The RSPCA in the UK say that if a cat owner feeds their cat commercially prepared vegan cat food they may be prosecuted under the Animal Welfare Act. But they are on a collision course with the big manufacturers because there is a well-known product on the market already called Benevo which is a dry cat food with a meat-free recipe.
Plant based but added nutrients
This product is sold on Amazon and it contains the nutrients cats are unable to synthesise including non-animal sources of Taurine and Vitamin A. It gets good reviews on Amazon and although it is meet-free they claim that it is a balanced, good quality product. I have discussed this argument before. If this product contains all the nutrients that a cat needs then notwithstanding that it is not meat-based it must be satisfactory.
Obviously, a vegan or vegetarian commercially prepared pet food which does not contain the added ingredients (because it is poorly prepared) that the cat needs will be toxic to cats, which is the point that the RSPCA is making. They say that a vegan pet food can make pets seriously ill and that cat owners who feed a vegan pet food to their cat could end up facing criminal charges.
Cats and dogs
Of course we have to differentiate between dogs and cats. Dogs are omnivores and cats are carnivores. Therefore they say the dogs could theoretically survive a well-balanced vegetarian diet but cats need meat to thrive.
If a cat ends up very malnourished because they’re eating vegan pet food owners are open to be prosecuted and to face on conviction a hefty fine and a possible jail sentence. This scenario would occur if a cat owner fed a homemade cat food diet to their cat. That’s happened before.
Vegan more popular
The warning from the RSPCA comes after the National Pet Show in Birmingham earlier this month which showcased the latest vegan pet food. In the UK people are becoming more interested in vegan and vegetarian diets. They are therefore open to placing their companion animals on the same diet. This is potentially dangerous quite obviously but if a pet food manufacturer is producing a pet food which is dangerous to cats and dogs it would not sell. It would be in breach of a raft of regulations and it could not be sold in the UK. As it is sold it must have been approved by the authorities.
Case
There is a case referred to on the Telegraph website in which a cat became very weak because she was on a strict vegan diet. The animal was hospitalised and severely undersized as a result. Some fur was missing. The owner was barred from retaining her cat until she agreed to feed her cat in meat-based diet. As mentioned this person must have been feeding a homemade vegan diet which is a crime.
RSPCA are wrong
It seems that the RSPCA disagree with pet food manufacturers producing meat-free pet food. I understand where the attitude comes from but I think they are wrong. I think that they are missing the point. A business can’t sell products that will kill an animal in the UK without being prosecuted and the manufacturers of Benevo have not been and will no be prosecuted.
Chemistry
I made this comment (see below):
“I am looking at things from the standpoint of basic ingredients i.e. at the molecular or chemical level. If we break down food stuff into their chemical constituents their source is irrelevant I believe.
The plant based cat food I refer to on this page is the product of a chemistry kit. Take all the necessary ingredients in food that a cat needs at a molecular level and put them together. As it happens plants do have proteins. But at the chemical level this is not plant life but a chain of molecules. It’s about chemistry.”
Benevo
The director of Benevo, Damien Eadie, said yesterday that his business, which he founded 13 years ago, is growing and that he is in discussion with major retailers about stocking his product. He denies that there are health issues attached to his product because they have worked with nutritional experts to ensure that it meets the nutrient requirements of cats and dogs.
Vets
He believes that veterinarians who disagree with him are suffering from an ‘unshakeable ideology’. Although I don’t use this particular product and don’t endorse it I have to agree with him.
Mr. Eadie is an ignoranus….stupid and an a**hole. It’s not about ideology it’s about physiology and biochemistry. Cats are not mere carnivores they are OBLIGATE carnivores. Benevo should be outlawed. And, GB must be way different than the USA because harmful, dangerous products are sold in the millions in this country for a profit. Cats need nutrient dense foods which plant-based foods are not. Do people know the significance of having a short digestive tract??!! How about glucuronyll transferases? …phytoalexins?? …phenols?? … nitrogen loss?? …blood ammonia levels?? …carbohydrate load??? Stop treating cats like dogs. They are unique unto themselves. The more I learn about cats the more I think most people shouldn’t own one.
Mr. Eadie is an ignoranus….stupid and an a**hole. It’s not about ideology it’s about physiology and biochemistry. Cats are not mere carnivores they are OBLIGATE carnivores. Benevo should be outlawed. And, GB must be way different than the USA because harmful, dangerous products are sold in the millions in this country for a profit. Cats need nutrient dense foods which plant-based foods are not. Do people know the significance of having a short digestive tract??!! How about glucuronyll transferases? …phytoalexins?? …phenols?? … nitrogen loss?? …blood ammonia levels?? …carbohydrate load??? Stop treating cats like dogs. They are unique unto themselves. The more I learn about cats the more I think most people shouldn’t own one.
You’re wrong I believe. But I respect your views. Why don’t you explain you argument in more detail and in plain language and I’ll create a article from it?
Michael, what do you mean the Anonymous is wrong? He or she is telling that cats are obligate carnivores, that we know they are. Cats have shorter digestive tracks so food stays there for shorter period of time. It takes longer to digest plant based food. Now, I don’t know anything about other stuff he mentions, but lets use some common sense here. Let’s assume some of these companies make a product that they say contain all the nutrients. Do we know that these nutrients are bioavailable? That they are digested the same way? There may also be other enzymes in meat that cats need that we don’t even consider.
It took many years to discover taurine and it was because it was destroyed in cooking. There may be many other nutrients – and combination of nutrients – in meet that cats need that haven’t been studied because maybe they are not destroyed during cooking and cat food contains them.
Look at human studies that showed that while some vitamins are good when consumed as part of food, they are harmful when taken as supplements. Vegan cat foods add many of them as vitamins e.g. B12.
You don’t know what kind of food the cat that died could’ve been fed, you only assume it was homemade. But many health issues that are caused by diet have years to appear. Unless there are long term studies that show that cats who eat supposedly balanced and complete vegan foods live as long, you don’t know. Why do you want to take this risk?
It’s also unethical to impose your ideology on an animal and force an obligate carnivore to eat such an unnatural diet because of your ideology. Not to mention that it doesn’t even make sense. Nobody kills animals just to feed cats, it’d be too expensive. They use leftovers from human foods. So as long as there are people who eat meat, there’ll be more than enough for cat food. The only difference is that this unused food would go into landfills.
I am looking at things from the standpoint of basic ingredients i.e. at the molecular or chemical level. If we break down food stuff into their chemical constituents their source is irrelevant I believe.
The plant based cat food I refer to is the product of a chemistry kit. Take all the necessary ingredients in food that a cat needs at a molecular level and put them together. As it happens plants do have proteins. But at the chemical level this is not plant life but molecules. It’s about chemistry.
The qualities of first class proteins from animal flesh cannot be emulated using second class proteins from plants.
It is the qualities of first class proteins that are essential to all feline species
Which is it, molecular or chemical? A single molecular substance is an element. Once combined with a different molecule, you have chemistry.
Why do humans have to impose their beliefs and ideology onto companion animals? Cats need to eat small furry rodents, small birds. A small lizard will go down a treat. These creatures contain the best nutrient balance for the domestic cat.
Humans domesticated/created this species from a wild desert cat. Why must we tear the cat from its own biology? Allowing cats to protect grain by preying on rodents, feeding cats meat that they did not hunt themselves was a powerful tool in the domestication and development of the species.
Are we so squeamish that we cannot bear to acknowledge the real & true nature of the natural world and only accept an edited, schmaltzy version?
I detest the brutality of the way mammals, fish & birds are produced for human food. I do not eat them. I don’t impose this view on any species I am guardian for. Ever.
Live feeding is illegal in the UK. It is almost impossible to source uncontaminated mice, rats or birds, frozen to feed cats. The same inhumane production issues apply as they do for human food production.
People get hysterical at the thought of a domestic cat efficiently hunting a songbird. They do not understand the full predation sequence. They imbue the cat with irrational human constructs such as enjoyment, torture, deliberate cruelty, just to distance themselves from the reality of nature. Yet they still eat meat, consume dairy, wear leather, drink alcohol where fish have been killed for isinglass to clear wine, use medicines, accept medical procedures developed using non human animals.
Humans happily use medicines and everyday items that billions of other species have paid an agonising, fatal price for, with their lives. We have abused other species this way for all eternity.
Veganism is problematic for me. Especially when it is used to imply superiority over others or risk poor nourishment or neglect of companion animals.
We must not forget the garbage that is known as “prescription diets” flogged to hapless cat carers. It heaves with second class proteins from grains & cereals in percentages way too high for an obligate carnivore. Since just when can such a mammal be well nourished and thrive on a diet that contains 3% protein, with 2% of that provided by maize?
Humans, please let the domesticated species actually be the beings that they are. Accept what they do and their need to be nourished as an essential & joyous part of their being.
All humans need to get over themselves & lose the hypocrisy. That includes me too.
There is no fundamental difference between a home made Vegan diet or commercial Vegan diet assuming they contain the same ingredients determined as essential nutrients. The big problem with both of them is they do not contain high quality proteins obtainable only from meat, fish, or fowl. I see it repeated time after time that people fail to understand that high quality protein such as beef contains all the amino acids required by a carnivore whereas plant protein does not. If a cat is fed a Vegan diet it will die because it cannot synthesize the missing amino acids. Damien Eadie says they have worked with nutritional experts to ensure that it meets the nutrient (nutritional) requirements of cats and dogs without even touching on the importance of high quality protein (all necessary amino acids). I think he is another one who doesn’t have a clue and is a danger to your pets. Given that cats are carnivores the suggestion of a Vegan diet is totally ridiculous. Probably the people who suggest this are Vegans suffering from brain nutrient deprivation due to their inferior diet.
Mr Eddie suffers from Sanctimonia Terminalis. The two main symptoms of this are blindness to biological fact and an obsessive need to exploit other species to obtain money.