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That's interesting and yes, I guess it does just make sense cats have a nutritional requirement rather than an ingredient requirement. Just like everything else. However that is a questionnaire-based study.
A well-designed plant-based diet with added nutrients, that is complete to meet all the nutritional requirements of cats, has the potential to allow them to maintain health. However, a wealth of animal nutrition expertise is required to formulate and deliver such products.
This stood out for me though but I suppose if the people designing the cat food have the expertise required and they can be trusted then maybe it would be fine.
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Innit, get a rabbit or something.
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Choosing to prioritise the wellbeing of one animal over another because you prefer hanging out with it is problematic in itself though. I'm sure all the fish my mate Blue likes eating are good lads when you get to know them too (although probably less keen on cuddling if I had to guess). You just can't win at this vegan game can you?
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The debate about companion animals 'owned' (never owned) by vegans has been raging for decades and mostly goes round and round in circles, but there are some facts that are indisputable:
You can't make cats vegan. Cats either like or don't like the vegan food you may give them (some of the vegan products available work for some cats, but clearly not for all), and some will eat a lot of it, but if they spend any time outside, they will predate on the local wildlife. Obviously.
Given the state of the world, there will always be animals in need of rescuing (and yes, ideally there'd be fewer cats and puppies, and fewer unscrupulous breeders), so one can't say that vegans shouldn't do that. This creates the instant moral dilemma of vegans having to buy animal products-based animal food, but short of putting down all the cats, dogs, or snakes (to take Caz' example), it's a dilemma that can't be solved. We don't have nearly enough rewilded land to put domesticated animal species in for them to become wild again (which at any rate wouldn't work out too well for some of them), much though that would quite probably bring the usual problems of introduced species with it.
Even vegans like domesticated companion animals, and nothing is going to change that, but getting herbivores isn't a solution, either, as you just end up imprisoning them in very small spaces (there may be exceptions), whereas the larger carnivores (not snakes) are animals you can keep close to you while giving them some space to live in, i.e. cats going out independently or dogs being walked.
Nature wouldn't function without carnivores, but humans are able to understand that they shouldn't be carnivores, or indeed anywhere near the 'top of the food chain', so the mere fact that you need to take over some kind of moral agency on behalf of the carnivores/omnivores you live with doesn't mean that you fatally compromise your veganism. Absolutely the vast bulk of animal abuse is for products that humans consume, not for carnivorous or other omnivorous animals.
Sure, ideally we'd have far less animal husbandry, but we won't get to the point at which this might only extend to a bit of production of meat for cats and the like before very long, and at any rate I really don't think it's the primary thing we need to reduce. It's one of those issues that I think takes the focus away from weaning humans off animal products, and, as I'm sure quite a few on here have experienced, is one of those things that you tend to get lobbed at you in discussion in order to lead your veganism ad absurdum (which it doesn't).
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@snottyotter thats top curry! Do you use cashews in yours? If not highly recommended. I feel a little guilty using it as their carbon footprint is a bit high.
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Cats are a particular challenge because they cannot produce certain proteins – such as taurine – themselves. They instead have to absorb it from their food, with beef, chicken and fish being particularly rich sources. Cats that don’t have enough taurine are at risk of developing a potentially fatal condition called dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
In cats with DCM, the heart muscle becomes very thin and weak, preventing them from pumping blood and supplying oxygen to the body normally. This is a fatal disease if not corrected early on
From the ASPCA. The 'Merican RSPCA
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taurine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurine
Synthetic taurine is obtained by the ammonolysis of isethionic acid (2-hydroxyethanesulfonic acid), which in turn is obtained from the reaction of ethylene oxide with aqueous sodium bisulfite. A direct approach involves the reaction of aziridine with sulfurous acid.[6]
In 1993, about 5,000–6,000 tons of taurine were produced for commercial purposes: 50% for pet food and 50% in pharmaceutical applications.[7] As of 2010, China alone has more than 40 manufacturers of taurine. Most of these enterprises employ the ethanolamine method to produce a total annual production of about 3,000 tons.[8]
There is nothing magical about meat.
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Fair enough. I don't know about these things. I do wonder about absorption in the digestive system of supplements/synthetic alternatives vs the real thing though.
Our vet told us that despite plant based ingredients having some of the nutrients that cats need, their digestive systems are able to absorb very little nutrients from it and so not to bother with any cat food that says "with vegetables" as it makes no difference to them.Although ours are on Hill's which does have various plant based ingredients so who knows.
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Had almond and coconut flour in, roughly followed a recipe on glebe kitchen dot something, including knocking up a curry base thing like in restaurants, took ages but plenty of wine drinking time and now I've got a couple of easy future curries waiting in the freezer.
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The Vegan Thread
Posted by
@Pistanator
I'm not sure that I would go with the advice of a vegan youtube bro over veterinary advice to not feed cats vegan diets.
I understand why people might want to but I don't think that you can put your own beliefs above the wellbeing of the animal you are caring for. Please don't feed your cats vegan diets.