Is Your Cat Ready to Chow Down on Carrots and Cukes?

If you read through the ingredients on the side of the tin or bag of food you’re feeding your feline, you’ll notice things like peas, carrots, grains, and other non-meat additions.

No surprise there, because our furry little carnivores need a little fiber in their diet and we trust the pet food manufacturers to get the mix just right.

But what if we jumped on the vegan bandwagon and decided to convert Fluffy over to a meatless way of life? I mean, humans do it all the time and we’re not reading reports of malnutrition or physical deterioration as a result. So, one wonders just how would our feline friends (or dogs for that matter) be any different if we swapped out the protein from meat, for the protein found in a non-animal source.

Well, according to a report published by PLOS One Journal and funded by ProVeg International, cats on a vegan diet really don’t seem to be any worse for wear after a full year of eating plant-based protein versus animal-based protein. They were found to be somewhat healthier than their meat-eating counterparts.

The study surveyed over 1,400 felines for twelve months with factors such as age, sex, and neuter/spay status, taken into account. Approximately 90% of the pet owners fed their cats a meat-based diet and the other 9% provided their pets with a vegan diet.

Fast forward and we’re now discovering that those who ate a plant-based diet actually saw a reduction in vet visits, medication use, and health issues. Researchers further examined 22 specific health disorders and of the cats fed meat 42% suffered from at least one health-related disorder compared with 37% of those noshing down on the vegan options.

The overall conclusion was that cats who ate a vegan diet did not experience – as most people might assume – any health issues related to the lack of meat in their diet.

Now, the research doesn’t suggest you swap out your pet’s regular food for tofu and soya just yet. But it does prove that meat is not as critical to maintaining your pet’s health as we previously thought.

It also indicates that this niche market is one that the pet food industry has become keenly aware of and for that reason, is now producing quality, non-meat options with the nutrients needed to keep our felines healthy.

Further, it opens up options for feeding our pets in a manner that is more environmentally sound. Given the volume of land used and methane gases generated by animals being raised for food production, opting to go the vegan route is starting to seem like a viable solution. Particularly now that it is safer and easier for pet owners to find top-quality, nutrient-rich options when they’re ready to transition over.