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Plant-based cat food is a food made for cats that excludes animal products. Specifically this means that it is made without any meat, fish, eggs or dairy as ingredients. Instead it is made fully from plant, mineral and synthetic sources.
The primary reasons to feed cats plant-based food are to reduce cats' environmental impact and avoid the perceived ethical problems some cat owners associate with exploiting animals for food.
While vegetarian diets for humans can also include eggs and dairy, in the context of cat food the term vegetarian is often used interchangeably with vegan or plant-based diets.
Supplementation
Cats are obligate carnivores,[1] which means in the wild cats need meat. This is because they require nutrients that are not found in plants, only in small amounts, or in forms they cannot digest them. For plant-based cat foods that have no ingredients derived from animals, these nutrients must be supplemented from synthetic sources or concentrated by processing.
Taurine is an essential amino acid for cats. It is not found in plants (except for some red algae[2]), and can be synthesized instead. It is then added to plant-based cat food. Synthetic taurine is often added to conventional cat food, where it has been tested to be safe and effective. Without this supplementation, the heating of the ingredients in conventional cat food interferes with how the natural taurine is absorbed.[3]Vitamin A is another nutrient that can be synthesized and is supplemented to plant-based cat food, as it is not naturally found in plants. Cats also require a relatively high protein content in their food, this requires processing to concentrate both the protein content and improve digestibility for cats.[4]
Due to the complex process and supplementation to ensure a nutritionally adequate diet, plant-based cat food cannot reliably be home-made.[5][6] For example, when 25 online recipes for home-made plant-based cat food were analysed, none met the recommended amounts for all nutrients and all were deficient in iron.[7]
Health impact on cats
There is relatively little research on plant-based diets for cats, with studies being either small, or subject to selection bias to get to large numbers of plant-based cats. "Whilst the quality and amount of evidence needs to be considered", "no overwhelming evidence of adverse effects" has been found in a systematic review published in 2023 on what was available at the time. If the pet owner chooses to implement a vegan diet, the recommendation is to use commercially available food to avoid nutritional imbalances.[8]
A study that asked cat guardians to report on their cats, found that plant-based cats were reportedly having fewer vet visits and used less medication. Their vets reportedly also described these cats as healthy more frequently.[9] Improvements in coat condition and weight control are other reported benefits.[10] Additional monitoring, especially in the beginning, and working with a vet is recommended by the author of the study when changing a cat's diet, including when changing to a plant-based one. Such a change is recommended to be gradual, so that changes in behaviour or health can be checked and any issues caught in time.[10]
Urinary acidity is a candidate for such monitoring. It is important for their health that the acidity of a cat's urine is in the right range. If the urine isn't very acidic, struvite crystals can form, which is dangerous. Plant-based proteins are less acidifying than animal-based proteins, which means that cats on a plant-based diet may be at a higher risk of having too little acidity in their urine. Acidifying supplementation is available to correct this when needed, it should not be used preemptively, because too much acidity is also problematic.[11]
Impact on environment & farm animals
The most common reason for owners to feed their cat a plant-based diet is the ethical impact on farm animals and animal rights. Other reasons are a distrust of the healthiness of conventional cat food and its environmental impact.[12]
Conventional cat food is supplied in part from animal agriculture, avoiding this on ethical grounds is an important reason for cat owners to consider plant-based food for their cats. A study found that for 2020 in the US, cats consume 2.3% of all livestock products, humans eat 80% and the rest is made into dog food. Globally cats consume 1.2% due to relatively fewer cats per person. While a significant portion of cat food is made of animal agriculture by-products, 49.2% of the animal products in conventional cat food are human-consumable. The study also found that if all the world's cats were to eat a plant-based diet, 900 million fewer farmed land animals would be slaughtered each year.[13]
Another reason for feeding cats a plant-based diet is to reduce their carbon pawprint. The greenhouse gas emissions of animal agriculture are significant, and in the US, 25-30% of those are estimated to come from pet food. While a single cat is smaller than a human, they do eat more animal products on average, offsetting some of their lower food emissions from size and contributing a significant amount to the emissions of a household. With most of the emissions coming from the food they eat, cats eating plant-based diets eliminate most of their impact.[14][15]
Concerns
Historically, a plant-based cat food has been controversial. The Blue Cross, a charity caring for pets, is cautious and points to the risks,[16] while others such as the RSPCA[17] and ASPCA[18] state plant-based cat food is not appropriate for cats altogether. The British Veterinary Association, the main association for veterinarians in the UK, states that "it is not possible to form a complete vegan or vegetarian diet for cats" because there would be no suitable synthetic essential amino acids.[19] The World Small Animal Veterinary Association advises to not feed cats vegetarian or vegan diets.[20]PETA supports plant-based cat food.[21]
Nutrients
Cats have adapted to a diet of animal protein, making them obligate carnivores.[22]
One concern is that plants do not contain taurine or preformed vitamin A.[4] This means that plant-based cat food cannot be home made by non-experts.[5]
Another concern is that synthetic taurine comes in different forms that are not all absorbed as well. This is said make taurine supplementation to plant-based cat food "extremely difficult" in a BBC Science Focus article.[23] Proponents retort that supplementation of synthetic taurine in conventional cat food has been found to be effective since the mid 1980's.[5][24]
Guideline standards
Plant-based cat food has been analysed, to validate this meets the guidelines.[citation needed] There is a concern that these foods do not (always) meet these standards, even when marketed as complete foods.
A 2020 study evaluated vegan pet foods in the Brazilian market and found nutritional inadequacies when compared to FEDIAF and AAFCO recommendations.[25]
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