Can cats be vegetarian? Yes, on a well prepared diet cats can in fact be vegan.
Unlike dogs, cats can not normally survive without meat. As domestic cats are part of the wider cat family including Lions and Tigers, etc. they have inherited many characteristics from their meat eating ancestors.
All cats are often described as 'obligate carnivores', which means that in the wild, if they did not eat meat they would become seriously ill and even die.
This is because cats are unable to produce certain nutrients, such as Taurine, within their body which they normally find within the meat they eat. However these nutrients can be found in non animal sources in low quantities. The secret of a vegan cat diet is to use highly concentrated nutrients from these vegetable sources.
Some of these nutrients are synthetically produced - in fact, many commercial cat foods use these synthetic nutrients too because they are often destroyed in in the production process. Currently we stock Ami Cat and Benevo vegetarian complete cat foods as well as the Vegecat range. Vegecat is a powdered vegan food supplement that can be added to food that you prepare. It contains all of the nutrients that your cat requires to stay healthy. Each pack comes with recipes included. |
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