# cat veganism **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 12, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087 "2003-09-12T00:17:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bgillingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bgillingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bgillingham)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/21 "2003-09-13T02:12:08Z")
I have heard of Vegan cat diets. I am sure that there are many sources for specifically a vegan feline diet. I would caution that Recently, I have read about the need for a cat to be on a vegan diet. Amazing isn’t it? Apparently the cat couldn’t digest some protien found in meat. (!) I am sure that there are instances of previously carnivore species needing to become herbivores or become extinct. \ How does forcing the cat to eat a non-meat diet entail “cruel” treatment? I mean, really? How is this cruel? If the cat is hungry and you feed it good food that satisfies all of the nutritional needs, he/she wouldn’t know any different. It is cruel to have a cat as a pet and not treat it like a part of your family – otherwise it is just a captive prisoner of yours and THAT would be cruel. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/22 "2003-09-13T02:20:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bgillingham \* > \*\*\ How does forcing the cat to eat a non-meat diet entail “cruel” treatment? I mean, really? How is this cruel? If the cat is hungry and you feed it good food that satisfies all of the nutritional needs, he/she wouldn’t know any different. It is cruel to have a cat as a pet and not treat it like a part of your family – otherwise it is just a captive prisoner of yours and THAT would be cruel. \*\* Well, cats that are denied meat will go out and catch mice and other small animals and consume them if allowed to do so. That certainly speaks of a strong propensity for cosuming meat. Trying to impose your silly dietary beliefs on an animal with millions of years of evolution as a carrnivore is cruel in my book. It’s as needlessly cruel as trying to raise rabbits on a diet of porterhouse steaks. If you think your pets should be vegan too, then _don’t get a damn cat_. ---
**Author:** ![bgillingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bgillingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bgillingham)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/23 "2003-09-13T02:29:20Z")
Right… don’t tell me that we don’t force chickens to eat charcoal and wood bits as well as other parts of chickens in an attempt to make them heavier for our consumption / commercially driven society. Speak not about cruel treatment of animals to me. What about one species drinking the milk of another species? I mean, do you see many other animals nursing from another species – especially once they reach adulthood. Ok, so cats have evolved to pounce on anything that moves – usually a mouse or a small bird. Hmm… So, you are saying that this cat would start suffering meat-withdrawal or something? In nature, a cat will eat what it can, when it can. If one is domesticated, we can teach it to eat other foods. I feed my fish something that contains fish-meal – although my fish are insectivores. Is that cruel? Do they suffer because of it? I really don’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![Road\_Rash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a8b319/32.png) [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/24 "2003-09-13T02:43:56Z")
\ How does forcing the cat to eat a non-meat diet entail “cruel” treatment? I mean, really? How is this cruel? If the cat is hungry and you feed it good food that satisfies all of the nutritional needs, he/she wouldn’t know any different. It is cruel to have a cat as a pet and not treat it like a part of your family – otherwise it is just a captive prisoner of yours and THAT would be cruel. \*\* [/QUOTE] The cat doesn’t give a rats ass about veganism, so why should the cat be forced to have a vegan diet. I am most curious about your comment, “It is cruel to have a cat as a pet and not treat it like a part of your family.” How is feeding a cat what is good for him, meat, not treating it like part of the family. Unless the head of the family is irrationally fanatical about veganism. If one family member is vegan, do all of them have to be vegan? Why not require the infants or children be vegan? .While we’re at it, why not baptise the cat and feed it a wafer of christ. Being vegan is a personal choice. ---
**Author:** ![bgillingham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c0e974/32.png) [@bgillingham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bgillingham)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/25 "2003-09-13T02:46:32Z")
Sorry about the emotional outpouring… My cat is suffering from renal failure – which is complicated by foods that are high in protein. I am not feeding him a vegan diet, however. We order renal food from the vet. Read about “Meatless Meals for Cats and Dogs”: [http://www.peta.org/mc/facts/fsc14.html](http://www.peta.org/mc/facts/fsc14.html) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/26 "2003-09-13T03:06:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bgillingham \* > **Sorry about the emotional outpouring… My cat is suffering from renal failure – which is complicated by foods that are high in protein. I am not feeding him a vegan diet, however. We order renal food from the vet.** Fair enough. But there’s a huge difference between feeding an ill cat a special diet to keep him alive and healthy and _forcing_ dietary choices upon a healthy feline. And good luck with your cat. I hope kitty pulls through. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/27 "2003-09-13T03:23:33Z")
PETA? Oh, now THERE’s an objective source. Look, kid, cats are carnivores. Deal with it, or don’t get a cat. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/28 "2003-09-13T03:45:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Fair enough. But there’s a huge difference between feeding an ill cat a special diet to keep him alive and healthy and _forcing_ dietary choices upon a healthy feline. \*\* All cat owners “force” dietary choices on their pets. The natural diet of cats is live mice, live birds, live lizards, etc. But pet cats subsist on canned muck made from beef by-products, ocean fish, and other things that a cat wouldn’t eat in nature, or dry cat food that is largely cereal. Here’s the ingredients list for Friskies “Chef’s Blend”: Ground Yellow Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Soybean Meal, Beef Tallow Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols, Fish Meal, Brewers Yeast, Phosphoric Acid, Animal Digest, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Tetra Sodium Pyrophosphate, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Salmon Meal, Tuna Meal, Beef and Bone Meal, Taurine, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, L-Alanine, Riboflavin Supplement \_Vitamin B-2, Vitamin E Supplement, Red 40\_Added Color, Yellow 5 \_Added Color, Blue 2 \_Added Color, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Manganese Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Thiamin Mononitrate \_Vitamin B-1, Folic Acid, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride\_Vitamin B-6, Copper Sulfate, Citric Acid, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite. Yeah, now **that’s** what Puss evolved to eat. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/29 "2003-09-13T03:49:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Biffy the Elephant Shrew \* > **All cat owners “force” dietary choices on their pets.** Beware the use of generalizations. Most farm cats are entirely allowed to hunt their own food, and in fact are prized for that ability. ---
**Author:** ![msrexrabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@msrexrabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msrexrabbit)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/30 "2003-09-13T05:31:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bgillingham \* > \*\*Right… don’t tell me that we don’t force chickens to eat charcoal and wood bits as well as other parts of chickens in an attempt to make them heavier for our consumption / commercially driven society. Speak not about cruel treatment of animals to me. > \*\* sorry I have to say it. We don’t force chickens to eat charcoal and wood bits, and especially not in an attempt to make them heavier. These foods have almost no nutritional value for a chicken so would more likely cause a chicken to lose weight than to gain it. A chicken might temporarily stuff themselves on these products (causing a very temporary weight gain) in an attempt to get their needed nutrition, but most of the feed would just pass out the other end and the lack of proper diet would lead to weight loss. ---
**Author:** ![richardb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/96bed5/32.png) [@richardb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/richardb)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087/31 "2003-09-13T06:17:57Z")
The reason many say it is “cruel” to put a cat on a vegan diet is because it is **unhealthy** for the cat, not because it is us rather than them who are choosing their food. Examples of cats killing animals rather than sticking to the vegan diet are just trying to imply that if the diet were healthy, they would happily eat it. I’m not sure that this reasoning is correct, but that doesn’t change the fact that vegan diets are unhealthy for cats. There are several reputable scientific sources linked to in this thread that say just that: vegan diets are unhealthy for cats. They need meat. There is also Cecil’s column linked to that says the same thing. Yet those trying to argue otherwise like to say “yes, but…” if we can synthesize the same nutrients then it’s OK! Well, I see no scientific evidence backing that up. I mean, reputable sources that aren’t obvously biased like PETA. The total lack of any reputable scientific evidence agreeing that we can somehow provide these nutrients that come only from meat in some artificial form not from real animals that are suitable for felines suggests to me that it is total BS. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-veganism/201087.md?page=1)