Pottenger’s Cats – A Study in Nutrition  
 
By: Martha C. Lindsay, DVM, MS,  CVH, CNE & R. David Lindsay, DVM, CVA   
      Alternative Veterinary Services, LLC  
 
Between the years of 1932 and 1942, Dr. Francis M. Pottenger, Jr. conducted a feeding experiment to 
determine the effects of heat -processed food on cats. His ten -year cat study was prompted by the high 
rate of mortality he as experiencing among his laboratory cats undergoing adrenalectomies for the use 
in standardizing the hormone content of the adrenal extract he was making. Because there was no 
existent chemical procedure for standardizing biological extrac ts, manufacturers of such extracts 
necessarily had to use animals to determine their potency. As cats die without their adrenal glands, the 
dose of extract required to support their lives calibrated the level of the extract’s potency. In his effort to max imize the preoperative health of his laboratory animals, Pottenger fed them a diet of 
market grade raw milk, cod liver oil, and cooked meat scraps. These scraps included the liver, tripe, 
entrails, brains, heart and muscles. This diet was considered to be rich in all the important nutritive 
substances by the experts of the day, and the surgical technique used for the adrenalectomies was the 
most exacting known. Therefore, Pottenger was perplexed as to why his cats were poor operative risks. In seeking an ex planation, he began noticing that the cats showed signs of deficiency. All showed a 
decrease in their reproductive capacity and many of the kittens born in the laboratory had skeletal 
deformities and organ malfunctions. As his neighbors kept donating an i ncreasing number of cats to his laboratory, the demand for cooked 
meat scraps exceeded supply and he placed an order at the local meat packing plant for raw meat 
scraps, again including the viscera, muscle and bone. These raw meat scraps were fed to a segr egated 
group of cats each day and within a few months this group appeared in better health than the animals 
being fed cooked meat scraps. Their kittens appeared more vigorous, and most interestingly, their 
operative mortality decreased markedly. The contra st in the apparent health of the cats fed raw meat 
and those fed cooked meat was so startling, it prompted Francis to undertake a controlled experiment. What he had observed by chance, he wanted to repeat by design. He wanted to find answers to such 
questi ons as: Why did the cats eating raw meat survive their operations more readily than those eating 
cooked meat? Why did the kittens of the raw meat fed cats appear more vigorous? Why did a diet 
based on cooked meat scraps apparently fail to provide the neces sary nutritional elements for good 
health? He felt the findings of a controlled feeding experiment might illuminate new facts about optimal 
human nutrition. The Cat Study of Francis M. Pottenger, Jr., MD is unique. There is no similar experiment in the m edical 
literature. The pathological and chemical findings were supervised by Pottenger in consultation with 
Alvin G. Foord, MD, professor of pathology at the University of Southern California and pathologist at 
the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. Accordingly, the studies met the most rigorous scientific 
standards of the day and their protocol was observed consistently. Since the Cat Study is unique, its 
findings are frequently quoted and misquoted in order to justify the ideas of others. For examp le, one 
author states that the 200 cats dies of arthritis; this did not happen. Another author states that the cats 
were fed sprouts and survived in full health for four continuous generations. Again, no such experiment 
took place, and yet this misinformat ion has been traced over a dozen or more articles and books. A frequent criticism of The Pottenger Cat Study is that it was not properly controlled. Here it is 
necessary to ask “By what standards?” Every one of the studies followed strictly defined proto col. All 
variables in the stock of the animals were reported and explained. Because some of the test 
procedures may seem crude forty years later, this in no way invalidates the facts that the procedures 
were meticulously controlled and that the results of the experiments were reported as observed. For more information about The Pottenger Cat Study as well as a clearinghouse of information on 
healthful lifestyles, ecology, sound nutrition, alternative medicine, humane farming and organic 
gardening go to:   www.pricepottenger.org  Pottenger's Cats: Early Epigenetics And Implications For Your Health  
By Stephanie Cold / Nov 13, 2014  
 
The 10 -Year Pottenger Cat Study  
In 1903, Dr. Francis Marion Pottenger, Jr., a physician in Monrovia, California, opened the Pott enger Sanatorium 
Clinic with his two brothers, specializing in tuberculosis (TB). He hypothesized that tuberculosis was caused by 
deficiencies in the adrenal gland and, to test the hypothesis, he experimented with cats. Pottenger fed cats both 
cooked and r aw meat. To his astonishment, he observed very different health outcomes. Out of curiosity, 
Pottenger began a ten -year study focused on variations in the diets of cats. The variables in his experiments 
included either raw milk versus cooked or raw meat ver sus cooked. Throughout the entire study and four 
generations of cats, Pottenger diligently recorded his observations of the health, weight, calcium and phosphorus 
levels, skeletal structures, and dispositions of the cats. The differences were quite strikin g. (Pottenger)  
 
In short, the cats subsisting on the raw products (in the first experiment raw meat and in the second experiment 
raw milk), maintained excellent health. Mother cats carried their babies to full -term, birthed approximately five 
kittens to a litter, and experienced no difficulty in nursing. The kittens had consistent skeletal structure and no 
dental issues or infections. Conversely, the health of cats fed cooked meat and cooked milk quickly declined. Even within three months of a transition fr om a raw to cooked diet, dental infections often arose. Mother cats had 
difficulty carrying offspring full -term, and suffered from increased miscarriages and raised infant mortality rates. Mother cats were often too weak to nurse, and some died in labor. K ittens were born with varying skeletal 
structures and weaker bones, and were prone to infections, allergies, and respiratory illnesses. The degenerative health of the cats on cooked meat/cooked milk diets continued and appeared to be passed from 
generatio n to generation. After several generations of degeneration, Pottenger attempted to test the potential 
“regeneration” of health by means of replacing a cooked diet with a raw one. He found that this was indeed 
possible, though minor health problems did pers ist even into the third generation. (Pottenger)  
 
What is Epigenetics? The implications of these observations are vast. The experiment showed that distinct changes occur when food is 
cooked that affect its nutritional quality for the cat. It proved that th e physical degeneration associated with a 
mother’s poor (cooked) diet could be inherited by offspring and was, in a way, remembered by the genes through 
multiple generations. The opposite was also found to be true in that the influence of a nutritious (raw ) diet is 
passed on through generations. POTTENGER OBSERVED THAT DEGENERATION OF HEALTH OCCURRED RATHER SWIFTLY AND THAT 
REGENERATION, WHILE POSSIBLE, TOOK TIME. Most important, perhaps, was that Pottenger’s experiments revealed the power that environmen tal factors, 
including diet, have on our health and the health of future generations. This leads to an idea of even greater 
significance —that by controlling our environment, we control our health. Biologically, this occurs in the body 
through the interacti on of our epigenome with the environment. (Graham, Kesten, and Scherwitz)  
 
Today epigenetics is more concisely defined as temporary changes in how ge nes are expressed or turned on or 
off due to our interactions with the environment, and how those changes affect our health and the health of future 
generations. These interactions and changes occur without any permanent changes to the DNA sequence. The 
book, The Language of Genetics: An Introduction, offers a particularly useful metaphor to support our 
understanding of this definition. It states that “if the DNA sequence is the musical score on the page, then 
epigenetics is all those Italian words (fortiss imo and the like) that give instructions on how the notes should be 
played.” (Alexander)  
 
For those unfamiliar with musical concepts, another book, Pottenger’s Prophecy, provides this metaphor for 
epigenetics that also incorporates the terminology commonly  used in genetics research: “If you were building a 
house, the architect would provide the blueprint (the genotype); and the builder would work with building materials 
from the environment (the epigenetic mechanism) to create the house. In turn, the finish ed house would be the 
phenotype, the end result.” (p. 24) While Pottenger did not necessarily realize the significance of the conclusions 
of his research at the time, Pottenger and his cats paved the way for modern epigenetics. https://price -pottenger.org/healthy -living -tips/epigenetics/pottengers -cats-early -epigenetics -and-implications -your-
health
5PottengerCatsHandout.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Pottenger’s Cats – A Study in Nutrition  
 
By: Martha C. Lindsay, DVM, MS,  CVH, CNE & R. David Lindsay, DVM, CVA   
      Alternative Veterinary Services, LLC  
 
Between the years of 1932 and 1942, Dr. Francis M. Pottenger, Jr. conducted a feeding experiment to 
determine the effects of heat -processed food on cats. His ten -year cat study was prompted by the high 
rate of mortality he as experiencing among his laboratory cats undergoing adrenalectomies for the use 
in standardizing the hormone content of the adrenal extract he was making. Because there was no 
existent chemical procedure for standardizing biological extrac ts, manufacturers of such extracts 
necessarily had to use animals to determine their potency. As cats die without their adrenal glands, the 
dose of extract required to support their lives calibrated the level of the extract’s potency. In his effort to max imize the preoperative health of his laboratory animals, Pottenger fed them a diet of 
market grade raw milk, cod liver oil, and cooked meat scraps. These scraps included the liver, tripe, 
entrails, brains, heart and muscles. This diet was considered to be rich in all the important nutritive 
substances by the experts of the day, and the surgical technique used for the adrenalectomies was the 
most exacting known. Therefore, Pottenger was perplexed as to why his cats were poor operative risks. In seeking an ex planation, he began noticing that the cats showed signs of deficiency. All showed a 
decrease in their reproductive capacity and many of the kittens born in the laboratory had skeletal 
deformities and organ malfunctions. As his neighbors kept donating an i ncreasing number of cats to his laboratory, the demand for cooked 
meat scraps exceeded supply and he placed an order at the local meat packing plant for raw meat 
scraps, again including the viscera, muscle and bone. These raw meat scraps were fed to a segr egated 
group of cats each day and within a few months this group appeared in better health than the animals 
being fed cooked meat scraps. Their kittens appeared more vigorous, and most interestingly, their 
operative mortality decreased markedly. The contra st in the apparent health of the cats fed raw meat 
and those fed cooked meat was so startling, it prompted Francis to undertake a controlled experiment. What he had observed by chance, he wanted to repeat by design. He wanted to find answers to such 
questi ons as: Why did the cats eating raw meat survive their operations more readily than those eating 
cooked meat. Why did the kittens of the raw meat fed cats appear more vigorous. Why did a diet 
based on cooked meat scraps apparently fail to provide the neces sary nutritional elements for good 
health. He felt the findings of a controlled feeding experiment might illuminate new facts about optimal 
human nutrition. The Cat Study of Francis M.
Dr. Francis M. Pottenger, Jr.
Who conducted the 10-year cat study on the effects of heat-processed food?
The initial goal was to standardize the hormone content of adrenal extract, and he was concerned about the high mortality rate among his laboratory cats undergoing adrenalectomies.
What was the initial goal of Dr. Pottenger's research, and what was his concern?
The cats fed raw products maintained excellent health, while those fed cooked products experienced rapid decline in health, including dental infections, infertility, and increased infant mortality rates. The negative effects were passed on to the offspring, and it took time for regeneration to occur.
What were the health differences observed between the cats fed raw and cooked meat/milk, and their offspring?
Minor health problems persisted even into the third generation, but the health of the cats did regenerate to some extent.
What was the outcome when Dr. Pottenger attempted to reverse the negative effects of a cooked diet by switching to a raw diet?
Epigenetics refers to temporary changes in gene expression due to environmental factors, such as diet, and its impact on health and future generations. The Pottenger study demonstrated the power of environmental factors, including diet, to affect health and the health of future generations, which is a fundamental concept in epigenetics.
What is epigenetics, according to the passage, and how does it relate to the Pottenger study?