Vegan Cats and Dogs Will Benefit the Environment, Study Claims

Amal Chen/The Epoch Times

With the rise in plant-based diets, a peer-reviewed study has suggested that household cats and pooches should also go vegan, saying this would have profound environmental impacts.

Veterinary and study author Andrew Knight said a switch to planet-friendly diets for dogs and cats would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save water, and use less land.

“We’ve long known that plant-based diets are better for the planet, but have not seriously considered the impacts of pet food,” Dr. Knight, a professor at Griffith University said.

“However, pet food has profound environmental impacts. Conversely, very large environmental benefits can be achieved by nutritionally sound vegan pet food.” 

With pets comprising 10 percent of the global population and their numbers growing, they also contribute significantly to the consumption of livestock animals.

“Hence, the impacts of pet food should not be discounted when considering environmental impacts of diets,” Dr. Knight said. 

“Conversely, great benefits for environmental sustainability can be realised through the use of nutritionally-sound vegan diets for dogs and cats, as well as for people.”

By 2023, the vegan dog food market was valued at US$14 billion and was expected to reach US$26 billion by 2033.

“Pet owners who care about the environment or their animals’ health should consider nutritionally sound vegan pet food,” Dr. Knight concluded.

“However, to safeguard health, it is important that people feed only commercial diets labelled as nutritionally complete, produced by reputable companies with good standards.”

Is Vegan Pet Food Nutritious for Animals?

Evidence that veganism meets the nutritional needs of pets is lacking, says veterinarian Lee Pickett from North Carolina.

Cats, for instance, require meat-based diets, and their stomachs and intestines are ill-suited to processing the starches and fiber found in plants.

“Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning they require meat. They have evolved to eat small rodents, so their teeth and jaws are designed to grasp and tear prey, not chew and grind plant material,” Dr. Pickett previously told The Epoch Times.

Plant-based diets also lack important nutrients like methionine, which cats need in large quantities or they suffer dermatitis and poor growth.

“Another example is arachidonic acid, a fatty acid found in animals but not plants that is needed for the proper function of the brain, muscles, and immune system,” she said.

Furthermore, carnivores like cats handle vitamins differently from omnivores.

“Omnivores can ingest beta-carotene in plants to make vitamin A, but cats don’t have this metabolic pathway, so they need to ingest vitamin A itself, which is found only in meat. Cats also can’t make vitamin D in their skin as humans do, so they need a dietary source, like liver or animal fat,” she said.

Additionally, meat-based diets make urine more acidic, whereas plant-based diets make it alkaline, potentially increasing the formation of urinary stones that can obstruct the urinary tract, especially in male cats.

Funded by the Food System Research Fund, pet food company Wild Earth, and the food awareness organisation ProVeg International, the study on veganism for pets was published on Oct. 4 in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.