The Ethics Of Vegan Pet Food

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.