General Chat

My dad got a cat when I was 6.
She was fed mainly on lights (brains), liver and fish that she 'caught'.
She used to go down to the harbour (we lived in Mevagissey) when the trawlers came in, and would be thrown a fish, which she would bring home to be cooked!
The fish was boiled and left, in the saucepan, to be cooled.
We'd know when it was cool enough to eat - we'd hear the 'clank' as the cat removed the saucepan lid!

Talk about making an animal work for her food!! LOL

The cat caught cat flu when she was 16 - and survived it.
She was 17 when my sister had a baby, so the cat moved down the road to live with an elderly couple. She was over 20 when she died!

Well, my dog loves some veg - anything red mainly - tomatoes, peppers, strawberries ... but generally he's fed on a mixture of tinned dog food and dry "complete" dog food.

Couldn't feed him on veg all the time as it makes him f*rt something chronic! Bad enough with the old man doing that!

Jill

p.s. I'm not a vegetarian but don't eat much meat anyway.

Cant eat fish alergic to it, intolerances with most meats so more or less vegetarian, do note neighbours cat loves the oats we put out for the birds.
and next door's dog loves carrotts.
But whilst you can feed dogs cat food cats ont do very well over a time with dog food, something to do with the length of bowel being very short in cats

Gawd Eldrick and thrice yuk!! My OH had pork scratchings at the weekend...wonder how many pimples were on that skin!!

It's best to put some garlic and herbs in if you do have to :-)

Wool is safe. As long as you don't mind the ticks and lice and clingons :-)

Euww Yuk!....who started this thread anyway?

Goes off to ponder on something else......knitting I think......nope, can't do that. someone is bound to tell me how the sheep lost their wool :-)))


Seriously....very interesting posts.....have learned a lot.....albeit not to eat pet food :-)

Rose...vegetarian... former cat and dog owner...agreeing entirely with Eldrick's thesis :)

btw I had a dog (border collie) who was the runt of the litter...all his healthier siblings and parents were fed by owner on a totally veggie diet...caused all sorts of problems, and they all died younger than mine, mine was fed on varied meat diet though he also had a partiality to raw sprouts lol..

I'm a vegetarian, but fed the cat meat....I don;t like the idea of killing an animal for me to eat, but its my choice....I don't feed the kids veggie either...if i make spag bol or something I'll use veggie mince or quorn, and everyyone eats it, but for example tonight, they're all having chops and chips....I'll eat something else. My daughter whose 5 knows I'm veggie and don't eat meat and fish, but she loves makerel and chicken, so will opt for what her daddy eats rather than my version! It never occured to me to give the cat anything other than normal cat food.....cats are carnivores.....so she needed to have meat....! imo anyway!

Eldrick, after that I hope I never have to eat dog food!!

I had a siamese cat once that would steal and eat ......cucumber!!

I wonder how many people actually know what goes into dog and cat food and if they did, it would make any difference to a vegan outlook.

The industry term for meat used for pet feed is '4D' meat. That is dead, dying, disabled and diseased. Restaurant oil and fat is treated and used to spray meal and kibble foods for dogs. Only meat not fit for human consumption goes into it - stands to reason - if it was fit for humans, it would be sold to humans for a much greater profit!

In the USA horse meat, dead zoo animals, euthanised pets and anything else you can think of goes into the pot, ground up and boiled. There are even reports of collars being found in some bags or tins of food. Traces of euthanising chemicals are also found.

Even in the UK, dog food is full of preservatives and the remnants of antibiotics and other chemicals. People who stick to one brand of food for the lifespan of their pet are inadvertantly causing health problems and sometimes killing their animals, due to a constant build up of these. Whilst some owners may introduce natural foods into the diet, they are, I suggest, in the minority.

If you look at who owns the major pet food producers, it is a clue. Proctor and Gamble own Eukanuba and Iams, Master Food ( Mars, etc) own Pedigree, Chappie, Chum, Bounce, etc. Colgate Palmolive own Hills, Nestle own Spillers, Bonio, winalot etc. The massive marketing power of these giants is directed towards pet owners. I bet the dogs used in their adverts don't get fed exclusively on their products!

The best way to feed your dog (or cat) is to use natural food in addition to these commercial brands. Vary the diet and a couple of times a week use tripe, fresh mince or whatever mixed with brown rice. I follow the BARF diet for mine - (Bones and Real Food) at least twice a week, as well as giving a couple of sardines in alternate feeds.

Keep a dog or a cat on a veggie diet and you are killing it, no matter what anyone says. It's cruel and unnatural.

End of thesis.

Interesting thread. But do folk feed a natural diet by giving just cuts of meat and fish? In the natural state cats and dogs would eat various parts of an animal including the intestines which are rich in plant matter and vitamins, ie vegetation. I saw somewhere that this was important to big cats for their diet. From this the balance would seem to be mostly flesh with a little vegetable matter.

Some Budgerigars like a little chicken and canaries love greenstuff, but often people only give them seed.

I HAVE HEARD OF VEGANS NO FEEDNG PETS MEAT BUT SURLY
A HUNTING INSTINCT IS IN ALL ANIMALS
JUST WATCH A CAT PLAY WITH A BALL OF WOOL
OR WITH OTHER CATS.WHAT IF THEYATCH A BIRD OR MOUSE
ALL NATURAL INSTINCTS.

I HAVE ABOUT THREE VEGITARIAN DAYS AWEEK
BUT SINCE PROBLEMS I HAVE TO INCLUDE
FOOD HIGH IN IRON

Hi Maggie,

I was suggesting that they were exploited :-)

However some staunch vegans may be of that opinion, although not all and prefer for animals to live a natural life. I don't know, I'm not a Vegan.

I know a couple who took their cat to the Vet when it became sick. The Vet asked about it's food and was told "We are vegetarians. We don't buy meat, so she eats what we eat".
The Vet replied "This is a CAT, not a HUMAN. Different animals have different basic needs and a CAT's basic need is MEAT and FISH".

They then began buying meat but the husband had to cut it up and the wife donned a pair of plastic gloves to put it in the cat's dish. I felt that the gloves were a bit OTT, but the cat got better and began to enjoy her food.

Daughter went out with a staunch vegan for 10 years - and he had 2 dogs and 2 cats. these animal's weren't exploited and it certainly wouldn't have been kinder to let them live wild - they are domesticated aminals!
It would be a different matter if he stole a fox cub from a vixen and made it live in a garden!
Oh - and his domesticated cats and dogs ate meat - as did I when he lived with me!
May sound strange to some - but he thought it hilarious when my cat brought him a rat he had just killed.
It's the unethical exploitative treatment of animals that upset him.
Keeping them in cramped conditons and filling them with antibiotics because of their bad living conditions. Driving them miles to the abbatoir etc.
I persuaded him to eat eggs from our local allottment - because he could see the chickens strutting about and spoke to the owner, who only fed them grain.

As for Paul McCartney - didn't he put deer on an island to 'live free natural lives'.? He had no intention of eating them or culling them in any way.
That may have been his intention - but those deer would soon have bred too much for the island to sustain them. Nice Mr McCartney - had he done nothing - would certainly have caused the deer an immense amount of suffering. Starvation and illness isn't a pleasant way to die. it's very unlikely the RSPCA would have allowed this situation to arise.

So, he either did cull them, or had some ferried to the mainland every year (hmm not too 'natural' - anaesthatised (sp) deer in boats).

My cats are definitely exploited......I exploit them every time they force me to get up at some god forsaken hour to feed them and then again 10 minutes later because they don't want that particular flavour today, how about a bit of tuna instead.....

I exploit them when they force me to tickle them under their chins and scratch behind their ears until I think my arm is so weary I think it's going to drop off.

I exploit them, when they force me off a particular chair when they give me that "you'd better move off my favourite chair before I start clawing you. Don't you know that's where I sleep stupid!" stare.

Oh yes and when I force-feed them prawns, they show their disapproval with all that purring.

Yep, and I exploit their talents to the fullest extent, lol.

But happier and better behaved beasties you will not find on the face of this earth :-)

I was just about to say Eldrick...maybe I wouldn't say true Vegans but perhaps staunch vegans...but then I realised I had said almost exactly the same as you on the 1st page lol (you said it so much more eloquently though). I do pick holes in my own arguments sometimes :-)

:-)

Domestication = exploitation, surely?

Don't get me wrong - I keep lots of dogs, but let's be right - they are bred for purpose. And grand company they are, too.

Ahh, Eldrick :-)

Just what I was thinking but you have put it so much better. True Vegans would be in such a quandary making this decision, I would think.

Yes Foggy :-) funny how the mind wanders to things we haven't given much in depth thought to ....and out of the blue at that.


PS...am honestly not ignoring anyone...am just dreadful at keeping up and thank you all for your input so far :-)

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