" 

 == Misinformation Galore... == 

 Too much to sift through, so I'll start at the top. it's difficult to cite, since most of my sources are books in front of me. My apologies. 

 I am a veterinary technician, and any of the vets I've worked with definitely agree that it is dangerous to feed a cat vegetarian food. I fully respect the vegetarian viewpoint, and am friends with many vegans, but a cat is a cat and no amount of belief is going to change that. To address the quote on the front page: a fish, given intellect, may realize that it is cruel to keep one's children underwater for days, but it does not make it wise for the fish to do so. Humans are humans, cats are cats, fish are fish. Let's not anthropomorphize. The front page quote, as well as the arguments pro-vegetarian food for cats, are missing important parts of the story. 

 The fact that cats are ""obligate carnivores"" is mentioned so many times because anyone who still thinks vegetarian diets are OK for cats must not know what that actually means. The body of a cat is not designed in any way to absorb plants in any way, starting right from their saliva.  

 Plants are nutritionally poor and require a great deal of digestion and fermentation in order to be metabolically useful. That is why herbivores spend most of their time eating and digesting, and why herbivores have GI tracts many times longer and more complex than a carnivores. This is why plant digestion starts right from in the mouth, especially to break down tough complex carbohydrates. Cats lack these enzymes. 

 Plants must be fermented to extract enough energy to live off them (this is why cows have large chambered stomachs and chew cud all the time), and cats have no ability to do this. Their food stays in their GI tracts for only a couple hours, whereas those used to non-meat sources digest for several hours or more, and again, they lack enzymes here as well to digest carbohydrates well. The ability of a cat to maintain blood-glucose levels and urea levels are significantly lower than herbivores, as there is no need to do this with a meat diet. The high-carb content also gives the pet a MUCH higher risk of cavities. Because they are usually on a high-protein diet, the incidence of cavities is usually less than 1% for most pets. Proteins break down into urea, which is an acid. The urine of carnivores tends to alkalize when put on vegetarian diets, which predisposes pets to risk of urolithiasis (bladder stones/crystals. Something that cats are already hugely prone to! 

 Once you have everything digested, you still have issues! The liver of a cat is not well able to use energy from non-protein sources. This makes cats very prone to various disease processes. A good example is hepatic lipidosis. In the absence of meat, the cats body will try to burn other things for energy, but it is not good at doing so. The liver becomes overloaded attempting to compensate, and shuts down. This is most common with overweight cats who become ill and go off food, but I have seen in happen in many, many other cases, including an attempted switch to a vegetarian diet. Though treated early, he did not survive. The damage to his liver was too much for him. I am not saying the food alone killed him, but it was the initial cause of his problems, and if he had not been switched, he would still be alive. 

 There are ways to make a vegetarian diet work, but it should only be done in dire circumstances. Please make sure to only ask qualified veterinarians on these matters, please don't be afraid to ask lots of questions, and please, PLEASE talk to your vet first before switching to an extreme diet like this. It could save your pet's life."