Following the publication of a study about the health benefits of a vegan diet for domestic cats, the news media have jumped on the bandwagon and published headlines which I fear will be misleading to many people. I have written about this study which you can read by clicking on this link. It’s not a great study. There are weaknesses in it. I think people should read my article on it.
Note: there are a lot of articles on this site about the feline diet and, in this instance, veganism. There are image links to some of them at the base of this article. If you are interested, please read one or two.
The reason why news media can be misleading is because they don’t emphasise strongly enough the fact that a simple vegan diet is very dangerous for a domestic cat. A vegan diet for a cat is not the same as a vegan diet for a person. That’s the point I want to make. And it is the point that is NOT being made by news media in their headlines or in their summaries at the top of the page, in, for example, the Mail Online article.
This headline from the MAIL ONLINE is misleading
Humans versus cats
Humans can eat a vegan diet; they can eat vegetables and be healthier because the human-animal is an omnivore. The domestic cat is a carnivore. I’m sure you been told many times that the domestic cat is an “obligate carnivore.”
This means that they must eat the flesh of animals. BUT the important point is this that domestic cats can live off plant protein when combined with the addition of essential nutrients such as arginine and taurine to name two.
Domestic cats can be vegans provided their diet has been made balanced and complete with the addition of these nutrients by the pet food manufacturers. You cannot simply give cats a vegan diet in an ad hoc way at home. I stress, you can’t make a home-made vegan diet of your cat. It would be very dangerous. And it is essential that you don’t try to do that. Your cat would become seriously ill in time. Anyway, they probably wouldn’t eat it. If they are allowed outside, they’d probably rely on hunted foods.
You will have to rely upon the pet food manufacturers to provide your cat with a vegan diet if you want to go down the vegan/vegetarian route. There is a dry cat food on the market which is described as vegan (see above) which you can try by all means but it is not wise, in my view, to provide your cat with a dry food diet only. It’s just too dry and the domestic cat doesn’t compensate enough for that dryness by drinking more. So, you’ve got to add some wet food as well.
This page is a simple warning about this study and the news media picking up on it. I know that I have rabbited on and waffled but it needs to be said and emphasised.
Another fine article Michael. You begin… “Following the publication of a study about the health benefits of a vegan diet for domestic cats, the news media have jumped on the bandwagon and published headlines which I fear will be misleading to many people.”
Here’s another example of the birth and evolution of societal mass formation psychosis. The original study was questionably incomplete at best. Yet subsequent countless news articles started to completely spin and distort it to favor whichever ‘side’ of the ‘argument’ they are on. The spin gets out of control… a narrative accumulates… and ‘BAM’, a New Truth is born irregardless of the real truth.
Cats are obligate carnivores. Some people may not like it, but that’s the real truth.
Thanks Doug.