From: taltar@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ted Altar) Newsgroups: rec.food.veg Subject: Vegetarian Cat (repost) Date: 13 Jul 94 08:33:15 GMT Organization: Simon Fraser University Lines: 631 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: beaufort.sfu.ca Again, this topic as come up and therefore I am re-posting some stuff that I've posted before. The focus here will be on vegetarian cats, since their carnivorous needs are even more specialized than that of the dog. Notwithstanding, the domestic cat, as well as the dog, not only can be adequately fed a vegetarian diet, but they will even thrive on one. At the end of this posting I've listed some sources for both vegetarian cat and dog food. In the interests of minimizing the number of separate postings on the net, all 8 topics are here included in this one message. Should this message be too long for your liking, then simply turn to the topic heading that might be of interest. :-) Topics covered: A. The Morality Of Vegetarian Cats B. Is It "Proper" To Feed A Vegetarian Diet To Cats? C. The Environmental Impact Of Cats (Are Our Pets Also Pests?) D. Are Vegetarian Diets For Cats Are Too Expensive? E. What Do Vegetarian Cats Need? F. Some Practical Advice and Compromises G. What Is Vegecat. I. Sources For Vegetarian Dog Or Cat Food ========================================================== A. THE MORALITY OF VEGETARIAN CATS One poster wrote: [. . .] > I hear much talk about people wanting to place their pets on >vegetarian diets. This bothers me. %I% would like to do this for >my cats, but if I were to do so, wouldn't I simply be imposing my >morality on them? Are you are not already doing that by having your cat `fixed' so as to prevent cats from becoming overpopulated? Of course you say that this is for the best interests of the cat and it is not a question of morality but of prevention of a greater cruelty. I agree, but some people have such a simplistic notion of purity and "naturalness" that even birth control for animals is seen as some kind of moral intervention. Now, what about chasing, or otherwise sometimes preventing your cat, from successfully catching and killing, say, a bird? Are you not here imposing upon your own cat (or somebody else's cat) your own morality about minimizing or preventing the unnecessary death of other animals? I think you are but so what? Is the cat any worst off? I don't think so since you going to provide regular meals for your cat in any case. Some people would wave their arms about all the mice and small birds that cats kill and that we are therefore indirectly responsible of this killing by harboring such an efficient predator and "killer". With respect to the ethics of my cat killing other animals, well, this not a serious moral concern for us. What animals do is really a matter of `Nature', but what we do is, for better or worst, a matter of ethics. Animals simply "BEHAVE" but we are both endowed and cursed to learn how to properly "CONDUCT" ourselves with respect to each other and the natural world. Of course, cats have tethered their destiny to ours and to some extent I guess we are responsible for their behaviour. I don't encourage my cat to kill birds and I have taken some simple measures (short of putting a bell around my cat) to mitigate the problem. Dogs and cats are part of our mixed human-animal community and are coevolved beings who share with us certain feelings and capacities for interspecies sociability. As Mary Midgley in her fine book, ANIMALS AND WHY THEY MATTER, 1983, insightfully pointed out: All human communities have involved animals. The animals . . . became tame, not just through fear of violence, but because they were able to form individual bonds with those who tamed them by coming to understand the social signals addressed to them... They were able to do this, not only because the people taming them were social beings, but because they themselves were so as well. (pg. 112) Hence, we are joint members of nested communities. Each of member of which has different capacities and forms of living, but together we share to some extent similar social capacities and feelings. To the extent we are different we may have different moral requirements. Ours of course is the more onerous moral requirement to honor our evolved relationship with our pets, a relationship built on trust and social feeling. Our pets in turn only have to adapt to some constraints of human society, like not defecating on the carpet and eating what nutritious foods we choose to provide. Providing nutritious and tasty vegetarian pet foods does not betray our trust with these coevolved social beings. I think we can, however, easily think of some ways in which that trust is violated, and it does not include providing vegetarian pet food. ========================================================== B. IS IT "PROPER" TO FEED A VEGETARIAN DIET TO CATS? >and 2) I would still be forcing my pets to do something >%I% find proper. Any thoughts??? By "proper" you might here be suggesting that by going against the evolved nature of the cat, we would be doing something improper. Given this to be the import of your query, consider the following question in turn: Is it any less "proper" to feed your cats vitamin-mineral reinforced meat-plant mixtures (i.e., commercial pet food) made from cows, sheep, pigs and chickens which your cats would never have caught? After all, commercial pet foods consists of meats which they would never have caught or cooked for themselves, this is mixed with grains which they never would have grown and cooked for themselves, and this stew is supplemented with vitamins which they never would have concocted for themselves and finally it is all flavored with artificial tastes enhancers and appetizers which again is something that cats would not have devised. Frankly, I am not certain what "natural" foods or a natural diet in this context here means or what is "proper" or not to feed your cat. Unless you feed your cats live insects, small live rodents and small live birds you are NOT feeding your cat a "natural diet". Ok, then at least feed your cat what is nutritionally required and healthy and which they would enjoy. It so happens that a properly prepared vegetarian cat food diet meets these 2 specifications. :-) Although domestic cats are living longer than either their ancestral counterparts or their contemporary cousins, my vet informs me that cancer rates in cats are increasing and diet seems to here be implicated. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised by this given the slaughterhouse offal and human rejected tumor ridden and contaminated meats that are put into cat foods, plus the chemical appetizers and preservatives and food colourings. At least I know something about the quality of what I give my cat to eat and I do have my cat checked each year by one of Vancouvers's most respected veterinarians and one who has actually & carefully read Barabara Peden's book, CATS AND DOGS GO VEGETARIAN, and approves of what the book recommends. ========================================================== C. THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF CATS (are our pets also pests?) Should we have laws to ensure owners stop their cats from killing their prey? This seems too absurd to entertain, but you know how fussy people can be. Here I can do no better than do as May (1988) suggested, namely that we consider the words of Adlai Stevenson when he was Governor to the Illinois State Legislature: "The problem of the cat vs the bird is as old as time. If we attempt to resolve it by legislation, who knows but what we may be called upon to take sides as well in the age-old problems of dog vs cat, bird vs bird, or even bird vs worm. In my opinion, the State of Illinois and its local governing bodies already has enough to do without trying to control for feline delinquency" (May (1988). Control of feline delinquency. NATURE, 332:392-3.) What about the environmental impact, you might ask? Well, it turns out that the actual environmental impact upon, say the bird population, has been documented to be minimal or nonexistent. In one study it was found that House Sparrows formed about 44% of the birds killed by cats (Churcher & Lawton, 1987). There is in fact an overpopulation of urban and suburban House Sparrows and Starlings. Now, to be fair to our cats it should be kept in mind that as small "urban wildlife", cats are probably substitutes for other predators and other mortality factors. For instance, they may substitute for Weasels, which in woodlands kill up to 2/3 of the young tits (Perrins, 1979). We should also remember that adult urban House Sparrows, for instance, have an annual survival rate of only 56%-62% and cats are not the major cause of death (Summers-Smith, 1963). Robins, which my cat seems not able to catch, have a 60% adult annual mortality, food shortage being the key factor. The annual mortality of Starlings is over 50% (Freare, 1984). Yes, it is true (except for my congenitally small cat) that cats are a major cause of mortality of Starlings in towns, but this is probably a desirable result. People who have serious studied this question about the impact of cats upon wildlife have generally concluded: "Cats have little or no long-term impact on urban wildlife. They may transmit disease, toxoplasmosis is the most devastating and rabies the most potentially serious, but overall incidence is slight. Feral Cats may become local nuisances; their control may be best effected by a programme of castration. Cats provide many benefits as pets, and retain some value in controlling rodent pests. The pest status of any animal depends on its activities and numbers, but whether pest status has been achieved is often a matter of perception. On balance, I do not consider that the case for the urban cat as a serious pest rather than a pet has been satisfactory made." (Jarvis, 1990) ========================================================== D. ARE VEGETARIAN DIETS FOR CATS ARE TOO EXPENSIVE? > 1) I can't afford it, I use the Barbara Peden's sponsored VEGECAT supplement. It is actually very inexpensive considering how very little you add to make up a batch of catfood (1 full size can worth). Adds up to less than 20 cents per day. The bulk of the food consists of inexpensive food items like soy beans, rice, garbanzo beans, lentils, oats, textured soy, spouted beans, etc. Foods found in your cupboard in any case and bought quite cheaply (especially in bulk). Using meat-based commerical can cat foods turns out to be more expensive. ========================================================== E. WHAT DO VEGETARIAN CATS NEED? First, cats also need an exogenous source of the amino acid, TAURINE (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) There is no known practical source of taurine found in plants (apparently, some plants do have trace amounts) but it can be obtained in abundance from "lower" animals like clams or chemically synthesized. Second, unlike dogs, cats need PREFORMED VITAMIN A. Third, cats need a preformed source of ARACHIDONATE ACID which most other animals can adequately synthesize from linoleic acid. The efficiency of cats is less than optimal. Finally, some other less crucial nutritional concerns with a plant diet for cats include a direct source of niacin (other animals normally convert tryptophan into niacin (vitamin B). Nutritional yeast (not to be confused with brewers yeast). is an abundant source of niacin that one should feed to cats in any case (most cats really like it). An supplements of B12, zinc, an ideal calcium to phosphorous ratio of 1.2-1.4 to 1, a plant form of calciferol (so-called "vitamin" D), and some vitamin C (the efficiency of cats to produce their own is not always optimal). The above is not intended as an exhaustive listing of the nutritional needs of cats, but simply to indicate what an approved vegetarian cat food would need to provide. Owners are not, therefore, advised to try to make up their own preparations but used approved commercial products or supplement, like that of "vegecat". ============================================================== G. WHAT IS VEGECAT. Now, one does not need to be a biochemist to feed a cat. There are now on the market vegetarian cat foods or supplements to add to a vegetarian regime (like Vegecat) where all of the above consideration are automatically provided for. These products have been checked by veterinarians and animal nutritionists. Again, these companies, just like any other commercial pet food company, have had to ensure that the nutritional composition in their foods meet or surpass the standards set by the U.S. National Science Committee of Animal Care. Now, if anyone is seriously considering a vegetarian regime for their cats I would of course recommend responsibility and due care. One must buy the commercially prepared vegetarian cat foods or supplements products and I would also recommend that they read very carefully Barbara Lynn Pedens book, DOGS AND CATS GO VEGETARIAN, 1988. Some useful scientific papers are referenced in the book. And of course, one should have one's cat regularly checked by their veterinarian. The vegecat supplement contains not only taurine, many other important nutrients (see next posting). Calicum 4757 socium 286 zinc .45 vitamin D 304 taurine 487 phosphorus 938 iron 24.7 manganese .57 vitamin E(IU) 58 niacin .25 vitaminB12 .011 magnesium 83 copper 1.3 selenium .124 thiamin .027 thiamin .027 choline 430 potassium 284 iodine 7.77 vitamin A(IU) 2031 riboflavin .08 folic acid .98 arachidonate .63 Yes, my cat is thriving on a vegetarian diet. In fact, not only is she being successfully maintain (as checked over by my veterinarian), but she is even showing an improvement in the softness and shine of her fur. I myself use the VEGECAT supplement, which one adds to the special recipes that come with the supplement. I like this approach because here I can better ensure that my cat enjoys a high quality of uncontaminated food. The Vegcat supplement costs less than 20 cents per day and is available in different kinds for kittens vs adult cats. (I think there is even a batch for pregnant cats, but I'm not sure) Common recipes call for easily obtainable ingredients like that of rice, lentils, garbanzo beans, oats, nutritional yeast, carrots, olive oil, etc. My cat likes rice, so the basic food consists of cooked parboiled rice (this kind of rice is easier for cats to digest) mixed with lentils and textured soybean flakes (you can get this a health food store) These items are simply mixed and cooked together for convenience. After cooking for 1/2 hour, I add in some olive oil, a dash of soy sauce, nutritional yeast, and of course the vegecat supplement. That's all there's too it. Here's an example of one of the actual recipes I use and which was one of the carefully designed recipes that came with the vegecat supplement I bought. 1/4 cup cooked rice 8 Tbs of TVP (one can alternatively use 6/16 cups of tofu or 1/4 cup cooked soybeans. 1/4 cup cooked lentils 2 Tbs of extra virgin olive oil. 3 Tbs of nutr. yeast 1 tsp of vegecat 2/3 tsp of soy sauce [Protein 30%, fat 20.4%, ash 5%, mg .14%] The vegecat recipes also encourage one to add in a bit of fresh vegetable matter, like cooked squash, corn, or whatever your cat might like. This is optional, but my cat does like raw tomato, cooked squash, cooked cauliflower or even cooked broccoli. Although cats are supposed to be able to produce their own vitamin C, it doesn't hurt to provide a dietary source as well since cats may not always be able to produce enough for themselves and all cats may not be able to do so adequately at all times. There are many other recipes that one can try which are listed in the book by Peden, or which are included with the tub of vegecat. I also lightly sprinkle the top of her food with extra nutritional yeast to make the food even more appealing for her. When I first rescued Zoe from death row at the SPCA, I used to buy a tuna based cat food that had no beef or chicken in it. This was my compromise at that time. Then the company changed its recipe and started adding chicken products to the food. I guess chicken by-products was cheaper to add into the food than just fish by-products. I eventually decided that the best thing was simply to try out the Peden recipes, which I at first modified by mixing in some tuna or sardines. Over time, I simply reduced the amount of fish until my cat got used to the new vegetarian food and now she really likes it. I now have to be careful not to overfeed her. :-) The best approach is to simply introduce a new food gradually. Simply mixed in the new vegetarian catfood with whatever was the old food and gradually over time eliminate the old food. If there is no local supplier, you can easily order it via mail at the following address: Harbingers of a New Age 717 E. Missoula Ave, Troy MT 59935-9609 Phone (406) 295-4944