[net.veg] Vegetarians with pets

jkulczycki@watarts.UUCP (James B. Kulczycki) (11/16/86)

Recently the opportunity arose  for me to become the parent of a friend's cat.
At first I was quite excited, always having enjoyed pets. But, then it occurred
to me that I would be feeding her pet food that was made, of course, from    
meat - beef, pork, etc.
Well, I was in shock for a while, thinking that I probbly couldn't bring myself
to do this. I am a vegetarian myself and can't see myself justifying this - even
though I am aware that a cat/dog's digestive system/enzymes are different from
a human's and that meat is probably necessary in their diet (right?).
Has anyone had similar experiences/concerns? I'm very curious to hear!

          

                        

mo@well.UUCP (Maurice Weitman) (11/17/86)

[ Query about vegetarians and pets. ]

There was lots of discussion here about three or four months ago
on this topic, and I believe the concensus was: forget it; bad
idea, etc.  My personal experience is that of a friend who tried
that with her three cats.  She stopped when two of them went blind.
Others here have had similar experiences.  

We might not need meat.  They do.  It's naychuh.  Btw, to make it
somewhat more tolerable for you, stick with dry food, with an
occasional moist packet thrown in. There's nothing quite so grody
as canned pet food.

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