Anyone who has taken on the task of caring for a cat naturally wants to do it as well as possible. You want your cat to lack nothing. In addition, the choice of food has an effect on the environment and on the lives of other animals. So here are the five benefits of vegan cat food.
1. Saves animal lives
Cats eat a lot of cat food throughout their lives and most cats eat meat. Out research It has been found that all dogs and cats together eat 25% of the total meat consumed in America. That's a lot of animal lives!
2. Better for the environment
One of the most important steps to combating climate change is a shift to a plant-based diet. Animal products have a much greater impact on the environment than vegetable products, see the graph below. There you see the greenhouse gas emissions per 100 grams of protein per product. Large numbers of scientists write in various reports from, among others, the United Nations and the World Resource Institute, that a shift to a plant-based diet is needed in the fight against global warming.
3. No toxic substances
Farm animals are given hormones and antibiotics to grow faster and protect them against all kinds of diseases. The use of antibiotics is problematic because it makes bacteria resistant. This means that when cats (and people) get sick from bacteria, antibiotics no longer help. In addition, the meat used for animal feed is mixed with other – sometimes contaminated – products that are not considered suitable for human consumption. For example, think of skins, hooves, horns, feathers, hair, but also food scraps and kitchen waste. The latter can, for example, be old restaurant grease with high concentrations of dangerous free radicals, trans fatty acids, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), heavy metals and other toxins that can end up in animal feed.
Veterinarian Dr. Andrew Knight has examined and treated many thousands of animals for over ten years as a practicing veterinarian and has become convinced that the rate of diseases such as cancer, kidney and liver disease is much higher than would occur naturally in dogs and cats fed meat. . (PetfoodInnovation. 2012). These types of substances do not end up in plant-based animal feed.
4. It's healthy
Vegan cat food contains all the nutrients a cat needs to live a long and healthy life. FEDIAF is the European trade association that has drawn up a guideline with minimum and sometimes maximum amounts for the nutrients that cat food must contain. This list has been drawn up by a group of scientists and is regularly updated. It contains an overview of nutrients and not from ingredients. So it doesn't matter where the nutrients come from, as long as they're in it. This means that it is not necessary for cat food to contain meat. All the nutrients a cat needs can also be obtained via a vegetable route or can be added, such as synthetic taurine (which is exactly the same taurine that is also added to meat food for cats). To be able to call a food complete, the food must meet the amounts stated in the FEDIAF guidelines be called. The complete foods that VegaVriend sells comply with this, and therefore contain all the nutrients that cats need to be able to lead a long and healthy life.
5. Vegan cat food is delicious!
The persistent idea that cats only want to eat food that contains meat is a myth. Even the idea that all cats prefer meat food over vegan kibble is incorrect. Not only have we heard so many stories of cats choosing the vegan kibble over the food they ate before, it has also been scientifically researched. The conclusion of the research: The view that vegan pet food would be less palatable and thus compromise the well-being of dogs and cats is not supported by the results of this study.
Cats eat everything and all have their own preferences. Some cats are very picky, others not at all. There are especially for this trial bags so that your cat can choose which food he or she likes best.
For the really picky eaters you can always cook for yourself! Use a supplement for this and follow the special recipes for these meals. Find all information about it here home cooking supplements for cats.
Would you like to read how cats experience our food? Check out our page with experiences with vegan pet food.