Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I was reading the vegan dogs thread and there was a spattering of discussion on feeding cats vegan diets. There seemed to be consensus on cats needing a carnivorous diet. One day a friend said to me that it must kill me to have to feed my cats meat. So I was wondering what those of you who have cats feed them and how you feel about it...

Both of my cats get MediCal Gastro food and the MediCal Dental. I never really think about it being not vegan since they need it(both have tummy problems) and seem to really enjoy it.

Yeah, one of my boys gets super bad bladder crystals. Since they all eat the same food and they free feed, they all get his fancy-pants food. And it has meat in it. I'd like to switch them to a vegan diet, but I'd like even more for Colin to not die from bladder issues. He has NO reoccurrences once we switched diets, so this is the diet we stick with.

I asked (well for a few reasons really) because both of my kitties have urine crystal issues. They were never on a vegan diet because I don't believe that cats are herbivores. Recently I had to switch them to a high protein diet and I wouldn't feed them the "prescription" foods. I started giving them Wellness Core because the company claims to be free of crazy animal testing and the crystal issues went away. I would really love to give them the most humane food as possible.

I also don't feed them any animal they couldn't kill were they out on their own (ie. no beef, lamb, etc) so they get poultry and fish. While I know it's what they should be eating, I still feel bad about it because I know the suffering that the animals endure.

I have to cats with crystal issues, one of whom developed it while on Evo grain free... which isn't supposed to happen. Now those two guys eat Waltham Urinary food, and the third eats Evo dry and Wellness grain free cans. I don't really give it a second though. My own personal animals are more important to me than animals I don't know, and I've committed to caring for them to the best of my ability, and they are carnivores. Maybe that makes me a jerk.

I like to think the same way. None of my furry friends will give organic pet food a chance, though. If y'all have recommendations for humane (or anything remotely close to it, really) kitty food, that could help me. It's a bummer but I can't control what my parents feed my cats when I'm away at school. They probably choose the cheapest brands, which should make sense given my mom's been unemployed for half a year. The only "human" food (aka not processed kibble crepe) my cats will eat is tuna out of a can. I wonder if I could branch their diet off of that... God, I know nothing about cat nutrition.

My three cats get Weruva canned food--seafood only, which is wild caught and supposedly dolphin-safe. For dry food they get Orijen 6 Fish, also wild-caught. Neither company does animal testing except:


Obviously I don't want to hurt any animals, but at least this way I'm not directly supporting factory farming. But I hate thinking about it--poor fish! It's not very kind to the environment, either.

How did you find out that Wellness doesn't do animal testing? I couldn't find anything on their site when I was researching pet food brands a couple months ago.

Of course it doesn't make you a jerk. I think that's what we all struggle with...and pretty much why I started this thread.



I'm looking for recommendations too but it sounds like everyone uses the same foods as I do (Wellness Core and Weruva). Cats shouldn't eat human tuna because of the sodium in it and there's no taurine which they need. However, if you live near a Trader Joe's, they make a Tuna for Cats. It's in their pets section.



I've been buying Wellness for years and back in the day I found all of the information on the Old Mother Hubbard website. You're right, I don't see it on there anymore (the whole site has changed). I don't know if they changed their policies or if they just don't have it posted on the site. Ugh, kinda like my gum which I found out after years is all of a sudden not vegan anymore. Hopefully they haven't changed their policies.

Amazing! My dad shops there. I shall mention this to him.

I had both my cats before going vegan, so I'd never change their diet or jeopardize their health (I try to buy the most natural, meat-based foods, none of this corn/grain filler shiitake). I'm not planning on adopting any cats in the future, we're going to stick with dogs and keep them vegetarian. Cats are great and I love mine with all my heart, but I'm also severely allergic to them on top of feeling kinda bad buying their non-vegan food.

My cats get the Royal Canin Urinary S/O. My one kitty almost died from a full urinary obstruction so I won't take my chances. My cat's health is more important than veganism to me.

i think if you only adopt animals, have them neutered and support the reduction of pet breeding as much as you can, you are doing right by your pets and by the animals they have to eat. your pets were brought into the world by someone else... but they're here now, and deserve to be fed an appropriate diet.

i feed my cat a poultry based grain free diet. i think his is mostly turkey and duck. cats aren't aquatic, they wouldn't be eating much seafood, and frankly, i think seafood is the most environmentally degrading source of animal protein out there. given the state of the world's fisheries (and the consequences of fish farms), i'm much more comfortable with poultry. if they made a rodent based food, i'd give him that. he is currently getting a hypoallergenic dry food, and wellness turkey wet food. i'm not thrilled with the dry food, but i don't dare change it... he was vomiting daily until we switched to this on the recommendation of our vet and he is very healthy on it.

Our cats get Before Grain which is made by Merrick.

I make a raw diet for my cats. I wanted to feed them raw for a long time, but my boy cat getting a urinary blockage was what prompted me to actually do it. The raw food keeps his urine acidic and I can incorporate lots of water to flush out any crystals that might form. I wasn't happy with the ingredients in the prescription food the vet wanted to give him, so I decided to make something myself. He hasn't had any problems since.

I make their food from local chicken and eggs so I know their food is not supporting a factory farm. It's the best I can do while still feeding them what is healthiest. All three cats do really well on the raw food. They lost weight and gained muscle and they all shed a lot less now. Also, their poops are way less stinky, which is nice.

I hope you don't mind that I'm bumping this thread, but I've been struggling with finding a good food for my three cats. I'm so confused. I've been reading catinfo.org which is written by a vet. She completely shuns grains and dry food. But when I read other vet theories, they believe in feeding cats grains and vegetables. My cats will not eat Wellness, Evo, Merrick B4 Grain (one of the three will), Instinct or Wilderness. They LOVE Weruva Paw Lickin Chicken. So I was feeding them that for a while until I found out that it is 85% moisture which is much higher than other canned food (basically leaving 15% food). So it makes sense that my cats always seemed hungry. If I keep them on Weruva I'll have to feed them twice what I have been, and that food isn't cheap. I'm also conflicted about Weruva being a product of Thailand.

So then I thought about perhaps making their food but I don't know enough about it and everything I read contradicts each other. Grains? No grains? Veggies? No Veggies? Dairy? No dairy?

My mom suggested just cooking chicken and adding a supplement and taurine. Would that work? I tried giving one cat raw chicken just as a test and she wouldn't touch it. When I cooked it she scarfed it down. Advice please, I'm lost and my cats are frustrated with me. Thank you.

How long have your cats been eating raw? Do you add bones? Would you mind sharing your recipe?

I have just my one old girl left. She is diabetic so she eats a diabetic dry food.

It is an issue with me that my cat eats meat. On another board, someone posted once that they would not have a pet who had to eat other animals to live. I find that very commendable. But for me, I'd be so sad and miserable without kitties. I don't think any living thing can give me the the solace that my cats do. I want to give my cats the best food possible. I'd look into whatever was best for any future cats I'll have. And the reality of it is, it will have to contain meat. I couldn't even imagine my life without coming home to cats.

My cats have been eating raw for almost two years. I bought a heavy duty grinder (this one) that can handle bones and I buy whole chickens and cut them up and grind them bones and all.

The recipe I'm currently using is mainly based off the recipe found on catnutrition.org with some alterations based on information found on catinfo.org. The main departure I make from both of these is that I don't chunk the meat. Both sites recommend cutting some of the meat into chunks for dental health, but I haven't had luck getting my cats to eat chunks. Lokai is almost 15 pounds and if I make the pieces big enough that he won't swallow them whole they're too big for the smaller cats. I take them in for dental cleanings at the vet and give them Greenies treats so I'm not too worried about their teeth. If your cat will eat chunks, that's awesome.

This is our recipe:
4.5 pounds of chicken (about one whole chicken plus one or two whole legs depending on the size)
14oz chicken hearts
7oz chicken liver
4 eggs separated, yolks left raw and whites lightly cooked
4000 mg wild salmon oil
800 IU Vitamin E
200 mg Vitamin B complex
1.5 tsp. Lite salt (with iodine)
3 cups water (I mix 2 cups with the egg/vitamin slurry and pour the third through the grinder after everything's been run through)
1 tablespoon psyllium husk powder

I pretty much follow the procedure on catnutrition.org, except I grind the meat instead of chunking it. She cautions against microwaving food, but I will thaw the food in the microwave if I forget to take a container out of the freezer and it's still frozen. You just have to watch it to make sure it doesn't cook around the edges. I also don't bother warming their food. I did for a while, but I discovered my greedy monsters don't care if it's cold. The amount of food made by this recipe lasts my three cats about a week. It takes about an hour to make, start to finish.

A word about transitioning to a raw diet. It can take some time for your cat to adjust but don't give up! Marta was a total kibble addict and I really thought I would never get her to eat all raw. Lokai and Bijou scarfed up the raw food happily but Marta wouldn't touch it at first. I had to mix it with canned food to even get her to lick it. I slowly increased the ratio of canned to raw and she eventually would eat it by itself. She also wanted to snack like she did when she was free-fed kibble, but as soon as she left Lokai would eat her food. I started picking it up as soon as she left and eventually she learned that the food wouldn't be there later when she went back, so if she didn't want to go hungry until dinner-time she would have to eat all of her portion at once.

I've been reading catinfo.org too. That's what made me stop free feeding my cat dry kibble two years ago and switch her to an all can diet. That was hard. She was very unhappy and it took a long time and lots of different foods. When I got the other two cats I put them on canned immediately. Then I switched them all to grain free which is where I am now. I'm going to try to start a raw diet for them but very slowly. I ordered a trial size of raw supplement premix with liver that you just add water to and mix it with the meat (raw or cooked). I'm going to start them out cooked first because I already know two of my cats won't like raw meat. My plan is to slowly cook it less and less until it's raw. It that works, I might get adventurous to get a grinder and make everything from scratch but right now, the premix sounds like a good way to start and see how the cats react. I wrote the doctor from catinfo and she recommended a brand.

Is your vet ok with the raw diet? My MIL put her dogs on a raw diet and when she told her vet he practically tore her a new one.

To be totally honest Lokai's vet told me he has to eat only the prescription urinary cat food. I did lots and lots of research and asked her a lot of questions and she couldn't answer them to my satisfaction, so I decided that, based on my research and talking to other vets, the prescription food wasn't doing anything for him that a raw diet wouldn't, plus it's made with all kinds of crepe ingredients like pork by-products. I'm actually shopping for a new vet because the experience really shook my confidence in her. She was parroting stuff the pet-food sales rep told her but couldn't tell me how and why it worked, and that really bothered me.

I will say, she was fine with the raw diet for Bijou and Marta.