2024

Please join us in wishing a very Happy 15th Birthday to Milo! What a lucky boy he is to have his own party! He is just too handsome.

04/08/2024

We hope everyone got a chance to check out today's eclipse! Finn and Odin were demonstrating excellent eclipse safety! 😹😹😹

04/04/2024

some humor for a dreary, windy day! Stay safe out there!

03/22/2024

The Feline Hospital is a proud sponsor of the Salem Film Fest! Our two sponsored films are "Bring Them Home" (Sunday) and "Citizen Sleuth" (Saturday)! We highly encourage you to check out the whole lineup here: https://www.salemfilmfest.com/films-2024 and go see some unique and special films!

FILMS

03/22/2024

What a week for birthdays! Please join us in wishing Mary a very Happy 6th Birthday!! She is so cute, and even got a cake to celebrate!

03/21/2024

It's quite the birthday week! Happy 8th Birthday Jameson! What a handsome guy, from kitten to adulthood!!

03/20/2024

We have another birthday boy!! Please join us in wishing Reuben a Happy 7th Birthday! Just look at those mitts!

03/19/2024

Please join us in wishing a very Happy 4th Birthday to Valentino! What a handsome guy, and so festive in his hat! 😹😻

03/18/2024

Found cat in South Salem. Do you recognize him? or her?
Sorry I couldn't share directly.

03/11/2024

The boys sure are hard at work! 😹

03/08/2024

The lovely Miss Dolly wishes everyone a happy International Women's Day!

She also wants to thank the hardworking team of women that are the heart of the Feline Hospital. We are so grateful for our staff and the knowledge, talent, skills, and compassion they bring into The Feline Hospital every day.

02/14/2024

Happy Valentine's Day (part 2!) Please join us in wishing Tess a Happy 20th Birthday. She was born on Valentine's Day--look at that perfect heart-shaped face!

02/14/2024

Happy Valentine's Day (part 1!) from Valentino! Look at this handsome boy and his fashionable heart shades 😹😻

Please stay tuned for later today, we have a second special Valentine's day kitty!!

02/08/2024

UPDATE: REUNITED!! Solomon Hobbes is home safe & sound after 21 hours, 36 minutes :)

"Thank you all so much, we found Hobbes (the orange and white one) and are just waiting for Solomon to come home"
-Solomon Hobbes's Owner
Please spread the word! Solomon Hobbes was LOST on February 7, 2024 in Salem, MA 01970 near Salem depot train

Message from Owner: Please call if you find them, they respond to Frank, Solomon, Hobbes

Description: Grey cat as well as a white and orange cat

For more info or to contact Solomon Hobbes's owner, click here: https://www.pawboost.com/p/69992838

Lost or found a pet? Report it to PawBoost here: https://www.pawboost.com/l/rpl

01/26/2024

Thank you all so much for the towel donations, and for sharing the post! We have received many generous donations and we are going to be good on towels for a while! We really appreciated it!

01/25/2024

Dear Feline Hospital Clients,

We are happy to announce that our new, vastly improved phone system is now live. We have joined the 21st century with VOIP phones, and we will now be able to text clients, and clients will be able to text us! And we will now be able to handle any volume of calls, so no more calling us and not getting through and having to call back.

Thank you all so much for your patience while we underwent this arduous transition. There are some kinks to work out, of course, so please bear with us while our staff learns to use the new system. We think that this improved system, particularly texting, will be able to improve our communication with our clients.

01/12/2024

𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐈𝐊𝐓𝐎𝐊: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞

by Jennifer Liddle, Veterinary Nurse

Over the past week, yet another internet-based pet food conspiracy has arisen, this time aimed at Purina products. TikTok videos alleging that Purina Pro Plan food kills dogs have been going viral, and two pet food conspiracy websites have picked up the story and are doing their best to whip people up into an angry mob. (I will not link directly to them for legal reasons, but they are in the top search results for “purina food killing dogs.”)

These claims are dubious at best and dangerously false at worst. This is, unfortunately, a common phenomenon that we in the veterinary industry see. However, the age of social media has complicated the issue. TikTok and Twitter offer people bite-sized, emotionally-charged pieces of information, without sources–just enough information to work people up, but not enough information to actually make an educated decision. The danger comes in when people equate these unsourced claims to what educated experts say based on research. The famous Asimov quote comes to mind–”my ignorance is as good as your knowledge.”

So how can we determine what information is good and useful, and what information is misleading and false? Who has the time to endlessly research every claim that’s out there? The good news is, you don’t have to–just by asking a few questions, you can determine what information is worth your time, and what isn’t. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐛 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭. This is true for ANY information online, not just claims about pet food.

We can ask questions like these, to cut away all the emotional language and get to the core of any issue:

𝟏.) 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜? 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦?

Most of these pet food conspiracy websites and documentaries unravel with just this first hurdle. These websites and organizations are run by hobbyists, not veterinarians, biologists, or veterinary professionals. These individuals do not have a formal education in veterinary nutrition, and have their own reasons for pushing their agendas. Some of them just want attention, some of them want to feel like a “hero”--but scaring pet owners with false information just to boost your own ego is a cruel way to do that.

𝟐.) 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞? 𝐃𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐲, 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐝, 𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞?

The extreme nature of the “pet food warning” claims is a red flag. This tells you that someone is trying to appeal to your emotions, rather than your sense of logic or reason. Saying that Purina uses their vats to make pesticides, then turns around and makes pet food in the same vats, and sprays their pet food with pesticides and stirs in “industrial sludge” is both outlandish and displays staggering ignorance of how industrial manufacturing works. Purina offers tours of their manufacturing plant to both veterinary professionals and pet owners–if you go, I assure you that despite the claims on these conspiracy websites, you will not find Purina employees twirling their mustaches like villains and gleefully mixing industrial sludge and poisons into your pet’s food.

3.) 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐬, 𝐢𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲? 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐝𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥?

One of the first things I learned in my undergraduate biology classes was the phrase ”correlation does not equal causation.” What this means is that just because something appears connected, does not mean it actually is. Let’s say that I watch an episode of Seinfeld every night before bed. And then one night, I choose to watch an episode of Frasier instead, and my cat sneezes 10 times. Does this mean that Frasier gave my cat a sneezing fit? Of course not! It was just a coincidence.

So when someone says “my dog ate Purina Pro Plan and died a year later” (I wish I were joking, but this was cited as ‘evidence’), why does that get picked up as news? Why is that claim given more credence than my example above? Both are equally absurd. However, one has an emotional component that can override people’s sense of logic and reason.

Anecdotes on their own are not scientifically rigorous enough to hold up as hard evidence. Variables need to be ruled out, the data needs to be organized and cross-checked. Studies should be peer-reviewed and stand up to scrutiny. None of the ‘evidence’ listed on these websites about Purina’s food meets this standard.

I could also state my own anecdote–my two 11-year old cats eat Hills kibble and Purina Fancy Feast canned food, and have for their entire lives. They are both healthy and happy and I am satisfied with the quality of their food. See? It’s as simple as that to weigh in with your own subjective experiences–but as an intelligent consumer, you don’t need to settle for subjective, anecdotal evidence. There are more objective sources of information–peer-reviewed research like the studies conducted at Purina, Hills, and Royal Canin.

Purina, Hills, and Royal Canin all conduct feeding trials of their foods. These are some of the most highly researched and tested diets available, and they readily share their research and data with the veterinary community. This is why when you ask Dr. Ternes or another veterinarian what food they recommend, they will likely say something from the above 3 brands. It is not because veterinarians are “paid off” or “get kickbacks” from these companies–this is a blatant lie that has persisted on the internet for years. The veterinary community feels comfortable recommending these brands because they employ veterinary nutritionists on their staff and actually test their foods to see if they’re doing what they’re supposed to, instead of just formulating to meet AAFCO standards (which is what other pet food brands have to say, because they haven’t actually tested or studied their food).

That’s not to say these companies have never had recalls–like all pet food companies, they have–but they are uncommon and they voluntarily recall products not meeting their standards. This is what you want in a pet food company–transparency in food safety.

It is easy to see why these pet food conspiracies spread like wildfire. People are passionate about their pets and their pets’ health; and when things go wrong–when our pets get sick, especially serious and chronic illnesses, we feel frightened and angry and helpless. We worry that we missed a sign or symptom, we worry that we could have caught it earlier, we worry that we made a mistake that led to their illness. That worry and anxiety can so easily blaze up into anger if someone lights the spark of blame underneath it. If we can blame someone or something, it relieves some of the guilt and helplessness we are putting on ourselves.

But the truth of the matter is, most illnesses that pets develop are outside of our control. Yes, your cat can become diabetic or develop arthritis if they are very overweight, so controlling portions is important–but diet itself does not cause kidney disease or cancer in cats.

News articles and websites like these “pet food warning” sites can really scare people with their false information. Please remember to always ask your veterinarian or veterinary nurses if you have questions or concerns about nutrition.

Here are some excellent resources for choosing your cat’s diet in a world full of misinformation:

https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/The-Savvy-Cat-Owner-s-Guide-to-Nutrition-on-the-Internet.pdf

https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Selecting-a-pet-food-for-your-pet-updated-2021_WSAVA-Global-Nutrition-Toolkit.pdf

And if you’d like to look at Purina’s studies and research, please check out:

https://www.purinainstitute.com/science-of-nutrition

If any of our clients have questions or concerns that were not addressed here, please feel free to email me directly here: [email protected].

01/09/2024

Dear Feline Hospital Clients and Friends,

This handsome boy needs a new home ASAP. Please see his bio and photos below! If you are interested in adopting him, please email [email protected] and we will put you in touch with his family, who have had to make a difficult decision but are putting his needs first. He is scheduled for a checkup in February which his family has offered to cover. He would likely do best as a single cat.

--------------------------------

I'm Dexter, and I'm a healthy, happy 11 year old male. I'm pretty sure I'm at least partially Bombay, which means I get along well with people and am friendly. I may be a bit shy at first, but here are some things I like: Warm laps, sunspots, playing with laser dots (carefully), and following sunspots around the house. My days involve a busy schedule of two feedings, sleeping, sunbathing, and playing. I've been in a loving home, but things are changing in the home situation and we all agree it's for the best that I adopt someone new at this point.

01/08/2024

We were so happy to see Annie at her appointment today--isn't she just precious?