As you know I'm vegan but I do not feed my animals a vegan diet. I want them to have appropriate diets that are not based on my beliefs but that are based on what they need and what is good for them individually.
Cats are carnivores. I know that there are a few
vegan cat food products that have Taurine and vitamin D that come from vegan sources but until I can find someone that can really show me that cats can thrive on a plant based diet, it seems way too risky to me. Plus as anyone with cats knows.... how picky they can be to the point of enormous aggravation on the part of their humans. How the hell do you get a cat to eat a plant based diet anyway?
Since my
last post on trying to figure out a raw meat based diet for the cats, I read a book called
"Your Cat" by Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM which is a really good book if you are interested in cat nutrition. She suggests a product called
Platinum Performance to be mixed with meat and bone to round out all the vitamins and minerals that they need and we have been trying this for the past few months and I believe it has been going very well. The cats don't mind the mix and they all seem to be doing well on it so far and it is economical, especially now that we bought the big bucket. Our main cat meal consists of the Platinum Performance added to
Oma's Pride ground chicken necks with some Oma's Pride ground beef organ mix mixed in. It is the most economical and well liked meal for all the cats. (Some are more picky than the others) We also give them whole chicken necks cut in half or thirds about once a week to chew on for their teeth and gums. It's pretty gross that I have all these animal parts in the fridge, probably even more than meat eating humans with no pets to feed, but I do believe it is best for them. The fact that everything is basically bi-product from animals slaughtered for their more desirable parts like chicken breasts is a small consolation. (for me, not for the animals slaughtered of course....) We also go all the way in to Massachusetts about once a month to buy
Hare-Today products that have little packages of ground meats and organs all mixed into one. Their products contain more variety of organs in their mixes (brains, kidney, and tripe anyone?) and since it's all mixed with the meat and bone, much easier for me. Plus the grounds are very fine so the cats ingest all the bone they are supposed to eat without eating around the small bone shards in the Oma's. The cats that had a little bit of "chub" have thinned out and they are not as "addicted" to the food as they were when were were giving them a larger portion of canned food. We still use canned food to put medication in and as a back up for when we forget to defrost a pack of meat but we use it sparingly.
What do you feed your cat?
The new cat diet revealed
Since my last post on trying to figure out a raw meat based diet for the cats, I read a book called "Your Cat" by Elizabeth Hodgkins DVM which is a really good book if you are interested in cat nutrition. She suggests a product called Platinum Performance to be mixed with meat and bone to round out all the vitamins and minerals that they need and we have been trying this for the past few months and I believe it has been going very well. The cats don't mind the mix and they all seem to be doing well on it so far and it is economical, especially now that we bought the big bucket. Our main cat meal consists of the Platinum Performance added to Oma's Pride ground chicken necks with some Oma's Pride ground beef organ mix mixed in. It is the most economical and well liked meal for all the cats. (Some are more picky than the others) We also give them whole chicken necks cut in half or thirds about once a week to chew on for their teeth and gums. It's pretty gross that I have all these animal parts in the fridge, probably even more than meat eating humans with no pets to feed, but I do believe it is best for them. The fact that everything is basically bi-product from animals slaughtered for their more desirable parts like chicken breasts is a small consolation. (for me, not for the animals slaughtered of course....) We also go all the way in to Massachusetts about once a month to buy Hare-Today products that have little packages of ground meats and organs all mixed into one. Their products contain more variety of organs in their mixes (brains, kidney, and tripe anyone?) and since it's all mixed with the meat and bone, much easier for me. Plus the grounds are very fine so the cats ingest all the bone they are supposed to eat without eating around the small bone shards in the Oma's. The cats that had a little bit of "chub" have thinned out and they are not as "addicted" to the food as they were when were were giving them a larger portion of canned food. We still use canned food to put medication in and as a back up for when we forget to defrost a pack of meat but we use it sparingly. 
We have a handsome feral cat named Henry that lives under our porch. He was a new addition to the landscape in the winter and I guess we had good food and a dry place for him to hang out so he stayed. I like to call him the troll under the bridge because he doesn't like us looking at him unless he is under the porch. Today I caught him sunning himself on the table on the patio but I was looking out the window so he didn't notice me.
I trapped him and got him neutered a while ago. He wasn't happy about his two days in the trap but it was all for the best. The other outdoor cats on the property are all fixed but you never know how far they might roam in search of a cat in heat.... There has been a noticeable drop in the cat fight sounds we used to hear out in the field at night. I assume it is partially because we got Henry fixed. Not sure who he was fighting with out there. I wonder if it was this orange tabby Dave had named Buckingham. He hung out here for a few weeks and then left.
