Is a vegan diet safe and healthy for my new 3-month-old kitten?

Cats are obligate carnivores and they cannot eat a vegetarian diet. A vegetarian diet will cause heart disease and an early death for cats. Feeding Theo a commercial diet for cats is the best way to ensure he gets the appropriate amino acids to maintain the best health for his body. Home cooked meals almost always lack appropriate nutirients as well as inappropriate ratios. Giving him an egg is fine and is a source of high quality protein. If he will eat vegetables, you can give him things like peas, carrots or green beans but he may not eat them. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions!

Hello there. Good question! Kittens and cats need to eat food made for them. The reason for this is that the food is fortified with the amino acid taurine. Taurine is critical for normal vision, normal digestion, normal heart muscle function, to maintain normal pregnancy and fetal development, and to maintain a healthy immune system. Taurine is an essential amino acid in the cat. If taurine levels are deficient, the retinal cells of the eyes will eventually degenerate, impairing the vision. This condition is referred to as feline central retinal degeneration (CRD). Deficiency of taurine will also lead to a weakening of the muscle cells in the heart, causing a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. Taurine is a component of bile salts, and its deficiency may cause digestive disturbances. During pregnancy, a mother cat must have adequate levels of taurine to maintain her health and to ensure proper growth and structural development of her kittens. Low taurine levels result in small litter sizes, low birth weights or fetal abnormalities. In growing kittens, taurine deficiency can result in delayed growth and development, central retinal degeneration and dilated cardiomyopathy. So, long story short, tuna and cheese is not a good diet. You must find a kitten food that he likes. You may have to buy a few brands/types until you find one he likes. I am not familiar with the diets you have available in the UAE so you may have to ask your vet for more recommendations. He should stay on a kitten diet until he is about 8 months of age and then he can go to an adult cat diet. I hope this helps. Best wishes to you and Akmi! Dr. Amber

This is really not recommended. While I appreciate that you are a vegetarian it is not fair to subject your cat to your beliefs. Cats are carnivores by nature and their body/metabolism is set up for processing protein; especially a cat like can Ocicat. Cat also need the amino acid taurine - without it they will have many health issues. They get taurine from meat or specially formulated cat food. Please do not make your cat a vegetarian. You will end up making her have many health problems. This article may help you and answer more questions. http://pets.webmd.com/features/vegetarian-diet-dogs-cats#1 Best wishes.

Hello, any new diet that will be offered should be transitioned gradually. Sudden diet changes may cause a decreased appetite, vomiting or diarrhea. So transition the diet slowly. Make sure that the new food is also for kittens as she needs the additional calories and protein for her growth. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Unfortunately I can't recommend feeding a diet such as you are suggesting. Kittens need minerals (among other things) for proper growth, especially calcium and phosphorus, and they need to receive them at a specific ratio. Commercial diets specifically prepared for growing cats are formulated properly, and I would urge you to feed one of these. Royal Canin is available in India, and they have an excellent diet for kittens. Here is a link to their dry product: https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-feline-health-nutrition-kitten-dry-cat-food/2522 At 7 weeks of age you may want to also purchase the canned product (https://www.royalcanin.com/products/royal-canin-feline-health-nutrition-babycat-instinctive-canned-cat-food/4057) and mix the two together. You can certainly continue feeding a bit of chicken (preferably white meat/no bones) along with the commercial diet, but limit the amount you feed to only a tablespoon or so.

Kittens do the majority of their growth in the first five to six months of life but continue to grow until they are around one year old. During this time of rapid growth and maturation of their bones, it is very important to choose a complete and balanced diet with the appropriate levels of nutrients. Diets formulated for growth include those labeled for kittens or “all life stages.” Canned foods promote increased water consumption in cats, and feeding dry food exclusively or in combination with canned is also acceptable. Offering a kitten with a variety of textures early in life can be helpful in minimizing the chance of having a picky eater. Regardless of diet selection, always make diet changes gradually by mixing the old and new foods together over five to seven days and make sure to carefully measure the appropriate portions of your cat’s food. Abrupt changes have a greater likelihood of resulting in vomiting and/or diarrhea.

Thanks for using petocach! I'm sorry to hear your cat is having issues with food preferences. Unfortunately, he will need to eat kitten food in order to get the nutrients, vitamins and minerals he needs to grow. I would recommend trying a variety of wet kitten foods to see which he may like, and occasionally warming them in the microwave to help it smell more enticing. He should ideally be eating two meals of kitten food a day, which can be supplemented with small amounts of additional protein but kitten food should be the mainstay of his diet. Good luck!