Veganacious

Posts Tagged ‘vegan pet food’

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:

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