If this is possible for dog food, would it be possible for cats as well?
I get the feeling that dogs would more easily accept a new diet than cats.
this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2025
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I have seen at least 11 studies for dogs and 4 for cats supporting the evidence that a plant-based diet can be healthy. But one must buy the pet food that has the essential nutrients such as b12 and taurine.
For cats? Are you sure? I read the exact opposite
Recent studies in the last 3 years point to the contrary as synthetic taurine, b12 and vitamin a can be provided in a plant-based diet through the form of reputable kibble.
Sources:
https://bmcvetres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12917-021-02754-8
https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/vetn.2022.13.6.252
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0253292
https://www.mdpi.com/2306-7381/10/1/52
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0284132
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402411609X
Thank you! I will read into that.
Like all creatures, cats require specific nutrients, not ingredients. 'Obligate' carnivore is not a thing. But regardless, there should be far fewer domestic cats.
You're correct. Cats are obligate carnivores. It's literally abuse to not feed them meat, so they don't really jive with a vegan lifestyle regardless of your views on animal companionship.
Cats cant be vegan it's a philosophy however they can thrive on a plant-based diet.
I was not discussing the philosophy of cats. Cats can not survive, let alone thrive, on a plant based diet. They require meat as a part of their biology.
https://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/pet-talk/cats-are-carnivores-so-they-should-eat-like-one/
I was not discussing the philosophy of cats.
You literally just said " they don’t really jive with a vegan lifestyle" They can't chose it for themselves.
They require meat as a part of their biology.
That's not necessarily true, they just need the nutrients. Research in the last 4 years contradicts that claim.
I think there may be a language barrier here. Stating cats don't "jive with a vegan lifestyle" is referring to the lifestyle of the individual with the cat, not the opinions cat themselves. A few studies in a controlled environment were they kept cats alive is not the same as what's best for the cats. There are definitely ethical concerns with attempting that at home.
You’re calling cats “vegan” when that’s not possible.
A cat isn’t going to care about the animals they hunt.
I literally didn't. There is clearly a barrier that can't be surpassed here, so I'll disengage. Best of luck to you.
CATS ARE CARNIVORES. It’s abusive and dangerous to make a cat into a vegan.
Dogs can do it, but you must be careful.
to make a cat into a vegan.
Cats are completely unable to agree to the tenets of veganism. They're just felines who want good nutritious food.
Dogs can do it, but you must be careful.
Talk to your vet first.
But one must buy
In practice, in today's world, yes, but in theory one could and preferably would exchange such items of value without the use of fiat currency, no? (I remember reading that supplementing another amino acid was also beneficial for cats, but I can never remember if it was carnosine or carnitine...)
I would say that poses another question. Is it possible for formulated companion food to be created small scale enough in a community that can be bartered? A vet would have to test for the nutrient requirements.
I don't mean that it would need to be formulated and produced on the local community level; even if production were more centralised, it could be traded/distributed outside of the capitalist monetary system if the people involved were so inclined. Again, in theory, not necessarily in a world so tightly controlled by industrial capitalism as that of today. I'd say that "one would need to acquire" rather than "one must buy" in the sense that nutrition requirements are what they are, independently of the monetary system. The last thing that we need is for people to justify non-human exploitation on the basis that the vegan alternative requires supporting a shadowy paedophilic corporate elite.
(I looked it up, and it was L-carnosine that was beneficial but not strictly essential. Also mycoprotein would make more sense than legumes for methionine intake and urine acidity.)
Very few western vegans want to imagine that, in a vegan world, domestic pets would go the way of domestic livestock. But a world that takes animal rights seriously is not a world that uses animals for human pleasure, whether that pleasure comes from food or companionship. Vegans aren't "pet owners" because vegans don't see animals as things to be owned.
Which is all to say, healthy plant based pet food may or may not be possible, but either way it's not going to be vegan.
I don't own my dog. She is my roommate and best friend. If anyone doesn't respect that then that's the end of our conversation.
I have the feeling that nutritional choices are one of the strongest levers we can pull as individuals to reduce our footprint. I'm vegetarian (with occasional fish) and my dog mostly eats vegetarian wet food (with a balanced nutritional value, lentils as protein). The dry food is still made with meat (we mix in a veggie one when we find a good offer). He is the most uncomplicated eater so I guess we could shift even more towards full vegan, but my understanding is that pet food producers (outside of extremely luxury brands) are working mostly with the byproducts of the meat industry for humans, and it will also naturally shift as that industry shrinks.