Last Updated: 16/09/2026
Can Cats Be Vegan? Vet's Guide to Plant-Based Cat Food
Can cats be vegan? Our vet explains why vegan and vegetarian cat food isn't recommended, and what alternatives exist.
Author: Dr Gillian Hill BVSc (Hons)
Reading Time: 5 minutes - short read
Plenty of pet parents who eat plant-based want the same for their cat, and it's a fair question to ask. Here's the honest answer, plus what options actually exist if you want to reduce your cat's reliance on meat.
Cats are obligate carnivores, so a fully vegan diet isn't suitable for them. Unlike dogs, cats can't make enough of certain nutrients, like taurine and arachidonic acid, from plant ingredients alone, and going without them long term can cause serious health problems. There's currently no vegan cat food sold in Australia that's independently verified as complete and balanced to AAFCO or FEDIAF standards. Some plant-forward options do exist, like pescatarian diets and vet-prescribed diets that use plant protein, but these are different things to a truly vegan diet.
Can cats be vegan?
No, cats can't be truly vegan and stay healthy long term. Cats are obligate carnivores, which means their bodies are built to run on nutrients found in animal tissue, not plants. Crucial elements - such as taurine, arachidonic acid, retinol, vitamin B12, and the amino acids methionine and cysteine - are either entirely absent or possess limited bioavailability in plant sources. In addition, such diets can naturally shift urinary pH toward alkalinity, posing a significant risk for cats predisposed to struvite crystal formation.
Dogs have the internal enzyme pathways capable of converting certain plant-derived precursors into complex nutrients, but cats can't do this efficiently1. They need these nutrients pre-formed, and in nature that only comes from meat. This is a big part of why cats should not eat dog food, even though we often feed and think about them the same way.
What are the risks of a vegan diet for cats?
The main risk is nutrient deficiency, and the effects can be serious. Taurine deficiency is linked to dilated cardiomyopathy (a type of heart disease) and retinal degeneration, which can cause blindness. Not enough arachidonic acid can affect skin, coat and reproductive health. Cats also need specific amino acids like arginine in a single meal, since they can't store them the way some other species can. These deficiencies tend to build up slowly, so a cat on an unbalanced diet can look fine for months before problems show up. That's why we don't recommend vegan diets for cats, or home-made diets without close veterinary supervision.
What plant-based options are available for cats?
There's currently no vegan or vegetarian cat food available in Australia that's a genuine complete and balanced replacement for a meat-based diet. If you're wanting to move away from traditional meat sources, a pescatarian diet built around fish is a more realistic middle ground than going fully plant-based, since fish still supplies the animal-derived nutrients cats need.
This is a different story to dogs, who can do well on a properly formulated vegan dog food guide thanks to their more flexible digestion. If you're simply after the best all-round diet for your cat rather than a plant-based one specifically, our guide to choosing the right cat food is a good next stop.
Are there vet-prescribed diets with plant protein?
Yes, though these are used for allergy management rather than ethical reasons. Royal Canin Hypoallergenic uses hydrolysed soy protein isolate as their main protein source, broken down into pieces small enough that a cat's immune system is less likely to react to it. However, this diet does also include animal fat, fish oil and hydrolysed poulty liver, so it cannot be considered vegan or vegetarian. Similarly, Royal Canin Anallergenic is made using feather rather than meat protein, but it also contains fish oil and animal fats.
These diets are prescribed for cats with suspected food allergies, usually as part of a strict elimination trial, and still include animal-derived ingredients to meet a cat's full nutrient needs. Your vet can talk you through whether a prescription diet like this is right for your cat.
What does the research say about vegan diets for cats?
Current evidence on vegan diets for cats is limited and mostly observational, so it doesn't change our advice. A 2023 study2 surveyed guardians of 1,369 cats fed either a meat-based or vegan diet, and in most cases found no significant difference in overall illness between the two groups based on owner reports. There was only one disease for which a significant statistical difference was observed: cats fed a vegan diet were slightly more likely to have kidney disease. It's an interesting study, but it relied on guardian recall rather than veterinary exams, the vegan cat group was small (only 9% of the total) and younger on average, and it didn't test whether the diets themselves met nutrient standards. It also doesn't specify how long the cats had been fed their specific diet, and this is problematic as we know nutritional deficiencies take time to develop.
Until there's stronger clinical evidence, we recommend sticking with balanced, meat-based nutrition for cats and having a chat with your vet before making any major diet change.
In summary: cats are obligate carnivores, and there's no way around their need for animal-derived nutrients like taurine and arachidonic acid. A fully vegan diet isn't recommended for cats in Australia right now, but pescatarian diets and vet-prescribed plant-protein diets (for allergy management) may offer some middle ground. If you're considering any major change to your cat's diet, your vet is the best person to guide you through it safely.
FAQs
References
Li P, Wu G. Amino acid nutrition and metabolism in domestic cats and dogs. J Anim Sci Biotechnol. 2023 Feb 21;14(1):19. doi: 10.1186/s40104-022-00827-8. PMID: 36803865; PMCID: PMC9942351. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9942351/
Knight A, Bauer A, Brown H. Vegan versus meat-based cat food: Guardian-reported health outcomes in 1,369 cats, after controlling for feline demographic factors. PLoS One. 2023 Sep 13;18(9):e0284132. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284132. PMID: 37703240; PMCID: PMC10499249. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37703240/
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History
Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space and we update our articles when new information becomes available.
Wed 16 Sep 2026
Written by Dr Gillian Hill BVSc (Hons)Dr Gillian Hill BVSc (Hons)
Veterinarian
Dr. Gillian graduated from the University of Sydney in 2005 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science. She worked in a number of small animal clinics, before joining the Pet Circle Vet team in 2020. Dr. Gillian has special interests in ultrasonography, surgery and behaviour. Her favourite part of being a vet is being an advocate for the animals. She loves helping owners to make the best, evidence-based decisions for their pets, and seeing the beautiful bond that people have with their fur-babies.
