Unicorn Pate: Wild Earth Debuts ‘Nutritionally Complete’ Vegan Cat Food

Californian vegan pet food leader Wild Earth has rolled out its first product for cats, a “nutritionally complete” Unicorn Pate.

Wild Earth has entered the cat food sector with Unicorn Pate, a plant-based, nutritionally complete wet food product built on research proving that felines can be healthy on a vegan diet.

Made from a base of lentils, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, microalgae and cranberries, the new pâté contains all the ingredients essential to cats, including taurine and vitamins A and B12. It has a crude protein content of 8.5%, 4% fat and 1.5% fibre.

The 5.5oz cans are now available on Wild Earth’s website, with a pack of 12 priced at $60 (a subscription brings the cost down by 30%).

“Our team is incredibly proud to launch a new category leader that we hope will catalyse change in the entire pet food industry,” said Wild Earth co-founder and CEO Ryan Bethencourt.

“Nutritionally complete vegan cat food has been a long time coming, and we’re very thankful to be able to launch a whole new category of products which we think will transform both cat nutrition and help make space for a kinder world for all animals.”

Transforming health and ‘pawprints’

Bethencourt first hinted at a cat food product in January, when he tweeted: “People aren’t ready for us to turn carnivore cats vegan but I’m going to do it.”

He alluded to it in an interview with Green Queen earlier this year too: “One of our guiding principles at Wild Earth is to be bold and push the pet industry to change. We did this when we launched our plant-based dog food, treats and supplements, we’re doing that again with our vegan cat products.”

The result is the Unicorn Pate, which is formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), a non-profit organisation that sets the safety and quality standards for pet food in the US.

It contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, promotes skin and coat health, supports digestion, and is associated with lower greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and land use than conventional cat food.

“Our launch of Unicorn Pate, which helps accelerate a whole new category of vegan cat food products, represents a huge step forward in our mission to transform the pet food industry for our pets, other animals, and the planet,” said Bethencourt.

“Today our pets account for 25-30% of the meat we consume in the US unnecessarily. With Wild Earth’s industry-leading vegan dog and cat products, we can transform both their health with plant-based diets and their global pawprint.”

Wild Earth expects meat industry pushback

Wild Earth’s Unicorn Pate was inspired by research from University of Winchester professor Andrew Knight, who has led a number of studies on vegan pet food over the years.

Last year, he authored a study finding that a plant-based diet could be healthier for cats than a meat-heavy one. Knight surveyed over 1,300 cat owners, 9% of whom fed their pets a vegan diet. His research suggested that 37% of vegan cats experienced one of 22 examined health disorders, versus 42% of felines that ate meat.

Of the 22 disorders, 15 were most common in meat-eating cats, and seven in those consuming plant-based foods. When fed a vegan diet, the number of health disorders per unwell cat decreased by 16%, visits to the vet dropped by 7%, medication use was down by 15%, and 23% fewer cats had severe illnesses.

While most differences were not statistically significant, the plant-based cats scored higher on all health indicators, a marker that even these obligate carnivores can thrive on vegan diets. It fuels Wild Earth’s mission to “put plant-based diets as a first choice for consumers vs the last choice when their pets have struggled with other meat-based diets”.

Bethencourt acknowledged that the Unicorn Pate would receive some backlash. “We know and expect aggressive resistance from the meat industry on the launch of this industry-pioneering vegan cat food,” he said. “But we know there are a lot of cat parents looking for healthier plant-based and more sustainable options, and we want to be the leader in providing them with that choice.”

Wild Earth – which shot to fame after Bethencourt grabbed a deal from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank – is also working on cultivated meat for pets. Last month, fellow Californian startup Friends & Family Pet Food Co. announced it was partnering with Singapore’s Umami Bioworks to produce cultivated seafood treats for cats, aiming for regulatory approval in the coming months and an early 2025 launch.