Thinking of transitioning your cats - but not there yet?

[Ari Moore]

If anyone here is considering a vegan diet for their cat friends, but isn't there yet, please feel free to ask the rest of us questions you might have! What are your concerns? Maybe we can help folks with this decision.

[Marketa]

What do you all recommend from the offer of vegan food for cats? I have Ami dry food, which they eat, but I still mix it with regular, non-vegan dry food. They were both in a bad condition when I brought them home, and I wanted them to be strong and healthy before I start the transmission. It might sound bad, but I wasn't sure if they could get better on vegan diet... :(
My decision to take them home was so spontaneous that I wasn't ready for it foodwise... And then I realized that they have to go vegan (or at least partially...), since I am vegan...
Anyway, I was able to order Vegecat (I got the pH one) for Yukio, and VegeKit for Kokeshi since she is still pretty young... I haven't received it yet, but from what I was able to find it seems to be the right choice for them... Can you share some recipes that you prepare for the cats? Thank you!

[Ari Moore]

Don't worry about whether you're going 100% vegan with them, the important thing is that they're healthy! Your caution is probably a very good thing.

Your VegeCat pH should come with a little recipe booklet. We found that having a kitchen scale makes measuring the ingredients out a lot easier - and we tend to make double-batches so we don't have to cook so often. Our cat friends like a lot of variety, so we make a different recipe each time. Each recipe pairs a couple of grains or proteins (oats plus Texturized Soy Protein/TSP, rice plus tofu, lentils or chickpeas plus seitan, etc.). We usually cook the oats (or lentils) on the stove, and separately, we reconstitute the TSP with boiling water (or squish the tofu up into a kind of paté, or cut the seitan up finely). If we're using chickpeas we mash them - they seem to like a smoother consistency. Then we mix the two up in a bowl, and mix in the supplements - Vegcat, VegeYeast, oil (we use safflower or olive or sesame), and soy sauce. We also add nutritional yeast for flavor, and sometimes, mix in some corn or squash.

So, here's an example doubled recipe, with preparation info put in. Please note that this is specific to VegeCat pH - VegeKit (for kittens) and VegeCat (for cats without pH issues) have different recipes.

- Put 210 grams of dry lentils in a small pot. Those lentils should come out to about one cup by volume, and the ratio for cooking them is one part lentils to three parts water, so put in three cups of water. Cover tightly, bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer until the lentils have absorbed all of the water and are soft, almost falling apart. (About 30 minutes.)
- Measure out 160 grams of TSP and put it in a metal bowl or other heat-safe, refrigerator-safe container (not plastic - glass or metal is best). Boil water (James Peden who invented Vegecat says 157.25 mL, but I just eye it) and pour it in, stirring so the TSP all gets wet. The TSP will puff up a little and should be moist but not soaking wet - it should absorb all the water you put in.
- Add your lentils to your TSP and then put in 1/2 cup VegeYeast, 3 tablespoons of VegeCat pH, 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of sesame or safflower or olive oil, a teaspoon and a half of soy sauce.
- Optionally, add a small amount of some flavoring(s): nutritional yeast, refried beans, squash cooked soft. (Do not use garlic or onions or other spices that aren't so healthy for cats to eat!) I hear some cats like spirulina but you have to use this sparingly since it's so alkaline. Slippery elm bark powder can also be used, but again, only in small amounts. MSG-free imitation bacon bits might also be appreciated.
- Stir it all up really well to ensure that the supplement gets evenly distributed throughout the batch, and then serve, maybe with nutritional yeast sprinkled on top - our cat friends like it warm, right after it's been cooked up! Store it covered in your refrigerator.

I'd love to hear others' recipes and flavoring ideas! Anyone else have anything to add?

[Brynolf]

My three cats were on a vegan diet for a while until Agnes got sick - she has FLUTD and is on special food now. She's a bit of a tubber and eats everyone else's food, so all my cats get the same food. Agnes is much better now so am thinking of giving them a mix of vegan and non-vegan food. I can get hold of Ami Cat or Benevo and not much else. What would you recommend?

[Ari Moore]

If there's any way you can get VegeCat supplement, I really recommend it - it's economical and healthy. Here's more info. Maybe you can order it online?

If you do end up using Ami Cat, I guess just be sure you put water on it and provide a lot of water...

[Brynolf]

I'll try and get some VegeCat, hopefully they'll all like it. Agnes will eat anything but the oldest cat Pussycat is very fussy and since she is really showing her age and getting super skinny, it's kind of up to her...

[Ari Moore]

Cool, I hope she likes it! Our cats love it with nutritional yeast sprinkled on top. You can also mix in corn or mashed squash or refried beans for added flavor. Just be sure you test everyone's urine pH periodically to ensure it stays in a safe range (5.9-6.4)... especially Agnes, since she has FLUTD. Health is #1, no matter what they end up eating.

[Serenity]

hi guys, we are both vegan, mostly raw vegan for many years now. we have 19 cats and 4 dogs (all spay-neutered of course) so it's already pretty expensive to feed our rescues. My big question is...do you think it's possible to feed 19 cats vegan as far as the cost and the urine testing? if it is too costly, i would at least like to add raw fruits and veggies to the cats diet, maybe fresh wheatgrass juice? anybody trying this? any ideas how i can add raw fruits and veggies to their diet? Recipes? i know the lack of enzymes in the cooked food is not good for them so if anybody has any way to add enzymes to the cats diet i'm interested in that too. Our cats have two wonderful outdoor sanctauries with a fountain and toys and jungle gyms, so we grow cat grass and cat nip for them and they do eat it, but I was hoping to actually juice wheatgrass for them and add to the diet.

i've been trying to do the best we can right now by getting them cat foods that are either not tested on animals and/or that are the lowest in animal cruelty such as fish food formulas. I have tried the Eagle Pack sardine anchovie shrimp formula going with the concept that if i have to feed my cats animal foods at least the sea animals are killed quick w/o a short miserable life of extreme suffering first. (California Natural has a fish-sweet potato formula I have used as well). Any ideas on the most cruelty free possible as well as healthiest foods to buy cats if you can't afford to feed them vegan and/or if you can't monitor the urine of so many cats?

i'm working on raw fruits-veggies with our dogs, so I'm looking for vegan raw recipes for dogs too. Been searching for books that cover how to add raw plant foods to the diet for cats and dogs, no luck so far.

[Ari Moore]

i do think you could feed your cats a vegan diet, if you went with Vegecat pH and Vegeyeast supplements, and used bulk foods for the proteins (Vegecat recipes include lentils, tofu, seitan, and the like - you could choose cheaper ingredients which you could find in your local coop's bulk food section). urine testing is important but you can even do it yourself at home using a pH testing kit, available online.

you can get enzymes here:
Vegan Cats - Supplements

... as for raw foods, my guess is that cats will have a hard time digesting and getting many nutrients out of raw plant-based foods. they don't chew much and their bodies have evolved to thrive on dense, soft, wet proteins. there's more info on the resources page.

all of that said, health is the most important thing, so if you're worried about being able to afford keeping everybody healthy on a vegan diet, it might not be the best choice for you and your cat friends. fish formulas actually result in more animals being killed; our oceans are being devastated by fishing and fish farms are definitely not "humane" by any stretch of the word. cows and other large animals do suffer terribly, but it takes fewer cows than fish to feed a bunch of cats. perhaps you could find a local supplier of "humane" meat which would reduce your environmental impact as well as the number of animals killed. let us know how this all goes, what a challenge!

dogs should be easier. i'm not sure about raw food diets for dogs, but i know a lot of dogs will snack on fresh veggies quite happily (cauliflower, broccoli, etc. - but avoid garlic and onions, they're toxic!), and they're much better suited to a veggie diet than are cats. good luck finding more info for your canine friends...

[Serenity]

Thanks for that info! Did you have a problem getting your cats to like the taste? How did you get them to eat it? now that i know i can urine test, i think it might be doable. They're favorite food is wet food, do they offer vegan wet food?

[Ari Moore]

yes! here's a list of wet foods - we use both vegecat and evolution.

so far we haven't had taste issues, they really like it. they each have their favorite flavors and recipes, and they like variety, so we alternate between different vegecat recipes and the two flavors of Evolution canned food. the canned faux meats mentioned here and seitan often come in a broth that our cats love - sometimes we drizzle a little on their food. we even make vegecat with seitan sometimes, they love that.

[Eric Milano]

I'm a little disheartened. I tried making some of the vegecat recipies including the chikpea and tofu and the oats and tofu ones. I also tried one flavor of evolution can. My cats sort of nibbled at each of them a little bit or not at all and ate a bit or didn't eat it. I guess I need to keep trying but its frustrating! I tried with nori and nutritional yeast sprinkled on top (which they do love). (I also see you need to really mix the vegecat ingredients well before combining and I wonder if that would have made it more palatable).

[Ari Moore]

yeah, mixing very well and making it into a soft pate is definitely a good idea. you could also try mixing it with meat food as you're transitioning, reducing the amount of meat food over time. if it's really mixed up they'll like the flavor and won't be able to separate the foods.

also, every cat has different tastes... some love one flavor of evolution but hate the other. so you could keep experimenting until you find something they like. you can also mix mashed squash or refried beans in for flavor variation... many cats like either or both of these things...