RE: OT: Just curious

[Guest guest]

Jan, I have cats and they get regular cat food. I know some people

claim that cats can be vegan with the appropriate supplementation. That

is as yet unproven. Dogs, on the other hand, have been successfully

raised vegetarian. Some of my vegetarian friends won't have cats as

companions because they are less likely to adjust to being vegetarian.

 

I can't even get my cat babies to eat the so-called natural pet food

from the health food store, without all the additives. They turned

their nose up at the soy-based vegan food, too. I mix some natural pet

food and some soy food in with the other dry mix, and they sometimes get

a little of it. It looks to me like they do their best to eat around

the better stuff.

 

One of my cats likes dark green leafy vegetables and melons. They both

love the canned veggie pate. They like some of the fake meat and cheese

products, but not others. It is not so much that I try to feed these

items to them, but they come around and beg for a taste when certain

things are on the table.

 

There are a number of web sites on vegetarian pet food. See

http://www.petfoodshop.com, http://www.vegepet.com,

http://www.vegpets.com,

http://www.wow-bow.com, and www.veggiepets, for

starters. There's also a vegan cats study underway by a third-year

veterinary student at the University of Pennsylvania. The site is

http://www.vegetariancats.com.

 

 

 

from Maida

Citizens for Pets in Condos, http://www.petsincondos.org

South Florida Vegetarian Events, http://www.soflavegevents.net

[Guest guest]

I tried to find an interesting article about this that was written by a

holistic (alternative care)

Veterinarian. It basically explained the dog and cats digestive system and

why meat is actually required for them because of their digestive makeup and how

the liver and kidneys work.

 

One thing for anyone considering a vegetarian diet for their dog. Please be

careful of what ingredients are in the product. Many dogs have problems with

wheat (VERY common in almost ALL foods!) and corn offers almost no nutrients at

all to a dog. (Yet they are cheap fillers for dog food and widely used!).

 

My own vet --- when I asked about this (because my dog has bad allergies and

we were trying to eliminate foods and allergens to figure out what he was

allergic to) --- said that if you look at the teeth of different animals you

have

insight to their reproductive systems. Thus dogs and cats have sharpened teeth

to tear at meat while oddly enough --- our teeth are more common to the

horse! Go figure!

 

Cat

 

 

Jan, as one of those who don't let meat into their house, I don't

think it's an offensive question at all. When we had cats, they were

fed a special prescribed cat food for a condition they had (can't

remember its name now), and it contained meat. It's my understanding

that cats, unlike humans, require meat to thrive.