This text first appeared on iCatCare right here on the 04th January 2019
This January many people have been contemplating our life-style decisions and making New Yr’s Resolutions to enhance our well being and food plan. One of the publicised and talked about developments, is veganism, with many individuals signing as much as ‘Veganuary’.
As human beings, we make decisions about consuming meat primarily based on a wide range of causes, and though care must be taken when altering to a vegan or vegetarian food plan, this may be finished very efficiently with out well being issues.
Sadly, the identical is solely not true for cats. Cats have developed and advanced as ‘strict carnivores’. Because of this they’ve developed a singular metabolism that, put merely, requires a provide of a lot of vitamins solely present in a meat/animal-based food plan. With out these vitamins, cats develop a wide range of illnesses and can die.
A number of vitamins (together with sure nutritional vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids) are required by a cat in its food plan that may solely be present in animal-based diets. That is merely the results of the event of cats as a predator species – they aren’t capable of adapt to or survive on a plant-based food plan.
Whereas in concept it’s attainable to complement a vegetable-based food plan with numerous chemically-derived and artificial vitamins that will in any other case solely be present in meat diets to fulfill the wants of a cat, in observe that is very tough to realize and is doubtlessly harmful as it might readily result in illness and dying of the cat if not finished correctly.
Worldwide Cat Care believes that we have to recognise and respect that cats have developed as a species that depends upon a meat-based food plan – that is each the pure food plan for cats and the one which meets their distinctive wants. Cats look and behave as they do as a result of they’ve advanced to be hunters and eat a meat-based food plan. Proudly owning a cat means this ought to be recognised, and the most effective methods to fulfill a cat’s dietary wants is to feed high quality business meat-based full food plan, designed to fulfill all their wants.
Individuals who have a powerful moral or ethical objection to feeding meat to their pets ought to think about whether or not they could be higher proudly owning an alternate pet that may be fed a pure meat-free food plan (comparable to a rabbit) somewhat than impose an unnatural and doubtlessly extremely harmful food plan on a cat.
So save ‘Veganuary’ as a way of life alternative for your self and be assured that by feeding your cat a meat-based food plan, you make the appropriate alternative.
