Vegan food for your cat: a good idea or not?
A vegan lifestyle is perfectly normal in 2024. After all, we can live healthily without blocks of cheese, meat and dairy. But some people take their pets along in the slipstream of their own diet. Hold on a minute: is a vegan diet for cats really a good idea?
There are plenty of reasons to choose a plant-based diet. For example, vegan food helps prevent a great deal of animal suffering. But the fact that we humans can thrive on a vegan diet does not mean that our pets can too. Cats in particular cannot.
Carnivore
A cat is essentially a carnivore. Cats need more protein and amino acids because their bodies break these down quickly. And because this happens quickly, they are also more susceptible to deficiencies. An essential amino acid for cats is taurine, which is found only in animal products. Vitamin A and B12 (found mainly in liver and oily fish) are also essential for these animals to live healthily.
Some animals can produce both vitamins and taurine themselves (partly). Cats cannot. They therefore have to get them from their food. If they do not get enough, deficiencies develop that can lead to blindness, heart failure, reduced ability to recover and impaired intestinal function.
A tin of tuna? Yes, please!
So despite their cuddly and adorable appearance, cats are tough carnivores. You can leave that tin of tuna for yourself on the shelf, but if you want your cat to lead a healthy, happy life, it is probably best to put it in your basket after all.
Read also:
- One twin went vegan, the other didn’t: this is the difference
- The sobering truth about vegan cheese
- Eating vegan within the Arctic Circle is almost impossible
Source: dierenarts.nl
