Vegetarian cat food

gromit · 08-20-2008, 12:50 PM

Hi folks. I own a small pet supply shop in Toronto and have a client who is interested in feeding his cat vegetarian food. I am pretty sure that he will go with wet or dry, but at this point none of our suppliers can give us any leads. Can any of you help me out?

Thanks for your time

AkiraleShiba · 08-20-2008, 01:17 PM

Does he want to kill his cat?

Cats are exclusive carnivores so ideally their food would be made of meat only. Cereal protein (Soy, Corn, ...) are bad for cats kidneys because they strain them because they are not fully digestible.

briteday · 08-20-2008, 01:37 PM

Cats cannot produce an essential amino acid, taurine. It is found in meat. So unless the diet was highly supplemented I don't see how a vegetarian diet can work for a cat. It's probably the reason no one has any info on it.

Does the owner have an overwhelming reason why this cat needs to go vegetarian? Have they discussed this with a vet?

Here's some links that might help...
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/catfood.html
http://www.helpinganimals.com/animal...vegAnimals.asp
http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...at.html?cat=53

RawFedDogs · 08-20-2008, 02:57 PM

Cats are carnivores. They don't eat veggies, can't digest them, can't extract nutrients from them.

Dwayners · 08-20-2008, 03:18 PM

dear lord tell them not to do it.

at the very least they can buy a bag of frozen "seafood medley" from the grocery store and feed that.

I doubt there could even be a medical reason to make a cat go veggie because the end result would be dead cat.

sorry, but your customer is a Grade A bonehead.

I'm in Toronto as well. They can buy these fishbags at No-Frills. Or you could and sell it to them at a substantial mark-up as the bags are only about $2 and they last our fat orange tabby for about a week. I like that idea better, the customer deserves it for being such an idiot.

jesirose · 08-20-2008, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RawFedDogs

Cats are carnivores. They don't eat veggies, can't digest them, can't extract nutrients from them.

Yarr.

I recently read this amusing rant about vegan pets: http://tviokh.livejournal.com/498206.html

I realize the OP here is a shop owner and likely wouldn't want to offend their customers, but really...is offending a customer worse than helping to slowly starve a carnivore by feeding it veggies only? Sheesh.

sillylilykitty · 08-20-2008, 09:42 PM

Cats are carnivores, simple as that. I hope to God no one ever makes a vegetarian or vegan cat food!

And I hope to God that no cat is subjected to a vegetarian or vegan diet, not ever!

Willowy · 08-20-2008, 10:25 PM

Dogs are carnivores, but not obligate carnivores. They CAN eat a vegetarian diet---it's not particularly good for them, but they won't starve. Cats (and ferrets), on the other hand, ARE obligate carnivores, and cannot survive on a meatless diet. They just can't digest plants well enough to extract the nutrients from them. There's a reason there are no commercial vegetarian cat foods available. I hope you can talk him out of that idea.

jesirose · 08-20-2008, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sillylilykitty

Cats are carnivores, simple as that. I hope to God no one ever makes a vegetarian or vegan cat food!

And I hope to God that no cat is subjected to a vegetarian or vegan diet, not ever!

Too late

RawFedDogs · 08-20-2008, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Willowy

Dogs are carnivores, but not obligate carnivores.

Usually when I see the words "obligate carnivore", i know someone is trying to talk me into the silly notion that dogs are omnivores or eat an omnivore diet.

Quote:

They just can't digest plants well enough to extract the nutrients from them.

Dogs can't digest or extract nutrients from plants any better than cats do. The reason that cats are sometimes called obligate carnivores is that cats can't synthesize taurine in their bodies and must injest it as part of their diet. The only natural place to get taurine is in meat. Hence, cats must eat meat to receive taurine.

Dogs make taurine internally and don't have to get it from their diet. However dogs are no better at extracting nutrients from plant material.

gromit · 08-21-2008, 12:12 AM

Thank you all for your replies. As soon as I hit "submit reply" I knew it was a stupid question about cats in a dog centric forum and for that I thank you for the kid gloves.
As far as my customer goes , he has bought veggie cat food in Europe before so he thinks he can get it here.
Also I just realised that this here is a DOG forum and not a cat forum.

I need sleep...

Wag on the danforth

jesirose · 08-21-2008, 12:17 AM

A lot of us have cats too

He can get his vegetarian pet food here, but that doesn't make it right. He could also feed them ice cream and fritos as a diet, doesn't mean it's a good idea.

RBark · 08-21-2008, 12:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gromit

Thank you all for your replies. As soon as I hit "submit reply" I knew it was a stupid question about cats in a dog centric forum and for that I thank you for the kid gloves.
As far as my customer goes , he has bought veggie cat food in Europe before so he thinks he can get it here.
Also I just realised that this here is a DOG forum and not a cat forum.

I need sleep...

Wag on the danforth

You made the right choice posting on a dog forum.

In the cat forum, you would have been hunted down and tortured for the information regarding your customer, and your customer would die in an "accident" the next day.

klip · 08-23-2008, 12:50 PM

@RBark -

ha ha -

Quote:

hunted down and tortured

by a elite swat team of ninja siamese.

I have some friends who are playing with this idea - veggie cats - its one of those topics of conversation I just have to avoid. I am a vegetarian myself but that does not mean I get to warp my pets! Hi Gromit - not aimed at you

its just such a nutty idea I cant help responding.

Sakura77 · 08-23-2008, 02:33 PM

Sadly, there are companies who make 'vegetarian cat food' but even they will say that feeding their own food long term will lead to blindness and other health issues for the cat. I think it's called Evolution Diet?

so unhealthy

alphadoginthehouse · 08-23-2008, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RBark

You made the right choice posting on a dog forum.

In the cat forum, you would have been hunted down and tortured for the information regarding your customer, and your customer would die in an "accident" the next day.

R-leave it to you to interject humor in this thread. Why do some humans try to impose their lifestyle choices on their animals? Makes no sense...

tigress · 08-24-2008, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sillylilykitty

Cats are carnivores, simple as that. I hope to God no one ever makes a vegetarian or vegan cat food!

And I hope to God that no cat is subjected to a vegetarian or vegan diet, not ever!

But they do...

I know I've heard of it before...

scarey, isn't it? I think it's bad enough they make vegetarian dog food...

cats are even more needy of meat than dogs!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by alphadoginthehouse

R-leave it to you to interject humor in this thread. Why do some humans try to impose their lifestyle choices on their animals? Makes no sense...

Well, many times it is cause they just cannot bear to support the meat industry in any sort of way.

And to them, I say, get a rabbit or a goat or some sort of herbivore pet. You don't have to have a pet that requires meat but if you must have one than learn to deal with having to compromise your morals cause you will compromise them one way or the other (by being cruel and supporting the meat industry, or being cruel to your pet and not feeding him right).