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The Available Studies of the Vegan Diet on Cats (lemmy.ca)

submitted 3 months 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:

Vegetarian diet:

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/6/9/57

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[-] foggenbooty@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago

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 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months 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.

[-] iiGxC@slrpnk.net 1 points 3 months ago

[removed by mod]

[-] foggenbooty@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

I haven't seen this brand locally but it does look decently priced. I don't live in the US but I do see a couple specialty stores in Canada that can ship it. I might give it a try. Thanks for thr recommendation :)

[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

Hey, for reasons I briefly go into below, I might consider another brand of cat food. A lot of things on this website point to it being a scam at worst or, at best, written by someone who probably shouldn't be trusted with the delicate balance that is your cat's health on a plant-based diet.

[-] iiGxC@slrpnk.net 0 points 3 months ago

😊😊

[-] lunarul@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

[removed by mod]

[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yeah, I'm removing the comment with that link, because I genuinely do not trust this website; everything on it sounds completely unhinged, and that doesn't inspire confidence in me that they can pull off something so delicate as a plant-based food for cats.

Like the entire site is just bizarre. One of the alleged testimonials from "[REDACTED]" reads:

"[REDACTED]"

Literally what on Earth is this. The site just keeps referencing some single "university study" over and over again and doesn't seem to link to it. The production value for the UI seems high, but the contents frankly come off as some combination of machine generation and psychosis. It's like they took a Katamari through a list of buzzwords.

[-] foggenbooty@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I have to say I am really disappointed with this hand holding form of moderation, treating me as a child that can't make up my own mind on a product. I was able to find that cat food sold through a reputable pet store and now I can't remember the name because you've deleted it. You've decided your opinion trumps my research and that's not how an open forum for discussion should be.

I know you think that animals are going to be harmed and you're trying to do the right thing, but it's simply overplaying your role and blocking discussion. Imagine going into a BDSM community and telling the people there that what they're doing is harmful and they need to see a psychiatrist. Maybe you could be right? But it's not your call.

You should be stopping hateful speach, bullying, and trying to keep illegal content off the server. Sluthing links and deleting posts because they don't match your opinion is simply not the role of a mod. I don't mean to be rude or insult you personally, but these kinds of actions matter and really make me reconsider if this is a community I want to be a part of if it is run this way.

[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

It's trivially obvious the website is a scam. The entire site is in all-caps, the UI is jank as hell, it just nonsensically repeats buzzwords all over the place with no rhyme or reason, it constantly references a single study that I can't even verify exists, the reviews are so obviously fake it hurts because their English is just as broken as the website's and they throw out the same buzzwords in the same manner, it's full of unfounded superlatives like "the healthiest" and "the longest life", and just in general, there is a complete lack of professionalism or coherency that I would expect from any reputable storefront, again let alone one which is trying to walk the fine line of selling vegan cat food. Even disregarding LW ToS rule 8.1 which that website unambiguously fails to meet, it's our duty as vegans to reduce the suffering we cause for animals as far as possible, and that includes not leaving up – I emphasize – obvious links to scam sites for their food.

I did some digging, however, into the doctor that the scam website keeps referencing. It turns up this website which seems to actually have accredited professionals behind it and actually reads like coherent English written by a person not in the midst of psychosis. It also says it was founded in 1989, which is the same year the scam site claims to have been founded. Thus, I believe that the website linked to before was essentially trying to be a scam/bootleg version of petdiets.com, although to what end I'm unsure. Mystery ostensibly solved, @lunarul. petdiets.com doesn't seem to actually sell their own cat food but rather seems to perform individualized consultations for pets.

The comment is staying deleted; your analogy makes no sense because it's your cat's health on the line here, not your own. This community does not and will not host links to scammers masquerading as veterinary nutritionists.

[-] foggenbooty@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

You may be 100% right in your assessment of the scam. I can't argue otherwise because you deleted the URL, so you win by default.

[-] jol@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 3 months ago

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 3 months ago

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 3 months ago

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 3 months 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 3 months ago

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

[-] JubilantJaguar@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

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 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

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 3 months ago

Ha! Funny. Thanks for the insight.

[-] iiGxC@slrpnk.net 1 points 3 months ago

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

this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2024

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