The Cat Who Comes to Dinner
A mystery book by Lillian Jackson Braun is “The Cat Who Came to Dinner,” but we have a cat who always comes to dinner. Each day, as I start making dinner, Jasmine positions herself under the table to wait patiently until we are all join her at the evening meal. We have imposed a vegan diet upon Jasmine—a specially formulated cat food called Evolution Feline, which I purchase on line from Vegan Cats.. I say imposed, because left to her own devices, Jasmine would eat birds and small rodents. Anyone who tells me, then, that the diet we give her is “unnatural,” is given this reply: Of course it’s unnatural. But so is a diet of the canned worst parts of chicken, turkey, cow, etc (not to mention the remains of other shelter pets that wind up in canned animal food). When was the last time anyone saw a cat take down a cow?
Jasmine seems really happy with her Evolution Feline food (and is an extremely healthy and beautiful 5-year-old kitty), but she also loves to eat with us for pleasure. Her favorite foods, in approximate order, are: corn kernels, peas, black beans, seitan, noodles (esp. with some sort of tomato sauce), potato, and broccoli. Does anyone else have a cat or dog with unusual taste in food? Please share your stories with me and other readers!
Teddy said,
September 24, 2006 @ 8:58 pm
I know it’s not food but the kitties who visit my house have an abnormal love of water. They gobble it up- or i should say lick it up
teddy
Mira said,
September 24, 2006 @ 9:13 pm
Jasmine is a beautiful kitty, thanks for sharing pics of her.
Tobi, our 11 month old visla/ridgeback puppy LOVES carrots, grapes, tomatoes, apples (especially the core) and other veggie treats. The only thing he doesn’t seem to like so far is celery.
He eats mostly dry dog food but get occasional treats such as carrot peelings when we are preparing dinner.
Brenda said,
September 25, 2006 @ 8:14 am
My 5 yo tabby, Rudy, comes running when he hears the can opener. Not because he eats canned food, but because he knows I’m usually opening a can of beans. His favorites are pintos and black beans. This morning he had a few green bean pieces. Rudy also will sit by the sink when I clean a cantaloupe or watermelon. He loves to suck the juice out first and then eat the flesh. (I think that’s like eating the cream from a cookie first.) He will also eat corn off the cob and before it’s cooked, he’ll try and get to the silk and greens on it.
A Korman said,
September 27, 2006 @ 8:01 am
I enjoy your blog and I’m sorry that my first comment is not entirely positive. I am a vegetarian, but my cats are not. I’ve read too much that warns against cats being vegan. Dogs can handle it, but even vegetarian groups advise against vegan cats. http://www.vegsoc.org/info/catfood.html
These are just my thoughts and I respect your position as well. FYI - I had a cat who loved popcorn and could catch a popcorn kernal in midair and pop it in his mouth before he hit the ground again!
Laurie said,
September 28, 2006 @ 1:00 pm
I have a dog named Arrow, and we also have a plum tree in the backyard. Each summer, when the plums get ripe, he will position himself under the tree and wait for one to fall. He does this for about an hour a day for at least a week. Finally, his plum falls and he chows down. Pretty funny since he’s a “bird dog” (Britanny spaniel).
Nava said,
September 29, 2006 @ 7:10 am
To A Korman, the article you reference makes good points; these are nutrients that a cat needs. But the good news is that the vegan cat food from Evolution Feline contains all the needed supplements for a cat’s health. Here is how the wet food is described:
Formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO cat food nutrient profiles for all life stages. Comes in two flavors— Gourmet Entree and Vegetable Stew. Although they are very similar in terms of their ingredients, many cats do seem to have a favorite flavor, so we recommend trying both. Manufactured by a vegan owned company that makes exclusively vegan pet foods (no meat products!). [And yeah, it has taurine in it.]
I looked at the ingredients on both the canned food and kibble, and they both contain the nutrients described in the veg society article. I imagine that commercial cat food also needs to contain supplemental nutrients, because, as I mentioned, cats don’t “naturally” eat cow or turkey, and ground up remains of shelter animals, those sorts of things. I still stand by our decision to keep Jasmine vegan—I think her perfect health and beauty are a testimony to the quality of Evolution Feline products!
Christine said,
September 29, 2006 @ 4:35 pm
When I was growing up my cat Frisky loved canned peas. She would eat them out of the can, one by one, hooking each one out with a paw. A high school friends mother made doughnuts for a party once and I shared one with one of her cats. I have since learned lots of cats like sweet things. My husband used to feed his cats cottage cheese with nutritional yeast on top and they were crazy about the nutritional yeast!
Bobbie said,
September 30, 2006 @ 1:27 pm
My cat, Tipper, is not vegan, but I buy her the more expensive no-animal-byproducts food. I am horrified at what is in conventional pet food! I’m glad you feed your kitty veggies and the like—most people don’t realize that cats are natural omnivores and do well on a diet that is at least 30% vegetable/bean, etc. Keep up the great posting!
A.P. said,
October 19, 2006 @ 12:31 pm
Our 2 year old cat loves pears! He will also help himself to tofu if I turn my head for a second. Another treat that we recently discovered that he really enjoys is popsicles. He’ll lick the stick clean.
After Thanksgiving dinner, I scraped off the remains of all the plates onto one plate & gave the dog some sweet potato, salad, corn, mashed potato & nut roast with gravy. To my surprise, the cat moved the dog out of the way (by a smack to the butt) & he had his fill first.
A Korman said,
October 23, 2006 @ 12:15 pm
Thanks, Nava, for the additional information about the Evolution Feline products. Your cats truly are beautiful and I’m glad they are happy and healthy on their vegan diet.
Thanks also for your blog - It always has very helpful and interesting info.
Brian said,
November 27, 2006 @ 1:20 am
I was doing a search on the web to see what foods may be toxic to cats, because my cat loves green beans and several sites say that Tomatoes, Garlic and mushrooms are toxic for cats. You may want to do some of your own research online to get an idea of what not to feed your kitty =^.^=