Impacts of a vegan diet on body weight and related health disorders in 1,305 cats: an exploratory cross-sectional survey

IntroductionOverweight and obesity are common in domestic cats, and are associated with a range of adverse health outcomes.MethodsTo investigate the impact of a vegan diet on body weight and related health disorders, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey and analyzed carer-reported veterinary assessments concerning 1,305 cats. We compared the data regarding cats fed conventional meat-based (90.3% - 1,178) and vegan (9.7% - 127) diets for at least one year. The body weight related disorders assessed included overweight, underweight, osteoarthritis/arthritis, intervertebral disc disease, other mobility disorders and other musculoskeletal problems. Results and discussionCats fed vegan diets showed lower odds of being classified as overweight compared to those fed a meat-based diet. In unadjusted analyses, odds of being overweight were 24% lower. These were 34% lower after adjustment for age, sex, neuter status, activity and feeding practices. However, these estimates were not statistically significant and confidence intervals were wide due to relatively low observed numbers of vegan-fed cats. Lower odds of being underweight were also observed but were not statistically significant. No vegan-fed cats suffered from any of the other body weight-related disorders assessed, which may have been due to the relatively low numbers of vegan-fed cats included in the survey. This low prevalence precluded statistical comparison for these secondary outcomes. Overall, cats fed vegan diets had lower rates of body weight-related disorders within this sample. This result persisted when incorporating cats fed a raw meat diet into the analysis. However, given the small number of cases combined with the moderately sized vegan-fed group, these findings should be interpreted cautiously and considered exploratory.