Cash's Biography

Hello,

My name is Cash Robinson, and I am a proud vegan cat. You might find my life story somewhat interesting.

Dad tells me that I was born in Salem Oregon on August 15th, 2004. He doesn't know much about my first year of life as my parents surrendered me to a shelter and didn't leave much information.

I started out as Cash Hunter, son of Beth Hunter. On October 13th, 2005 mom took me to the Humane society of the Willamette Vally in Salem Oregon and told the people there that I was an instigator with the other feline and canine kids in the house. One of the conditions of my surrender was that she understood that I might be euthanized on the day she dropped me off. Then she left me in the jail cell at the Humane Society and I never saw her again. I was fifteen and a half pounds then and a pretty confident guy with a desire to be the boss of the house. I didn't know what was going to happen to me. Things didn't look too promising and I was afraid for my life.

A few days later, on October 18th, I was sent to a new place called the Cat Adoption Team (CAT) in Sherwood Oregon. There I was treated very well and was allowed to play with other cats in a big room. The vet checked me out and gave me some new shots and some medicine and said I was ready to be adopted. So I just lounged around on a piece of furniture looking real confident and cute hoping to find someone who would take me home with them and give me a loving family and a nice home to play in.

Being a big black cat, I found out that no one wanted me. For some reason, humans think that black cats are bad luck or something stupid like that. The people at CAT did a personality profile on me and determined that I was mellow, quiet, a lap cat, playful, friendly, easygoing, loved food, and was very assertive with other cats. What's not to love? People would come and go through the shelter and would adopt other cats, but not me. I felt so alone and bewildered that no one thought I was good enough to adopt. I was so sad.

After being at the shelter for a few weeks I noticed this real nice guy that would come in every so often and liked to pet me and talk to me. He would stay for a little while then leave and this happened three times from about November 5th through November 19th. I was so disappointed each time he would leave without taking me home with him. Then on November 22nd, I was moved to a jail cell at the PetSmart in Clackamas Oregon. It was quite a change from the big room that I was in before. Now I really felt all alone. It was two days before Thanksgiving and what did I have to give thanks for? Alone, in a strange place, in a jail cell, nobody to play with.

Then on November 26th, the nice man from the main shelter came to see me at my new home at PetSmart. It was so nice to see a friendly face again. He was talking to the shelter lady and after a few minutes he brought in a carrier and told me that he was my new dad. I was so happy! Finally someone who could make me feel loved and could give me a new home. What a great day!

As it turned out, I found out later what led up to my being adopted. On November 2nd, Dad lost his previous son named Teddybear from a liver ailment. He was so sad and was grieving for a long time. But he knew that he wanted to find another son, or possibly a daughter, to try to fill the empty place in his heart. And so he started his long search. He decided that he would only look at no-kill shelters in the Portland Oregon area, because it was important to support the work of these compassionate shelters. Dad started his search at CAT on November 5th, which is the day I first saw him. He contacted six other shelters and saw over 500 other cats before narrowing his selection down to four boy kitties. He was looking for confident, laid back, fellows that could travel well in a motorhome because he travels a lot around the country. By the time he was ready to narrow down his choices in late November, two of his choices had been adopted and were with new families. That left two of us. A very handsome blue-point Tonkinese named Troy, and me. When dad found out that I had been moved from the shelter to the PetSmart store, he knew he didn't have any time to waste for fear of losing his final two choices and having to start his search all over again. He had a hard time deciding between Troy and me, and couldn't make up his mind. So he decided to adopt both of us. He started with me first because I was close and the adoption process from CAT was very simple. After he took me home, he applied to adopt Troy from another shelter. After two weeks of not hearing anything he found out from a friend that his application was denied because the shelter managers felt that Troy would not be able to adapt to traveling in a motorhome. Dad thought that the denial was a joke but he is sure that everything happens for a reason. So I didn't get to have a brother to travel with but it sure worked out great for me.

The day that I arrived home with dad he told me that he was going to start teaching me about veganism and that my new diet was going to be vegan as well. I didn't know what that meant at the time, but dad assured me that he had done a lot of studying about feline nutrition and that he would not do anything to jeopardize my health and well being. I started out eating a dried food called Evolution that was moistened with some water. It tasted pretty good and I liked it. A week after dad adopted me, we went to the vet to get my blood and urine tested to establish what dad called a "baseline" measurement. Everything was normal and I was feeling pretty good. During the next six months I learned that being a vegan was more than no longer eating other animals. It meant being kind and compassionate to other animals, it was about looking after my physical health and the health of other animals, and it was about being a good steward of the environment.

Being a good vegan, for a cat, is hard work. Dad has to make sure that the food that he gives me is properly formulated to give me all the nutrients that I require for good health. For the first year, everything was going well with my new diet. I had actually slimmed down to a very svelty twelve pounds and had so much energy that I was literally bouncing off the walls of our home in Portland. Dad had to buy some new food from Evolution and we started to have a problem. After a little while, in early 2007 I started to get some indication that I was having some bladder problems. Dad checked my blood and urine again and discovered that the pH of my urine had gone up to 7.0 from where it was before at 6.3. It seems that the company was having manufacturing problems and that other cats were having difficulty as well. One day in early February my bladder got stopped up and I had to go to the emergency hospital. It wasn't pleasant to have a catheter placed in my bladder and I was sick for three days. Dad was very concerned that the food was not providing the right stuff to keep me healthy. He determined that the Evolution food was not a good idea for male kitties like me so he decided to start making his own food using a supplement called Vegecat from a new company.

When I got home from the hospital I tried some of the prescription food from the doctor, but I didn't really like it all that well. I kept eating it until dad got the new food from the Vegepet company. Dad decided, after doing some additional research, that dried kibble type food probably wasn't all that good for the innards of kitties. He decided to try to make a high protein, high fat, low carb, moist product from the various recipes that he received along with the Vegecat supplement. The recipe that seemed like the best bet was one that was formulated with seitan. Dad tells me that seitan is "wheat meat" because it looks and tastes like meat but actually comes from wheat. I thought that was real cool. Anyway dad had learned how to make some meat like products in the form of little roasts, and he decided that this would be the perfect way to make a food for me that would keep me healthy so I wouldn't have to get sick again. Dad experimented for a few times then settled on a formulation that we are still using today.

About six months after my little hospital episode, we traveled in our motorhome from our home in Portland, to our home just south of Washington, DC. The trip was very hot and quite a journey with lots of little problems, but we finally arrived and I had a great time exploring my new home. After investigating the territory, I decided it was OK for dad to live with me in my new house, which is much bigger than my home in Portland.

We have settled in to a routine now. I've had my blood and urine tested quite a number of times since arriving in Maryland. And so far my vegan lifestyle has served me well. I am healthy, strong, alert, and have a great personality. My black fur is silky smooth and my teeth are squeaky clean. I play like I did when I was a kitten. I can easily jump five feet straight up and can run 40 feet in about two seconds. My heart and lungs are in good shape, and I have a great looking very slim body. Everyone thinks I am a very handsome kitty.

My diet is primarily the Vegan Feline Roast that dad makes for me. I also get a little dab of digestive enzymes with each meal to help get the most nutrients out of my food. In addition, there are other foods that I really love to eat; all vegan. I have an especially good appetite for canned peas, canned corn, corn on the cob, tortillas, broccoli, peanuts, pistachios, cashews, Gardenburgers, soy milk, and dad's whole wheat flax seed bread, just to name a few. Once in a while I even enjoy eating a few pieces of dates as a sweet treat. I don't really care for most fruits, cauliflower, or carrots; and fortunately I don't like chocolate, onions, raisins, or garlic, which can make me sick if I eat them. Sometimes I have to snack on dad's dinner just to add some variety to my diet.

I am very proud of my vegan lifestyle. By eating a vegan diet, I don't contribute to the death of other animals, just so that I can survive. No other animals have to suffer or endure abuse in order to feed me. I think my diet is safer and healthier for me than the food that comes out of cans and bags in the store. My carbon footprint is very small as I strive to walk softly upon the earth during my short life on the planet.

So that's pretty much my life story so far. Because I am so happy with my choice to follow in dad's footsteps and become vegan, I have decided to help educate my fellow feline and canine friends and their companion humans about the dangers of commercial cat and dog foods. If you truly care about your household companions' health and well being, I encourage you to review my website at www.ixamall.com/VCI and make a commitment to GO VEGAN!