Yes, you are so right.

Gosh, I could rant on and on about just this! Yeah, if you look all around, almost 99% of the food available is seriously MESSED UP. If it’s not soaked in pesticides and genetic “goofing around with,” – as is with almost every vegetable – well, then it’s been tortured, genetically messed with, and sickly – doused in antibiotics and fed dirty and sickly food – as is all animal product food out there. What kind of awful philosophy have we all allowed to infiltrate our food chain – our very base for survival? Not only that, but the water we drink has now been found to be contaminated with pharmaceutical waste products that won’t break down in the eco-system. So we ingest everyone’s Viagra, steroids, blood pressure meds, anti-depression meds, ADHD meds, and statins that we don’t need or want. It’s like eating and drinking food that’s contaminated with radioactive pollution – the half-life of this stuff just won’t break down.

And never mind the corn fetish our country feasts upon… Not only have we so messed up the corn crops that now almost ALL corn has been contaminated with genetically engineered crap (thanks, Monsanto…), but there is high fructose corn syrup in EVERYTHING. And I mean, EVERYTHING… And then people wonder why we’re all getting fat no matter what we do, and we wonder why all the kids nowadays are so hyper, overweight and sickly… Does ANYONE on this planet ever read the INGREDIENTS anymore? Does anyone ever contact companies/gov’t depts and corporations and politely but persistently request better quality food anymore? Am I the only person that does these things, I sometimes wonder??? Does anyone even care??? Really, if we would just clean up our food supply and stop treating living things (animals AND vegetables) like garbage that’s only good for turning some profit – well then maybe we could get the health of our country improved (and therefore greatly lower healthcare costs – hello?).

What’s worse, is the entire APATHY from our great society… They don’t even care. It’s like the whole population is just sitting there with their mouths agape, waiting for anyone to pass by and throw some sickly, artificially “prettified” food in there for them to wolf down. People nowadays really don’t care what crap they shove down their gullets – from a health or ethical perspective. Why doesn’t anyone even care?

Now that I’m all worked up over nothing, I better go off in the corner and meditate!

The original definition of veganism which I found on wikipedia states that vegans avoid the consumption of animal products AS FAR AS POSSIBLE OR PRACTICAL. I wish I had understood this definition when confronted by my friend. I see how that can be an easy out for a dilemma like that of pre-packaged pet food, but I’m willing to stick with it until I find a better alternative. I really like the idea of finding an herbivore pet as an alternative, or feeding an adopted kitten a vegan diet from the start. But then again, I prefer to adopt older cats because I believe they’re less likely to be adopted than kittens (in other words, if I leave the sweet kitten I see at the SPCA, opting instead for the middle-aged cat, odds are the kitten will be adopted by someone else). I think what we need to ask ourselves as people concerned about the lives, well-being, and mental welfare of non-human as well as human animals is what someone wrote above: what choice will cause the least possible suffering? We are fallible beings, not flawless angels. And inevitably any actions we take can have some negative consequences somewhere.

Another comment on the whole “pet” phenomenon is that I believe many non-human “pet” animals are the companions of humans by choice. The so-called domestication of cats and dogs has really been a cooperative evolution between them and humans. Indeed smaller wild cats and dogs found their way to human communities because that is where their prey (mice, rats, and other “varmin”) went, to feed off of human scraps. It has been a mutual relationship, the cats and dogs taking care of those unwanted (usually human-viewed) thieves, and what a perk it is that we have grown in many cases to love each other. It is unfortunate that pets have become a human-owned commodity. It is also terrible that, like spouses and children, pets provide targets for abuse by many humans. But for most of us participating in this discussion, I’m willing to bet that our cat and dog friends wouldn’t leave the homes they share with us even if the door was held wide open for them.

That leads me to another dilemma thought, however, which is the question of whether or not to neuter your companion. Both “yes” and “no” could be vegan answers. The “yes,” as Bob Barker would enthusiastically tell you, implies the decreased births of millions of animals who would inevitably be abused or relegated to life on the streets. The “no,” however, bugs me at times. This is not an operation your friend can consent to. And it is an operation (when performed on humans) that is quite a lot more than frowned-upon among humans. As with the pet food, I will continue to neuter my pets until I can think of an alternative that would cause less suffering and/or have the opportunity to NOT neuter them (it is often a requirement to do so when adopting a pet). But what do others think on this matter?

Thanks for this very thought-provoking discussion. Peace.

Just like with food, people can vote with the choices they make. Don’t spend money on the designer dog; Instead, adopt a dog in need of a home.

Just as important, understand that you are making a HUGE decision by taking in an animal. Understand what it will cost and how it will change your lifestyle.
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But the reality is, the world could survive without cat and dog breeders. Life would go on and everything would be OK.