My fairly new Mac just crashed. It was two month beyond the extended warranty when it died. I tried everything to revive it, but it was damaged beyond repair. I took it to the local Mac Genius and had a relatively painless operation done – new hard drive was installed, a bit more memory was added, and the backup system was implemented. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that even backups do not retrieve all your data. (Back up that purchased library from iTunes – it warns you on the iTunes site that you may have to repurchase all your music once again.)  While the computer was down, I also lost the use of my iPod.

Dependency on Electronics

The same day the computer crashed, my cell phone died. This made it quite problematic to investigate getting the computer repaired. Also taking place concurrently, I had been tweeting about a dog that needed a new home and had decided to try to adopt her.  I had emailed the rescue group, alerting them to my interest. They were unable to verify if she was good with cats, and since there was a problem with transportation, too, I was unable to go see her. I am very glad she meanwhile found a home — there will always be domesticates that need good homes — but it did highlight for me how dependent we can become on our various machines. No car, no cell, no iPod, no computer left me feeling isolated and frustrated – how could I be an animal activist without these machines?

It also caused me to consider my motivation for thinking about adopting this lovely girl, Luna, a Lab-Great Dane mix. I do show dogs and cats who are in need of a home on Facebook and Twitter and even on Examiner.com on a monthly basis. I have read all the horrid statistics about how many of these precious beings are killed each year due to the lack of homes. But there is another side to the story, too – the food needed to provide for their lives. With dogs, vegan dog food works for most from what I understand. With cats, it is a bit more difficult. For those that have found vegan alternatives, it is great. But it has kept me from adopting a feline because of this wrenching concern for the animals that a feline might consume. It is one of the dilemmas for which there is no answer yet. It is already impacting the adoption of felines and some vegan sanctuaries no longer accept big cats.

Dependency and Food Sources

There is something very unfair about adopting a domesticate.  They are totally dependent upon us for their very lives – for room to stretch, for walks, for food and water, for attention, for adequate health care.  Because of that dependency, they are emotionally much safer than human to human relationships, where the other person can wound you with words, or walk away.  But there is also no way for us to truly meet their needs, nor them ours. Like us, they do best with their own kind and with freedom to make their own choices. Of course, in today’s world, this is impossible for domesticates, and a good caring home is the best we can offer.

Nath Miles started a forum question over at Animal Rights Zone about the issue of domesticates and sustainability; another is taking place over at Abolitionist Approach. It is an important question and one that plagues many activists.  I have heard of vegans getting food for their cats from animal parts the butcher was going to throw away, from neighbors, from local markets, and from other crafty, creative sources.  Their hope is to limit the need for another animal to die to save the one they have adopted. My guess is that most of our neighborhoods waste more food than these animals could consume; most of us overeat, too.  Many of us are also aware of the carnage that is the pet food industry, where euthanized cats and dogs, roadkill, and grocery waste are fed back into the animal food chain. It seems no matter how you look at it, the animals lose the game.

Acknowledging Dependency, Acknowledging Desire

The ten days without a computer or iPod, six without a car, and a week with no cell phone made me realize that life is precious even when isolated, without work, void of connections. It gave me time to think about dependency – both my own and that of an animal I might adopt.  What would I want from that dog? What could I offer her? What is the most fair and just approach to take towards all of the animals, all of the beings on the earth? It helped me to look at my own desires and really look at why I might want to create a dependency. As a single mom, I experienced plenty of time with others dependent on me; do I want to go there again? Do my desires matter in the grand scheme of things, with so many animals losing their lives? What is fair? I wanted to save a life; but would adopting an animal just result in the deaths of other, unseen animals that would become their food?

The time without the machines on which I depend brought about some changes. I will be backing up any future music purchases on CDs in the future. I will monitor what is on my computer and cull unnecessary items. I vow to weed through my extensive photo collection and limit it to only those I might use someday. I won’t have the iPod stuck in my ear so continuously – it was good to read again, too. I will not be adopting any animals for now but will learn more from other vegans who are taking care of domesticates first, to see what is possible. And I plan to do more face-to-face activism in the new year, as well.

Loss and Learning

For now, there are four boys who will absorb most of my time, who will be with us for the holidays. Like their parents, I have watched them wind through the various stages of dependency towards ever increasing autonomy. It is gratifying to witness children become adults that you not only love, but like and admire. It is a tremendous relief to realize they no longer need you; they even begin surpassing you in abilities. One of my favorite quotes is this: A mother is not someone to lean on, she is someone to making leaning unnecessary.

But for a domesticate, the equation is quite different. They will need us until the day they die, and we had better be in it for the long haul or it is kinder to stay out of the game. I think of the vegans I know who are making a difference for living beings: those who do open rescue, those who have adopted a newborn kitten or a flock of hens, those who take in unwanted and rescued farm animals or develop a primate sanctuary for the scarred and discarded. If we are truly to become non-speciesist, we need to challenge these issues with a sense of justice. All of the beings need to be considered, not just the ones in our laps. I felt the loss of Luna; there was something in her eyes that drew me to her, and I had already imagined her as a part of my life. I had made emotional space for her. But with loss comes learning, and time to reflect. What is fair? What is just?

What is the correct diet for a vegan pet owner to provide?  Do we err on the side of compassion for our companion animals and contribute to the demise of unknown animals by feeding them to our companions; or do we eschew all animal products and possibly endanger our companions by giving them a deficient
diet?  This is a dilemma, one worthy of scrutiny.  I started researching what it was I was actually feeding to my cat, a rescued cat that once again needed a home and was left with me.  Skitter, my current roommate, is your typical finicky cat – she loves chips but not fish.  And cat food? She abhors it.  I soon learned why.

What is in Your Pet’s Food?

I discovered that in the U.S. alone, the pet food industry generates over $11 billion annually.  It provides a huge market for slaughterhouse refuse such as intestines, udders, esophagi, tongues, beaks, feathers, bones, blood, lungs, ligaments, and may use animal parts that are considered unfit for human consumption. Carcasses of euthanized cat and dogs, some with flea collars containing sodium pentobarbital used for euthanasia, insecticides, diseased livestock, plastic ID tags, rotting supermarket waste complete with styrofoam trays and plastic wrap, cancerous body parts, and hormones are “rendered” in huge vats. Dead stock dealers pick up road kill and sell it to the rendering plants. Restaurant grease and garbage, entrails from dead stock removal, contaminated material from slaughterhouses – all are rendered. Pet food is not a tightly regulated industry; decisions are often made for profitability rather than for animal nutrition. Most pet foods contain by-products of meat, poultry and fish, with little consistency in the amount of nutrients that may be contained.   They may contain synthetic preservatives, which enhance the shelf-life of the product but not of the animals they feed.  Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate, propylene glycol and ethoxyquin are some that may be included, despite the fact that the chronic ingestion by our pets may not be safe.  Ethoxyquin is used although is has not been proven safe for pets.  Pet foods are not tested for endotoxins and mycotoxins can result from the poor storage of the grains which dominate most pet foods.

There is more: urinary tract problems in cat bladders are triggered and aggravated by diet.  Cat stones are becoming more and more common; this may also impact dogs. Most pet foods do not have high quality protein but use animal meal or animal by-products.  Some of the grains used are not highly digestible for your pets; in order to increase their palatability, animal fats are sprayed on the baked pet food which can be dangerous to ingest.  While plant sources may be safer, the pet food industry uses a profitable waste bin for slaughterhouse refuse —  our pets.

Finding Healthy Pet Food

In the past, after trying several expensive pet store brands of food, some highly recommended by my veterinarian, and having my cat turn her nose up at them, I was delighted to see she promptly ate the more natural brand I bought at Whole Foods Market after reading all the labels (Wysong brand).  The taurine level was higher than in any of the other brands (0.3), an ingredient that if deficient can cause blindness in cats.  Now I am researching several vegan or vegetarian pet foods, too, such as Vegecat,  Evolution, and Ami.  But even vegancats.com is now recommending feeding cats meat. Cats are considered obligate carnivores; one look at their teeth and that becomes apparent.  Dogs, however, seem more able to adjust to vegan diet without incidence. The ASPCA has taken a stand against veganism for cats. What do you think? Should a vegan pet owner buy commercial pet foods, make their own with or without meat or fish, or  insist on their pets going vegan? Go here to see a positive view of veganism in cats.  I am still not satisfied that I know the ethical answer, so it is back to more research; stay tuned for a later post

What is ethical?

First, we need to decide what the most ethical thing is to feed our cats (or dogs).  It needs to be as low on the food chain as possible.  Then, we need to find something healthy to feed to our pets that we can afford to buy for them. ( Go here to read a veterinarians’ research on pet food ingredients.)  I would be interested in knowing what experience, whether pro or con, other pet owners have had with vegan pet foods, especially for cats. Decide if you will give your cats a carnivorous, vegetarian, or vegan diet; or some combination thereof. How do you reconcile owning a carnivorous pet with being vegan?  How do you buy any product that uses animals when it is against everything you believe in as a vegan?  What is the ethical thing to do for all concerned? I am still caught in the quagmire — please cast your vote in our poll below: