18/09/2026
I have nothing against a vegan lifestyle. I will never push a lifestyle of eating meat. That is to say, when it comes to humans.
I do oppose the opinion, yes opinion, not fact, that cats are just as healthy when they are on a strictly vegan diet.
I especially oppose charlatans as Andrew Knight. I cannot believe a veterinary professor is claiming cats can thrive on a plant based diet. He conducts bad science and uses poorly designed studies which upon detailed reading support nothing of the sort.
According to the professor:
"Are cats obligate carnivores?
Yes. That means that in their natural environments, they needed to hunt/kill prey animals to survive.
Is that relevant to modern domesticated house cats fed diets comprised of ingredients they'd never naturally eat (e.g. fish, farmed animals, plants, vitamin additives, flavorants, colorants, etc), in unnatural formulations (e.g. kibble), at unnatural times (e.g. twice daily or 'at will' - always available)? No, it's not very relevant."
I mean what the fluff?!
He blatantly misleads owners, this time by confusing digestibility with bioavailability. We know cats, be it somewhat poorly, can digest plant matter. We also know they simply cannot extract all necessary nutrients from plant diets and eventually will suffer serious health issues.
Trust me, if a million dollar/euro industry such as the major pet food manufacturers could have found this to be true, meat would have been long gone from the ingredient-list, as it's way more expensive.
Yet, despite many years of serious research, they still include meat.
It's always the vegan lobby, prof. Knight doesn't really hide his true agenda. The problem is that the media will pick this up and without a thought, in order to generate clicks, publish simple headlines 'Vegtables only for Kitty? New study says it's healthy'.
Prof. Knight is actively promoting a potential health risk for dogs and especially cats, and he is fully aware that his conduct is not fitting for a professor in animal welfare. He should set the example and uphold methodological research, but on this subject, he is just doing bad science. Shame.
