Wouldn't you know it...!
Of course, as soon as I sent out the last newsletter, I realized I got one thing wrong… and two others immediately popped up!
Cat Grass TODAY! First, I realized that my YouTube live discussion with the Crazy Cat Ladies is TODAY, not Thursday! (When you work from home, all days are the same!!). Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/live/-y4JoDeQ0Ns?si=Xl2ldxxeQxXbEBHY
Fleas! Then, I got a great question from one of our Holistic Actions! members about fleas. It’s getting late in the year for some of us, but if you’re in the South or on the Gulf Coast, flea season never ends. So I thought I’d share the link to my article on Little Big Cat about natural flea control with you. https://littlebigcat.com/natural-flea-control-for-dogs-cats/
“Study” on Vegan Diets for Cats. Fortunately, this study hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, because it doesn’t deserve much, but we should talk about it. Two faculty members and an associate at the University of Winchester in the UK got together and surveyed about 1400 cat guardians about their experiences feeding their cats a vegan diet. None of the authors are veteriarians. Two are statisticians. But hey, it’s an opportunity to push a vegan agenda!
There are so many holes in this study as to make it essentially worthless. Going through it very quickly, here are a few:
Lack of dietary controls. First, a minimum of one year feeding vegan only. Long-term nutrient deficiencies can take longer to manifest. Additionally, 58% of the cats were “mostly” indoors; the rest were mostly outdoors, or indoor-outdoor. Any cat that goes outdoors is quite capable of catching and eating prey, scrounging food or treats from the neighbors, etc.
Selection bias - the researchers decide who they will study. Participants were recruited mainly through Facebook (including paid Facebook ads). There were 1400 survey participants (988 cats met inclusion criteria), but only 9% fed a vegan diet.
Self-reporting bias. The people who participate in surveys like this are not average and certainly not representative of all cat guardians. They (like all humans) have a tendency recognize only those results that support their own beliefs (confirmation bias).
Non-objective criteria. Self-reporting is notorious for bias — the survey finds that vegan cats have a lower prevalence of common health problems, as reported by the guardians.
Tortured statistical analyses. Thirty-two conditions were assessed. The differences were very small; only one reached statistical significance (kidney disease—which vegan cats were more likely to suffer from), barely. This, despite many statistical manipulations being performed on the data.
Diet standards. Most survey respondents were from the UK, where pet food standards are different. In the US, vegan pet foods have routinely been found to be deficient in one or more nutrients. Guardians were not asked if the foods and treats they were using met either US (AAFCO) or European (FEDIAF) nutritional standards.
The authors repeatedly state that data not reaching statistical significance could be called a “tendency” or “strong tendency.” In science, there is no such thing. The wishy-washy language throughout the paper is telling.
The authors admit that the vegan cats were about 2 years younger than the meat-eating group, which may be a factor in why they reportedly had fewer health problems. Almost all feline diseases increase in number and development with age.
If you want to read the study for yourself, do pay attention to how many disclaimers the authors use! https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0284132
Sacred Paws Summit. This free event was just announced right after I sent the newsletter, lol! Check out all the amazing speakers (hey, they even let me in there!)! https://www.holisticactions.com/pet-summit-2023/
Perry can hardly believe I had to send out 2 newsletters in a row because I messed up!
