Vegan diet for a cat?!

[crazy4strays]

I ran into an old friend of mine today. We were chatting and she was telling me about her cats. I mentioned that I was doing research on alternate cat food options.

She said, "Oh you should check out the brand that I get! It's 100% vegan!" She must have seen my shocked facial expression because she said, "It has everything that they need in there!"

I just about had to pick up my jaw off the floor.

I'm vegetarian but would NEVER consider feeding my cats a vegetarian or vegan diet.

I'm vegetarian for health and religious reasons. However vegetarian food is not healthy for cats. Additionally, my cats do not have the capacity to practice religion.

Is this a new fad or something? Is there really any such thing as a vegan cat food that won't lead to nutritional deficiencies?

I just found the whole thing mind boggling. I think that if a pet being vegan is important to the person, they should stick to keeping species such as goats, rabbits, or birds.

 

[zed xyzed]

that poor cat is going to suffer and have a very short life. Cat are obligate carnivores. This really upsets me 

 

[LTS3]

Sadly, there are vegan / vegetarian diets for cats

It's not new. Here are a few cat foods:

http://www.evangersdogfood.com/?p=20101

http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/produ...-Bowl-Grain-Free-Pre-Mix-Cat-Food/269022.aspx (this one isn't a stand alone food. It has to be mixed in with regular food)

http://www.vegancats.com/

http://www.wysong.net/products/vegan-healthy-natural-dog-cat-food.php

An article about why not all cats need meat: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/veggie-cat-food/

People can be vegans vegetarians by their own concious choice. They should not push their dietary choice on a cat. Sure, a vegan food may contain taurine and other essential vitamins and minerals and the cat might survive on the food but it definitely won't thrive and be at its most optimal health.

 

[margd]

I adopted a cat once who was raised on a vegetarian diet. Poppy was about a year old and healthy but she went crazy when I opened her first can of Friskies. She gulped it down and begged for more. It took her awhile to accept she would be getting meat on a regular basis - for a long time she begged constantly for it. Poor baby. I don't know exactly what she was being fed but she obviously was much happier being fed as the carnivore she is. I was a vegetarian myself at the time but knew enough to know she needed meat.

 

[donutte]

If they want to go REALLY natural they could bring them live mice to hunt, would that be better? Probably not. If they want their cats to thrive, they really need to give them meat-based food. Talk about pushing your beliefs on someone. Those poor cats.

 

[Willowy]

A cat can survive on a heavily supplemented vegan diet. A cat could even survive on heavily supplemented sawdust :tongue2:. But the cat will probably not be optimally healthy, and maybe not too happy with the diet, depending on palatability. But a cat couldn't survive on an unsupplemented vegan diet---their bodies can't break down the nutrients in plants.

 

[crazy4strays]

The ironic part of this story is that the cats being fed the vegan cat food were indoor/outdoor cats in a very rural setting. So they were probably eating meat anyway.

 

[Willowy]

Oh, yeah, they probably catch lots of mice and rabbits and such. I would expect a cat in that situation to be healthier than an indoor cat who ONLY gets vegan kibble.

Most cheap kibbles contain very little meat. So there are a lot of cats who are basically eating a meatless diet :/.

 

[Kat0121]

The whole vegan cat thing really annoys me. I'm considering going vegan or at least vegetarian in the new year myself for health reasons. 

That being said, there's NO WAY in he** I'm going to try to make my beloved obligate carnivores something they aren't. When you get a cat, you accept them the way that they are or you don't get one at all. I subscribe to a vegan channel on youtube and they feed their cats a vegan diet because of "ethical" reasons. People blasted them in the comments section of the video where they went over how they made their cats' food so I didn't even bother. There would have been nothing I could have said that others didn't cover already. 

I respect everyone's right to eat and live how they see fit but when you have an animal that requires a certain diet, you give it to them. If you can not or will not for whatever reason, get a pet whose diet is something you can deal with. Get a pet that's a natural herbivore. Get a rabbit or a guinea pig. They make great pets and are very sweet, loving animals. They are also available for adoption at many shelters and rescues. Leave the cats to someone who is capable of feeding it a species appropriate diet. It's that simple. 

 

[elliot]

I was vegan for a while, now I'm just vegetarian but I do plan on going vegan as soon as the new year starts. However, it baffles me that there are vegans who feed their cats vegan diets? From what I've gathered, most vegans are vegans because they want to reduce suffering. So I don't understand how there are some vegans who actually feed their cats vegan diets. Yes, the meat industry sucks, but forcing a cat to be vegan and suffer is an awful thing to do. Humans CHOSE to create mass production of meat, but cats never asked to get involved. Making cats suffer because of something we created is horrible.

Also, if it takes that much work to make a vegan diet 'healthy' for a cat, maybe it's a sign that cats shouldn't be vegan.

If you don't want to feed your pet meat, get a pet that is an herbivore. And don't just feed that herbivorous pet cheap kibble and seeds, actually feed that herbivorous pet the right diet as well.

 

[Kat0121]

I was vegan for a while, now I'm just vegetarian but I do plan on going vegan as soon as the new year starts. However, it baffles me that there are vegans who feed their cats vegan diets? From what I've gathered, most vegans are vegans because they want to reduce suffering. So I don't understand how there are some vegans who actually feed their cats vegan diets. Yes, the meat industry sucks, but forcing a cat to be vegan and suffer is an awful thing to do. Humans CHOSE to create mass production of meat, but cats never asked to get involved. Making cats suffer because of something we created is horrible.

Also, if it takes that much work to make a vegan diet 'healthy' for a cat, maybe it's a sign that cats shouldn't be vegan.

If you don't want to feed your pet meat, get a pet that is an herbivore. And don't just feed that herbivorous pet cheap kibble and seeds, actually feed that herbivorous pet the right diet as well.

If they have a problem with the mass produced meat suppliers,  they can use a local one. They can use Hare Today or any other mom and pop type place. Primal and Rad Cat are also both excellent choices just to name a few. There are more out there. 

 

[crazy4strays]

Good points, everyone! 

The whole thing is about as ridiculous as trying to feed meat to a horse. 

I eat vegetarian because it's in alignment with my personal beliefs on what my body requires. I feed my cats meat, because it's what their bodies require. I really don't care for the smell of meat, especially chicken, but I've cooked my beloved cats home cooked cat food before. I'm considering trying raw feeding for them, because then I wouldn't have to smell the meat cooking. LOL!

You know, I wonder if an indoor/outdoor cat who eats vegan kibble is a better hunter? If they're not getting any meat at home, maybe they're more motivated to go after rabbits, chipmunks, and mice.

After the person made their comment, I was pretty much so stunned that I couldn't think of anything to say.

I had already made a gentle suggestion for keeping cats indoors so I wasn't sure that I had much more room to make suggestions. The person had lost multiple cats at young ages to different things and was lamenting how stressful it was to lose one cat after another. One cat was hit by a car, one cat died of feline leukemia, and one cat was poisoned.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Wow.  Vegan pet food for cats.  I agree...it may keep them alive and in moderate health, but I want my cat to be in joyous, wildly abundant health. 

I did try to be vegan for a while.  That came to an abrupt end when I wound up in the hospital, in cardiac care.  Seems that I, like the pussycats, am an obligate carnivore.  My body does not produce the enzymes that allow me to recombine partial proteins in plants to make full proteins.  It's a fairly rare condition, but common enough that the doctors recognized it immediately.  My body was eating itself, looking for protein.  Gack.

I do admire those who can do it, but not for their cats.