Vegan Pets

Information

A place to discuss and promote vegan food for cats, dogs and other pets.

Website: http://www.vegepet.com/
Location: Animals
Members: 29
Latest Activity: on Monday

Overview on Vegan Cats

The most prominent issue regarding vegan cats is that of taurine. Taurine is an amino acid essential to all beings. Herbivores and omnivores can produce it within their bodies but obligate carnivores such as cats cannot. Taurine is found in vegetable matter but not in sufficiently high enough qualities to sustain an obligate carnivore such as the domestic cat.

However taurine has been produced synthetically since the 1930s (involving no use of animal products) for commercial use. BOTH mainstream and vegan cat food use this taurine. It is added to mainstream cat food because the meat used is of such poor quality and so heavily processed that that any real taurine is processed out.

Below are two recommended ways of feeding your cat(s) a vegan diet. Both ensure complete nutrition. Most sellers of vegan pet food recommend gradual progression from a meat to vegan diet, this usually involves gradually mixing in the vegan food with the regular until it becomes completely vegan.

VEGECAT

Vegecat is a vegan cat food supplement around since 1986 and just 6ml (just over one teaspoon) a day is enough to keep a 10lb (4.5kg) cat healthy according AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials). Effectively this formula is used mixed with vegan foods suitable for cats such as oats, seitan, tofu. A comprehensive list of recipes comes with every pot of Vegecat. Available from VegePet.

AMI CAT

Ami Cat is the most popular pre-packaged vegan cat food to date. It can be bought from VeggiePets in the UK and Europe and VeganCats in North America. It is a nutritionally complete food for cats and contains 1.5% taurine which is 0.5% more than legally required in dry cat food.

Overview on Vegan Dogs

Dogs are technically omnivorous and most do not require the amino acid taurine. Many dogs in Mexico and India are vegan simply due to the lack of meat available. Usually specialist food is not required and they do well on regular human vegan food. This video gives a general oversight covering cases where some dogs may require taurine.

Interesting Blogs

There's a Vegan Dog Nutrition group on Farcebook :-)

Discussion Forum

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Comment by Richard Ⓥ Molyneux on Monday: US-based Evolution Diet sell vegan cat, dog and ferret foods and accessories.

Comment by Havenheed Outpost on May 9, 2013 at 3:03pm: Thanks. Posted it on the more active Vegan Pets Group on 30 Bananas a Day.

Comment by Richard Ⓥ Molyneux on May 6, 2013 at 6:59pm: Seen on the Loving Hut (vegan restaurant chain) site...

Comment by Havenheed Outpost on July 25, 2011 at 12:27pm: Thank you! Hopefully it will demonstrate to the world what is possible.

Comment by Al Ⓥ Evens on July 24, 2011 at 2:38pm: Thanks for that link, I have done my survey.

Comment by Havenheed Outpost on July 24, 2011 at 7:08am: Take part in the biggest survey on vegan/vegetarian pets ever!

Comment by Al Ⓥ Evens on May 29, 2011 at 2:47pm: My dog loves vegan dog food and treats. No problems at all changing over. I wish I had done it years ago!

Comment by Jeff M on May 9, 2011 at 7:02pm: Hi Alison,

Here is a post of mine from earlier.I know you live in the UK but maybe you can track something like this down. Good luck!!!

I have a 6 year old Lhasa Apso and her main food is Medi Cal Vegetarian by Royal
Canin http://www.medi-cal.ca/diets/diets.php?diet=20
which is made in the US by Mars Petcare. I buy this food through my vet
and I was told by my him that it is just as good if not better than the
other foods that they recommend and sell. He was adamant that DOGS DO
NOT NEED TO EAT MEAT to be healthy and do well on vegetarian diets that
are well balanced, unlike cats who he told me unfortunately need to eat
meat.
The other two brands that I feed my Cali are Natural Balance Vegetarian
by Dick van Patten http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/dogformulas/UPDCanned_Veg.html
which is also a well balanced complete premium dog food, and as side
dish I feed her Fruits & Veggies from Holistic Blend http://www.holisticblend.com/product_info.php?cPath=18_24&produ...
which is also organic and she loves it. It is also suggested for cats
as well. Hopefully some of you read this and switch your dog to a veggie
diet as well. The first two also make a dry version of their veggie
brands. (But my baby is picky and only likes canned now, which I'm sure
is my fault!)
As far as treats are concerned, she really likes Better Than Ears http://www.betterthanears.com/bte/index1.html
which I've found at Walmart http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontent_ektid70588.aspx
and Buddy Biscuits Peanut Butter Madness which are made by Cloud Star http://www.cloudstar.com/8B85D0640D2843F5A8CD806F241058A0.asp?sc_id...

Jeff

Comment by Havenheed Outpost on May 9, 2011 at 3:22pm: Hi, Alison, to begin with you might just like to feed your dogs regular healthy human foods. They can eat most foods fit for humans but some like onions are regarded as toxic. Bland raw vegetables would be a cheap way of starting.

Pre-packed vegan dog food is more widely available and cheaper than vegan cat food. Their are a number of options available from veggiepets; a U.K. supplier.

Comment by Alison Louise Henry on May 6, 2011 at 10:07am: I was actually going to start a discussion on this topic, so glad I found this group! I am really interested to hear the experiences of those who are currently feeding their dogs on a vegan diet. I have two dogs and handling their food makes me gag like mad! Do your dogs like the food? Did it take them time to adjust? Did anyone have to go back to meat because their dog refused to eat the new stuff?