Vegetarian Diets for Cats

Use More Meats than Greens for Kitty’s Treats and Meals

Oct 17, 2008 Terence P Ward

The healthy, natural path for humans may be vegetarianism, but holistically-raised housecats should be carnivores like their ancestors.

People who wish to follow a natural lifestyle are not doing their pet cats any favors if they make them into vegetarians. Although they may survive on nutritionally-balanced vegetarian fare, housecats are heirs to a digestive tract best suited to raw meat. Kitty may be a warm, purring lump, but within that lump beats the heart of a meat-eater, as well as the stomach and intestines of one.

Ethics of Carnivorous Diets

Many vegetarians have become so for ethical reasons, among other considerations. A vegetarian with a family cat may feel it is hypocritical to feed meat to a pet while avoiding it personally, according to Cat Fancy Magazine (“A Matter of Meat,” Cathy M. Rosenthal, v 51 no. 5, May 2008). Some animal rights groups support vegetarian diets for all house pets – a position the Humane Society opposes, saying that “forcing a cat to eat a diet that isn’t based on meat imperils its health and its life.”

Vegetables Deficient in Vitamins and Minerals

In Natural Healing for Dogs and Cats (St. Martin’s Press, 1995, p. 76), Dr. Richard Pitcairn explains that “they cannot convert the beta-carotene found in vegetables to vitamin A; they require an animal source” for that vitamin. Pitcairn goes on to explain that cats may crave seafood because it is an excellent source of taurine, which they also cannot manufacture. In addition to this being an argument for meat in a cat’s diet, he further uses it to support the position that the meat must be raw: up to 80% of taurine is lost during cooking.

Cat Fancy agrees, pointing out that a study done in Pennsylvania showed nutritional deficiencies within a year of starting an all-vegetarian diet for cats. Unlike dogs, cats are unable to adapt to a diet that is completely devoid of meat.

Dietary Differences in Digestive Tract

Cats are obligate or “true” carnivores – meat is necessary for their health. True carnivores have a digestive system that isn’t well-disposed to eating plants:

• They have sharp teeth not well suited for chewing
• Their intestines are too short to break down complex plant cells easily.
• They require food that is high in fat and protein.

Perhaps cats are such a popular pet because they are designed to eat many of the things that kill humans in the long run – organ meats, fats, and bones. It may be that we sought out wolves for companionship, but we sought out cats because we envied them.

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Cats may be affectionate, but they are carnivores