In July 2024, the British Veterinary Association announced it had ended its opposition to “nutritionally sound” vegan pet diets. How does that track with pet owner acceptance and usage of such pet foods, along with vegetarian and other plant-based ones?
The numbers are still small but interest is growing, according to data. For example, NielsenIQ found a 70.2% jump in online searches for plant-based claims in pet food from 2022 to 2023. For vegetarian or vegan diets, the increase was 23.4%.
In a survey of pet owners in Canada, France, the U.K. and the U.S. by Yummypets and Pets International magazine, 40% said they were likely to purchase pet food with vegan or plant-based ingredients, third only to probiotics (at 63%) and eggs (51%) among the choices presented. Other protein-related ingredients included yeast (28% likely to purchase), algae (27%) and insects (21%).
A small survey of U.S. dog owners conducted by Bond Pet Foods, which offers fermented protein to pet food companies, showed similar ranges of respondents willing to consider proteins like microalgae (37.8%) and brewer’s yeast (27.6%).
Unsurprisingly, the willingness is highest for ingredients that consumers are familiar with and likely to be consuming themselves. Kerry, an ingredient company supplying both the human and pet food industries, shared data showing vegan and plant based ranking among the top nutrition themes and claims for human food for the past five years, with vegetarian claims also emerging as a key theme.
Another factor is up-and-coming age groups of pet owners. In 2023, Packaged Facts found a 13% usage rate for vegetarian pet foods among U.S. pet owners was largely driven by millennials and gen Z, who used such diets at a 19% rate — 17 percentage points more than the 2% for boomer pet owners.
Yet 19% is still pretty low, and many pet owners seem slow to warm to alternative proteins for their pets’ diets. In the Yummypets survey, 32% said they’re unlikely to purchase foods with vegan or plant-based ingredients, while 28% said the same for yeast. (Insect protein was even worse.) And the Bond survey showed 30.7% saying they wouldn’t consider any of the proteins named.
The key likely lies with those pet owners in the “I don’t know” category highlighted by Yummypets: a full 44% unsure if they would purchase pet foods with yeast, 40% for algae, 28% for vegan/plant based. As with many new and innovative things, education is the key.