Vegetarian cats

Shewhomustbe...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054883275

Myself and my partner are vegetarians and the above discussion has come up a couple of times as to whether we should change our cats diets to the same. I'll be bringing it up with our vet but I'm wondering does anyone have a success story regarding this?

eth0_

I don't think it's fair considering cats are, and always have been, carnivores.
If a cat doesn't eat meat, it will go blind.

The vegetarian society advises AGAINST a vegetarian diet for a cat, see here:
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/catfood.html

IMO it would be animal cruelty to feed a cat a vegetarian diet, that's if you could even get the cat to eat vegetarian food.

leeroybrown

I would also say that this is cruelty towards the pet. While we humans can survive adequately if not better without any meat, as eth0_ points out a cat is a natural carnivore. To my knowledge a cats digestive system (unlike a dog) actually requires nutrients from meat that it can't process directly from other sources. Even assuming that it can be done getting the dietary balance right would be awkward. Also, a cat fed a non-meat diet will also be highly likely to attempt to get this meat from other sources.

I know vegetarians with cats and they would never do this to their precious pet.

Sigma Force

Cats cannot be fed on a vegetarian diet that link shown by eth0_ will tell you why. Dogs can but cats cannot.

hadook

Cats are obligate carnivores - they're not designed to break down plant matter - all their veggie requirements are found in the gut of the plant-eating prey that they've killed.

Everything from their teeth to their digestive system is geared towards a protein diet, unlike a dog. Dogs are not obligate carnivores. I can understand that you might want to feed your cats on a veggie friendly diet (ie one that causes the least amount of suffering to the food source) but trying to make a cat into a veggie is IMO something that you would do more for yourself than for the health & wellbeing of your pet.

Nala

I read before that a vegetarian diet will kill a cat within a pretty short space of time.

Shewhomustbe...

Thanks everybody, sounds like a resounding no, and I'm sure I can hear my cats heave a sigh of relief!