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:
-
https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/vetn.2022.13.6.252
-
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253292
-
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284132
Vegetarian diet:
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.
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.
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.
A lot of vegans will downvote coming from a sort of “pick-me” vegan place
Not getting the reference. You mean they see even a discussion around the idea the that cats can be vegan as sacrilege?
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
Ha! Funny. Thanks for the insight.