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Feeding
Natural Carnivores
What is the vegan perspective on feeding
companion animals meat?
 There
is no "official" vegan position regarding what to feed
companion animals and the vegan community is conflicted
over this issue. Dogs and cats are the primary topic
of contention, since the majority of other animal companions
are, by nature, herbivorous.
Dogs are able to eat a wide variety
of foods and, with proper supplementation, many do quite
well on a totally or predominately plant-based diet.
Cats, however, are inherent carnivores and require meat
to thrive. Wet and dry vegan cat foods are available,
as well as nutritional supplements that are intended
to be mixed with home-prepared vegan cat foods. Nevertheless,
we do not have hard evidence yet to ascertain whether
synthetic taurine, arachidonic acid, and other essential
nutrients are metabolized effectively by felines. It
is quite possible that a number of cats fed a vegan
diet could appear to be healthy for several years and
then "suddenly" experience devastating health- or life-threatening
consequences. Some side effects of inadequate or inappropriate
nutrition in cats are blindness, heart problems, kidney
problems, listlessness, poor muscle tone, dull coats,
and flaky skin. Is it fair or right of vegans to impose
their personal diet choice on naturally carnivorous
companion animals? This continues to be an issue of
much debate.
There are no long-term studies or solid
scientific data to support putting cats on vegan diets.
Any presumed benefits are simply conjecture -- promulgated
primarily by the manufacturers of these products and
well-meaning activists. However, scientific and anecdotal
information regarding the hazards abound.
Vegans and vegetarians often like to
underscore the anatomical differences between carnivores
and herbivores to support their belief that humans are
not designed to eat meat. They are also repulsed and
furious that some "food animals," such as cows, which
are total vegetarians, are commonly fed ground up animal
products or even their own species. If vegans believe
that it is wrong for natural vegetarians to be force-fed
meat, the inverse should be considered equally morally
outrageous. Cows are designed to eat plant matter; cats
are designed to eat flesh. It is not a sin to be born
a carnivore -- carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores
are part of the complete balance and scheme of the natural
world.
Humans have a choice about their ethics
and the foods that they eat; our companion animals do
not. They are compelled to eat what we provide for them,
even though they know what their bodies require. Homo
sapiens is the only species that doesn't seem to have
a clue what its ideal diet should be. Place a cat in
a room with an apple and a mouse, and the cat will instinctively
go after the mouse and ignore the apple. When people
are transitioning a cat to a meatless diet, they typically
need plenty of patience and perseverance. Sometimes
vegans deprive their cats of alternative foods for long
periods just so the animal will eat a plate of oats
and lentils -- hardly the "normal" diet for a feline
with dagger-like canines, retractable claws, no grinding
molars, no hinged jaw, a short gut, and powerful stomach
acids.
There are no perfect solutions when
our companion animals are carnivores. Commercial "pet
foods" are the dregs of the slaughterhouse industries
and are rife with tainted rotting flesh, hormones, drugs,
and other contaminants. Although "organic" meat-based
cat food might be considered a step up the ladder as
far as purity, it still contains discarded animal parts
often deemed inedible by humans, and there is no way
to guarantee that the "organic" animals were not diseased
or given drugs prior to their death. No matter how it
is analyzed, the ingredients in all animal-based "pet
foods" are equally disastrous and dead -- whether home-made
from human grade "organic" meats or scooped from a can
or bag.
Vegans are entitled to practice and
abide by their beliefs and even influence other people
to do so, but is it fitting to impose our ethics on
another species, especially one that would not oblige
us if other options were provided? If some vegans cannot
respect a cat's physiology and biological requirements,
perhaps they should not adopt felines. Instead, those
vegans who agonize about the welfare of cats but are
unwilling to give them the meat-based diet they are
designed to consume could work toward eliminating the
domestic cat market through implementing extensive spay/neuter
programs and breeding bans.
The issue of feeding carnivorous companion
animals is controversial and contentious and certain
to spark continued debate among vegans. From a moral
vantage point, it is critical to analyze all angles
of this problem and not settle on or reject a quick
or easy resolution simply because, on the surface, it
appears to comply or conflict with vegan convictions.
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