Thanks, Scott, you are right, it is quite a piece of work trying to mask the taste and smell of the activated mix for the finicky cats, and we are getting a bit weary of trying to make them be compliant with the process.
Sanctuary actually found the source of my obvious mis-information, so that helped to clear out some of my confusion.
Just one more question - most of the available directions for the pets still recommend using the activator, but as I said, I am ready to drop it... do you suppose there is enough acid in the animals stomachs to take care of the activation process?