Vegan cat food?!

xieante

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Dec 1, 2007
Messages
1
Purraise
0
Has anyone here ever heard of Vegan cat food? I was always told that cats need a high amount of protein and animal fats in there diets to remain healthy. While browsing online today I discovered "Vegecat" brand cat food. Clams to be a full source of nutrition for cats containing... no meat.
I'm curious and confused.
Can this really be healthy? I don't believe so, but any input/opinions would be great.


TY

Here is a link to one of the many sites selling this product if you'd like to see for yourself.

http://www.vegancats.com/pages/1003/...ome_Cooked.htm
 

white cat lover

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
22,206
Purraise
35
IMO, cats are carnivores & need meat.

Vegan food makes me


Just because you are a vegan doesn't mean you have to make your carnivore vegan!
 

jenniferd

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jun 5, 2006
Messages
589
Purraise
12
Read their FAQs.
This is a quote from that website:
"Urinary tract problems are extremely common in cats and, because of the relative acidity of meat to vegetable protein, many vegan cats suffer from them."
Now, even that website does not recommend that male cats be fed an exclusively vegeterian diet.
Make your own conclusions.
 

sakura

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Oct 21, 2007
Messages
1,604
Purraise
3
Cats are obligate carnivores. Just because you are a vegan doesn't mean that your cat can be.
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
Vegan is hard for a human and were are TRUE ominvores( eats both meat and grain ... cats are OBLIGATE carnivores ie have to have meat protein to survive ... The sickest part is someone may actually think they can have a healthy vegan cat...

I will say the site is a good laugh... umm add wheat and yeast ... hummm what are most cats allergic to ...
 

ryn

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Sep 20, 2005
Messages
864
Purraise
1
Location
Finland
I'm vegan myself, but I wouldn't dream of making my cats so. Cats absolutely need meat, humans don't. You can't change biology.

BTW, I don't know any vegans who have vegan cats. I believe it's really a marginal thing.
 

mimosa

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Sep 26, 2005
Messages
608
Purraise
37
Location
The Netherlands
I'm a vegetarian (not vegan) and most of my cat-owning friends happen to be veggies to, and we all feed our cats a raw diet, so more meat in stead of less. Kinda funny, especially since some of us are grossed out a bit by meat, but we all think we should not keep meat from our cats because that would be going against their design. We do try to source meat from organic farmers.
 

tickytat

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jul 5, 2007
Messages
432
Purraise
4
Location
Vermont, USA
Humans can make their own decisions when it comes to choosing vegan or not. Cats cannot because they were born carnivores and trying to make them something they're not is just terrible IMO.
 

catfriend

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Dec 4, 2005
Messages
598
Purraise
1
Location
Stumptown
I am also a vegan and I would never impose my choices on anyone else, especially not Danny!
 

keith p

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 26, 2005
Messages
1,474
Purraise
4
Location
(Long Island) west babylon, New York
I saw this on an animal show a women fed her cats vegan diets, the cats went blind and had serious malnutrition issues. The women was mentally challenged so she wasnt arrested but some of her cats died from this.

Just because a store sells something, doesnt mean it's healthy.

EX: cigarettes and alchohol
 

goldenkitty45

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
19,900
Purraise
44
Location
SW Minnesota
In the long run I don't believe in making a meat eating animal into a no-meat animal. Its not healthy. If as a human you don't want to eat meat - that's fine, but cats were created to be eating meat. I think its wrong when people try to force their pets into eating a diet they think is right. Its like taking a rabbit and deciding that it should eat meat and not plants!
 

sol

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Sep 27, 2003
Messages
590
Purraise
4
Location
Sweden
There are vegan catfoods that claim to be complete and balanced. Everything is as it should on the papers. Some cats eat the food without becoming acute ill. However, that's not the same thing as the food actuarally being the best food possible, promoting excellent health in the cats.

Nutritional physiology is very complex and we don't know everything there is to know about how humans or cats works. New substances and their benefits/disadvantages are discovered from time to time. The relationship between different substances are complex and one substance can have great health benefits, have no activity or be toxic depending on the rest of the foods composition.

Knowing that I can't understand why anyone would wanna put their beloved pets health in danger by feeding them the most artifical diet there is to feed them.
 

stephenq

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jun 19, 2003
Messages
5,672
Purraise
944
Location
East Coast, USA
It's impossible for a vegan food to be complete and balanced for cats. Cats who don't get animal protein in their diets are subject to heart disease and blindness. They are incapable of getting all the amino acids necessary from vegetable proteins.
 

sharky

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
27,231
Purraise
38
Originally Posted by stephenq

It's impossible for a vegan food to be complete and balanced for cats. Cats who don't get animal protein in their diets are subject to heart disease and blindness. They are incapable of getting all the amino acids necessary from vegetable proteins.
"supposedly " they can with adding in taurine ... but ////
 

mlynn

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
Messages
77
Purraise
11
I wouldn't feed it. I am a vegetarian and former vegan - but all my animals eat meat products. Anything less is not optimal nutrition and I don't believe that animals should have thier humans moral oppinions forced upon them agianst thier will. There really isin't any solid research to indicate that a vegan diet is healthy for animals - especially cats. Animals are made the way they are made - they have certian diet requirements. IMO if you are morally opposed to purchasing a meat product for any reason - then you shouldn't own an animal as a "pet" that requires meat in its diet. I have pet rats and could never feed a live animal to another animal - that means I avoid snake or reptile ownerhsip - not that I get a reptile and feed him soy. Just my 2 cents.
 

kitytize

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
2,155
Purraise
2
Cats need arachidonic(sp?) which is only in animal fat. Also taurine. A cat can not survive without meat. This is why they are called obligate carnivores they must consume meat.
 

rushrulz

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
50
Purraise
1
Originally Posted by mlynn

I have pet rats and could never feed a live animal to another animal - that means I avoid snake or reptile ownerhsip - not that I get a reptile and feed him soy. Just my 2 cents.
Just to nitpick unnecessarily
...I used to have snakes. The recommendation is to feed frozen mice rather than live. Live prey can injure a snake. There have been plenty of cases of people leaving mice in the snake's cage and the mice actually hurt or even kill the snake, and the snake just lies there and takes it. Anyway, they might not always take to frozen right off, but it can be achieved, like by scenting it. They make mouse-scented spray, which just cracks me up.

So I'm just pointing that out, anyway, that if someone wants a snake but doesn't want to feed it live mice, it's not a worry.
That's one reason I didn't have snakes, and when I found out you could (and were supposed to) feed frozen, I thought maybe it was going to be doable. Of course, there are plenty of other difficulties in snake ownership, which I guess is why mine died.

Vegan or vegetarian cat food would be laughable if it weren't so disturbing. It's not just a case of protein, in and of itself, as there are all those amino acids and things that can't be duplicated properly with vegetables or tofu. As someone said, it's hard for humans to be vegan, and we're omnivores. A cat would be utterly doomed on a vegan diet. If people don't want to feed their pets meat, they can get all sorts of other furry animals that will meet their needs.

This reminds me of...I think it's South Park...where the animal rights guy bragged that they'd gotten a lion to eat tofu. They showed the lion, and it was basically a skeleton, with its fur coming out. And I think that says it all. People can get away with not eating meat. Cats can't.
 
Top