Dogs, Cats…and Vegans

Is having a dog or cat vegan? Should they be fed vegan food? Read on…

We’re Responsible: Dependent Animals Need Rescue and Care

Veganism and pets is a tricky subject. Friends of Animals legal director Lee Hall, in the book about vegan advocacy titled Capers in the Churchyard, writes that ultimately veganism is about ending the exploitation of other animals, and letting them live on their terms and not ours.

Obviously, our species has bred dependent animals using artificial selection. Hall also points out that we have the responsibility to care for these beings when they already exist.

Sterilizing Animals: What’s the Vegan Position?

To start, the vegan takes the position that we shouldn’t be interfering with and controlling other animals, including how they reproduce. For more information, see this article on using contraceptives on free-living animals: Putting Other Animals on the Pill: Should We, or Shouldn’t We? (ActionLine, Spring 2006).

As for domesticated animals, however, the whole situation changes. They can have no meaningful rights. Imagine Chihuahuas trying to live on their own terms as part of a biocommunity. It doesn’t work, does it?

Deliberately inbred dependency means they will be subject to our control for life, and it often means they are bought and sold. This is an unjust burden to place on their shoulders, so vegans advocate for neutering cats, dogs, and other animals who were bred into the world as pets for humans.

Pet Shops

Pet shops and all breeders are avoided by vegans. Contrary to what some wealthy humane groups will say, there are no “responsible” pet breeders. This does not mean breeders are bad people; it simply means that they haven’t questioned the human entitlement to treat other animals as ours to breed, separate, and distribute. Most people haven’t questioned that. Vegans do.

Pet shops that sell animals both profit from and perpetuate the notion that other animals are our things; and they increase the numbers of dogs, cats, rabbits and other domesticated animals being supplied by breeders, while animals in pounds are routinely killed as part of the cycle of supply and demand.

When purchasing pet food, avoid buying from places that sell animals, and support instead those that do not. If you or someone you know is looking for an animal to share your space with, the best answer is to go to your local shelter and find an animal there; be a part of the solution.

Terminology: Pets or Companion Animals?

There is some discussion in the advocacy community on whether to refer to cats, dog and others as pets or companion animals. We believe the use of the term “companion animal” or “animal companion” is inaccurate.

Historically, the word companion means “mate” or one with whom one shares bread.

Thus companionship is a sharing, a bond by mutual agreement, and not by force, nor involving someone who is entirely dependent on us for food, shelter, and practically every need.

So “companion” doesn’t accurately reflect the relationship between humans and cats and dogs. It is a euphemism.

The best way to discuss these beings is to refer to them as “animals bred as pets”-- or, in the case of those with whom we live, to use their names.

Vegan Pet Food?

We recommend steering well clear of arguments on this matter. They can rage for weeks, and usually do; and by the end of them you might well see people threatening each other for giving inappropriate dietary advice regarding their cats. It’s critical to remember that our primary work involves getting the humans to understand, appreciate, and embrace a vegan outlook. As people do so, they will begin to understand the problem with making animals into commodities in the first place.

It’s well known that most dogs do fare very well on a vegan diet. Recommended vegetarian foods available in North America include:
Dick Van Patten (Natural Balance); Natural Balance Vegetarian Formula;
Evanger Canned Vegetarian Dogfood; PetGuard; Pet Promise. Just be sure you have a veterinarian who knows your dog’s history, because we cannot provide your dog with medical advice from a website; nor can anyone else.

The situation with cats is more complex. Cats were domesticated relatively recently and they are not vegans. They are known as obligate carnivores.

Special vegan formulas have been created and called cat food, but they are far from having been proven. Some cats seem to manage; others do not. Some cats, usually male, have become seriously ill (or worse), so feeding cats these vegan foods arguably amounts to in-home animal testing -- not a vegan idea.

We acknowledge that there is debate about this among vegans. Vegans understandably strive to avoid purchasing any animal products, and this includes for those under their care.

Yet cats are not mini-humans. Were these same cats not confined and looked after by ourselves, they’d be outside consuming animals in some form.

Our foremost duty is to care for those who are in our homes, and do what is in their best interests, while at the same time being forthright about why the entire custom of having pet animals needs to be challenged. Both for its own sake, and for the way it has pressed us to stay dependent on the very animal agribusinesses we ourselves have renounced.

Addendum (excerpted from “Dogs Can Be Vegan Too”, an article “reviewed for accuracy by veterinarian Armaiti May, DVM” appearing at TheVeganLife.com):

A recent study published in JAVMA (Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association) by Gray, Christina M.; Sellon, Rance K.; Freeman, Lisa M. Nutritional Adequacy of Two Vegan Diets for Cats. J Amer Vet Med Assoc 2004, 225(11):1670-1675 showed two commercially available vegetarian cat foods (Vegecat KibbleMix and Evolution canned diet for adult cats) to be deficient in several key nutrients. The two vegan diets were subjected to nutritional analysis and compared to Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient profiles for the maintenance of adult cats. The Evolution food was determined to be deficient in protein, methionine, taurine, arachidonic acid, vitamin A, pyroxidine, and niacin. Vegecat KibbleMix was found to be deficient in methionine, taurine, arachidonic acid, and pyroxidine. According to both of these vegan cat food companies, thousands of the cats on their diets are healthy, which raises the question of how this could be if the diets are truly inadequate. Only one sample of each diet was used in this study, so it is entirely possible that the sample represented a rare occurrence of a mixing error at the factory, but this still raises legitimate concerns about the quality control measures (or lack of appropriate quality control measures) at these companies. The manufacturer of Harbingers of a New Age (producer of Vegecat KibbleMix) expressed shock at the results of the study and showed an intent to find and correct the source of the problems in the production of his cat food supplements. In response to the results of the study, Eric Weisman, Evolution Diet CEO (2004) stated, "We have ten to twenty thousand healthy and long living dogs, cats and ferrets living on the Evolution Diet. … Major animal sanctuaries use our products and stand behind them. These sanctuaries use our products because they have lower rates of illness and mortality when their animals are placed on our foods." It is unclear whether any reliable quality control measures have been instituted since the publishing of these results. A survey of the health of cats on various vegan diets was performed by a veterinary student at University of Pennsylvania and published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in July 2006. It showed that most of the cats surveyed on a vegan diet did not suffer from subnormal taurine blood levels and were for the most part in good general health.

In summary, more studies are needed to document the health of cats on a vegan diet in the scientific literature. More rigorous quality control measures need to be implemented at the factories of vegan pet foods to prevent future mistakes in mixing and consequent inadequate diets. [Those who care for cats] need to be educated about the potential health benefits and risks associated with meat-based and vegetarian diets, and should demand appropriate quality control assurance from any pet food manufacturer they do business with. It is also crucial that future studies involving nutritional adequacy of a particular diet test many samples of the diet in question rather than just one.

Dogs are much easier to maintain on a vegan diet than are cats. Dogs can be healthy and in fact, thrive on a vegetarian or vegan diet, as long as all necessary nutrient requirements are met. Dogs are biologically omnivorous, and can adapt well to a plant-based diet which meets all their nutritional needs. It's important that the food have good bioavailability (digestibility) as well as palatability. The transition to a plant-based diet should be a gradual change (mixing the 2 foods in different proportions until the new food is given exclusively) to minimize the occurrence of gastrointestinal disturbances (such as diarrhea and sometimes vomiting). When evaluating a pet food, care should be taken to make sure it is labeled as meeting the nutritional standards of the US Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). The largest manufacturers of vegetarian dog food in the U.S. are Evolution (http://www.petfoodshop.com/) and V-dog (http://v-dogfood.com/).