Cat opening its mouth looking at food (© fantom_rd - stock.adobe.com)
WINCHESTER, United Kingdom — Vegan diets might be healthy and trendy for people, but should you be giving your cat the same plant-based meal plan? A new study contends that the answer is yes. Researchers in the United Kingdom say vegan cats appear to be healthier than their meat-eating feline friends.
Professor Andrew Knight from the University of Winchester, a co-author of the study, explains that while many pet foods list cooked meat as the primary protein source, there’s a rising availability of products that utilize alternative sources of protein, such as plants or fungi.
Despite this, some veterinary experts have expressed reservations about vegan diets for cats, pointing out the absence of meat, eggs, and dairy. Yet, there’s limited research addressing these concerns directly.
In an effort to shed light on the health implications of vegan diets for cats, Prof. Knight and his team analyzed survey data from 1,369 cat owners. These owners were asked about the health and diet of one cat in their household, which had been fed either a vegan or meat-based diet for at least a year.
Out of the participants, approximately nine percent reported feeding their cat a vegan diet, while the remainder opted for meat-based diets. Once variables like the cat’s age and neuter status were accounted for, the results indicated that vegan diets had a link to fewer health issues, though the differences weren’t statistically significant.
REACTION: Vet Says Study ‘Far From Conclusive’
For example, Prof. Knight observed that cat owners on vegan diets generally reported fewer vet visits and less medication use. They also claimed that vets would often describe their vegan-fed cats as healthier than those on meat-based diets. However, upon further analysis, there wasn’t a statistically significant difference between the health indicators of cats from both diet groups.
The survey further delved into 22 specific health disorders. It was found that 42 percent of meat-fed cat owners reported at least one health disorder, as opposed to the 37 percent of vegan-fed cat owners.
Publishing their findings in the journal PLoS ONE, the researchers support the potential health benefits of vegan diets for cats. However, they emphasized that the actual nutrient content of the cats’ diets was not analyzed in the study.
You might also be interested in:
- 3 Nutrients Vegans May Be Deficient In, According To A Dietitian
- Plant-based pet food? Vegan diet healthiest for dogs, study suggests
- Best Cat Food Brands: Top 5 Feline Feasts Most Recommended By Experts
- Best Wet Cat Food: Top 5 Feline Feasts Most Recommended By Experts
South West News Service writer Stephen Beech contributed to this report.
This…this is dumb. They didn’t even analyze the nutritional content of the food for a study comparing food sources on overall health and nutrition. They then make a claim that vegan is healthier than meat diets for cats (after only a year!! When cats can live to be 15-20!!), and follow up that the results aren’t even statistically significant. That means they can’t say it wasn’t just coincidence or natural variation in samples to actually conclude any difference. And how many of the illnesses the cats got within the year of the study were actually tied to their food and not their environment or genetics? How many of those issues had been in the works before the study even started?
This is bad science that further weakens public trust in actual, well-done science. It’s embarrassing we’d even report on it.
Good luck getting the cats to eat that. Also, highly processed, just like regular cat food.
I had a very large orange tabby named Punky that was four feet long end to end and weighed about 23 pounds. He was not overweight; he was just a big cat. He started losing weight and got down to 10 pounds and was looking emaciated, so I took him to a vet who was a friend of mine. After a simple exam and blood work he asked what we fed him. I replied with the name of a very highly rated popular dry food brand. He then told me Punky has diabetes. He proceeded to explain to me that he was seeing about 40 percent of the cats in his practice being diagnosed with diabetes and what they had in common is they were eating mostly dry cat foods that have lots of grain carbohydrates and no meat-based protein. He went on to explain that cats are designed to eat meat and get all the nutrition they need from the meat. I asked what I should feed him and he literally said, nutritionally, if you put a mouse in a blender, it would be the perfect diet. He added, that is not practical so feed him meat-based foods like canned fish. We started feeding him that and he got better for a while, but stated getting sick again after about 6 months and his blood sugars were skyrocketing so we ended up needing to give him insulin until he died about 6 months after that of diabetes. I get the vegan lifestyle and practice it, with some fish occasionally, but giving a cat a vegan diet is not something most cats can tolerate as they get older.
I had a very large orange tabby named Punky that was four feet long end to end and weighed about 23 pounds. He was not overweight; he was just a big cat. He started losing weight and got down to 10 pounds and was looking emaciated, so I took him to a vet who was a friend of mine. After a simple exam and blood work he asked what we fed him. I replied with the name of a very highly rated popular dry food brand. He then told me Punky has diabetes. He proceeded to explain to me that he was seeing about 40 percent of the cats in his practice being diagnosed with diabetes and what they had in common is they were eating mostly dry cat foods that have lots of grain carbohydrates and no meat-based protein. He went on to explain that cats are designed to eat meat and get all the nutrition they need from the meat. I asked what I should feed him and he literally said, nutritionally, if you put a mouse in a blender, it would be the perfect diet. He added, that is not practical so we feed him meat-based foods like canned fish. We started feeding him that and he got better for a while, but stated getting sick again after about 6 months and his blood sugars were skyrocketing so we ended up needing to give him insulin until he died about 6 months after that of diabetes. I get the vegan lifestyle and practice it, with some fish occasionally, but giving a cat a vegan diet is not something most cats can tolerate as they get older
Those feeding their cats vegan diets are probably vegan themselves and advocate for veganism.
They would be unlikely to report anything adverse that might be tied to the diet. This whole study is rather questionable.
Cats need taurine
This is a dangerous study and publication of the study . Justvbecause cats are smart creatures doesn’t mean their owners are. Some idiots will put a cat on a vegan diet because of this!
Thanks, you just killed a bunch of cats by publishing this trash.
The Vegan cat is usually owned by an ever-loving doting owner while the meat eater is more free to enjoy life as a cat. It is the owner, not the food.
That is just stupid. Cats are carnivores. It’s their stupid liberal owners that are vegans…
There is NOTHING liberal about the modern democrat….
Evil would be a better description
Pull this stupid article or change the headline. It’s being linked on other sites and will get poor cats killed.
Vegan cats were healthier, but the difference wasn’t statistically significant. So in other words, there is still no real difference and keep feeding your feline friend as you normally would.
I’ll bet the vegan cats were “gassier” 😉
This will kill your cat. Something is being overlooked here
Very biased, and useless “study.”
I put study in quotes because it’s simply a survey that anyone could conduct on Twitter.
It’s all user submitted. There’s no tracking of the meals and/or verification of the survey results. Simply taking the word of people.
Furthermore this professor is a vocal vegan himself, and has been for several decades. He’s also a vet, and advocates vegan for animals.
There is a lot of bias for this “study” and nothing is actually conducted in any scientific manner.
Please, don’t believe anything in this article about this “study.” It’s simply not scientific whatsoever and the conclusion is not supported any any real science.
IDIOTS !
So… what the cats actually ate wasn’t assessed, and the health of the animals was assessed by conducting a survey of their owners? Solid science, that. What part of ‘obligate carnivore’ did these folks not understand? Maybe next they can look into how cows would do on the Mediterranean diet. Perhaps by consulting the cows’ horoscopes.
I don’t believe this. Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. Cats are hunters and need meat and fish to survive.
From Nature:
What is meant by an obligate carnivore?
Some carnivores, called obligate carnivores, depend only on meat for survival. Their bodies cannot digest plants properly. Plants do not provide enough nutrients for obligate carnivores. All cats, from small house cats to huge tigers, are obligate carnivores. Most carnivores are not obligate carnivores. THIS MEANS YOUR CAT SHOULD NOT BE FED A VEGAN DIET!!!
Junk Science at its best
BS
A survey of people’s opinions is not a study.
People should look up Pottenger cats experiments. Clearly meat is essential.
well, they may be able live on it, but cats are carnivores by nature.
The Vegan cat idea is ludicrous.
Felines are carnivores. Have you looked at their mouth?