Every time I see this stupid frakking commercial that tells me about cat food with vegetables in it, I just want to kick something. I was brought up believing that cats are carnivores and dogs are omnivores, like us.
Do I have a bunch of un-learning to do, or do I get to label this particular indignation as righteous?
Cats require certain nutrients, such as taurine and retinol, that are near-impossible to get from an all-plant diet. Cecil doesn’t recommend it, and even the Vegetarian Society is less than keen on the idea. This said, there’s nothing stopping cats from eating plants along with meat.
I remind my Luna that she is a carnivore every time she begs for something that isn’t meat. She listens about as well as she listens to anything else I tell her. She once jumped up on the stove and took several bites from a pan of cornbread.
I am given to understand that they also eat vegetables in order to get some fiber, so they like to chew and play with leaves and things (and make messes).
Remember also that wild cats tend to eat stomach contents of their prey as well as the muscle and skin. So they’re getting partially digested grains, nuts and leaves from the guts of their mice, voles and squirrels. They just eat far *less *herbage than humans or even dogs. And probably less than the pet food manufacturers put in their food, too.
Is this the commercial that talks about the Flavors of Tuscany? Because there is far more wrong with that than just the vegetables. Namely, there is a cat food that has the Flavors of Tuscany.
And there’s an ad (might be this one) that says the food has a bit of cheese in it.
Considering what cheese does or did to every cat I have ever known, that would put the stuff on the Do Not Buy list if I bought grocery store cat food.