We have recently taken on a cat. This was not a decision we made lightly - could we justify feeding an animal a meat-based diet when we ourselves are so vehemently against supporting the livestock industry?
On the surface of it, vegan pet food seemed to offer the ideal solution. There are a couple of different brands out there as well as masses of anecdotal evidence suggesting that not only is it possible, it might actually be beneficial. However, something about it just didn't sit right with me, and I just couldn't put my finger on what it was.
Cats need meat: Correct. Cats are obligate carnivores, purely and simply because they do not produce their own taurine. Vegan cat food companies seems to circumnavigate this conundrum by supplementing their products with artificial taurine. It is very easy to have a protein-rich vegan diet (scores of vegan bodybuilders are living proof of this) and the addition of taurine seems to fill in the gaps.
It's not natural: Take a look at some of the canned crap people feed their cats. Can you honestly say that's natural? And biscuits? Even worse! Pet food is so heavily processed that it's barely recognisable as meat at all.
Cats aren't designed to eat vegetables: True, and we aren't designed to drink the milk of other species, but that's not seen as weird at all.
It seemed like every way I looked at it, feeding vegan was the way to go... until I considered one big issue.
Choice.
I lead the lifestyle I lead because that is what I've chosen. Is it really fair to force my ethical standpoint onto an animal that has no such choice in the matter? I honestly don't think it is. I'm pretty sure that if I put down a bowl of vegan cat food and a bowl of the nastiest cheapest meaty food I could find, he'd probably go for the meat regardless of quality. I thought about the vegan food, I really did, but the more I thought the more wrong it seemed.
So what do we feed our cat?
Contrary to everything we stand for, we feed him the food with the highest meat content we can find. Cats ARE obligate carnivores and we owe it to him to feed him the food most suited to his dietary needs. Hell, if I thought I could bring myself to do it, I'd feed him on a raw meat diet.
There is an outstanding website that lists the pet food brands that best fit in with an ethical lifestyle. Furthermore, Pets At Home and Zooplus (as well as some of the larger supermarkets) stock a range of "premium" pet foods with fantastic ingredients. We like to give Spock a little variety so have sampled a few different brands - I have to say, some of them have actually looked better than people food!
At the end of the day, I don't worry about the fact that the food we give our cat isn't vegan-friendly - if it were really that bothersome, we'd have got a bunny. I'm just proud that we offer him a happy, loving home.
When I read this I felt genuinely impressed by your decision and the logic behind it, and I 100% agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI think the very same logic applies to people who lop off parts of their dog, dress up pets, and otherwise subject them to things based on what groups of people think.
I've been reading a bit about this recently too, though having no pets, not had to think too hard about it. I knew you could raise dogs on a vegan diet but not cats, but wasn't sure how I felt about it. Like you say, it comes down to choice on our part, not theirs. And something about that makes me uncomfortable.
ReplyDeleteSide note (kinda related) then, if you were ever to have kids, would you raise them omni or vegan? Something I've been thinking about recently, as a veggie with vegan tendencies, married to an omni... I don't think I'd feel comfortable feeding them something I don't believe is necesarily good for them when there are so many alternatives available, but again, thats me making the choice for them, potentially against their future wishes, and I've always said I wouldn't enforce my eating style on anyone else (the husband, for example, though he eats veggie with me most evenings), so do kids fall under that too?
BTW, hi, it's Kat! x
Mem,
ReplyDeleteNot being total vegan or vegetarian myself (living in my own defined grey zone of many things however), but supporting the effort made by vegans and vegetarians the world over to make a stand against the industrialisation of the meat industry and all else, I do understand that your decision is clearly a controversial one within the vegan society and I understand your dilemma.
It is very much a 'one side or the other' question. Do you feed your cat what it naturally needs to be as healthy a carnivore as possible and therefore support the meat industry? Or do you feed your cat an artificial additive enhanced diet that has not been proven (by independent research) to actually be sufficient for a cat to be as healthy as possible and thereby make a stand against the meat industry? Which is the better of two evils?
I gather from what you have written that you have tried to find a meat cat food product that does the least amount of harm and I think this shows a great amount of understanding for the well being of your ginger ball of fur.
Well said and well felt! Like you said so well, we have a choice, domesticated animals do not.
I applaud you for sticking up for your kitty.