Moreover, vegan and vegetarian diets don’t make sense biologically for cats:
1. Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they require meat. They have evolved to eat small rodents, so their teeth and jaws are designed to grasp and tear prey, not chew and grind plant material.
Cats have much higher protein needs than dogs or humans, and they must consume many amino acids, the building blocks of protein, because they either can’t produce them at all or can’t produce them in the quantities that their bodies require. For example, taurine, found only in meat and other animal products, is essential to prevent heart failure and blindness in cats.
Plant-based diets contain little of the amino acid methionine, which cats need in large quantities or they suffer dermatitis and poor growth. Another example is arachidonic acid, a fatty acid found in animals but not plants that is needed for the proper function of the brain, muscles, and immune system.
2. Cats can’t digest carbohydrates well. In the wild, they remove the contents of the rodent’s stomach and intestines before they eat these organs.
Cat saliva lacks the enzyme that starts carbohydrate digestion. Enzymes in the feline pancreas and intestines that digest carbohydrates are barely active. Cats also lack the enzyme that initiates glucose metabolism.
Compared with omnivores such as dogs, cats have small stomachs and short intestines with few of the bacteria that help digest starches and fiber.
To make matters worse, plants contain large amounts of fiber and phytate that block the absorption of some necessary trace minerals, including copper, iron, and zinc.
3. Obligate carnivores like cats handle vitamins differently from omnivores, too. Omnivores can ingest beta-carotene in plants to make vitamin A, but cats don’t have this metabolic pathway, so they need to ingest vitamin A itself, which is found only in meat. Cats also can’t make vitamin D in their skin as humans do, so they need a dietary source, like liver or animal fat.
4. Meat-based diets acidify the urine, whereas plant-based diets make it alkaline, which increases the formation of urinary stones that can obstruct the urinary tract, especially in male cats.
Please honor this difference between you and your cats and feed them the meat-based diet they need.
For example, Greta will have a complete blood count that measures red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Elevated levels of eosinophils, one type of white blood cell, are associated with cancer but also with parasites and allergies. A low red blood cell count, called anemia, also may suggest cancer.
Senior wellness lab work includes a chemistry panel to evaluate kidney and liver function, antibody and protein levels, blood sugar, cholesterol, electrolytes, and more. On the chemistry panel, elevated calcium levels raise the suspicion of cancer.
Your veterinarian will probably do a urinalysis, part of which involves examining the urine under the microscope to look at, among other things, the cells that line the bladder. If they look abnormal or there are too many of them, your veterinarian may suspect bladder cancer.
Female beagles over 6 are at higher risk of bladder cancer than other dogs, so your veterinarian may also recommend testing Greta’s urine for abnormal cells using the CADET BRAF test.
If Greta’s physical exam and lab results are normal, you and she can relax and enjoy your lives together.
