A cross-sectional study of owner-reported health in Canadian and American cats fed meat- and plant-based diets

BMC Veterinary Research

Table 5 Factors influencing pet food purchasing as reported by participants in the “Pet Health and Wellbeing” survey, with comparison between owners of cats fed different diets

Criteria	Total		MB		PB		PB+MB
Criteria	n = 1025	%	n = 667	%	n = 187	%	n = 69	%
Complete and balanced	775	70	462	69^a	151	81^b	51	74^a,b
Convenience	321	29	198	30	51	27	23	33
Human grade	150	14	84	13^a	39	21^b	7	10^a
Natural/organic/holistic	327	30	152	23^a	95	51^b	36	52^b
Palatability	316	29	218	33^a	47	25^b	16	23^b
Price	314	28	204	31^a	42	22^b	22	32^a
Skin/coat/hairball health	272	25	174	26	44	24	11	16
Specific ingredients	156	14	115	17^a	21	11^b	4	5.8^b
Stool quality	133	12	83	12	25	13	8	12
Therapeutic/vet recommended	186	17	144	22^a	4	2^b	7	10^c

MB meat-based, PB plant-based, PB+MB plant-based with animal-derived treats/snacks/supplements
Superscript characters denote significant (P < 0.05) differences between the diet categories
Values may add up to > 100% since respondents could indicate that they selected pet food based on more than one criterion and numbers of cats per category may not add up to total due to non-responders and indeterminable diet type

ISSN: 1746-6148