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- Jul 21, 2011
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Hello,
Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m looking into the possibility of feeding my cats a home diet. My vet can order in Feline Vitamin-Mineral Premix from Medi-Cal.* Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m wondering if it would be possible for me to formulate a home diet in which the animal protein comes from bivalve mollusks (e.g. scallops, clams, oysters, mussels, etc.) and possibly also crustaceans (e.g. shrimp and prawns).** I want to do this primarily for reasons of farmed-animal welfare and environmental safety.***
More specifically, my question is:
(1) Is it safe for cats to eat bivalves and / or crustaceans as part of an appropriately formulated home diet?
(2) Is it safe for cats to eat an appropriately formulated home diet, where the SOLE SOURCE of animal protein comes from bivalves and / or crustaceans?
Thanks!
Howard
*Ingredients: Vitamin A (Retinyl-Palmitate; 10,400IU/g), Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol; 2100 IU/g), Vitamin E (Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate; 130 IU/g), Vitamin K (Menadione Sodium Bisulphate Cplex; 2.2mg/g), Vitamin B1 (Thiamine Hydrochloride; 13mg/g), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin 13mg/g) Vitamin B3 (Niacin; 200mg/g) Vitamin B5 (D-Calcium Pantothenate; 25mg/g), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride 10mg/g), Folic Acid (1.2mg/g), Biotin (0.15 mg/g), Copper (Copper Sulphate; 5mg/g), Iron (Ferrous Sulphate; 100 mg/g), Zinc Oxide (130 mg/g), Cobalt (Cobalt Carbonate 0.36mg/g), Selenium (Sodium Selenite; 0.13 mg/g), Iodine (Potassium Iodide; 0.9 mg/g), Taurine (500 mg/g). The recipes I know of also call for Calcium Carbonate and Potassium Citrate, the latter of which I know I can also get from my vet.
**In addition to the Vitamin-Mineral Premix, Calcium Carbonate, and Potassium Citrate, the only non-animal protein / animal fat ingredients the Medi-Cal recommended diets call for are (1) rice and (2) corn oil. So the diet Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m thinking of would really just be: VM Premix, Calc. Carb, Potas. Cit., rice, corn oil, and bivalves / crustaceans.
*** Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m vegan myself, and Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve looked into vegan diets for cats – e.g. Amicat, Evolution, Vegecat - but, especially since one of my cats is a diabetic in remission and Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve heard stuff about the general importance of keeping cat diets low in carbs, Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]d be very concerned about trying to feed my cats a vegan diet. I think that thereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s an excellent chance that bivalves, like plants, arenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t capable of having subjective experiences and thus canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t be harmed in a literal, morally relevant way, and I suspect that this may also be true of crustaceans. I am, however, quite confident that fish do have subjective experiences – see e.g. Sneddon et al “Do Fish Have Nociceptors Evidence for the Evolution of a Vertebrate Sensory System†(2003) and Chandroo et al “Can fish suffer?: perspectives on sentience, pain, fear and stress†(2004). I know that there are environmental issues about fishing and farming marine animals, but I live in Canada and Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m pretty confident that I can get farmed bivalves (and probably crustaceans) that get around these problems.
Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m looking into the possibility of feeding my cats a home diet. My vet can order in Feline Vitamin-Mineral Premix from Medi-Cal.* Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m wondering if it would be possible for me to formulate a home diet in which the animal protein comes from bivalve mollusks (e.g. scallops, clams, oysters, mussels, etc.) and possibly also crustaceans (e.g. shrimp and prawns).** I want to do this primarily for reasons of farmed-animal welfare and environmental safety.***
More specifically, my question is:
(1) Is it safe for cats to eat bivalves and / or crustaceans as part of an appropriately formulated home diet?
(2) Is it safe for cats to eat an appropriately formulated home diet, where the SOLE SOURCE of animal protein comes from bivalves and / or crustaceans?
Thanks!
Howard
*Ingredients: Vitamin A (Retinyl-Palmitate; 10,400IU/g), Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol; 2100 IU/g), Vitamin E (Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate; 130 IU/g), Vitamin K (Menadione Sodium Bisulphate Cplex; 2.2mg/g), Vitamin B1 (Thiamine Hydrochloride; 13mg/g), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin 13mg/g) Vitamin B3 (Niacin; 200mg/g) Vitamin B5 (D-Calcium Pantothenate; 25mg/g), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride 10mg/g), Folic Acid (1.2mg/g), Biotin (0.15 mg/g), Copper (Copper Sulphate; 5mg/g), Iron (Ferrous Sulphate; 100 mg/g), Zinc Oxide (130 mg/g), Cobalt (Cobalt Carbonate 0.36mg/g), Selenium (Sodium Selenite; 0.13 mg/g), Iodine (Potassium Iodide; 0.9 mg/g), Taurine (500 mg/g). The recipes I know of also call for Calcium Carbonate and Potassium Citrate, the latter of which I know I can also get from my vet.
**In addition to the Vitamin-Mineral Premix, Calcium Carbonate, and Potassium Citrate, the only non-animal protein / animal fat ingredients the Medi-Cal recommended diets call for are (1) rice and (2) corn oil. So the diet Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m thinking of would really just be: VM Premix, Calc. Carb, Potas. Cit., rice, corn oil, and bivalves / crustaceans.
*** Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m vegan myself, and Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve looked into vegan diets for cats – e.g. Amicat, Evolution, Vegecat - but, especially since one of my cats is a diabetic in remission and Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve heard stuff about the general importance of keeping cat diets low in carbs, Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]d be very concerned about trying to feed my cats a vegan diet. I think that thereâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s an excellent chance that bivalves, like plants, arenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t capable of having subjective experiences and thus canâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t be harmed in a literal, morally relevant way, and I suspect that this may also be true of crustaceans. I am, however, quite confident that fish do have subjective experiences – see e.g. Sneddon et al “Do Fish Have Nociceptors Evidence for the Evolution of a Vertebrate Sensory System†(2003) and Chandroo et al “Can fish suffer?: perspectives on sentience, pain, fear and stress†(2004). I know that there are environmental issues about fishing and farming marine animals, but I live in Canada and Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m pretty confident that I can get farmed bivalves (and probably crustaceans) that get around these problems.
