What do vegan pet owners feed their pets? I mean… if its a hamster or whatever, I guess theres no issue there… but if its a cat or dog or snake or something that eats meat… what do you do? Is there a Vegan Alpo for that sort of thing?
I have a friend who is vegan and a pet owner. She feeds her dog… dogfood. There are vegetarian dogfoods and dog treats, but she just gives him regular dogfood. She’s the vegan, not her dog.
I remember hearing once that all Linda McCartney’s pets were vegetarian, but I don’t know this to be true.
There are really only two types of pets that a vegan need worry about: cats and reptiles.
Though dogs are carnivores by nature, virtually all of them can thrive on vegetable or grain-based dog foods. So, a vegan can own a dog without any dificulties.
Cats are a different story- I KNOW Cecil did a column on this some time ago (search for it), and explained that cats become seriously ill if they don’t consume meats. So, a vegan who owns a cat has to bend his principles.
As for reptiles, ALL snakes are 100% carnivorous and so are most lizards.Moreover, most of them eat only live prey. So, unless a vegan is willing to sacrifice live rodents or fish, he’d better not buy a snake!
There are dog foods that are vegan. I do know that Nature’s Recipe[sup]tm[/sup] makes a vegetarian formula that Petsmart.com advertises for “meat sensitive dogs”. But I suspect it is more for “meat sensitive owners.”
I have never been a full vegan, but one thing I do is not eat pork or shell fish (but I can eat locust:)). Neither my cat nor dog is given this. I had a dog that died a few years ago that since I raised him on no pork, when he was offered some as an adult dog, turned it down. The cat had would also turn his nose up at it when offered.
PETA claims cats can live on a vegan diet…sometimes, you REALLY gotta wonder!
How about you just feed the cat meat from animals that only eat vegies? Is that a supportable compromise between the pet’s physiology and the pet owner’s theology?
It is possible to feed a dog a vegetarian diet, and there are vegetarian dog foods. Dogs aren’t true carnivores, in that they are able to live without meat if necessary and the diets of their wild relatives do consist of a number of different foods.
No one I know who is a vegetarian, however, actually feeds their dog a vegetarian diet. I’ve asked several of my veg friends about this, and they’ve all pretty much said that the choice to go veg was a personal choice for them, and that they didn’t feel comfortable making that choice for their pets. Some of these friends feed homemade food to their dogs, because they are convinced they can provide a higher-quality diet that way. Sometimes the diets consist of raw meat (mainly chicken), which gives me the willies, but their dogs seem to do well.
I do know one dog that is a vegetarian while her owners are not! She turned out to be allergic to beef, chicken, lamb and turkey, so she’s on a veg diet. Treats for her consist of carrot sticks and broccoli, which she loves!
Cats are true carnivores and cannot be vegetarians. They require a certain amino acid called taurine, which is found in the muscle and organ tissue of animals. Humans and dogs need taurine too, but they are able to make it in their own bodies from other amino acids. Cats are unable to do so in quantities sufficient enough to sustain life. So if you don’t feed your cat meat, it will eventually develop heart failure due to taurine deficiency.
And interestingly enough, I’ve been doing a tally in my head of my veg friends and their pets, and more of them have cats than dogs!
Amino acid supplement are available for cats, but the one I priced several months ago costs twice as much as cat food. That is, I would triple my cat food bill in order to have a vegetarian cat. And I’m not convinced that my cats would eat it.
I am, as you’ve guessed by now, a vegetarian and a cat owner. If a supplement were inexpensive, proven effective and cats loved it, I might try to feed my cats a vegetarian diet. But I can’t see going to a lot of trouble and expense. If I had a problem with cats being carnivores, I wouldn’t have cats.
Here’s the link to Cecil’s column on vegetarian cats and dogs.
(I am a vegetarian, btw. I live with a mostly-vegetarian - most kinds of meat just really ick her out, so she doesn’t eat meat very often. Our dogs are omnivores who eat regular dogfoods and other products that contain meat. I doubt they’d thrive on a vegetarian diet, and I have no intention of finding out.)
If the principle for vegans was “It’s wrong for cats to eat meat,” you might have a point. But it isn’t.
I knew a vegan cat owner who would only feed his cats fish. I guess he considered that an acceptable compromise.
Actually, any reptile raised domestically (which are the only reptiles one should buy) will accept dead mice/rats. In fact, it is a bad idea to give live prey to reptiles if they will take any other type because occasionally the prey gets lucky: a terrified rat can take out an eye. However, unless it is a very small animal you are going to have to kill the mice/rats yourself. Only the pinkies and fuzzies are avalible frozen.
Manda Jo:
Incorrect 
. When I was more of a “pet” person ( I’m down to just a cat at this point ), I used to keep snakes. Thirteen at one point. Not only were frozen adult mich ( and rats, and sometimes chickens ) available at the local reptile emporia ( there were several in my area ), but they were also available by mail order. I used to get mine packed in dry ice from Kansas. This guy Casey had premium mice, cheap 
.
Also, although I mostly agree with your point Re: feeding thawed vs. live prey, there are occasions when live food might be called for. I’ve always found live pinky mice make a better choice for a first meal for newly hatched snakes, for instance. And sometimes live ( or freshly handkilled ) rodents are superior to thawed for some finicky critters. And some largely piscivorous snakes might be better off with live fish - Not likely to cause damage and they’re easier to deal with for the owner.
- Tamerlane
I dont understand. If vegans had their way would they want everything to be a herbivore? I always thought vegans were just about becomeing herbivores themselves and not about trying to drag the rest of the animal kingdom with them ( exept maybe humans for some. ) Why should vegans care what their omnivorous animals eat? It’s like forcing your cat to only eat kosher foods if your a jew or taking your dog to coffession.
I’m not trying to be rude, I’m sure there is some reason. The only reason that makes sense to me is the way in which the animals are slaughtered to make the puppy chow?
Well, like I said, if you look at PETA’s site, they say that’s it is BETTER or something for cats to be vegetarian. Or at least that cats needing meat is a myth.
No, except possibly in their daydreams. Non-human animals don’t have the responsibility to consider the ethical implications of their diet, because they can’t. An ethical vegan (there’s more than one kind out there) wants to reduce suffering. As omnivores capable of reasoning, they conclude that since we can physically thrive on a vegan diet and that plants suffer less than animals from being eaten, the net amount of suffering caused by us will be reduced if we only eat plant-derived foods.
Forcing an animal that is designed to subsist on meat to only eat vegetables is most definitely increasing suffering. As for clarification on whether or not cats needing meat is a myth, I’ll be asking my veterinarian, not PETA.
Guinastasia, is this the PETA page you were referring to?
Anyway, in regards to the OP, a vegan who wants a pet has a few contradictory lines of reasoning to sort out. The overriding objective should be, of course, to reduce suffering, but it’s not always easy to figure it out. Generally speaking though, I would give more weight to the direct reduction of suffering you get from adopting and fixing a homeless pet than the more abstract and controversial consideration of not supporting the pet food industry.
-fh
It’s interesting that all this veg stuff on the boards is coming at the same time I’ve taken a job at a wildlife rehabilitation center. I’m a longtime vegetarian, as I’ve said several times here, and it’s for the not-causing-suffering reason. This job,though,involves feeding birds, which require a formula mix of powdered specialty food and chicken(human) baby food. I make it up every day. To feed the raptors, I cut up thawed lab mice (reallllly nasty). It doesn’t jibe with what I choose to eat, but these guys have to eat, and they don’t have a choice. (If they did, it probably wouldn’t be chicken baby food- yecccchhh!)
If one of the baby birds we so carefully try to save dies, we feed it (if not diseased), to a needy owl, hawk, or possum. That’s an approximation of natural order. I’ll admit a sigh of sympathy to the deceased, who I’ve often rooted for in nurturing in hopes of recovery, but, that’s life, and that body can help another animal to live.
I don’t see any conflict in my diet and my actions in my job. As a human being, with the ability to discern the path of least suffering, I try to do the least damage I can possibly do. After a bit of education, I can live pretty easily adhering to that decision. Feeding animal products to those I care for is the best I can do in the course of my work. As with my pet cats, if there is a better way to care for them, I’m open and alert for alternatives.
hazel-rah: Didn’t see your post while posting. Well said.
Yep, that’s the one. It sounds like a load of bullshit to me.