Study Claims Cats on Vegan Diets Have Better Health and Lower Medication Needs

Cats really like milk and mice, but giving them a vegan diet can have health benefits, at least according to their owners.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,300 cat owners, nearly 10 percent of whom fed their animals vegan pet food.

Cats who ate vegan food were less likely to need medication, according to their owners’ responses, and less likely to get sick, end up on a medicated diet because of health problems, or visit the vet more than once a year.

However, one cannot be sure that these individual results are accurate, as there were only 127 vegan cats in the study, making it difficult to be sure that the health benefits were not due to chance.

When the researchers looked at 22 health conditions, 15 of them were seen less frequently among cats eating vegan foods, including gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea and vomiting, hormonal disorders like diabetes, skin problems, and respiratory tract problems.

But the results were again uncertain, due to the small number of vegan cats, and the British Veterinary Association does not currently recommend a vegan diet for cats, as they need an adequate amount of essential nutrients, such as taurine and a type of vitamin A. , which are found in animal products but are said to be minimal or absent in plant foods.

Additionally, the study found a significantly increased risk of kidney disease in vegan cats compared to meat-eaters, although this was based on only four cats receiving a vegan diet.

Professor Andrew Knight, who led the study from the University of Winchester, said: “These results suggest that vegan food has great potential to improve feline health, while also offering great environmental benefits.”

“However, to safeguard the health of our feline friends, it is important that pet owners feed their cats only commercial vegan foods that are labeled nutritionally complete, produced by reputable companies and to good standards.”

The study looked at seven potentially diet-related health benefits for cats that owners were asked about.

This is the next best approach after giving cats extensive veterinary exams, which is time consuming and expensive, and has not been done in very large scientific studies.

Owners of cats on a vegan diet were 23 percent less likely to say their pet was seriously ill, though they were only eight percent less likely to say their cat had been diagnosed with serious illness by a veterinarian.

Vegan cat owners were 15 percent less likely to report their pet was taking medications other than routine vaccinations or flea and worm treatments, compared with cats on meat diets.

They were seven percent less likely to say their cat had visited the vet two or more times in the past year, which may be a sign of illness.

Owners of cats on vegan diets also reported that their pets had nearly 16 percent fewer health disorders in the previous year, out of the list of 22.

Vegan cat owners were slightly less likely to say their cat’s veterinarian would consider them unwell in the past year, and 55 percent less likely to say their cat had finished a therapeutic diet, than It can sometimes be prescribed for health reasons. problems such as skin conditions.

However, this latter result may be due in part to owners of cats on vegan diets rejecting these therapeutic diets because they contain animal products.

Due to the small number of vegan cats, no individual health conditions or benefits that could be related to the diet were observed with “statistical significance,” using the standard analysis that scientists require in their studies.

However, the authors say that when the seven health measures are taken together, using a type of static analysis and taking into account the age and sex of the cats and whether they were neutered, they are confident they have found a link.

It was suggested that vegan cats were less likely to be overweight than carnivores and, perhaps, as a result, less likely to have musculoskeletal problems.

Behavioral problems seemed more common in cats on a vegan diet, but the researchers note that these behavioral problems are more common in cats that are kept primarily indoors, and cats on a vegan diet are more likely to be indoor pets. , the survey showed.

Responding to the results, published in the journal PLOS One, Justine Shotton, senior vice-president of the British Veterinary Association, said: “There is growing interest among pet owners in alternative diets for their pets and, while there is much research ‘Ongoing research on the impacts of vegan diets in particular, there has been a lack of robust data mapping the health consequences of this diet over time.’

The BVA, which has a working group that looks at pet diets, said owners should talk to their veterinarian if they are considering changing their pet’s diet.