From: altar@beaufort.sfu.ca (Ted Wayn Altar)
Subject: Vegetarian Cats2: Practical Advice
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 18:24:46 GMT


F.  SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE AND COMPROMISES

1.  Use An Approved Commercial Vegetarian Pet-food Or Supplement

Now, one does not need to be a biochemist to feed a cat. There
are now on the market vegetarian cat foods or supplements to add
to a vegetarian regime (like Vegecat) where all of the above
consideration are automatically provided for.  These products
have been checked by veterinarians and animal nutritionists.


2.  Reevaluating The Moral Issue And Settling For One of 3
     Compromises.

a.  Compromise #1

Maybe this is no compromise at all, but for completeness permit
me to at least state the argument, for what it is worth.

Now, notwithstanding Brian Burnett's vague and un-referenced
claim (as posted by Michael Traub) about "vast numbers of
rabbits, fish, poultry and other creatures" being specifically
killed for pet food, by and large the food consists of rendered
human food animals (e.g., DOAs and rejected meats) and/or animals
killed in any case (e.g., "trash" fish that get caught along with
the target fish).  Now, one could argue that because pet food
does not in itself create the current use the animals in our
factory farms, but are only a byproduct of that horrible
industry, not its `reason d' etre' then one might justify the
current use of commercial pet food.  Of course, this same
argument can be used to justify, say, the use of leather or the
buying of leather shoes.

What you could do is simply ensure that whatever pet food you
use, that only "rendered" animals were used.


compromise #2

This is how I started.  I refused right at the beginning to buy
pet foods with any beef products simply because this is a kind of
meat cats simply would not have been able to provide for
themselves, it is the kind of meats where the greatest cruelty
occurs.  I did, however, use fish and chicken products.  Purina
Tuna Cat Food used to only contain fish products, but a couple of
years ago they started adding other animal meats.

I really don't know what is currently available, but maybe at
there is some cat food that uses only fish.  As my earlier
posting about the pain and suffering criterion suggested, fish
don't have the same degree of sentience as mammals and even
possibly don't experience pain as such (they lack a limbric
system which is associated with the ability to suffer from the
emotion of pain as opposed to simply reacting to pain at a
reflexive spinal cord or brain stem level).  Of course, there is
sufficient doubt to not warrant the use of fish for ourselves as
ethical vegetarians, but maybe cats and dogs could be deemed an
excusing condition.

I believe that there are some books that provide cat recipes.
They will contain meat recipes, but some of the recipes will only
use fish and maybe even only dairy/egg.  If one is using animal
products of some sort, our worries about taurine and vitamin A
simply don't apply.  Still, some care must be exercised.  For
example, the antioxidant butylated hydroxytoluene cause some
degree liver enlargement but it does not appear to be appreciably
toxic.  BENZOIC ACID, however, which is a permitted preservative
in human foods is both acutely and cumulatively toxic for cats.
So, if you are going to prepare your own cat foods (or even give
your cat some table scraps), make sure you use preservative free,
quality foods.  Heck, you should be ensuring that even you and
your family only eat such foods!


compromise #3

Instead of using the flesh of dead animals, one could at least
justify the use of diary and eggs, which "in theory" could be
obtained without killing animals.  Of course, the practice is
quite different and animals are cruelty treated and killed in
order that we may have our milk and cheese.  Still, for us it is
far more preferable to be a lacto-ovovegetarian than not a
vegetarian at all.  For consistency sake, you could say the same
about feeding your pets.

Barbara Peden's book also includes some lacto- and lacto-ovo
recipes.  Unlike compromises #1 and #2, here I think you should
at least consider the use of a nutritional supplement like
Vegecat.  It may not be necessary, but better to err on the side
of caution.


					Happy Vegetarian New Year,
						ted