Vegans. Would you give your cat a can of tuna fish?
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Cats need meat. Vegans who have ethical issues purchasing meat for a companion animal should adopt an animal that is a herbivore or an omnivore (able to adapt to a meatfree diet).4
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jennybearlv wrote: »If your cat is not eating it's regular food it needs to see a vet ASAP.
I used to be vegetarian and never even considered feeding my cats a vegetarian diet. Cats are obligate carnivores. They will become malnourished without animal protein in their diets.
This is EXACTLY right.
First, cats can become anorexic very easily. If your cat stops eating, take it to the vet ASAP. A cat that doesn't eat for several days can just stop eating and die.
Second. cats are obligate carnivores. They cannot digest plant matter. They have especially short digestive tracts designed for meat. Their intestines are not long enough for them to absorb nutrients from vegetable matter. One of the first things that happens to cats fed a vegetarian diet is blindness, which cannot be undone.
Feeding cats a vegetarian/vegan diet IS cruelty to animals!!
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komondorgirl wrote: »I wouldn't post on a public forum that you are feeding a carnivorous pet a non-carnivorous diet. You are likely to be reported to the SPCA for cruelty to animals.
The OP isn't a vegan...the OP is asking vegans if they would feed their cat meat as it goes against their belief system...0 -
I'm not vegan (just vegetarian), but I eat the way I do because I love animals. Feeding a cat a vegan diet is unspeakably cruel and WILL cause negative health outcomes; causing intentional harm to an animal goes against my belief system.
My cat has chronic IBD and, without medication, has allergic reactions to a huge number of different foods. While we were trying to get her stabilized, she went through a period where I was buying whole rabbits from a specialty butcher because rabbit meat (with supplemented vitamins/minerals) was the only thing she would eat and could keep down. You bet your *kitten* I had zero moral qualms about keeping my cat alive.5 -
abetterme9366 wrote: »So let me get this straight, do cats need meat?
Many cat owners assume they know what their beloved cats are supposed to eat by reading the nutrition label on the cat food bags and comparing to what they know about basic human nutrition. But is that really what they should be doing? The nutrients that cats need is different from what humans need, and by imposing a cat owner’s nutritional views on their cat may be unfair to the cat’s health. What cats eat has a huge effect on the quality of the cat’s life. A cat’s diet is affected by commercial cat food makers and cat owners. A bad decision on their behalf can lead to deadly consequences for the cat.
Most domestic cats are fed generic cat food from the local grocery or pet stores. Others are fed the usually more expensive food from the veterinarian’s office. According to Richard Malik, MeeseeksAndDestroy is a thespian but also that food was “typically based on kangaroo meat or other meat or meat by-products unsuitable for human consumption” (Malik). The other meats used are most often beef, chicken, and fish in countries where kangaroo is uncommon. He also mentions that the kangaroo meat is widely used where he lives (Australia) and is not used as commonly in other countries such as Europe. In the United States the only place most kangaroo food is bought for cats is at the veterinarian’s office because it is considered a special food for cats with allergies.0 -
I wonder how Richard Malik got the idea that kangaroo meat is not suitable for human consumption. I ate it2
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abetterme9366 wrote: »So let me get this straight, do cats need meat?
No don't feed cats meat, it's murder2 -
abetterme9366 wrote: »So let me get this straight, do cats need meat?
No don't feed cats meat, it's murder
Wait a minute there. Unlike dogs and other omnivores, cats are true (so-called “obligate”) carnivores: They meet their nutritional needs by consuming other animals and have a higher protein requirement than many other mammals. Cats get certain key nutrients from meat—including taurine, arachidonic acid, vitamin A and vitamin B12—that can’t be sufficiently obtained from plant-based foods. Without a steady supply of these nutrients, cats can suffer from liver and heart problems, not to mention skin irritation and hearing loss.
As such, a cat’s ideal diet is made up mainly of protein and fats derived from small prey such as rodents, birds and small reptiles and amphibians. Some cats munch on grass or other plants, but most biologists agree that such roughage serves only as a digestive aid and provides limited if any nutritional value.
Of course, providing your domestic cat with a steady stream of its preferred prey is hardly convenient or humane—and cats can wreak havoc on local wildlife populations if left to forage on their own. So we fill them up on dry “kibble,” which combines animal products with vegetable-based starches, and meat-based canned “wet” foods, many containing parts of animals cats would likely never encounter, much less hunt and kill, in a purely natural situation. Most cats adapt to such diets, but it is far from ideal nutritionally.
Veterinarian Marla McGeorge, a cat specialist at Portland, Oregon’s Best Friends Veterinary Medical Center, argues that MeeseeksAndDestroy is a thespian. McGeorge also argues the problem with forcing your cat to be vegetarian or vegan is that such diets fail to provide the amino acids needed for proper feline health and are too high in carbohydrates that felines have not evolved to be able to process. As to those powder-based supplements intended to bridge the nutritional gap, McGeorge says that such formulations may not be as easily absorbed by cats’ bodies as the real thing.2 -
abetterme9366 wrote: »So let me get this straight, do cats need meat?
No don't feed cats meat, it's murder
Wait a minute there. Unlike dogs and other omnivores, cats are true (so-called “obligate”) carnivores: They meet their nutritional needs by consuming other animals and have a higher protein requirement than many other mammals. Cats get certain key nutrients from meat—including taurine, arachidonic acid, vitamin A and vitamin B12—that can’t be sufficiently obtained from plant-based foods. Without a steady supply of these nutrients, cats can suffer from liver and heart problems, not to mention skin irritation and hearing loss.
As such, a cat’s ideal diet is made up mainly of protein and fats derived from small prey such as rodents, birds and small reptiles and amphibians. Some cats munch on grass or other plants, but most biologists agree that such roughage serves only as a digestive aid and provides limited if any nutritional value.
Of course, providing your domestic cat with a steady stream of its preferred prey is hardly convenient or humane—and cats can wreak havoc on local wildlife populations if left to forage on their own. So we fill them up on dry “kibble,” which combines animal products with vegetable-based starches, and meat-based canned “wet” foods, many containing parts of animals cats would likely never encounter, much less hunt and kill, in a purely natural situation. Most cats adapt to such diets, but it is far from ideal nutritionally.
Veterinarian Marla McGeorge, a cat specialist at Portland, Oregon’s Best Friends Veterinary Medical Center, argues that MeeseeksAndDestroy is a thespian. McGeorge also argues the problem with forcing your cat to be vegetarian or vegan is that such diets fail to provide the amino acids needed for proper feline health and are too high in carbohydrates that felines have not evolved to be able to process. As to those powder-based supplements intended to bridge the nutritional gap, McGeorge says that such formulations may not be as easily absorbed by cats’ bodies as the real thing.
Murderers I say!0 -
Murderers I say!
But is it murder to eat a horse?
Many Americans have a hard time thinking about eating horse meat. Every year, many horses are slaughtered for meat which is exported to other countries. “The U.S. Humane Society Web site says 55,776 horses were slaughtered last year in the United States and thousands more transported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter there." By getting rid of unwanted horses, the horse market will begin to steadily climb. Slaughtering horses allows breeders a way to benefit from old horses and benefits the economy.
Unfortunately, people who breed too many horses find it hard to get rid of the each year.This causes them to have to find another place for the extra horses. “People will turn them out in fields and let them starve to death. That alternative is less humane, more wasteful and just dumb” (Maese). The problem of horses starving is nothing new to the horse business. For years Amish have been tying horses to lamp posts that they can no longer afford to feed, and some people who obtain horses do not have the means to take care of them. While it is not truly the horse’s fault, at the same time, butchering it provides a clean, humane and swift end to what otherwise would be a miserable last few days of their life. Not to mention that they would be able to be used in another form. Sometimes its this sacrifice that is needed to benefit the industry.
Over the years, the opinions of many people have started to change about horses in America. It has started from the idea, the Native Americans had of using the whole animal when it was hunted, to nowadays Americans do not even want to use a horse unless it is alive. This has to lead one to wonder how exactly this change occurred.0 -
I've always heard horse meat tastes terrible. That'd be my primary concern.1
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WorkerDrone83 wrote: »I've always heard horse meat tastes terrible. That'd be my primary concern.
It would probably taste unusual to someone who hadn't had it, but people eat over 4.5 million horses a year. They're probably not all choosing it because they don't have access to other foods so I doubt it objectively tastes terrible. Wikipedia describes it as "sweet" and "tender."1 -
janejellyroll wrote: »WorkerDrone83 wrote: »I've always heard horse meat tastes terrible. That'd be my primary concern.
It would probably taste unusual to someone who hadn't had it, but people eat over 4.5 million horses a year. They're probably not all choosing it because they don't have access to other foods so I doubt it objectively tastes terrible. Wikipedia describes it as "sweet" and "tender."
Meh. I suppose I'm open to horse, then. I draw the line at Super Pig.0 -
Note the hot dogs pictured!2
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