Is there a way to turn my cats vegetarian or lessen their dependence on premade food?

Since I care deeply about my vegetarianism I feel I have to extend it to my pets at least.

well it isn't gonna work.

I hate to break it to you, but cat's are not vegetarians. Even if you do manage to make the cat vegetarian, it won't be happy. It'll be like forcing a sea creature to breath air, it'll be miserable the rest of it's life.

Originally Posted by Asia

Our kitty - I wouldn't say is a vegeTARIan, per se, but he eats from whatever we are having for lunch/dinner also xD

The first thing he does when we spread out the dinner cloth (we are arabs - tradition is to sit around together on the (carpeted, of course xD) floor and serve food on a tablecloth ON the floor) is to sit down where he usually does in front of his plate - and we keep filling it with whatever we're having :>

We don't eat mUch meat, and if we do cook with meat, it's usually just a wee bit for flavouring - so he eats a lOT of vegetables, spaghetti, rice, couscous etc etc. If he won't have it like that, we open a tin of tuna and mix in a wee bit with whatever's on his plate and he eats it all up :>>

Basically, we cannot feed him the stuff they sell in tins. You open a tin and it reeks the whole house dOWn x___x
If meat included in burgers and such for human consumption is questionable at best, I can only iMAGIne what goes into the making of processed cat and dogfood :p


So, Basically, he needs meat but not exCLUSIvely a meat diet.
It doesn't have to be 100% meat diet or they die, so long as they have their protein

Well, if your cat is already on a human food diet, then there's no major problem -- but it can lead to certain doom if you aren't careful of what you feed it. If you try changing your cats diet from cat food to human food though, they usually just hack it up. Believe me, years and years of handling numerous generations of cats (the total of cats we had was somewhere around 30 I believe) my mother was obsessed over has taught me a few things about cats -- whether or not I would have liked to know >.>

Originally Posted by Asia

Darko - aye, it might not have the stench of meat, but it has an unbearable stench all the same xD

Yeah, I can't stand it. It tastes even worse.

Originally Posted by Razz

well it isn't gonna work.

I hate to break it to you, but cat's are not vegetarians. Even if you do manage to make the cat vegetarian, it won't be happy. It'll be like forcing a sea creature to breath air, it'll be miserable the rest of it's life.

It isn't going to be miserable. It's going to go blind, suffer organ failure, and die a slow, painful death.

Jodders - don't worry, Our kitty doesn't eat onions and such :p but he doEs eat quite a few vegetables - especially proteinous ones (yes I made the word up :<<) such as chick peas and lentils,

He refUSES to eat meat at times and especially if it's anywhere near raw - while at others, he will only have things like fish and (well cooked) chicken etc- and he has to grind all the bones.

His change of diet was very gradual - and took , I'd say, around 3 or 4 years, and he now refuses to eat any processed catfood.
(also, he's healthier than most kitties I see - strong and huge and ... quite old and such x_x )

Jodd, are you admitting cats are omnivores now? But then the argument that they are biologicall predisposed to eat solely meat falls apart now and this whole dispute seems irrelevant since my plans are now favored.

Originally Posted by Anime_Queen

See, this is arrogant =XIf you are going to be wronging an animal of a different species, denying them what they need to have just because your body and species can do well without JUST to be around for your entertainment is wholly selfish.

But they need humans to survive, especially in rough urban areas.

If it's tHAT much against your beliefs - what business have you pursuing carnivores as pets? :p
Leave 'em alone for people who'll take care of them as they should and not deny them their needs :p

Well people say that humans need meat and it contributed to the evolution of our brains, but the way I see it vegetarianism has made me smarter, or at the very least of a better fiber and content than what can be found in a meat eater. While I don't claim the right to moral superiority that most of us entitle ourselves to, I can recognize that we follow a much higher path, and the health benefits are nice.

That's why I want to attribute those same qualities to my cats, because I love them like they're family, you dig?

Originally Posted by Anime_Queen

Jodders - don't worry, Our kitty doesn't eat onions and such :p but he doEs eat quite a few vegetables - especially proteinous ones (yes I made the word up :<<) such as chick peas and lentils,

He refUSES to eat meat at times and especially if it's anywhere near raw - while at others, he will only have things like fish and (well cooked) chicken etc- and he has to grind all the bones.

His change of diet was very gradual - and took , I'd say, around 3 or 4 years, and he now refuses to eat any processed catfood.

Cats are fussy. One day they'll eat what you give them, the next they won't touch it. It's some mutation that makes them taste things differently, or something.


And no, I'm not "admitting" they are omnivores. Domestic cats are obligate carnivores. They also do not depend on humans to survive.

And the qualities you attribute to yourself due to your diet won't make your cat morally superior. It will kill it.

That's why I want to attribute those same qualities to my cats, because I love them like they're family, you dig?

If you truly loved your cat, you'd feed it what it needs to live and be happy, which is meat.

Case closed discussion over

Originally Posted by Incendiarism

Jodd, are you admitting cats are omnivores now? But then the argument that they are biologicall predisposed to eat solely meat falls apart now and this whole dispute seems irrelevant since my plans are now favored.

No they're not favoured :p
Just because a cat can ALSo eat other than meat doesn't mean that it is no longer a carnivore and can suddenly turn into a herbivore :p

They can fill up spaces with things like rice and bread and vegetables - yes. But they NEED their meat and protein. What yOU are planning to do is deprive your unfortunate project of a pet cat of such a requirement to its well being.

But they need humans to survive, especially in rough urban areas.

Hell no xD

I live in a city, and our last kitty was a hunter - did well with catching mice and birds day in day out from its roamings around the parks and neighbourhood.
Cats do not need humans at ALL :p (unless you trained a kitty all its life to be solely dependable on you all its life - whereupon it will have a bit of difficulty if it suddenly had to live on the streets - but wILL pick it up and fast)
Never seen or come across street cats? =)

Well people say that humans need meat and it contributed to the evolution of our brains, but the way I see it vegetarianism has made me smarter, or at the very least of a better fiber and content than what can be found in a meat eater. While I don't claim the right to moral superiority that most of us entitle ourselves to, I can recognize that we follow a much higher path, and the health benefits are nice.

]


How to break it to you, good sir -
Cats. Are. A . Different. Species xD
For all they're concerned, we can take our moral mumbo jumbo and stick it where nOTHing remotely even tHINks to shine.
Higher path badoodles - survival path is what comes first :p

That's why I want to attribute those same qualities to my cats, because I love them like they're family, you dig?

NO I DON'T DIG! xD

*laughs*

"hello, I love you like my family, that's why I'm going to starve you of your needs and impose on you a way of life that is fit for me but detrimental to you"

Useless kind of "love" :p

Originally Posted by Incendiarism

But they need humans to survive, especially in rough urban areas.

Cats are perfectly capable of surviving without humans. If anything, we're killing more then we're saving.

Well people say that humans need meat and it contributed to the evolution of our brains, but the way I see it vegetarianism has made me smarter, or at the very least of a better fiber and content than what can be found in a meat eater. While I don't claim the right to moral superiority that most of us entitle ourselves to, I can recognize that we follow a much higher path, and the health benefits are nice.

All the vegans I know are downright scrawny (which is about three) and usually have a hard time playing in most sports. Not sure about the whole "they're smarter and morally better" then me though. They're not as arrogant as you suggest.

Suck it up and start eating meat. It's delicious, and you not eating meat won't stop the other several million people on the planet who do.

Please tell me that if you're going to EVER have kids (good luck, flower child) that you don't try to keep them from using animal products... wee new barnes are NOT going to thrive on a diet of high fibre, high gas-producing (poor wil babehs....-_-) foods. PLEASE.

And as Asia more than hinted at....you'd best just get rid of your cats.

After reading some of your recent threads, one which HAD to have been a joke, I have to really ask....are you for real?

-----------------------

Cats are carnivores. There is no such thing as a vegetarian cat. End of story.

Now stop posting.

No way maaaaan. One time, we got this lion to only eat tofu.

Originally Posted by Twilight Wolf

Cats are carnivores. There is no such thing as a vegetarian cat. End of story.

Now stop posting.

Originally Posted by Twilight Wolf

Cats are carnivores. There is no such thing as a vegetarian cat. End of story.

Now stop posting.

Originally Posted by Twilight Wolf

Cats are carnivores. There is no such thing as a vegetarian cat. End of story.

Now stop posting.

Just because humans can want to be vegan or whatever, doesn't mean you should force your beliefs onto your pets. You are a vegan because you want to respect animals and their lives, cats are carnivorous, they eat meat. If you don't like it, get a tortoise or something. Don't start screwing with your cat's diet because you've made a life choice. Your cat just wants to eat, sleep and chase string until the day it dies, it doesn't want to be pestered and deprived of its natural dietary needs. So respect your pet by feeding them what they need, k?

Honestly, it's just cat food. If you can't overcome some sort of dislike of a certain food just to feed your animal, then you shouldn't have the cat.

I think you are missing the point of what everyone is saying collectively, "Cats must have meat to survive, but they do posses the ability eat vegetables. But it must be understood that they cannot live on solely vegetables because the cat will die."

Now if you give two ****s about the cat, stop being a selfish snob, and take care of the cat like it should be done.

I think this animal might be in need of a kitty psychiatrist in a few years. I can refer him to an excellent doctor if you'd like?

I'm not an expert on the physiology of cats (to my ETERNAL shame) but I don't think it's okay to impose your human views on your pets.

When I had cat, it had a tendency to walk around on all fours, with its tail in the air and its bits on show to every Tom, Dick and Harry who happened to walk past. Now some people might think that's fine for a cat, but in my house, in human land, that's called being a slut.

This was taking place at quite a difficult time in my life, and there are long episodes here that I can't remember. I can recall forcing her to walk on her back legs like a lady though. Again, this wasn't a happy time for me, but the next thing I remember, I'm in a court room and a judge mentions something about animal abuse and irreparable skeletal damage.

There's a lesson in my story. I don't think it's okay for people to expose themselves in public. That's disgusting. But what I think is wrong for humans, may not be applicable to other species.

So in the same way that it's not okay for me to judge street whor - I mean cats for how they carry themselves, it's not okay for you to moralize a cat's eating habits.

I'm sure if you don't let it eat anything else for a week it will start to eat the fruit and veggies once it starts getting the hunger pains. I know my dogs will eat fruits and veggies, but for some reason one dog only eats them hot and the other only eats them chilled.....no idea why.

you could try different temperatures or different textures (mashing up the fruit veggies, slicing, dicing, julian fries...etc....)

I've never owned a cat though...my girlfriend has a cat....I could ask her maybe.

The fact that a cat will eat something other than meat is not important. Usually, those foods aren't good for cats. Milks and cheeses make cats sick if they consume too much (less than you'd think), and tend to fatten them up quite a bit, causing further health complications. They'll eat breads, but they don't have any nutritional value for a cat. Cats will even drink beer. Does that make it good for them? No, it doesn't. It makes your cat drunk, addicted to alcohol, and get liver disease.

If sulfur tasted like chocolate, would you eat it? What about uncooked meat? How about rotting fruit? Humans are omnivores, so it's a bit more difficult to come up with something that's downright bad for humans that also tastes nasty, but I'm sure you get the point. It's ridiculously ignorant of you to think that if a cat eats something, it must be good for it, and incredibly arrogant to impose your views of right and wrong upon a feline who lacks the intelligence to even comprehend them in the first place.

If you are so concerned about what your cat, a carnivorous animal, is eating, then I suggest getting rid of it. Cats live off of meat. It's that simple. They will eat other things for the taste, but it is not healthy for them to do so. I doubt any veterinarian will recommend depriving any animal of its essential sustenance. If you cannot stand the dry food that most cats eat, then I doubt there is any hope for you. Either learn to deal with your cat and make an (incredibly minor) sacrifice to your own lifestyle, or get rid of the cat.

Also, I should note that, while I don't have a problem with vegetarians or vegans, it is not a particularly natural or even fully healthy diet to adopt. Humans are omnivores, and without proper compensation, chances are you are starving yourself of essential vitamins and nutrients. You should not impose such a diet on others, be they people or animals.

Originally Posted by sea

If you are so concerned about what your cat, a carnivorous animal, is eating, then I suggest getting rid of it. Cats live off of meat. It's that simple. They will eat other things for the taste, but it is not healthy for them to do so. If you cannot stand the dry food that most cats eat, then I doubt there is any hope for you. Either learn to deal with your cat and make an (incredibly minor) sacrifice to your own lifestyle, or get rid of the cat. I doubt any veterinarian will recommend depriving any animal of its essential sustenance.

The fact that a cat will eat something other than meat is not important. Usually, those foods aren't good for cats. Milks and cheeses make cats sick if they consume too much (less than you'd think), and tend to fatten them up quite a bit, causing further health complications. They'll eat breads, but they don't have any nutritional value for a cat. Cats will even drink beer. Does that make it good for them? No, it doesn't. It makes your cat drunk, addicted to alcohol, and get liver disease.

If sulfur tasted like chocolate, would you eat it? What about uncooked meat? How about rotting fruit? Humans are omnivores, so it's a bit more difficult to come up with something that's downright bad for humans that also tastes nasty, but I'm sure you get the point. It's ridiculously ignorant of you to think that if a cat eats something, it must be good for it, and incredibly arrogant to impose your views of right and wrong upon a feline who lacks the intelligence to even comprehend them in the first place.

I think it would be cool to have a vegetarian cat that drinks beer occasionally......