Learned on Thanksgiving: my mom has a vegan cat

[Ruby the Liberal]

Today, we are all sitting at dinner and one of my mother's cats jumped on the table. He came up on my immediate left, so I was able to grab him quickly, but the look of shock on her face was positively priceless. Apparently, he has never done this before, unlike my heathen who steals meat off the grill if you aren't watching and drags it across the deck to where she deems she can eat it without anyone seeing her.

So mom looks over the table and says to everyone, "it was the salad that got his attention".

Yeah right - the whole house smells like turkey and this cat is jonsing for lettuce.

I was wrong.

Put a piece of turkey on the floor for the little guy and he didn't want any part of it, so I put down a piece of lettuce and he went nuts. Family was looking under the table to watch this cat devour this piece of dry lettuce.

Who knew.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. In the meantime I have a couple conures who were

screeching for Duck... they will get theirs once hubby gets home and we eat dinner.

Imagine that

[itsrobert]

2. My dogs were in heaven

getting those Turkey scraps. They are higher on the food chain than a vegan cat.

[johnp3907]

3. A friend's cat...

loves greens--- like kale and broccoli. He'll eat anything, but he goes nuts for the green stuff.

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. That was the weirdest part!

She had a cat years ago that would go ape over celery. He would just roll in the celery unless you put it away immediately. I found out some time back that celery is related to catnip or something to do with the odor both put out. But lettuce has no odor!

This little guy literally sat on the carpet and chomped his way through a 4"-ish piece of lettuce. Never seen anything like it.

[zbdent]

4. our family members (ESPECIALLY the non-human ones)

will often surprise us with the most amazing things ...

[Ruby the Liberal]

8. The best part of it all was the look on her face

She was paralyzed for a minute (probably because my Grandmother was there and isn't an animal person).

I thought it was awesome. Boy knew what he wanted and went for it.

[savebigbird]

5. That sounds like pica for cats.

No offense to anyone with pica.

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. Pica?

[savebigbird]

9. It's a condition characterized by having the urge to eat non-nutritious items,

like chalk and paper.

[LancetChick]

14. One of my cats went through a pica-like phase.

He'd sneak under the kitchen sink and go for the latex gloves. (Door has no latch). Loved latex! But then he moved onto other things. He loves spicy curries and chocolate-covered peanuts, and has never seemed to get as much as a tummy ache. I was worried, though, when I realized I had accidentally locked him in the pantry and a big bag of chocolate-covered peanuts was almost empty.

Now, at 8 years old, he has more normal tastes.

[Grateful for Hope]

10. Excellent thread

My own two little ones refuse 'people food' altogether.

Contrary to popular belief, they are at the top of the food chain.

[Cleita]

11. Not that unusual. They like some greens in their diet.

I had one who loved guacamole.

[Sanity Claws]

12. Is this an indoor only cat?

Outdoor cats like to eat grass. It helps with their digestion. Maybe this cat ate the lettuce the way outdoor cats eat grass.

[rDigital]

13. K&R: Vegan Cat? ROFL nt

[Skip Intro]

15. I read somewhere that cats are carnivores and NEED to eat meat.

Not sure how true this is, but I can tell you my cat will eat nothing else (other than some grass as an addition to, not in place of, her meat).

[arikara]

18. Yes that is true

Cats need to eat meat. A natural diet for a cat is a small animal like a mouse, raw and whole... including bones, fur and stomach contents. They eat everything but the gall bladder, which is what you find in front of your doorway if they don't manage to bring their meal into the house. In which case you step on it with your bare feet somewhere in the carpet.

Our cats however don't hunt so we need to ensure that they have a complete diet. One of our cats loves houseplants. She enjoyed the spider plant before I moved it then she started munching on the tips of the Christmas cactus which are also the blooms. She has access to outdoors so can eat all the grass she wants but she's just a brat.

[pansypoo53219]

16. my cat LOVES raw beans.

found out he likes raw peas too, frozen will do.

[2naSalit]

17. A few years ago

I was taking care of a friend's cat who didn't like most of the meat that was being set out for him, like tuna. Other cat pigged out on the fish and occasional fowl but this guy wasn't into it. He would stand at my feet while I made salads so one day I just gave him some romaine. He ate it up like it was his favorite thing. After that he basically demanded his salad greens, most kinds of lettuce, spinach, and fresh broccoli. He'd eat the kibble but he wanted green stuff. The owner didn't believe me when I told them about it but realized that it was true when they saw it. So he gets salad every day since then and he's very healthy.

It's interesting how some carnivores want a variety. I wouldn't want to be a pet who only got one kind of food to eat, boring. Kitties are smart.