An interesting one!

Ag marbh

Last weekend while fucked at some odd hour during the morning a discussion came up about veggie's feeding there dog(or pet) meat and dog food with meat in it!

Not going in any particular direction saying hypocrits or whatever.


Discuss!

direbadger

I remeber someone a long time ago telling me that a person who buys a starving, stray dog a ham sambo, some chicken or whatnot is "worse than a meat eater" or "worse than a hypocrite" or something along those lines. I think I was the rougue hypocrite sandwich-buyer. :rolleyes: Anyway, in this instance the person flinging around accusations was in no position to call ANYONE else a hypocrite - I won't go into details because I'm not into being the vegan police...
Anyway, I can see where that argument comes from. Buying petfood surely fuels a small part of the meat trade, whice is one of the main things veggies are usually against. But most people (I hope) temper their personal morals and choices with practicality. I'm sure many veggies/vegans never plan on getting dogs or cats but have the responsibility thrust upon them anyway because of strays/pounds/animal shelters etc. And in that situation you have to decide if feeding the dog or cat (a more complete carnivore than a dog) an unnatural diet is a lesser or greater evil than supporting the meat industry.

Tar.Aldarion

direbadger wrote:

I I'm sure many veggies/vegans never plan on getting dogs or cats but have the responsibility thrust upon them anyway because of strays/pounds/animal shelters etc. And in that situation you have to decide if feeding the dog or cat (a more complete carnivore than a dog) an unnatural diet is a leeser or greater evil than supporting the meat industry.

If that happens and they don't want to give their animal meat, get them vegetarian dog food, looks yummy to me.

Nature Boy

I'm sure dogs wouldn't eat dog biscuits and cooked bits of animals in jelly crap in the wild, and i'm sure a cat wouldn't drink the milk of a cow in the wild. So if everone else feeds their pets unnatural diets then why can't vegetarians??

Al Katraz

I reckon it's grand as long as you don't eat the dog.

Shabadu

Al Katraz wrote:

I reckon it's grand as long as you don't eat the dog.

That seems hypocritical to me. An animal is still dying because of your choice to own a pet. I don't see how someone could justify being a vegetarian or vegan and yet buying a meat product.

I'm not a vegetarian myself, but if I was I wouldn't cod myself into thinking it was different because I was buying for a carnivore- we're programmed to eat meat too. Many apes scavenge when they can, and some have been known to actively hunt meat. If you think we can do with out it, than so can your pet.

JaneHudson

Surely the definition of a vegetarianism is someone who doesn't *eat* meat? I didn't realise there was some sort of pledge to say you should stop whoever and whatever you come across from eating meat.

If I knock down a cat with my car or kill a mouse in a mousetrap am I no longer a vegetarian?
If I scavange some roadkill to eat does that mean I am still a vegetarian?

I don't think it's over-simplifying to say if you don't eat meat you are a vegetarian. If you take someone out to dinner and they order the steak surely it just makes you a less agressive vegetarian?

Shabadu

JaneHudson wrote:

Surely the definition of a vegetarianism is someone who doesn't *eat* meat?

I disagree Jane. For example, you cannot go into a butchers and buy a load of steak every day just to throw in your bin and call yourself a vegetarian simply because you're not eating it. However, that is just my definition, and you have yours.

I'm not sure what you mean by the second sentence in the context of this thread, I don't think vegetarians are obliged to do that either. This is my stance on it: If you are a vegetarian, and taking someone out to dinner, and they choose meat, that is their choice. But it is your choice as a vegetarian to own a pet and your choice to feed them meat, and that is hypocritical in my opinion.

shroomfox

I was going to disagree with you Shabadu, but I looked it up and apparently there's a debate going on at the moment as to whether dogs should be classified as carnivores or omnivores. In essence, your dog can probably survive on a vegetarian diet so it is a bit hypocritical to feed your dog meat if you're vegetarian. (As an aside, what does it matter if we're programmed to eat meat or not? Humans don't require meat protein, and we have the option of subsisting without it, and unnecessary killing is wrong, so...)

Cats, however, require meat protein. What do you do then? Personally, I hate fricking cats anyway, but what if somebody asks me to mind their cat for a week? Or I find a starving cat somewhere? Do I just let it die? Or do I buy a tin of food?

shroomfox

Excuse me - I should probably read my sources before posting! That Wikipedia link says that some vegetarian cat owners feed their cats using taurine so apparently it is possible.

Although, if I found a dying cat and couldn't find taurine, I'd probably buy a can of cat food.

Tar.Aldarion

Supplemented vegetarian diet.
If the cat is lactose intolerant you would have to feed it meat or a substitute.
If it was just for a week, I don't think the cat would get CRD and it could always get some mice for itself.

EDIT, you noticed that then.

shroomfox

I have fed the family dog meat when I've been at home come to think of it. Hyocrite? Yeah, probably. It was sitting in the press already, and I've put my poor mother to far too much inconvenience already because of my vegetarianism without forcing my beliefs on the dog.

Shabadu

Yeah, but that's not your dog shroomfox, it's the family dog, and yore ma bought the food it would be eating anyway, so I wouldn't really call that hypocrisy. On a side note, you are such an entertaining poster. I really wish you would post more, you cause much lol for me.

shroomfox

Ah, but then my posts would become bland and routine like so much porridge...Thanks, though!

Reaver772

I couldn't read this thread and not think of Futurama



Farnsworth: "Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in... get the hell off my property!"
Free Waterfall Junior: "You can't own property, man."
Farnsworth: "I can. But that's because I'm not a penniless hippie."
Leela: "What do you people want?"
Free Waterfall Junior: "We're with mankind for ethical animal treatment. Popplers are little creatures. You got to stop harvesting them for food."
Bender: "Or what?"
Free Waterfall Junior: "Or we'll boycott Fishy Joe's."
Leela: "You're vegetarians. Who cares what you do?"
Free Waterfall Junior: "Shut up!"
Leela: "Animals eat other animals. It's nature."
Free Waterfall Junior: "No it isn't. We taught a lion to eat tofu."
Lion: *cough* *pause* *cough*

sweet-rasmus

well, i guess like any other animal/person in the house, you can't make them be vegetarian just cause you are. the day my cat asks me to feed him only vegetarian food, i'll be there for him...

Mentalmiss

Dogs and cats should be fed what they would eat if the were in the wild and that is raw meat. They should never be given cooked food. Please google "Pottinger Cats" (If I have spelled that wrong I will come back and correct it)
I am a very strict vegan but believe in doing what is natural

Floyd Soul

I'm vegan but hold no qualms about feeding my dogs and cats meat.

They are carnivores, and have been for millions of years, so I'm not going to let my beliefs get in the way of that.

frobisher

Shabadu wrote:

I disagree Jane. For example, you cannot go into a butchers and buy a load of steak every day just to throw in your bin and call yourself a vegetarian simply because you're not eating it. However, that is just my definition, and you have yours.

No matter whay you want a word to mean it still has its actual meaning. Here is the meaning of vegetarianism: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dict.asp?Word=vegetarianism

I think you'll find that you can throw out a million steaks a day and still be a vegetarian. Does that go against the "spirit" of vegetarianism? That all depends on your motivation for being veggie in the first place which is an individual decision and not a club that you join to which you must subscribe to every rule and notion.