# Raising a kitten to be a vegetarian: stupid, cruel, disastrous, or all three? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 8, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107 "2009-10-08T21:18:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/81 "2009-10-09T20:10:29Z")
> [@NajaNivea](#): > > Also, sorry if I’m starting to sound hysterical and fervent on the topic, but this whole concept of acquiring an animal you know you cannot properly care for, and then willfully subjecting it to inappropriate care and handling on a point so fundamental as the _food it needs to survive_ is **fucked up**. You don’t sound hysterical. You sound appropriately concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/82 "2009-10-09T20:42:47Z")
I’m right there with ya, NajaNivea. I think, if the OP came back and told us that she/he (?) spoke to the friend and the friend was enlightened that her morals about meat should not be imposed upon her kitty, and that she would be henceforth feeding kitty what it needs… then I would relax and sleep better at night, knowing one less cat out there is being abused/neglected/whatever you wanna call it. If the friend insists that feeding kitty a veg diet is the only way to go, then I would feel better if the OP catnapped said kitty and rehomed it. Won’t someone think of the poor blind kitties? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/83 "2009-10-09T21:03:45Z")
> [@NajaNivea](#): > > **Vinyl Turnip** , I know your friends’ actions aren’t yours… but you should understand that what they are doing to that cat is slow and painful starvation. I’ve suggested as much, as gracefully as I can to a longtime friend who’s also a dyed-in-the-wool (I’ll grant him that term, rather than “militant”) vegan. I’m less concerned because it is outdoors a lot, and I’m sure manages to find some food elsewhere. And it may not have been apparent before your monitor fogged over, but the “evenly divided” comment was ironic. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/84 "2009-10-09T21:09:23Z")
> [@omgzebras](#): > > Does she at least plan on buying vegetarian cat food? Something that could _possibly_ have the necessary nutrients added to it? She’s not just going to give the poor thing something like a salad or a bowl of turnips is she? These turnips … are they made of vinyl? 😃 Just needed lighten up the thread a little. That stupid woman. If she really wants to have a pet AND subject it to her vegan principles, then get a damn hamster. (Then she can freak out when it catches and eats a cockroach!) ---
**Author:** ![Never\_Say\_Dice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee59a6/32.png) [@Never\_Say\_Dice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_Say_Dice)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/85 "2009-10-09T22:09:55Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > My first impulse is that it would be both kinder and swifter to simply stomp the kitten to death, but I’d appreciate some info to back me up. Thoughts? Some animal lover! Of course they can eat a vegetarian diet. Any animal can. Tigers can. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/86 "2009-10-09T22:13:15Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > And it may not have been apparent before your monitor fogged over, but the “evenly divided” comment was ironic. Ohhh… so\* that’s\* what that “wooshing” noise was 😃 Sorry, got carried away with the whole “militant vegans driving me into a frothing rage” thing 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/87 "2009-10-09T22:55:45Z")
Just for the record, there are vagans out there who are not completely crazy. I know 5 of them, and they are great people who feed their animals appropriately meat-based, even raw, diets. ---
**Author:** ![Terraplane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Terraplane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terraplane)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/88 "2009-10-09T23:16:20Z")
> [@Never\_Say\_Dice](#): > > Some animal lover! Of course they can eat a vegetarian diet. Any animal can. Tigers can. I’m trying to find out more about the vegetarian tiger with no luck. Any chance of a link? Also, any animal? Vegetarian snakes? Dolphins? Really? Or have I stumbled into a whoosh? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/89 "2009-10-10T00:40:40Z")
> [@omgzebras](#): > > …Or have I stumbled into a whoosh? For certain values of “vegetarian diet” as in, An excellent vegetarian diet for lions … is zebras. or I went on a vegetarian diet once, lost twenty pounds … them fuckers are hard to catch!I hope. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/90 "2009-10-10T00:57:54Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Don’t cats self-medicate with grass and catnip? > > We had cats when I was growing up (I developed an allergy to them, which is why we’re a dog-only family now) and they would eat grass seemingly to make themselves throw up their furballs. > > That said, it seems to me this woman does not have enough knowledge of cats to have one. A cat eating meat isn’t _evil,_ it’s the way cats are. I don’t see a lot of lions in the savannah lying down to gnaw on a nice piece of fruit. Our cat likes fruit, especially mandarin oranges. But we would never try to give him an all veggie diet. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/91 "2009-10-10T01:51:06Z")
So what was her reaction to your info, **Skald**? Stupid dumb bitch. ALL of my cats eat regular cat food. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t like human food as well – though none of them eat veggies: Maggie LOVES basically any people food. Her favorite are french fries and donuts, but she’ll grab anything she can off of your plate. You have to watch though, because she’ll try to grab potato or corn chips, and choke on them. (I was trying to eat a piece of banana bread for breakfast a couple days ago and she kept trying to eat a piece off of my plate.) Piper Grace must have some kind of [pica](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica_%28disorder%29), because she likes eating plastic flowers. I shit you not. She ended up extremely constipated last year and had to be prescribed medicine. She does like Cheetos, though. I had a cat when I was little that LOVED meatloaf and mashed potatos. Her favorite food though was tuna. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/92 "2009-10-10T05:03:39Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > True Doper Confessions: Sometimes I actually sit through those Animal Cops shows on Animal Planet. (I\* know\*, but it’s like a train wreck and I cannot stop myself.) I have seen the SPCA people remove cats from homes of well-intentioned Vegetarian Cat Ladies and subsequently press charges for abuse. > > [/ single anecdotal data point) The one I recall in this vein was an episode of _Animal Precinct_, and the woman in question was a middle-aged Russian who spoke very poor English and seemed to have some mental problems as well. She was living on something like $200 a month and had eight or nine cats, which she was feeding mostly rice. When the officers arrived and offered to take the cats, she reacted as if God had come down and personally blessed her (which was just as well, since there was no way the officers were leaving without the cats). The relevant part: one of the cats had only the vaguest idea that there were other things “out there,” and another’s retinas were completely gone (its irises had expanded to the extent that pretty much all you could see was pupil — a pretty disturbing sight — and the vet showed that he could ram its head into a table [if he were so inclined], because the poor beastie had no sense of its surroundings). IIRC, they didn’t cite the woman, partly because she was obviously not all there and partly because she was so cooperative in surrendering the cats. The point (if any): **Skald’s** acquaintance is a loon. And a dangerous one to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/93 "2009-10-10T05:17:28Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Here’s something from [PETA](http://www.peta.org/factsheet/files/FactsheetDisplay.asp?ID=34) on how to raise a vegetarian cat or dog > [@](#): > > Many vegetarians and vegans feed healthful, meatless diets to their companion animals. One remarkable example is that of Bramble, a border collie whose vegan diet of rice, lentils, and organic vegetables contributed to a nearly record-breaking lifespan of at least 27 years. Oh, aye. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/94 "2009-10-10T06:47:12Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > Tell her to put a piece of meat and a veggie on the floor and let the cat decide for itself. This won’t necessarily work. I will occasionally fix a small plate of whatever the humans are having for my cat. Oh, it’ll just be half a spoonful of mac’n’cheese and a similar amount of chicken, but I’ve put down a stalk of asparagus and an ounce or so of diced steak. Sapphire will eat the asparagus first every time. She’s absolutely nuts about asparagus. She’s Siamese, or at least part Siamese, so her mental stability isn’t all it could be, but this isn’t the best test. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/95 "2009-10-10T08:28:41Z")
> [@glee](#): > > Seriously, she’s not fit to look after a cat. > > Less seriously, tell her that **all vegetarians are murdering scum**. > Vegetables “scream out” as you cut them, boil them and cook them. Won’t someone think of the Dirt Kittens? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/96 "2009-10-10T19:04:46Z")
The Girls With Slingshots webcomic had an amusing [story arc on this topic](http://www.daniellecorsetto.com/GWS728.html). ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/97 "2009-10-11T02:51:59Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > That’s the point, I think. The vegetarian woman believes that she is doing a good thing. So her heart is in the right place because she is trying to be ‘good’. But in fact she’s doing a bad thing. So ‘bless her heart’ is an insult. This thread is going past this point, but…Well, you kinda got it. “Bless your/his/her heart” is a malleable nuanced saying in the South. In a simple google, the definitions I found there don’t encompass all the meaning as used in normal conversation. The first one’s to come up refer to it as an insult, and, it often is, as a polite way of saying, “right, what a jerk”, especially used by women. But, it’s also used to gently say that, though misguided, the person talked about means well, but doesn’t quite see the bigger picture. That’s the sense I was using in with my post. Now, you can get into the further nuance of “Bless their pea pickin heart”, which means they are on the far side of understanding a discussion. My cats, though fed quite well, still drag various small mammals home for me to share. Bless their little feline hearts. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/98 "2009-10-11T23:20:07Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > She should get herself a turtle insead. Some turtles need to eat live fish. Good luck with that if you won’t feed a cat meat. Better off with some sort of rodent, like a guinea pig. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/99 "2009-10-11T23:23:17Z")
> [@elelle](#): > > But, it’s also used to gently say that, though misguided, the person talked about means well, but doesn’t quite see the bigger picture. That’s the sense I was using in with my post. That’s the way I took it. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107/100 "2009-10-12T12:49:34Z")
I know it’s like shooting fish in a barrel, but just for fun and for the record… > [@PETA website linked to earlier in this thread](#): > > Some people wonder if it’s “unnatural” to omit meat from the diet of a dog or cat. The inverted commas don’t serve any purpose in this sentence, except to imply that the term is open to interpretation (it isn’t), or is being used in an inappropriate manner (not so). This is a subtle touch of prejudice used to hint that what may seem unnatural at first glance is not really so. > [@](#): > > Animals in the wild commonly eat quite a lot of plant matter. 100% irrelevant. Whether some wild animals do or do not eat some plant matter has nothing to do with the point at issue, which is whether it’s okay and healthy to impose a vegetarian diet on domesticated animals. > [@](#): > > Besides, The word ‘besides’ is meaningless here, because the content that it follows is irrelevant both to the point at issue and to what follows. > [@](#): > > to feed them the meat that they would naturally eat, you would have to serve them whole mice or birds or allow them to hunt for themselves Again, irrelevant propaganda. The point under discussion is not the practicality of trying to replicate whatever diet a wild animal would select for itself, but the healthy options for a domesticated animal. > [@](#): > > Vegetarian or vegan dogs and cats enjoy their food and good health Unsupported assertion. > [@](#): > > and a vegetarian diet for your companion animal is ethically consistent with animal rights philosophy. Ethical consistency with philosphy X is not the point. The point is, healthy dietary options for a domesticated animal. In other words, even PETA can’t mount an effective case for feeding your cat a vegetarian diet, and have to resort to non-arguments, prejudicial wording, brainless abandonment of good reasoning and blanket assertions of whatever they want the truth to be. Some people are so stupid, you wonder how they remember to stay upright. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/raising-a-kitten-to-be-a-vegetarian-stupid-cruel-disastrous-or-all-three/513107.md?page=6)