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Vegetarian Cats and Dogs

© Joy Butler

A few decades ago, an African lioness defied nature and science by choosing a vegetarian diet. Rescued at birth from a violent mother, Little Tyke was handraised on a bottle and grew up in a household with other pets. At weaning age, George and Margaret Westbeau began introducing what is considered normal lion foods into her diet but the big cat refused to eat meat. Worried by scientists' claims that cats could not live without meat, they tried many strategies and even offered a cash reward to anyone who could persuade the lioness to eat meat. A zoo curator told them to try adding a few drops of blood to her bottle of milk but Tyke refused the milk with even one drop of blood in it. She even refused to gnaw on bones and was given rubber boots to chew for her dental health.

In the meantime Tyke thrived on raw eggs, cooked grains, and milk. She matured at four years of age into a 352 lb picture of health. In spite of this, the Westbeau's worried that the lack of meat would eventually destroy her health. Finally a visitor to their Washington ranch reminded them of the Genesis 1:30 Bible verse that reads, "And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so." That ended their concerns and Tyke remained a vegetarian. She astonished the nation with appearances on television showing affection to baby chickens, kittens, and lambs. She was once photographed in a slaughter house showing disgust as she turned away from a bloody carcass with a grimace on her face. It is reported that the vegetarian feline lived in the best of health until nine years of age when she died of viral pneumonia.

In this new century, more and more people are turning to vegetarian diets for economical, ethical, environmental, religious, and health reasons. Some of them are becoming uncomfortable feeding a carnivorous diet to their dogs and cats and are discovering ways to nourish their pets with a vegetarian diet as well.

The Association of American Feed Control Officials has established guidelines for nutritional minimum daily requirements of cats and dogs which are recognized by pet food manufacturers. It seems that dogs can thrive on a carefully managed vegetarian diet but cats have a unique metabolism with a shorter gastrointestinal tract and lower digestibility than dogs. They require more protein along with the amino acid, taurine. Taurine deficiency will lead to blindness, neurological damage and suppressed immune function. Taurine is mainly found in animal sources but is also available in tiny amounts in some plant sources, however a synthetic taurine is used in most pet foods. The feline system is also unable to convert beta-carotene to active vitamin A, or tryptophan to niacin, or linoleic acid to essential fatty acids. This is why many veterinarians believe cats cannot live on a vegetarian diet.

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