Science says that creatures of all types need nutrients, not ingredients. That’s why the more scientifically minded sources you have linked don’t say outright that vegan cat food is impossible, they point out specific nutrients that may be hard to source in vegan foods.

The other articles seem obsessed with the idea that vegans are going to feed their cat a carrot and some broccoli, which is obviously wrong and inadequate. I’d like to compare like to like, so let’s look at what most people feed their cats, dry kibble.

One of the main important nutrients that is present in meat and not plants is taurine. Some of the taurine in meat is destroyed when it is cooked, so they suppliment the meat with synthetic taurine. Both types of kibble have synthetic taurine, and this taurine had been studied extensively and is the same as the naturally occurring stuff.

A lot of these articles say a vegan diet is unnatural for cats and thus wrong. Your linked article on cats.com brings up a good point that cats whole lives as pets is unnatural. Cats natural habitat is in the wild, eating only what they catch when they catch it. Eating kibble or wet food on a schedule in a house is completely unnatural regardless of the makeup of that kibble. The makeup of the meat kibble is also not a cats natural diet, they would be eating small birds and rodents, not tuna and salmon.

If you have a scientific article that says otherwise is be happy to hear it. I’m happy to say that a meat based diet will be easier and simpler to give your cat, but science doesn’t agree that meat is strictly necessary