Can cats really thrive on vegan diets? Professor Andrew Knight responds to critics

Reported by Phys.org · October 26 at 9:45 PM · Summary by Pawdeck

Phys.org gathered reader concerns about vegan diets for cats and put them to Andrew Knight, a veterinary professor at Murdoch University, who wrote the original paper. Readers mainly argued that cats are obligate carnivores and that plant-based diets could harm them. Knight responds that obesity affects 30% to 60% of domestic cats and that his study linked modern vegan diets to fewer weight-related problems.

Background

Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they need nutrients such as taurine, arachidonic acid and preformed vitamin A that come from animal tissue. Any complete diet for a cat, plant-based or not, has to be formulated to supply these, and vets usually advise owners to choose products that meet recognized nutritional standards for the cat's life stage.

Why it matters

Owners weighing a vegan diet for a cat need to know whether it is complete and whether it has been tested on real animals.

What you can do

Before changing a cat's diet, ask your vet whether the food is complete and balanced for your cat's life stage and check the label for a nutritional adequacy statement.

Food and weight calculators

Written by Pawdeck from the report by Phys.org. Background is general information, not advice about your pet; if you are worried, call your vet.