Vegan pet diets have historically been controversial, as dogs and cats are biologically omnivores and carnivores respectively. However, due to the demands of consumers concerned about farmed animal welfare and environmental sustainability, increasing numbers of pet food companies are now producing vegan diets excluding any animal products. These aim to supply all nutritional needs using plant-sourced ingredients, and supplements of minerals, vitamins and amino acids, amongst others.
However, a recent study by Daina et al. () asserted nutritional inadequacies in vegan pet diets. The study based its conclusions on the analysis of only three specific diets—a sample insufficient to draw conclusions about the nutritional soundness of all vegan pet diets. Nutritional unsoundness is also not uncommon among nonvegan pet diets (). Although diets in each group may be nutritionally sound or unsound, depending on the quality of diet formulation and manufacturing, systemic differences between vegan and meat-based pet foods appear minimal in this respect. In fact, a recent survey of 29 pet food manufacturers (many more than examined by Daina et al.), which examined steps taken to ensure nutritional soundness and diet quality, found that 10 plant-based pet foods had slightly higher standards overall, than 19 meat-based pet foods (). The former were more—not less—likely to be nutritionally sound.
Furthermore, the gold standard test for nutritional adequacy is animal health and longevity. Ten studies in dogs (–) and three in cats (–) have found that vegan diets produce health outcomes as good or better than nonvegan diets. The palatability of vegan pet diets appears comparable to that of meat-based diets (), and nutritionally-sound vegan diets for dogs and cats offer major benefits for environmental sustainability ().
The sweeping claims made by Daina et al. concerning the nutritional unsoundness of vegan pet diets are inconsistent with the evidence in this field, and incorrect. Given the positive health outcomes for dogs and cats maintained on nutritionally-sound vegan diets, and the substantial environmental benefits such diets may offer, the use of such diets should be supported.
Statements
Author contributions
FH: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AK: Investigation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. BS: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Investigation.
Funding
The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The open access publication fee was paid by Representing Animals. However this funder played no role in study conceptualization, design, data collection and analysis, preparation of the resultant manuscript, nor decisions relating to publication.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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Summary
Keywords
vegan, pet, nutrition, dog, cat, veterinary, plant-based, vegetarian
Citation
Harsini F, Knight A and Smith B (2024) Should dogs and cats be fed vegan diets?. Front. Vet. Sci. 11:1430743. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1430743
Received
10 May 2024
Accepted
18 July 2024
Published
01 August 2024
Volume
11 - 2024
Edited by
Arda Yildirim, Gaziosmanpaşa University, Türkiye
Reviewed by
Ercan Mevliyaoğullari, Middle East Technical University, Türkiye
Updates
Copyright
© 2024 Harsini, Knight and Smith.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Faraz Harsini drfarazharsini@alliedscholars.orgAndrew Knight andrew.knight@murdoch.edu.auBenny Smith benny@alliedscholars.org
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.