Unfortunately most people are ill informed about vegan cats, including most veterinarians.
Wild cats are in fact obligate carnivores. However, in domesticating the house cat and bringing it into our homes we have effectively removed the cat from its natural prey of mice, insects, birds, lizards, and other small creatures. During the past 100 years or so, as the human food industry was searching for a way to salvage and use all the waste materials from its processing lines, it came upon a wonderful solution. Lets boil it all up and dry it out and add it to the food we make for cats and dogs. As a result, the vast majority of commercial pet foods contain what are euphemistically referred to as the four D's, dead, dying, disabled, and diseased animals, along with other quite undesirable materials. Quite frankly, if you are feeding this junk to your pets, you are effectively poisoning them. We are seeing diseases in pets today that we have never seen before because of the wide variety of contaminated ingredients that are finding their way into the food we feed our companion animals. You know "garbage in, garbage out!"
Now the issue here is not meat; it is about providing all the essential and non-essential amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) and vitamins and minerals that are bio-available to the particularly unique physiology of felids (cats). The quality, quantity, and availability of these nutrients can come from any source, and for those of us who are vegan, the best source is vegetable based.
Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of cats around the world live quite well on one of the several available vegan cat foods that are recognized as nutritionally complete. I personally have had 3 1/2 years of experience in feeding the Evolution kibble product that this review is addressing. It is a high quality product that is AAFCO certified as nutritionally complete for all life stages in cats. Not only is this product safe to feed your cat, but if you follow the recommended feeding procedures, you will find many benefits to both your cat's health and your wallet.
If you desire more detailed information, I invite you to do a google search on vegan cats. I would put my web page information about this issue on this review, but it is against the policy for writing reviews on Amazon.
Just for everyone's edification, I have researched this issue for well over 500 hours, read hundreds of technical papers, visited hundreds of web sites, and have made a commitment to specialize in feline nutrition as part of my Veterinary Technician studies. I probably know more about feline nutrition than 95% of all the vets in the world.
My feline son is a vegan and will remain so because I am absolutely certain that his quality of life will be enhanced by his diet and that this choice will not be a detriment to his health.
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Since writing this review in 2006 I have had a change in position about this particular product after 4 years of personal experience. The manufacturer of the Evolution foods was changing the formulation of the food on a regular basis and during that time I found that the Feline Kibble was not able to maintain the pH level in the urine of cats that was promised on the label and in their literature. At least that wasn't the case with my former feline son and my current feline son. As a result I can no longer recommend the use of Evolution Feline Kibble for male cats. Since urinary issues are different between male and female cats the Evolution Kibble MAY be satisfactory for feeding to female cats. Nutritionally the Evolution foods seem to be fine for nutrients but not necessarily adequate for maintaining the proper pH levels to avoid urinary issues for male cats.
Consequently I am now recommending male cats use the Vegecat pH diet provided by Harbingers of a New Age. My son has been eating this food supplement in a specially prepared gluten formulation I created called a vegan feline roast. It is 62% protein, 33% fat, and 5% carbs and has a moisture content of about 60%. Almost a perfect combination of ingredients to mimic natural prey. My son finds this product to be very palatable and his urinary pH has been consistently at 6.4 for the three years that we have been producing and consuming this food. The drawback is that it takes about a half hour every 3 days to make the food and the cost is equivalent to a premium cat food. But on the other hand my son is trim, full of energy at 6 1/2 years, enjoys great health, no longer has urinary tract issues, and no other animal had to die in order to provide my son with life-giving nutrition.
UPDATE: 4/17/11
For those of you who are still considering feeding the Evolution kibble, please heed this warning. Kibble is only 10% moisture content. If you follow the directions given by the manufacturer to soak the kibble prior to feeding, you will end up with a mushy material that your cats may or may not like. The danger in feeding the dry kibble is that your cat will eventually become so dehydrated that no amount of drinking will be sufficient to avoid hydration related illnesses. Cats do not naturally drink water, they almost exclusively obtain all of their hydration from the food that they consume. If they are eating something that only has 10% moisture, upon consumption the moisture that is contained within the digestive tract of the cat will be sucked into the food in order to give it enough fluidity to pass through the intestines. This will often lead to gastro-intestinal diseases. Your cat will be constantly drinking water to make up for that deficiency, but no amount of drinking is enough to avoid the dehydration problem. So please remember that the best source of moisture for your cat's health, comes from a wet food diet that is around 70% moisture.
In October 2008 I wrote an article about vegan cats published in VegFamily magazine. This information and more will help those who are interested in a vegan diet for cats understand more of the issues.
UPDATE: 8/27/12
My vegan feline son is now 8 years old and still maintains an extremely healthy life with absolutely no issues of any kind. He has been using our Vegan Feline Roast product for the past 5 and 1/2 years and his lab tests indicate that his nutritional needs are being adequately met by his vegan diet.
For those who are sceptical about a vegan diet for house cats, there is ample evidence that several vegan products are available to satisfy the nutritional needs of cats. I am still not convinced that Evolution is a good product to feed based on my past history. There are thousands of customers that seem to successfully feed the Evolution product; however, I believe that our Vegan Feline Roast Mix is a superior product that will yield far better results over the lifetime of feeding any house cat. Our product is based on the Vegecat phi supplement offered by HOANA, which I have found to be an excellent product for hitting all of the missing nutritional elements that would otherwise come from meat. The Vegecat product line has been successfully feeding thousands of cats over a 27 year period and we highly recommend the use of Vegecat for those people who wish to formulate their own vegan cat food. The only difference between our food product and the HOANA vegecat product is that our product is a ready-to-make mix that has been specifically formulated for a high protein/high fat food that is easy to make and highly palatable to the vast majority of cats.
I would caution people feeding the Evolution kibble to reconsider doing so. The problem with kibble in general, not just the Evolution product, is the 10% moisture content of the food. Cats that eat kibble exclusively will invariably become dehydrated and will not be able to consume enough water by drinking to avoid the condition. Evolution kibble that is soaked with water prior to feeding, as recommended by the manufacturer, is an attempt to avoid this issue. However, by soaking the product you will reduce the palatability quality to most cats and will make it harder for them to continue to want to eat the product. This is a strategy to fix a problem that is inherent to the product itself.
As time goes on, I become more convinced that using our Vegan Feline Roast product may in fact be a cure for diseases in cats like FLUTD and diabetes. At some point in time I would like to perform a long term double blind scientifically significant study to support my empirical observations. When my son started out 7 years ago eating Evolution kibble, he quickly developed a FLUTD condition, after 18 months of use, that cost $1500 at the vet to fix. The last 5 1/2 years of eating nothing but our Vegan Feline Roast he has remained FLUTD free and maintains excellent health. Just the savings alone from avoiding annual teeth cleaning has more than paid for itself in the use of our product.
So my bottom line is to recommend not using Evolution Kibble in favor of either the HOANA vegecat supplement or our Vegan Feline Roast Mix.
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