A recent report has brought to light the rising popularity of plant-based diets for pets. And it’s not just vegans feeding their pets animal-free food – nearly one in 10 meat-eaters are too. 

The report is the result of a collaboration between ProVeg International, Innova Market Insights, and researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Ghent University. 

They aimed to better understand European consumers’ attitudes towards plant-based foods, with a specific focus on flexitarianism. “Flexitarian” refers to those who eat largely plant-based but occasionally consume animal products.

The results

More than 7,500 people participated in the survey, coming from 10 European countries. These were Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, and the UK. 

Most (57 percent) of the sample had an animal living with them. Vegetarians were most likely to have a pet, while vegans were the least likely. 

Of the vegans who did have an animal companion, more than a third (34 percent) fed their pets a plant-based diet. 

Twenty-four percent of pescatarians (those who eat fish but no other meat types) fed their pets a vegan diet, while 17 percent of vegetarians did. 

Fourteen percent of flexitarians and nine percent of meat-eaters had a vegan pet too.

It comes as a newly published report reveals that the vegan pet food market is set to hit US $15,651.22 million by 2028. This is with a CAGR of 7.7 percent from this year until then. 

To read more about vegan diets for dogs, see here.