vegetarian cat study

Although I don't agree with feeding carnivores a vegetarian diet, it will be interesting to see the results of this study that is being done by Purina:

http://www.vegetariancats.com/

 

Thanks for the link nern, ive actually never heard of vegeterian cats... but it would be intresting to see how it turns out.

 

there was an episode of Animal Precinct where a woman - cat collector - had been feeding her cats nothing but vegetable for a long time and a couple of them had lost their eyesight as a vegetable-only diet doesn't contain the necessary nutrients that a cat needs.

 

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a960426.html

 

Yes, mary i remember that episode..i felt so bad for those poor kitties...they looked in horrible condition..and their coates were poor ...cats were meant to eat meat.

 

I think I saw that episode too Mary....very sad.

Thanks for posting that article vene. :y_the_best:

A while back I was suprised to see an advertisement for a vegetarian cat kibble. It was the first time I'd ever heard of something like that. I did some research into it because I could'nt understand how they could claim it to be "complete and balanced" without certain essential nutrients that are only found in animal material. From what I understand, some of these essential nutrients are added in synthetic form (taurine, ect.) to make up for the missing nutrients. I also learned that vegetarian cats tend to be more prone to getting crystals and URI's because plant matter tends to cause an alkaline urine ph. Some of these kibbles have added urine acidifiers to prevent this. So basically, with lots of synthetic nutrients and urine acidifiers some cats seem to do okay on these diets. I can't imagine a cat thriving on them though and I would be concerned about long-term effects as well.

 

Hi,

I just wanted to thank Vanessa for including a link to our Vegetarian Cats Study. Although funded by Purina, its actually being conducted through the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine. Feeding cats a purely vegetable home-made diet is extremely dangerous for the reasons mentioned in the story above. Everyone that I have spoken to is feeding their cat a fully supplemented diet (vegecat or Evolution brand), which cats have done fine on anecdotally. The problem is that there have not been any scientific studies on the subject in the US. We are looking for both cats on vegetarian diets and cats on normal commercial diets to participate. All it involves is permission for the researchers to obtain veterinary records and a 10-15 minute survey over the telephone at a time you specify. Preliminary results should be posted on the site in a few months. :y_the_best:

Take care,
Lorelei