Can cats thrive and be healthy on a vegan diet?

[Wolfie]

I just found a vegan cats group on Facebook, they have close to 800 members. I can't tell you how much this horrifies me. Those poor kitties.

Go read the couple of threads on the topic on the other board right now. I gave up. You can't even argue with that kind of stupidity.

 

[Wolfie]

That post of mine was the result of a medical emergency, Trinity.

Whilst pondering if there is one single sentence that can explain, in a universaly understandable way, how 'obligate carnivore' and 'vegan diet' are mutualy exclusive conditions my brain began to implode.

While I don't like the idea of feeding my pets meat, I am much more bothered by the humans around me who continue to shove it down their throats when they don't need it to live. Yet I don't want to eradicate said humans, the way you seem to want to with cats.

They are domestic animals, because humans made them that way. What do you suggest we do with them? If someone doesn't want to keep a cat, fine, but I wish they'd lay off those who do rescue cats.

 

[Clueless Git]

What do you suggest we do with them?

Same answer you would give an omni to what is effectively the exact same question, Wolfie.

 

[Mischief]

I gave up. You can't even argue with that kind of stupidity.

I think that some vegans and vegetarians, besides being ignorant and sometimes plain crazy, are among the least compassionate people I have ever encountered. This is one of those subjects where those qualities are displayed without fail.

 

[thefadedone]

trying to give her the most ethical meat options I can find.

What is the most ethical?

 

[Trinity]

What is the most ethical?

Well, the truth is - I am not completely sure.
I've gone for organic options mainly.... but it makes me feel ill having to contemplate the ethics of any animals being raised in captivity, even if by 'fairer' organic standards.
It's one of those catch 22's - so I do the best I can and am always open to suggestions.

 

[Moll Flanders]

Some pet owners feed their animals on pet food that hasn't been tested on animals. I think Iams is meant to be a company that has particularly cruel testing methods.
Non-Animal-Tested Companion Animal Food | Features | PETA.org.uk

 

[Trinity]

Ethical Consumer have a list of ethically rated cat foods here:
http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/buyersguides/food/catfood.aspx

 

[RascalsMom]

Some pet owners feed their animals on pet food that hasn't been tested on animals. I think Iams is meant to be a company that has particularly cruel testing methods.
Non-Animal-Tested Companion Animal Food | Features | PETA.org.uk

IAMs is not only cruel but also a crap food.

 

[Mischief]

IAMs is not only cruel but also a crap food.

Agreed on both counts.

 

[Calliegirl]

My cats just get friskies canned food. It's the only thing I can afford that they'll actually eat.
Organic isn't necessarily more ethical. Organic animals aren't allowed to be given any medication, even when they're sick and need it.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I try not to think too much about what my animals eat because I think deep down I can't find a justification to kill so many animals to feed them. I feed my dogs and cats Royal Canin dry food mixed with a generic supermarket food but I don't think there is an ideal solution to having companion animals if you are a vegan and have pets. I think that when my eight animals have died I'm going to have to think very carefully about whether to adopt any more rescues. Obviously if a stray turned up on my doorstep I would still take care of it but I think the laws surrounding breeding companion animals have to change.

Organic animals aren't allowed to be given any medication, even when they're sick and need it.

Really? That is horrible.

 

[ledboots]

I try not to think too much about what my animals eat because I think deep down I can't find a justification to kill so many animals to feed them. I feed my dogs and cats Royal Canin dry food mixed with a generic supermarket food but I don't think there is an ideal solution to having companion animals if you are a vegan and have pets. I think that when my eight animals have died I'm going to have to think very carefully about whether to adopt any more rescues. Obviously if a stray turned up on my doorstep I would still take care of it but I think the laws surrounding breeding companion animals have to change

I have decided not to adopt any more companion animals, much as I love dogs. Partly because of the feeding meat issue, so I thought about getting bunnies, but tbh, I don't think I could emotionally handle losing another pet. They just don't live long enough, and I'm still heartbroken over my little Pepper dog.

 

[shyvas]

I have decided not to adopt any more companion animals, much as I love dogs. Partly because of the feeding meat issue, so I thought about getting bunnies, but tbh, I don't think I could emotionally handle losing another pet. They just don't live long enough, and I'm still heartbroken over my little Pepper dog.

I'm so sorry Led. I know how much you loved her.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I have decided not to adopt any more companion animals, much as I love dogs. Partly because of the feeding meat issue, so I thought about getting bunnies, but tbh, I don't think I could emotionally handle losing another pet. They just don't live long enough, and I'm still heartbroken over my little Pepper dog.

 

[Tom L.]

People who keep obligate carnivores pets are not furthering their own interests at the expense of the lives of other animals?
You have a very nasty habit of making spitefull assumptions about other peoples intentions/motivations/etc and propogating your assumptions as if they were fact.

Careful, your faux Buddhist façade seems to be slipping.

You might have a point about people who "keep" obligate carnivores, if any of us were breeding, or advocating breeding, or doing anything other than taking care of already existing homeless animals. Unfortunately for your sense of self important moral superiority, that's not the case.

I don't know if Mischief has a habit of making spiteful assumptions; I haven't seen that, anyway. However, I would say that if an ethical veg*n takes in (i.e., accepts responsibility for) a carnivorous animal, and this requires more herbivorous animals to die than would have otherwise... this is a problem- or at least it should be... whether or not they were responsible for that carnivorous animal existing in the first place. In most ethical systems, not doing harm in the first place usually takes priority over "helping". Also: how many herbivorous animals must die over the lifetime of that carnivorous animal companion so that this companion can live?

Until recently (a little over 2 years ago), I had both carnivorous (cats) and herbivorous (rabbits, gerbils, one hamster) animal adoptees. The cats' food included both meat and vegetable ingredients. I also gave them meat which my omni friends/family were going to discard, but which was fresh and not spoiled. I told the veterinarian exactly what I was feeding them (including the brand) every time we went there. My approach was a compromise which I never completely accepted.

But developing a nutritionally-adequate, cruelty-free food for cats, etc... that WOULD be a solution to the dilemma. It could be a gradual approach: starting with a comparatively small percentage of the animal's food being cruelty-free and gradually increasing it, decreasing the amount of meat, and monitoring the animal's health the whole time.

 

[Tom L.]

I have decided not to adopt any more companion animals, much as I love dogs. Partly because of the feeding meat issue, so I thought about getting bunnies, but tbh, I don't think I could emotionally handle losing another pet. They just don't live long enough, and I'm still heartbroken over my little Pepper dog.

I'm sorry about your loss. I sometimes include Pepper when I do the Companion Animal Memorial service Monday nights. I think rabbits are fairly long-lived as herbivorous animal companions go, but 9-12 years is normally the most you can hope for. (Parrots are very long-lived, of course, and there are parrot rescue/adoption organizations... but as you know, they present a different problem: they sometimes outlive their human caretaker. And frankly, if a rescue parrot had behavioral issues from being treated badly, I don't know if I would be able to handle the bird... not if s/he was intent on maiming me anyway.)

 

[Clueless Git]

But developing a nutritionally-adequate, cruelty-free food for cats, etc... that WOULD be a solution to the dilemma. It could be a gradual approach: starting with a comparatively small percentage of the animal's food being cruelty-free and gradually increasing it, decreasing the amount of meat, and monitoring the animal's health the whole time.

That would be animal experimentation Tom.

 

[ledboots]

I'm sorry about your loss. I sometimes include Pepper when I do the Companion Animal Memorial service Monday nights. I think rabbits are fairly long-lived as herbivorous animal companions go, but 9-12 years is normally the most you can hope for. (Parrots are very long-lived, of course, and there are parrot rescue/adoption organizations... but as you know, they present a different problem: they sometimes outlive their human caretaker. And frankly, if a rescue parrot had behavioral issues from being treated badly, I don't know if I would be able to handle the bird... not if s/he was intent on maiming me anyway.)

Thank you Tom, that is so nice of you!

 

[Wolfie]

So sorry about Pepper, ledboots. I've said in the past when I've lost a dog that I'll never have another so I completely understand. But I seem to attract the ones most people wouldn't want to deal with. So I end up with a houseful again and again.

I've never lived without a dog. My first dog, a basset, was born before me. Her name was Princess. She crossed the bridge when I was about 4 or 5. I still remember it to this day.

"Dogs' lives are too short. Their only fault, really." - Agnes Sligh Turnbull