Vegan Cats & Dogs
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There are lots of little decisions we make everyday that can hurt or help animals. But sometimes there’s a gray area where helping one animal might mean harming another. This is the case with cats.
When we feed our cats meat, what are we saying? Are we saying some animals are more important than others? Are we saying it’s OK for obligate carnivores to eat meat? Or are we simply finding an imperfect solution in an imperfect situation… waiting for the day when the perfect solution comes along?
Dogs are easier. Dogs don’t need meat. They are omnivores and can eat a wide variety of food (just look what they try to eat off the sidewalk!). Resourceful people have determined dog’s nutritional requirements and have found adequate plant options. There is a great vegan dog food available that I feed my dogs: v-dog. There are also plenty of other vegan and vegetarian dog foods, even ones available at chain pet supply stores like PetCo and PetSmart.
Regarding cats – I share my home with cats and I feed them meat. There are some people who make vegan cat food and you can even buy it online if you want. I choose not to do that. My cats live indoors and they are fed meat diets. It’s certainly an area where I feel tension and guilt, but in the long haul I don’t think these small conflicts matter that much.
What matters most is how we feed and clothe ourselves, not what we feed cats.
Think about it: the average American consumes 2000 – 4000 calories a day whereas the average cat is closer to 300. It would take a lot of meat-eating cats to cause as much factory farming suffering as one human causes.
Think some more about all your options:
- Some vegans choose to only care for feral/stray/free roaming cats.
- Some vegans feed their cats vegan food and let them go outdoors so they have the option to hunt for extra food if they want.
- Some vegans invest in vatmeat/imeat/in vitro meat/cultured meat in the hopes that meat will soon become available from test tubes rather than factory farms and they plan to use that meat to feed their cats.
- Some vegans choose not to care for cats at all and care only for animals who can easily be fed a plant-based diet, like dogs and rabbits.
- Some vegans, like me, accept imperfect solutions when they become attached to particular animals or species.
Again, what matters most is reducing or eliminating our own animal product consumption and encouraging other people to do the same. The more we work on that task, the more easily all the other issues will resolve on their own.
I use Evangers’ Vegetarian Canned Dog Food for our dogs. I wrote a long post about it earlier this year:
http://blog.thevegancollection.com/2008/11/evangers-all-fresh-vegetarian-dinner-for-dogs-cats/
I’m personally glad to know that your cats eat meat. While dogs are TRUE omnivores, and can thrive well on vegetarian diets cat’s are obligate carnivores. They absolutely need meat.
Unfortunately, it’s well known that cats are not terribly adept at digest plants. So even replacing animal protein with plant protein is risky. While no pet “chooses” their diet, I think it’s a little insane to subject veganism on an animal that has not evolved to the point of sustaining on a plant based diet.
I can understand that some vegetarians/vegans are understandably repulsed by the meat industry, and the crap that goes into pet food is definitely repulsive as well. But there are humane, organic choice out there for your pet. I really hope that cat owners choose the organic, no by-product, MEAT BASED PROTEIN.
Maybe in a thousand years cats will evolve to a more omnivorous diet… but until then, don’t put your cat’s health in danger!
Humans have evolved past the need for animal carcass. But it’s just not the same with cats.
http://www.vegancats.com
check it out. Read the book “Obligate Carnivore”
I fed my cat a completely vegan diet for a little over a year. From kitten. He was completely healthy by feeding him the supplements from this site. I have digressed and he is mostly eating a cat food with no by products and he hunts now.