Sackeshi

The hypocrisy of meat eating pets or vegan dogs and cats

https://lemmy.world/post/30570251

The hypocrisy of meat eating pets or vegan dogs and cats - Lemmy.World

So according to the ethics of veganism it’s about valuing sentient life and animal consent. So I pose a few questions. 1. Is it justified to buy animal based dog and cat food? 2. Is it justifiable to force a dog or cat to be vegan? If 1 is justifiable then the claim that it’s unethical for humans to eat meat is untrue since feeding your pets meat requires more animals to be raised for slaughter. If 2 is true then it violates animal consent because there are zero dogs or cats that prefer vegan food to meat and infact are naturally omnivorous in the case of dogs or pure carnivores in the case of cats. So the logical conclusion would be owning meat eating pets in impossible while being vegan. Then it leads to the ethics of what happened to the breeds of cats and dogs no longer able to be pets.

Jun 1, 2025 at 12:48amWeb
Show threadatempuser23Jun 1, 2025

Owning pets is problematic all on it’s own in an ethical vegan framework. The industrial breeding of animals and the supporting industries are not compatible with many ethical thoughts on animal rights.

The problems you mentions follow from that.

Buying an animal inherently takes away it’s innate agency ans supports the animal breeding industry.

Feeding an animal vegan foods when it’s natural diet would be from hunting is a side effect of buying an animal that you would have little chance of attracting from the wild.

When a breed is no longer capable of being a pet, you stop breeding it in captivity, and take care of all the of the living animals and suck up the ethical quagmire that was completely manufactured.

Show threadJim EastJun 1, 2025
Pretty much this. Don’t own other beings as property. Don’t instigate violence against peaceful beings. Do not attempt to restrict the freedom of other beings. It really is that simple.
Show threadatempuser23Jun 1, 2025
Other who live with animals in cohabitation,opposed to ownership, could be fine for their way of life.
Show threadJim EastJun 1, 2025
I agree. Peaceful cohabitation without domination can work quite well. I don’t even know how many animals share this house, but it’s probably hundreds at least. If they don’t bother me, I don’t bother them. It’s only when the cohabitation is involuntary/non-consensual or when someone tries to control others by force or coercion that it becomes a problem.
Show threadJim EastJun 1, 2025
These are important questions that not enough people are asking. See my other comment, but basically, I agree with your conclusion.
Show threadLongpork3Jun 1, 2025

Scenario 1: you leave the dog at the shelter and it eventually gets killed.

Scenario 2: you bring the dog home and feed it so that it doesn’t get killed.

I don’t see any ethical issue with my dogs eating the same foods I do. Why would i order the deaths of other animals for the sake of their taste buds?

Show threadSackeshiJun 1, 2025
Because dogs are NOT herbavors and it’s not consenting to that life style. Even “vegan” dogs will eat meat if given the chance.
Show threadLongpork3Jun 1, 2025
See the scenarios above. Are you suggesting that dogs would choose death over a life where they dont get to eat their favourite foods?
Show threadatempuser23Jun 1, 2025
They are animals that hunt. If given the chance they would choose the death of prey animals. They are not given that choice by someone else alien sense of ethics.
Show threadLongpork3Jun 1, 2025

The choice they are given, as a result of the society we live in, is eat a plant-based diet with an adoptive family, or be killed by the state.

Unadopted dogs don’t get released into the wild to live freely and fend for themselves, they get killed.

The lesser-harm option seems pretty clear.

Show threadatempuser23Jun 1, 2025
For some people like you the best option is clear. For others it’s not. Such clarity on an issue can be a strong force to do the right things in life.
Show thread𝕱𝖎𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍Jun 1, 2025
Cats and dogs can’t survive purely on veggies. It’s not just for their taste buds.
Show threadqueermunist she/herJun 1, 2025

Dogs totally can. They are omnivores like us and evolved alongside us. Obviously they’d eat meat if given the choice so it’s still a restrictive diet that they never got to choose for themselves, and that’s an ethical minefield for vegans, but they can totally live on plants.

Cats are carnivores. I don’t think they can live a full healthy life without at least some meat.

Show threadLongpork3Jun 1, 2025
Cats require specific vitamins such as taurine, which in nature would be derived from meat. In 21st century society, it is produced synthetically and easily supplemented.
Show threadqueermunist she/herJun 1, 2025
Good point, it’s not like I don’t take B12 most days!
Show threadjolJun 1, 2025
Pets don’t get to choose what they eat, vegan or otherwise. Most pets thrive just fine on eating more or less the same couple foods all their life. “forcing therm” to eat hm food is ethically the same as “forging them” to eat kibble.
Show threadqueermunist she/herJun 1, 2025

Right, because pets are not free to make their own choices. They’re property.

That’s the ethical minefield I was talking about.

Show threadjolJun 1, 2025
That a dumb take. Small children are also not free to pick the food they eat. Their parent chose their food. Are children property? If that’s a minefield, it’s a pretty weak one.
Show threadSackeshiJun 1, 2025
The difference is children spend 1/5 to 1/4 of their life being “not free” the animals you force to eat vegan spend their whole life stuck in that life style
Show threadqueermunist she/herJun 1, 2025

When parents decide to deprive their children of vaccines, or block them from gender affirming care, or use corporal punishment, or any other things that “parental rights” freaks believe in- what do you think that is?

A huge portion of people consider children to be property, they want the right to control their children and to abuse them however they want.

Show threadjolJun 1, 2025
Those things are actively harming children. Supplemented vegan food is not like being violent to pets.
Show threadqueermunist she/herJun 1, 2025

You might be misunderstanding what I mean by “minefield”. Controlling someone’s food is a minefield because it is possible to make misteps. You can accidentally veer into abuse without extreme caution i.e. accidentally step on a mine.

That doesn’t mean controlling your pet’s diet is inherently abusive. It’s just a minefield. Don’t mistep.

Show threadbelastendJun 3, 2025
Sustaining a cat on an entirely vegan diet is actively harming the cat.
Show threadjolJun 3, 2025
Not if it’s nutricionally complete.
Show threadGeeDubHaydukeJun 1, 2025

I don’t see any ethical issue with my dogs eating the same foods I do.

Dogs can’t eat grapes, onions, garlic, cashews, almonds, chocolate etc. There’s some pretty big ethical issues feeding your dogs the same food you eat.

Show threadRvTV95XBeoJun 1, 2025
Babe, go grab the popcorn, someone posted about vegan pets again!
Show threadAnarki_Jun 1, 2025
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ🍿
Show threadbeans_dont_screamJun 1, 2025

vecado.com/…/vegan-cats-101-nutrients-not-ingredi…

vecado.com/blogs/vegan-pet-food/vegan-dogs-101

Vegan Cats 101: nutrients, not ingredients is what really matters

The word vegan for many is associated with tomatoes, cucumbers and other veggies. When thinking of cats we think carnivores, hunters and sharp instincts. No wonder then that putting the two words - vegan and cats - in the same sentence has been the subject of many heated debates. In this post we'll reconcile the two wo

Vecado USA
Show threadSackeshiJun 1, 2025

www.aspca.org/news/why-cant-my-cat-be-vegan#%3A~%….

Cats can’t properly digest plant matter. They have very few taste buds and no sweet receptors for a reason. They can only digest meat.

Why Can't My Cat Be Vegan?

Nowadays, it’s easier than ever to live a vegan lifestyle. But what about your pets? The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center weighs in on this diet trend, and explains why, while it may be safe for you, it might not be so beneficial for your pets. Read more and get the facts today!

ASPCA
Show threadVeganPizza69 ⓋJun 3, 2025

  • “Owning” pets isn’t vegan. Hosting rescued animals, sure.

  • If you kill a pig to feed a cat, it’s like a “zero-sum game”. This means that you need a secondary criteria to make the decision, if you don’t want to play favorites (make a biased decision over who lives). This is the bloody chaos created by animal breeders.

    • In this situation, you are the “death panel”. Just ask people who work in animal shelters how they make the decisions, that may be a better guide than rolling dice or flipping a coin.

    Like with other domestic animals who’ve been genetically sabotaged by humans, the goal is their extinction. “Pets” also include exotic animals, in which case sanctuaries and returning them to the wild are worthy goals.

    Dogs can make it, cats are an issue and it would be good to have some of that non-animal-based “lab meat” for cats. And people who want these non-human animals to be like fitness models - pictures of ideal health or “platonic forms” of pets - are not serious people, they live in privileged fantasies and should be ignored.