Will a cat live longer on a vegan diet?!

All of the answers so far have been wholly or partially incorrect-- there is one nutrient that a cat requires but would be unable to derive from its diet should it be placed on a no-meat diet-- the familiar amino acid "taurine." Virtually ALL taurine that's used to supplement products like energy drinks or nutrient drops for pets is synthetically produced, as this is cheap and relatively simple, rather than prohibitively wasteful and expensive as it would be trying to extract taurine from animal sources (though taurine WAS isolated using animal experimentation on cows, hence the name "taurine"). If you supplement taurine, and make sure your kitty gets plenty of protein and fat, (s)he should have no problems with nutrition, though of course regular veterinary checkups should be maintained.

The cat food that one is able to buy from the grocery store and the premium foods available in pet shops or other specialty outlets is going to be a little different, but all contain hormones, antibiotics, and other pernicious chemicals that were used to bulk up the animal/reduce contagion, and in the case of fish-based foods, a rather high likelihood of dangerous mercury levels. Add in corn stabilizers, perservatives, HFC for flavor, and your own ethical considerations, and homemade, or least meatless retail kitty food, looks pretty attractive. Here are three really good site for more info:

http://www.vegancats.com/veganfaq.php
http://www.peta.org/issues/Companion-Ani…
http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/ca…

Of course if you're feeding your pet foods that don't contan all that horrible stuff, (s)he will be healthier in the long term, just as you'd expect for a human! Good luck, and I hope you and your kitty enjoy eating good vegan food together for a good long time.

Long-time vegan, vegan cooking enthusiast, and cat lover
http://www.vegancats.com/veganfaq.php
http://www.peta.org/issues/Companion-Ani…
http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/ca…

Hi, I'm vegan and I know it's hard to feed meat to your pet when you don't believe it is healthy. However, they are obligate carnivores and must have meat. To deny them of it is to harm an animal. I have had a discussion with my vet recently about putting my cat on a diet that has a higher level of animal based protein and he understood my feelings about the meat but respected my love of my cat's health over my morals. We also have snakes and we feed them prekilled frozen mice because they have to have meat. They would die without it, as would your cat. Cats die of kidney failure and go blind on vegan diets. I've seen much research on this. The only thing you can do is spend a little extra and get higher end cat food for your cat, like Blue Buffalo Wilderness, which will lengthen it's life while keeping it extremely healthy.

vegan with carnivore pets

Nope, it's not true. It is most likely to severely shorten the lifespan of a cat. Cats need meat to thrive. Real meat, such as they would get from their natural diet of small rodents and other small animals. There are certain amino acids they need which are only found in meat and are found to a greater degree in raw meat than in cooked meat. If you can't stand that fact, get a rabbit.

Hi, no, it's wrong. In the wild (where cats came from in the first place) cats basically only eat meat. The meat has all the nutrients a cat needs to be healthy and it does not elongate the lifespan of a cat, maybe it has only been tested on a certain breed of cats. Anyway what would you feed a vegan cat?

No, felines are obligate carnivores. They die on a vegan diet.
I saw on Animal Planet (the cop show where they rescue animals) this woman was a vegan and she was also a hoarder. She fed her cats rice. THEY WENT BLIND.
They took all her cats away, and had to put most of them down due to malnutrition.

It is not natural for a cat to be vegan, their digestive system is designed to digest meat, in the wild they are carnivores, please don't abuse your pets, it's bad enough keeping the poor thing in captivity and denying it free will.

No! Cats are carnivores. Their digestive systems are made to function on meats. They cannot get the nutrition they need from veggies because their digestive tracts cannot digest them properly. Cats need a high protein diet from meat sources. They are not made to eat a diverse diet like humans.

Let you cat decide. Put a plate of meat in front of it and a plate of veggies. See what it chooses every time. That will answer the question evolution provided over the last few million years.

Cats are obligate carnivores. Feeding them a vegan diet is equivalent to animal abuse.

a cat is a carnivore..he eats meat. give him some tuna please. his life might not be longer as a vegan but it will really feel like it to him...open a tin now :)