These recipes are out of my Holiday Celebrations Cook Book I've made all and they are great. Hot Spiced Cider 2 quarts apple cider 2/3 cup Karo light or dark corn syrup 3 cinnamon sticks 1/2 tsp whole cloves 1 lemon, sliced Cinnamon sticks and lemon slices (optional) In medium saucepan combine cider, corn syrup, cinnamon sticks, cloves and lemon slices. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat: simmer 15 minutes. Remove spices. If desired, garnish each serving with a cinnamon stick and lemon slice. Makes about 10 servings. Hot Holiday Punch 4 cups apple cider 1 cup granulated suar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1 cinnamon stick 12 whole cloves 2 cups grapefruit juice 2 cups orange juice orange slices (optional) Maraschino cherry halves (optional) Whole cloves (optional) Combine apple cider and sugars in large saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring until sugars dissolve. Add cinnamon stick and cloves. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer 5 minutes. Add grapefruit and orange juices. Heat, but do not boil. Strain into heatproof punch bowl. Garnish with orange slices decorated with maraschino cherry halves and whoe cloves. Serve in heatproof punch cups. Makes 8 8oz servings. Linda

Lukkiirish, the problems with your cats was not due to wet feeding. Dry food is made to shatter IF the cat bites down on it. Of course, when it does, it's nothing but mealy grit that easily lodges in the gingiva. This leads to periodontitis, resorption, and other painful conditions. The only way to care for cat teeth at home is to brush them. Your claim that dry food is good for feline oral health is no different to claiming that eating saltines will clean your own teeth. If you know the anatomy of a cat's mouth, you can see that there are no chewing surfaces, ie., the molars are high on the outside and low on the inside near the tongue. This facilitates shearing action, which, rather than chewing, is what a cat's mouth is evolved to do. Chewing animals have flatter molar surfaces, so that food can be kept in place for chewing. Imagine the action of a mortar and pestle. The tool is designed to hold stuff in place for grinding. That's what your teeth are made for. Cat teeth are shaped to provide a scissor-like action. So, on that alone, you can understand why dry food is useless for feline oral health. Next, dry food is by nature very high in carbohydrates. It must be, since the plant matter is needed to glue the meat meal grit into kibbles. If you're reading labels, good-but if you're not translating them, then you have no idea what you're feeding your cats. Any claims on dry food labels of "50% protein" are utter hogwash. Firstly, any plant matter that is useful protein in any other animal feeds is also considered useful protein in cat food, despite the fact that cats cannot utilise plant protein. You need to know how much animal protein is in the mix, and manufacturers are not always going to tell you that if you call them. Secondly, you need to calculate dry weight to get a grasp of how much of ANY protein is in the mix. If you're lucky enough to get facts from the manufacturer, then you still do the maths. The best dry food on the market is probably less than 20% animal protein, which is grossly insufficient for obligate carnivores. Then you need to consider that cats are not particularly interested in drinking water. Everyone claims that "my cat drinks plenty of water!" But no one can tell you how much water "plenty" is! A cat's natural diet is prey, which is about 70%-80% water. So is wet food! Dry food? Under 10% water. Cats will drink, but are not thirst-driven, so are unable to know if they're getting enough water to function. The dry-fed cat will walk away from the water dish long before it has consumed sufficient water. As a result, dry-fed cats have undue strain on kidney function, digestion, urinary function, and who knows what else because they are always dehydrated. Dry-fed cats are also far more likely to be obese and to develop diabetes and hypertension. Oh, and let's not forget how many dry-fed cats end up with an excess of urinary crystals or even blockages! This is almost always due to dry feeding, which leads to concentrated, alkaline urine. Cats need the sufficiency of wet food fluid intake in order to reduce urine's concentration and to flush out crystals. The higher animal protein in wet food helps to maintain appropriate urine acidity. Another interesting thing is that so many people are completely hoodwinked by the"grain-free" movement! It doesn't matter! Grain-free does NOT equate carbohydrate-free! Grains are often primary suspects in food allergies. The grain-free bandwagon needs to be halted for the sake of our cats. Grain-free dry foods contain as much carbohydrate as do grained foods. You'll frequently see claims that cats in the wild will eat the stomach contents of their prey, but this is not fact. Cats are not keen on stomach acids needed for plant breakdown and carefully avoid eating any part of prey digestive tracts. I suppose that laboratory cats who are only fed digestive tracts will consume them in hope of avoiding starvation, but not cats in more normal surroundings. Lastly, I'm always hearing from people who claim to have cats who were dry-fed only, and lived to be 32 and never had a problem. Well, genetics can make some cats lucky enough to slip past troubles, but these are very much the minority. I also suspect that some of the owners were lying about the cats' longevity, or the cats had outdoors access so supplemented their dry food with nice juicy prey. It is also likely that the cats were never taken to the vet so any problems they may have had were never diagnosed. It's like the centenarian who, when asked the secret to his long life, answers " booze, cigars, and unrestrained sex!". Does that mean that EVERYONE should live like that in order to become a centenarian? Of course not. I see no problem with using dry food in place of cat treats. It's less expensive. Ten to twenty pieces of dry food in a day are amazing as training rewards. But there is no real benefit to dry feeding.

I got Frank's test results back, his urine is perfect but his blood has a low white cell count. The inflammation could be just a minor bowel infection which can be treated with meds or cancer, she wanted to be honest about the spectrum of possibilities. I gave him about 100cc of fluid sub-subcutaneously today so he is hydrated. I made an appointment for him to go to the animal hospital Friday morning for an ultrasound, it is the only way to see exactly what is causing the inflammation. (Ragdolls are really fluffy and he has a very fuzzy belly, he will be bald on Friday! Poor guy.) He ate lots of chicken tonight, and lots of Whisker Lickin's (usually he only gets two or three, today he has had about 15) so I know he is interested in eating, just not canned cat food. His energy is a bit low but he still has his feisty play in him so we had a chat. I explained to him that I want him on this earth as long as he wants to be here, if he feels it is his time to go I will respect that too. I couldn't tell if he was looking at me like he was hearing me or that he thought I was crazy, but I hope the message got through. I love this little beast with all my heart. Please think happy, healthy thoughts and have your pets send good thoughts and prayers his way too. I am not a religious person, I pray to my loved ones that have passed on, so Frank has a lot of good people and energy coming his way. Thank you all for your support, I will post back Friday. Furbaby hugs and sandpaper kisses, Michelle and Frankie

Thank you for hosting Kim. I had a good time. I hope you continue to feel better. NE Ohio has become a winter wonderland. But I think we are having a warm up these next couple of days so it will melt away. Susan B, enjoy your Christmas movies and classics. My husband watches a lot of old shows and I try to join him now and then. Take care everyone. Onward to Christmas!