Introduce yourself and your cats here...

[Ari Moore]

Let's get to know each other - tell us about yourself and your cat friends. How many cats do you live with? Where did they come from? Do you work with feral cats too?

[Brynolf]

Hello! I live with three cats, Pussycat, Selma and Agnes. All three are rescue cats. Pussycat is almost 14 and has been through all kinds of trouble. from falling from an eighth floor balcony at six months (she came to me when she was one), to having FLUTD, colds, eye infections, and now epilepsy. A strong-willed and determined little ball of claws. Selma and Agnes joined us three years ago and are 6 and 4. As soon as I could get vegan cat food here in Sweden, I started giving it to my cats and it went very well at first, but about a year ago Agnes was diagnosed with FLUTD and was put on a special diet (Royal Canin Urinary S/O). Agnes eats a lot whereas the others graze, so all three get the special food. After a few months I started to mix in some vegan food but Agnes showed symptoms again so I haven't dared try again although I would if I knew they'd stay healthy. I've been vegetarian then vegan myself for over 23 years.

[Ari Moore]

Hi Brynolf! It's good to meet you - thanks so much for joining the site.

Have you tried using Vegecat pH, or supplementing AmiCat or some other food with DL-Methionine or something else to adjust the pH?

[Brynolf]

I'm not sure if this is something I can get in Sweden, but am off to the UK soon so can have a look there (can I get it there?)

[Ari Moore]

Maybe - but you might have more luck ordering food online - here are some vendors you could try.

DL-Methionine is a supplement you need to get from your vet - and you'll only need it if you're running into pH problems. Periodic urine tests will tell your vet if it needs to be prescribed.

[Elisabeth Westerlund]

What is FLUTD?

[Ari Moore]

FLUTD is Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease. Some cars are very prone to it, others seemingly impervious. (It's not caused by a vegan diet, but a vegan diet can exacerbate it in some cases.)

[Imogen]

I'm an illustrator and designer who lives in the South-West of the UK. I live with my partner of five years, we're both vegan. I've been vegetarian all of my life, but like lots of people I view going vegan as one of the best things that I ever did. I do a lot of voluntary work with a radical bike activist group. I like to spend my spare time on my allotment garden, cycling or cooking.

I also live with Monkey, Pig and Banou, who have been here for about three months now. All three turned up at my friend's house over the period of about a year. He lives in a remote village near a busy road with a layby where people come to dump their animal friends.

Monkey was the first to arrive. For a few months my friend thought he was the neighbour's cat and kept encouraging him to go home, but then the neighbour asked him why it was that my friend's cat kept coming round his house - and he realised why it was he loved coming in to his warm house, and why he was so reluctant to leave! He is a black with a white nose and paws. He can purr forever and is very affectionate, sitting outside my bedroom door and chirruping until I wake up in the morning. He loves to head butt Pig and Banou even though don't seem to understand the head-butting thing. He is very instinctive and sometimes nervous, and has possibly been bitten by something as he has a big scar on his shoulder.

Pig was next a few months later, my friend wasn't quite sure what kind of an animal he was when he burst into their house one morning, he was covered in dreadlocks and bits of twigs and greenery were woven into his matts. He is a tabby persian with massive golden eyes. He is confident, nosy and totally in love with himself. He is called Pig because of his flat nose and because on the first night at my friend's house he somehow managed to rip open a massive sack of cat food and sat there gorging himself. He likes to lie on his back with his legs stretched out and his tummy in the air, waiting for someone to notice and fuss him. He is great pals with Monkey and they curl up on my bed together. He is very acrobatic and adventurous and can somehow open doors and climb into cupboards, he also frequents the neighbours house, whose cats somehow tolerate him.

Banou was spotted running around my friend's village, she looked just as Pig had, covered in dreads, my friend coaxed her into his house over a few weeks, she is shy at first but very confident when she is familiar with situations or people. She is probably related to Pig as they have such similar coat patterns and colours. She is vocal and demanding but also affectionate, she'll sit on my lap regardless of whether Monkey is already on there, she'll just sit on top of him until he moves.

My friend cared for them for 4 years, but split up with his partner and couldn't keep up the Persian's grooming routine so they got big dreadlocks again, he had health problems in December this year and had asked me to take them, so I obliged, rather than they go to separate homes because they are very fond of each other. I was so pleased to discover that they love Ami food and they also have some "Benevo" vegetarian food (which isn't vegan, not because of dairy products but because the D2 is derived from Lanolin). Monkey is the the main reason I joined this site, he was eating Ami, but got a inflamed bladder last weekend, and started weeing blood etc. I am not sure what caused it but until I can find out more about vegan cat food, normal cat food and feline urinary health I am ebbing on the side of caution and feeding him tinned cat meat (which is what my friend fed him) with a small amount of Ami.

Pig and Banou are currently sporting some kind of crazy hair-dos due to their dreads being shaved off at the vets.

So thats my cat companions.

[Ari Moore]

Imogen, thanks so much for posting this intro - it had me giggling out loud. (Pig lying "on his back with his legs stretched out and his tummy in the air" - so cute and funny!)

The AmiCat might be too dry for Monkey's system - wet food is generally healthier for cats, and especially for boy cats. Here's some info on dry vs. wet food. Did you bring him to the vet? He could have formed some crystals if his pH is too high (your vet can check it for you with a urine sample - it should be between 5.9 and 6.4), which could be causing him discomfort - and could get worse if left untreated.

A good food choice for Monkey (and his buddies) might be VegeCat pH - but I'd get everyone's urine tested first to make sure that a high pH is what is going on. I hope that Monkey feels better soon and that you find something yummy that all the cats can enjoy!

[Imogen]

Hello,

Thanks for your reply. Initially i was feeding it dry because they didn't like it as much wet, and I naively wasn't too concerned about the water thing because they all drink loads of water, especially after eating. However, after Monkey's bladder problems, and finding your resources page (thankyou) I always wet the food.

I did take him to the vet, but because I was in a panic about him, it was the first time we'd seen this vet, and because the vet had to be called in out-of-hours, I just didn't have the courage to discuss the vegan cat food thing right there and then. He prescribed anti-biotics which Monkey has taken now and is much better - he didn't offer to take a urine sample - should he have done? I am unclear whether Monkey just had an infection of his bladder or whether crystals cause the infection, and whether crystals are always the cause of urinary infections, again, me being flustered at the vets didn't help, as i didn't ask the right questions. I hoped to find out more about what it is vets actually do to take urine samples if any of you vegan cat members would oblige with full gory detail? Or how people take urine samples at home with kits from their vets - catching cats wee seems a tricky task to me!

Monkey finds going to the vet extremely stressful (much more so than the other two cats - he always seem to rub all of the hair off of the end of his nose pressing it against the carrier) and i know stress is a major factor in causing urine infections. I am pretty sure I need to test his urine before I feed him vegan food again, and during the transition. I also need to test the other two, just to be sure. I simply need to work up the courage to talk to my vet about the choice of diet for all of them. Some of the things I have been thinking about trying so far is a yeast supplement called VegeYeast (recommended by the person I contacted at my vegan cat food supplier - veggiepets.com) which supposedly acidfys the urine - anyone used it? A friend recommended "Greenleaf" tablets which are very good for cat urinary health. I would like to see more cat food recipes before trying Vegecat PH - it would be great to see some posted on this site.

It's great to be discussing this with people, as there isn't really anyone in my community who I can talk to about vegan cat food and has experience and knowledge on this topic, so thanks a bunch.

[Ari Moore]

Thank you for being here! Before I set up this site I felt kind of isolated myself. I can't believe how many cool people are finding this site, it's so good to get to know you all.

We do use VegeYeast, when we make Vegecat. The cats love the flavor and yes, it's very acidic. And here's a thread where I wrote about how we cook Vegecat, maybe it'll be helpful too...

As for collecting pee, yeah, it can be hard! Here, I just opened up a new thread all about urine testing. Crystals can cause a lot of discomfort and blockage, and can cause infections. So Monkey might have crystals which could cause a recurring infection. You might want to bring a urine sample in yourself (Monkey can skip the stressful trip to the vet...) and specifically ask them to check the pH and to look for any crystals. Some small crystals are normal and can be passed easily - but if the sample shows a lot of crystals, or big ones, then you should adjust Monkey's pH so they'll break up and stop forming. Obligate Carnivore: Cats, Dogs, and What it Really Means to Be Vegan by Jed Gillen has a lot on this issue - it really helped Shira and I understand urine issues and how to talk to our vet about them.

[Chantel Taylor]

Hi all, here's my story.

My fiance and I have been fostering cats from our local shelter (sick, pregnant) for a while, and finally ended up adopting... not a shelter cat, but one from a friend in Montreal. She took the cat in from someone else, who had taken it in from someone else... our friend didn't want to see her end up in the shelter, because due to an injury (abuse) when she was younger her hips/back legs are weak and she walks with a limp, can't jump very high, etc. Our friend thought that she'd sit in the shelter forever because of her condition, although she really didn't want a cat of her own, for various reasons. Anyway, long story short, she ended up with us. Very sweet cat, about five years old... we didn't like her "old" name, so upon another friend's advice, dubbed her Margaret Scratcher, "Maggie" for short.

While we were fostering cats, since they did not "belong" to us, we fed them the diet that the shelter provided, Iams kibble and wet (ick!) food. When Maggie came into our home, she came with a few weeks' worth of Special Kitty kibble, so we were feeding her that at first. However, for various reasons, we don't want to feed our sweetie slaughterhouse refuse (reading Vegetarian Cats and Dogs & what it means to be vegan by Jed Gillen strengthened my resolve, and I recommend it to everyone here), so we bought three kinds of vegan cat food to test out: Evolution, Ami, and VegeCat pH. We mixed Ami and Evolution up with her old food in increasing quantities, and seemed happy with both of them. Just today I'm throwing together some VegeCat kibble (the second batch is currently in my oven).

I'm hoping that she likes the VegeCat, because it's the cheapest option, and probably the healthiest. I know that as a female cat she isn't at risk of death from urinary blockages, but I want to be careful. Evolution is about half the price of Ami, but certain things I've read have made me wary of that company, so if she doesn't like VegeCat, we'll probably feed her Ami.

Most of the issues surrounding feeding cats a vegan diet haven't come up yet. We haven't had a chance to take her to the vet yet, and I don't know if we'll be up front about what she's eating. I'd like to be honest, so we can monitor her health (e.g. urinary pH and whatnot) partly to reassure ourselves that she's healthy on the diet and partly to show the vet that it isn't a death sentence.

Anyway, it's good to have this forum though, so I can discuss any issues that come up, so thanks for creating it!

Cheers

[Ari Moore]

Hi Chantel, thanks for posting! It's great to have you (and Maggie) here. Good luck with the VegeCat and talking to your vet - keep us posted...