An Email related to A Vegetarian Cat

sent by Fangqi

Fangqi's cats - we are a couple

Hi Liliyana,

My name is Fangqi, I saw your blog through a link from the Singapore Vegetarian Society newsletter.

Please pardon me for this sudden email. The reason I'm writing this is, I'm a little concerned over the picture of a cat in your blog eating vegetables. (See http://vegetarianstation.blogspot.com/2009/02/titi-vegetarian-cat.html )

I'm always happy to hear about people being vegetarian/ vegan, and am extremely happy that the cat is one too. I myself am vegetarian (nearly vegan), and I have two cats who are vegetarian, in fact, they are totally vegan. What I'm worried about is, cats have specific nutritional needs that can't be met by a typical human vegetarian diet. For example, a deficiency in taurine after some time might cause them to lose their eyesight.

I feed my cats home baked kibbles, and the formula I get is from: http://www.vegepet.com/ Ready made vegan cat food is also available here: http://www.vegancats.com/pages/1007/FAQ.htm

When I first started feeding them vegetarian food, I ordered Evolution (ready made) from VeganCats (the 2nd website above). Later, I switched to KibbleMix (to be mixed with whole wheat flour and baked at home myself) from Vegepet (the 1st website above). These are not available in Singapore, so I have to get them shipped from the US. The cat food itself isn't expensive, it's the shipping, but it's worth it.

I'm only worried that problems might arise later, it's not just the cat that suffers, the human companions will suffer too, and people around who are not vegetarian might accuse them of not taking good care of their cat and say that they are pushing their own values on their cat.

For more information, you can send an email to James from Vegepet, or to VeganCats also. If you are interested, you can also get "Vegetarian Cats and Dogs" from Vegepet, or "Obligate Carnivore" from VeganCats. These two books provide very good information on feeding our cats a vegetarian diet.

Of course, if the cat is already being fed a nutritionally balanced diet for felines, that's superbly wonderful! May it thrive on a vegetarian diet, and be the pride of vegetarian humans and cats!

Kind regards,

Fangqi

Titi, A Vegetarian Cat

sent by Felix and Shinta

I am having my spinach breakfast ravenously, hmmmm...... so delicious

We have a cat named Titi. Titi came to our home brought by her mother. After one month more, his mother did not want to suckled her kitten anymore and just left her in our home.

We were suddently became her parents and feed her with vegetarian food. From beginning, Titi liked to eat the chip of cassava, and later liked to ate raw tempe (fermented soybean patty), mustard greens and the spinach, was accompanied by milk. Most liked ate the spinach. Every morning always asked for spinach breakfast, so also day and night. Titi really enjoy eating the spinach. She eat it ravenously and enthusiasm.

Titi si funky, agile. The way she ambushs like the troops. Titi is a discipline cat, always urinate and defecate in the place provided.

Felix and Shinta