this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024
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vegan

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The Available Studies of the Vegan Diet on Cats (lemmy.ca)
submitted 2 weeks ago by Beaver@lemmy.ca to c/vegan@lemmy.world
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There is limited research on the impact of the vegan diet on the feline companions in comparison to canines. As it is not as well known in the general public that cats can be healthy on a plant-based diet provided with taurine, B12, vitamin A.

Vegan diet:

  1. https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/vetn.2022.13.6.252

  2. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253292

  3. https://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/10/1/52

  4. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284132

Vegetarian diet:

  1. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/6/9/57
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[–] foggenbooty@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm inheriting a cat (long story) and did some basic research into the possibility of a vegan diet. It seems that while it is possible, like your links suggest, there is no easy way to do it. I looked in thr local stores and while I have found vegan food for my dog, they don't have anything for cats. A few online specialty places but the food is so expensive it is off the table.

I've switched to trying to find the lowest impact food but even that information is hard to find. I hope that it gets better and this small market gains traction, but it's not really at a level right now where thr average person can make a switch.

[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The main thing I've read (not a cat owner) is that unlike a dog, you're walking a fine line when providing a vegan diet to a cat. It can be done, and this is reflected in robust scientific literature, but you need to seriously know what you're doing. As a critical part of that, I think consulting a vet about getting them on a specific, well-planned diet is something any vegan cat owner ought to be doing. Mainly because while you can probably get away with feeding your cat a suboptimal meat-based diet and have them still be healthy, the risks with a suboptimal plant-based one mean that I don't think DIY research cuts it.

Nonetheless, I think the best thing for a vegan if possible (not your case) is simply not to own a cat, not because it's impossible to accomplish this but moreso because statistically it's much, much harder to accomplish, and normalizing it among vegans is liable to create situations where well-meaning but incompetent owners simply cannot meet the challenge and either give up partway through and go with meat-based food or slowly destroy the cat's health.

[–] jol@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Unfortunately lots of vegans, and definitely lots of ommis who also find these posts, don't care about science, and will downvote you because they are too emotionally invested in this topic.

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Surely you meant that the vegans will _up_vote this post, for the exact reason that it confirms their priors.

On the substance, it stands to reason that if humans can be fooled (just about) by the latest generation of fake meat, then pets will find it plenty tasty enough too. But on the question of the science, it is uncontroversial that dogs and cats are both members of the carnivora order. And cats are obligate carnivores: in their natural environment they eat almost nothing but meat and have done for millions of years. So if you're going to turn them vegan, you better be absolutely sure you know what supplements to give them and in what quantity.

I agree with your general point though. As a flexitarian who respects vegans for their ethical coherence, even I am pretty darn tempted to see motivated reasoning in this kind of post, because that's obviously what it is. But facts are facts. A vegan cat can be happy and healthy. What a world to live in.

[–] veganpizza69@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

it is uncontroversial that dogs and cats are both members of the carnivora order

Well, if they're in an order, I guess that determines everything about them.

You should also go out and force all pandas to switch to hunting, because they're also in the Carnivora order.

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

Good rebuttal. Had not considered the panda case. Still, the inconvenient fact remains that the human lineage for, say, the last 10 million years is mostly vegetarian whereas that of domestic cats is entirely carnivorous.

[–] iiGxC@slrpnk.net 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

A lot of vegans will downvote coming from a sort of "pick-me" vegan place

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Not getting the reference. You mean they see even a discussion around the idea the that cats can be vegan as sacrilege?

[–] iiGxC@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

I've heard the "pick-me" phrase most common in the context of girls, where they'll say stuff like "i'm not like other girls" to try to get favor from guys. https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/pick-me-girl/ this is actually a really good summary of it, "A pick-me girl is a woman who obsessively desires male approval and validation, often at the expense of other women."

in this case a pick-me vegan is trying to get favor from non-vegans by saying "cats can't possibly be vegan" at the expense of a rational discussion

[–] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

Ha! Funny. Thanks for the insight.

[–] iiGxC@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 weeks ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/veganpets/wiki/faq/#wiki_scientific_literature_review_.28research.29