Can pets be vegetarian?

Our views on vegetarianism for pets

There is growing public interest in feeding pets a vegetarian diet, out of concern for farmed animals.

If you feed a meat-based diet, we would encourage you to consider the welfare of the animals used to make the meat. For vegetarian foods, make sure that you think of the welfare of the chickens and cows that produce any eggs and milk included.

 

Providing a suitable vegetarian diet

It is important for owners to ensure they provide a suitable diet and consider possible effects that vegetarian or vegan diets may have.

If you are thinking of feeding your pet a vegetarian diet, it is important that you consult your vet to ensure that your pet is receiving all of the nutrients he/she needs.

You also need to ensure that you avoid your dog or cat putting on too much weight.

 

Vegetarian dog

Dogs are really omnivores and can eat a wide variety of food types. Dogs can survive on vegetarian diets as long as their owner makes sure the diet is balanced and contains enough – but not too much – of all the nutrients that dogs need.

 
If a balanced diet is not provided, this may result in illness, particularly through malnutrition. Dogs are probably less healthy on vegan diets, and such diets need extra careful expert checking.

Vegetarian cat

Unlike dogs, cats are strict carnivores! They need vital nutrients that come from meat, especially taurine, vitamin A and arachidonic acid. This makes it very difficult to feed balanced vegetarian diets to cats, and commercially-available vegetarian diets may use taurine from meat sources.

Although cats do need some vegetation in order to have a balanced diet, this shouldn't form the bulk of a cat's diet.

Your cat may sometimes eat vegetation such as grass (which they would normally get from the intestines of herbivore prey animals). This can be normal, but can also be a sign of illness, if you are concerned speak to your vet.
 

Herbivore pets

It is important to remember that some pets are naturally vegetarians, for example rabbits and horses. These species should be fed a lot of forage (grass and hay) and any other supplements should be plant-based.

For more information on feeding your pets visit our pets pages.
 

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Owners have a legal duty to ensure their pets eat a suitable diet as one of the five welfare needs under the Animal Welfare Act.