[On vegan diets for cats:]
To me making one animal eat an arguably unhealthy diet is better than torturing hundreds of others. [...] As far as I'm aware urinary tract infections are the main risk currently, to me that sounds like nothing compared to the grievous suffering you inflict on other animals to prevent it from happening to your cat.
40 comments
So if everyone made their cat switch to a vegan diet (we all know most vegans want everyone else to be vegan or else they'd keep it to themselves), then we'd be torturing all cats owned as pets and possibly some feral cats too. Nice one guys, vegan logic at its finest!
It is perfectly possible to feed a cat a vegan diet, as long as you add the necessary supplements. Lets face it - the cat doesn't give a shit as long as its healthy, and the reduction in animals used for pet food will have a positive effect on the environment.
For anyone serious about climate change and environmental issues, its a no-brainer
I have no problem with vegan pet owners doing this with dogs as dogs are Omnivores and with a proper diet they can eat vegan. Cats are a different story. Cats are carnivores. They need to eat meat. There is stuff in meat that they cant digest from other sources.
If you are a vegan and you want a vegan Pet, don't get a carnivore. Simple as that. I would even say stay away from an omnivore but if you are willing to put in the extra effort that's up to you.
I'm fine with people feeding their pets vegan diets, but only if the pet in question is a member of the genus Panthera and you personally feed it by hand.
The resulting Darwin Award would be highly edutaining.
@Indicible - you stupid assumption would be wrong, the supplements are non-meat derived, as the most simple internet search would have found.
But I guess when your debating skills don't rise above "uhhh, cats are carnivore" (like its against God's laws or something to do otherwise) basic research is asking a lot of you.
To repeat myself, as long as the cat is healthy and happy, what sort of moron would NOT go for the environmentally friendly option? A moron like you I guess.
A prime example of why I can't effing stand vegans. Urinary tract infections can be very serious for cats! More to the point, cats are OBLIGATE CARNIVORES. Cats are predators. Cats are killing machines. People who de-claw cats or try to feed them a vegan diet don't want a cat, they want a cat shaped Teddy Ruxpin.
@Warren McIntosh
No, but it's against nature's laws (yes, feed my cat lentils NOMNOMNOM!), but maybe you can, idunnolol. But sure, let's waste time, money, and effort feeding cats a vegan diet. Brilliant. Let's gentrify pet ownership in the name of the environment, poor people shouldn't own cats because it's bad for the environment
A pity the environment is supposed to work for human beings rather than the other way around, but vegans, environmentalists, lots of people will never realise that.
@Warren McIntosh
Show us these supplements, oh wise one.
And it still won't change the underlying biology. Cats are obligate carnivores, which means they evolved to acquire several essential nutrients from meat instead of synthesizing them themselves.
You can feed your cat a vegan diet, as has been pointed out, if you add supplements that are produced using a complex and environmentally unfriendly process in a Chemical works, OR, you could have a rabbit instead.
@The argument
Personally, if you own a carnivore but don't want to feed it too much meat, I'd recommend boiled eggs. They aren't as dangerous for the environment as farting cows, and no one except a clump of cells is dying.
And I personally know many vegans who are perfectly fine with giving their pets meat products, as they know that unlike them, the pets need meat. Shame the vocal minority has ended up stereotyping all of them...
[On vegan diets for cats:]
If you think that's such a great idea, get locked in a cage that has a wire partition dividing it in two.
The other half containing a very hungry Puma: that has tasted human blood.
The partition is raised
Good luck in persuading that to eat nut loaf & granola, pal. >:3
Dude, I'm a vegetarian. I have the choice.
I do not presume to dictate to other humans what they should eat -- short of deadly poisons -- and I sure as hell am not going to try to change the diet of an obligate carnivore.
This sort of shit gets me. If you don't want to feed your pet meat, don't get a carnivorous pet. Self righteous asshats.
@Warren McIntosh: Reality doesn't work that way. Cats can't digest plant matter nearly as well as humans and we're shit at it, which is why we like the fruits of plants and cooking roots, stems and leaves so much. Supplements are not necessarily bioavailable (including ones you eat, they mostly just pass in your urine and poop without your body really absorbing a fraction of it like it would be able to from whole food sources), which means their body can't necessary digest and absorb them.
If you feed an animal, including yourself, a poorly thought out diet that does not at least mimic their natural one you risk the early onset of several food related illnesses and the early onset of geriatric years.
Cats are carnivores, deal with it.
One essential nutrient for cats is taurine, a compound found only in animal tissue and which cannot be synthesized profitably. Lack of taurine causes blindness and other neurological problems. So stop pretending they won't suffer from a vegan diet. As for eggs, they contain cysteine, the chemical precursor to taurine. However, cats cannot synthesize it the way humans can; they need actual taurine.
I was capable of making the choice to become vegetarian. My cat is not. He needs Taurine. He's a carnivore, and I see no link between starving my companion and saving the lives of other animals. He started his life feral. He'd be eating other animals to sustain himself. How do I know this?
He. Is. A. CAT.
I'm not ruining his health and putting him through hell. Sorry, not sorry.
I adore my kitty.
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@NoXion
To be honest though, that's a false dichotomy. As Arceus said, there are vegans who are perfectly fine with feeding meat to cats, as they know that they are obligate carnivores and need to eat meat no matter what; it's just that this vocal minority of extreme vegans who don't want carnivores to eat meat like to preach their horrific torture methods on the Internet.
There are vegan taurine supplements, but if you think the extremely complicated process to create them is better for the environment than feeding the waste products of animals that would have been raised and killed for human consumption anyway, you're a moron.
And this is why I avoid vegans. Both the post about cats, and Warren's complete incapability to understand his own argument. Cats are obligate carnivores, the require meat. Humans are omnivores. Without the balance of both, the body eats itself, do it long enough and the brain starts to go.
I am an animal and nature lover within realistic boundaries. My 11 lb. pekapom is my constant companion and in a real way, my best friend. However, I realize that the actual nature of...well, NATURE is as much fangs and claws as it is butterflies and bunnies. Being born is a death sentence. Reality makes no apologies. Natural laws have no pity. Watch some documentaries on African wildlife.
@most people here:
There are many, many vegans like her. They understand that in nature, animals eat each other out of necessity.
#1948438: True. The ones who think like Paradoxlogos really piss me off. They don't seem to understand that when going to extremes to protect animals in general, they're doing great harm to the ones they love.
The trees rendering the forest sans view.
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