Guess I'll have the unpopular opinion here yet again. I'm a bit short on time so I'll paste part of an email to a curious vet:
Quote:
http://www.vegetariancats.com/study.htm is the study done by people at the University of Pennsylvania:
Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association
July 1, 2006, Vol. 229, No. 1, Pages 70-73
doi: 10.2460/javma.229.1.70
One manufacturer in Australia had their products evaluated: http://veganpet.com.au/articles/?page_id=10
http://www.vegepets.info/ depends a lot on anecdotes for some stuff, which I don't like, but it did collect a lot of information. With the knowledge void, I understand that anecdotes and extrapolation are sometimes all that's available.
Obligate Carnivore by Jed Gillen has some inaccurate information but I liked the views on the effects of veganism and the advice for switching over animals to new foods. I personally wouldn't let a cat go over 12 hours or so refusing food as I'm afraid of organ failure (and I think it's mean to starve someone into accepting a food that tastes too strange or unpleasant). At one shelter I volunteered at, the cat employee told me she'd lost cats who were so stressed they wouldn't eat. I went around with her as she forcefed cats so that wouldn't happen again.
http://www.vegepet.com/stories.html and http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?L=veg...ID=1422707&G=Y are galleries of cats and dogs who eat vegetarian food, including cats who were vegan for 10+ years. Some people like personal stories like that. I thought http://www.vegepet.com/Stories/twokittens.html was very cute 
The earliest commercial product for vegan cat diets is Vegecat from 1986, to my knowledge, followed by Evolution from 1989.
I hope this is helpful.
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To a non-speciesist, the answer is obvious. If my cat suddenly develops bad allergies to all plant foods (rather unlikely), I'd kill humans to help hir if I had to. I'd kill gpigs, elephants, other cats, fishes, horses, whoever. Because I might not be speciesist but I am selfish and familyist. Good thing my cats can be very healthy on an appropriate vegan diet. They do not go blind (as many meat-eating cats did and do from lack of taurine) because they eat food that is designed for cats (and contains vegan taurine). They also get preformed vitamin A, arachidonic acid, etc.
I also don't think it would be cruel to my gpigs to feed them meat, provided the saturated fats are removed, fiber is added, excess vitamin A is removed, vitamin C is added, etc etc. Basically, if it's healthy for them, then that works.
I force my beliefs on everyone every day. Especially going to the vet. No one around here especially loves the vet. If left up to them, they'd probably prefer to not go. Same with food. I force them to not eat antifreeze even if they'd prefer to eat it. Too bad for them. (ie, health and ignorant taste preferences are two different issues.)