A recent study conducted by the University of Winchester has investigated whether vegan diets are suitable for cats, who are carnivores and primarily consume meat. The study collected data from 1,369 cat owners who had been feeding their pets either meat-based or vegan diets for at least a year. The results showed that 91% of the cats received meat-based food, while the remaining 9% were fed a vegan diet. The researchers also asked the owners about their cats’ health, recording 22 specific health conditions. The study found that 37% of vegan-fed cats had at least one health issue, compared to 42% of meat-fed cats. Additionally, vegan-fed cats required less therapeutic diets and medication, and visited the vet less frequently than their meat-fed counterparts.
However, the study’s authors acknowledge that the health benefits observed in vegan-fed cats were not statistically significant, except for one exception. The limited number of cats in the sample who were fed a vegan diet (127 out of 1,369 or 9.3%) may have prevented the detection of statistically significant effects to some extent. The study was funded by ProVeg International, an organization that promotes plant-based diets, but the authors claim that the organization had no influence on the study’s design, implementation, or analysis.
Ellen Kienzle, a professor of animal nutrition at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, expressed concerns about the study’s design, noting that online surveys can be problematic because owners’ responses may be influenced by their personal views on animal medicine or plant-based diets. However, Kienzle also acknowledged that there is no definitive evidence that vegan diets are categorically unsuitable for cats. She added that until there is more conclusive evidence, a vegan diet for cats would be considered an animal experiment requiring approval from a scientist.
In conclusion, while the study suggests that vegan diets may be a viable option for cats, the results are not statistically significant, and the sample size of vegan-fed cats is limited. Further research is needed to determine the long-term effects of vegan diets on cats’ health and well-being.
