Obligate Carnivore: Cats, Dogs, and What it Really Means to be Vegan
There is probably no issue more divisive among the vegan community  than whether cats should be fed a vegan diet. It stirs great passions from  both sides. In Obligate Carnivore, Jed Gillen presents arguments as to why  we should make a strong effort to feed our cats vegan food.Obligate Carnivore is a quick, fun read due to Gillen's humor and  unorthodox writing style. Gillen uses the topics of dog and cat food to  discuss many issues surrounding veganism and I found the book quite  interesting for this reason and would recommend it even if you do not have  companion carnivores.Given Gillen's position, one might jump to the conclusion that he is merely  a vegan puritan who has irrationally forced his purity onto his unfortunate  animals. To the contrary, Gillen argues that reducing suffering is much  more important than being pure.A few excerpts cannot do the book justice. However, the following  quotations can provide a feel for the book:"The [relationship between predator and prey] cannot be said to exist  between the cats and dogs that live in our homes and the barely  recognizable animals that have been turned into pellets or packed in cans  that magically appear in the their bowls twice a day.... The animals we  feed to our cats and dogs have been genetically manipulated, pumped full of  hormones, confined, beaten, and murdered without ever having had a chance  at a normal life. When they eat meat, it is not because they are following  some immutable instinct that has developed over millions of years; it is  simply because we have chosen to put some in their dish and they have  learned to recognize it as food.""But to make a choice as complex as which food to buy, an issue which  carries ethical concerns that they couldn't possibly begin to understand,  is one of our jobs. Not only is this kind of thing not contradictory to  good parenting, it is an inherent part of it!""[C]ats are perfectly capable of thoroughly enjoying meals that aren't  [meat].""It is similarly unwise to assume that cow or chicken meat is automatically  going to be a better substitute for mouse or insect meat than a  well-formulated vegetable based meal."Gillen spends some time discussing all the terrible things that go into  many commercial dog and cat foods, such as dead dogs and cats from animal  shelters. When it's suggested that "premium" pet food is better than the  nastier kind, he says: "Quite the contrary, when you really think about it:  whereas the low-priced supermarket brands are atrocious, they contribute to  the profitability of animal slaughter less so than the more expensive  brands."The one problem Gillen has found with a small percentage of male vegan cats  is that a vegan diet can exacerbate struvite crystals in male cats who are  prone to them. He covers this issue in great depth and presents solutions  which should work in most cases. It is a good idea to bring your male cat  to the vet and have their urine pH checked within a couple weeks of putting  them on a vegan diet.If a cat can live and be happy on vegan food, then it seems that there is  little reason to keep them on a diet of animals. But for cats who have  trouble with such a diet, it would be interesting to find out how much the  inexpensive brands actually do contribute to farmed animal suffering. If  all vegans put their companion cats on a vegan diet tomorrow, would fewer  farmed animals really be bred and raised?Gillen makes the point that at the very least vegans should try vegan cat  food and see if their cats like it. He ends the book asking people to at  least meet him halfway - feed your cat meals that have at least some vegan  food mixed with the other food.I recommend Obligate Carnivore for people interested in animal liberation. --Jack Norris, Vegan OutreachWe lazy vegans need a book like this to kick us in the butt and do the right thing. --Herbivore Magazine, Fall 2003