Why yes, my Panther is a Vegan. Why do you ask?

Oh, you didn't ask?  Well, I'm going to tell you anyway.  Our panther boy, Lucky, is now a vegan.  Yes, I realize that, unlike humans, cats actually are carnivores.  However, not all cats can stay carnivores for life and here in lies the tale.  (Tail?)

As some of you may remember from a prior post of mine, Lucky had been having intestinal issues for over a year.  I would try and spare you the gory details but how else would you understand?  Okay, okay, let's just say that we spent a LOT of time following him around after he used the bathroom.  Whether it was three in the afternoon or three in the freakin' morning, Lucky required wiping.  And yes, this was exhausting.  50 year olds are not designed to get up with a baby at all hours.  And the cleaning - gah!  The non-stop cleaning of the cat box, the bathroom floor, and whatever else Sir Runs A Lot managed to sit on before being captured and wiped, got really old, really quickly.  Good thing we purchased that Bissel carpet cleaner years ago! 

Here is Lucky's reaction to finding out I was blogging, yet again, about his most private matters.

Our vet ruled out any serious problems with Lucky's innards but did inform us that our move last summer could be making him nervous.  Then again, it might be food related.  So, Lucky spent the better part of a year sampling everything from high end store brands of cat food to specially formulated only-comes-from-your-vet's-office-with-a-scary-price-tag kibble and all without success.  Food, pills and liquid medicines, all guaranteed to "firm things up" did not, I repeat NOT work.  This might be a good time to mention that while we were feeding Lucky his Runs No Mo special dinners, we were also feeding Comet his special kidney food.  Rosie was the only one still eating our regular old cat food.  Gone was the ease of putting out one bowl and letting everyone graze all day.  Now each cat couldn't eat the other's food and so meal time meant quarantine which they hated.  (Putting a cat in a room by itself to eat, pretty much guarantees said cat will ignore the food and spend the entire period of confinement trying to get out of the room.)  Oi.

Nate did some research of his own on the trusty interweb machine and found out that many cats develop food allergies after years of eating commercial cat foods.  Even the "higher end" cat foods can still include meat and slaughterhouse bi products from dubious sources.  Anyhow, some cats need to stop eating animal protein all together, to help re-regulate their intestinal tract.  Could this be Lucky's dilemma?

Nate then found Ami vegan cat food online.  Sure, most vegans have wanted to feed their pets vegan pet food for years, and some may have, but it was not without risks.  Cats require taurine (2-aminoethanesulfonic acid) in their diet and normally would get this from animal protein.  Ami contains the vital taurine and other healthy vitamins but no animal products and no GMO ingredients.  Ami is made in Italy but it's now available in the US.  Side Car For Pig's Peace, our vegan grocery store in Seattle, carries Ami but it's just as easy to order it online.

Then... it happened. (This would be the time to cue the uplifting music.)  In just the first two weeks after eating Ami Cat, Lucky's, um...output went from soupy to firm-ish.  (Huge step)  And now, a few months later, Lucky is completely back to normal.  He's undoubtedly thrilled not to have us coming at him with tissue and grimaces every time he does his business and we are unbeliveably happy to be sleeping through the nights.  Bonus:  all three cats can eat Ami Cat - woo hoo!  We've almost forgotten how bad it all was.

Almost.