Cats are obligate carnivores with specific nutritional requirements that plant-based diets cannot fully meet, raising welfare questions about vegan cat food and the ethics of dietary choice for companion animals.
Cats fed inadequate diets suffer from preventable nutritional deficiencies causing serious health problems including blindness, heart failure, and neurological disease. The ethical tension between reducing animal product consumption and meeting obligate carnivore requirements is genuine and lacks a simple resolution. Owner welfare preferences cannot override nutritional needs that are fundamental to cat health.