That would be my worst nightmare.  I'm wondering whether the cats were fed a
specially formulated diet or some uninformed home-made cat food?  I'm
interested in whether the commercial blends are healthy.

Yes, I understand cats require  much more protein than we do.  Amino acids
are the same, whether the protein source is meat or soy.  Of course, soy
will not contain all the necessary kinds of amino acids and vitamins and
minerals.  I'm hoping that there's a vegetarian cat food that has been
supplemented with all the appropriate nutrients and is shown to be healthy
for cats.

The well-being of my bestest buddy is most important to me.  I won't do
anything unless it's proven to be safe.

Thank you for your reply.

My problem with this is when an animal is need of intervention
from the authorities like on the shows on Animal Planet it often goes
much deeper than a vegetarian diet.  I would be leary about
anyone blaming a vegetarian diet.  Often these cases
by the time they come to the authorities attention the
animal hasn't been fed anything in something like
six months, have collars embedded under the skin, etc.

Anyone have any proof of an animal suffering ill effects strictly
from a vegetarian diet?  
--------------------------------------------
"Finally a member of the Jackson family finds
another young boy to victimize."
-------------------------Jimmy Fallon on SNL
                        referring to Justin
                        Timberlake

To send me e-mail exorcise NO Spam from
my e-mail address.

Leaving ethics aside it's just not possible. Several of the amino acids
cats need are simply not available except in animal feedstock. It is
possible to synthesis them directly in the lab but the price of doing so
would be enormous - hundreds of dollars a kilo to do it correctly. Any
"vegetarian" cat food is either not vegetarian, or doesn't contain required
ingredients and hence isn't a cat food.

Thank you for your comments.  Vegetarianism is a choice I firmly believe in.  If possible, I would
like to extend it to the choices I make for my feline friend.  But I will only do it if it is safe
for him.

If formulated properly with the appropriate nutrients and easily digestible, the body won't even
know where the nutrients came from.  It's just as good.

I'm sorry, I don't plan on debating the ethics of vegetarianism.  There are other, more appropriate
newsgroups for this.  I share your passion for the well-being of your companion animals.   I am
simply inquiring about others' experiences with commercially-made vegetarian cat foods.  Only if
it's completely safe will I even attempt to alter my cat's diet.

I've never seen anyone fly off the handle so well at such a reasonable
question. The OP just asked if it was possible and made it clear that
harming his cat was the last thing on his mind. You have done nothing but
hurl abuse and your own viewpoints back.

Reading comprehension isn't your strong point, is it?

I understand mice are the ideal, natural food for cats.  But if a cat needs protein A, it's still
protein A whether it comes from meat or soy.  As long as the food is readily digestible and
nutritionally complete.  Are the vegetarian blends out there unreliable?  If so, I would definitely
not try it.

I must respectfully decline comment on the ethics of animal companionship.  It's not what I
intended.

Oh NO!
Dogs need appropriate food too. I'm just after spending more than $1000 on
dog - it needed a bladder stone removed. This happened because dog not only
got good quality dry dog food but also remains of human food (not
necessarily from me but from it's previous owner, but I fed cheese crust).
So I learnt my lesson the hard way.

Carola

Meat protein = soy protein = chains of amino acids.  The enzymes breaking the protein into component
amino acids don't know and
don't care where the protein came from.  Protein is protein.  The missing amino acids and other
nutrients can be supplemented.  A 1%
animal-derived product is still preferable over a 100% animal-derived product, if both are proven to
be nutritionally complete.
(I'm just using 1% for the sake of argument;  I have no idea how much of the missing nutrients need
to derived from animal sources).

I understand.  I won't change my cat's diet unless I'm absolutely convinced through others'
experiences/research in the matter.  I feel fortunate to be able to draw from the collective
knowledge of the group.

Dogs are not cats - it may seem like a pointless statement but their
metabolisms are quite different and you cannot compare between the two.
It's interesting that my vet does advise on how to keep dogs on a
vegetarian diet but says if you want a vegetarian cat then you should
have bought a rabbit.

Thanks for the snippet about Shatner though.

Again, I think this is venturing into the ethics of vegetarianism again.   My reasons are my own.
If we were to discuss ethics, this thread would be inundated with hate-filled personal attacks
between vegetarians and non-vegetarians.  There are other newsgroups for that kind of nonsense.  My
question is to ask whether a vegetarian diet for cats is possible and which brand works best, based
on others' experiences/research.  The fact that there isn't anyone who has had any first hand
experience with it speaks volumes about the feasibility of it.  I am grateful for learning that fact
alone from this discussion.   I've learned a lot more from everyone's input and I definitely
appreciate the shared passion for companion animals that is most evident in this newsgroup.

My honest opinion is, that's about the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.
Apparently this is a supplement meant to be added to a home-prepared diet.
"Making your own" cat food is an arduous, painstaking process, when using meat
products. I can't imagine anyone attempting to create a diet healthy enough for
a cat *without* meat.  It's unfair to the cat to project *your* feelings about
vegetarianism. The cat doesn't give a damn, and *needs* meat. He is an obligate
carnivore.
Cat Fancy, BTW, is a storybook/picturebook. If they ran a piece of vegetarian
diets for cats, you can bet it was bait to sell a particular advertiser. Cat
Fancy is notorious for prostituting itself to its advertisers. Try Cornell's
cat newsletter. It's full of *solid* information, sans glossiness.

Sherry

This site belongs to a manufacturer of a vegetarian pet food, of course, so if
it were me  I'd look for something a little more objective that is not trying
to sell a product. Try this:
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/catfood.html

Yes, check with a vet. The vast majority of vets will tell you not to attempt
it.

Here are the results of one study of vegetarian diets for cats and dogs:

"Nutritional adequacy of vegetarian diets

Source: E. Kienzle and R. Engelhard. A field study on the nutrition of
vegetarian dogs and cats in Europe. From Proceedings of Sixth Workshop in Pet
Food Labeling and Regulations. p. 139

Recently, dog and cat owners have shown increasing interest in feeding their
pets a vegetarian diet. This field study presents a survey of the primary
reasons for choosing a vegetarian diet and an outline of the most frequent
nutritional imbalances found in these diets.
The survey consisted of personal interviews. Owners were asked to fill out a
questionnaire to provide a detailed account of their pet's diet and medical
history and to present their dogs and cats for clinical examination.
If possible a blood sample was drawn. Energy and nutrient intake of the animals
were calculated and compared with requirements. Additionally, twelve prepared
complete vegetarian dog foods were investigated.
A total of eighty-six dogs were investigated in Germany, Switzerland and
Belgium and applications continued to arrive after the survey was finished. By
contrast, only eight cats were found which currently were fed a vegetarian
diet.
With few exceptions, the survey's participants were also vegetarians who
believed that animals should not be killed in order to provide meat and/or that
meat production was carried out in a way which was cruel to the animals and
detrimental to the health of consumers.
The protein intake was inadequate for over half of the dogs. Nutritional errors
typical of all homemade diets also occurred in the vegetarian diets.
The calcium requirements were not met in 62% of the dogs' diets, likewise for
phosphorus, which was below standard for roughly half of the dogs. This
resulted in an unbalanced Ca/P ratio.
In addition, 73% of the dogs had an insufficient intake of sodium. In many
cases, the supply of trace elements was inadequate. A high number of the plasma
samples also showed insufficient amounts of iron, copper, zinc and iodine. Of
the vitamin contents calculated, vitamin D was most often below
recommendations.
Here also, a reduced plasma content of 25-OH-vitamin D was common. Fifty-six
percent of the dogs showed a vitamin B12 intake below recommendations. Despite
the fact that some of the diets were unbalanced, no clinical problems were
found in the adult dogs.
The protein intake of the cats was not far below the requirements, although the
amount of S-containing amino acids was frequently inadequate. None of the cats
in the study were provided with enough taurine although products containing
taurine were used.
Similar deficiencies to those of the dogs in minerals and trace elements, as
well as vitamin D and B12 were found in the cats' diets. Vitamin A intake was
deficient in all cases, and in all but two cases, cats had insufficient amounts
of arachadonic acid. One cat showed symptoms of retinal atrophy and two
displayed reduced frequency of estrus.
The mineral and vitamin content of the prepared vegetarian petfoods frequently
did not provide a balanced diet for a dog's nutritional needs. Only two of the
twelve products that were analyzed can be recommended without reservation."

The point is, a person needs to think long and hard about attempting to force
such a diet on a cat, given the great risk of nutritional inadequacy.