Guest guest Posted April 10, 2000 Report Share Posted April 10, 2000 Hi everyone, I have a question for you all. Since I have only been vegetarian for a short time I guess I never thought about this before but what do you all feed your pets?? My Schnauzers use to get pig ears and dried lamb lung for treats. Now I have to ask myself ............What do I give them now?? Thanks for your help, Holiday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2000 Report Share Posted April 10, 2000 On 04.09.2000 22:57, HolidayMadness at HolidayMadness wrote: > Hi everyone, > I have a question for you all. Since I have only been vegetarian for a short > time I guess I never thought about this before but what do you all feed your > pets?? My Schnauzers use to get pig ears and dried lamb lung for treats. > Now I have to ask myself ............What do I give them now?? > Thanks for your help, > Holiday > In my personal opinion, it's unethical to decide for your pet what kind of diet they " should " eat. Cats and dogs prefer to eat meat, and it's healthier for them (especially cats; they'll die without it). Unless your dog develops a moral consciousness and decides on his/her own not to eat meat, I think it's best to give them what they want - unlike human children, who can learn over time what you feel is wrong with meat eating, pets just feel deprived of something they enjoy eating (and they don't know why, near as I can tell). I think veganism should always be a personal choice; forcing it on another living creature (rather than teaching it) is an oppressive act and really quite contrary to my conception of being vegan. My $.02 -----| Sincerely, |T Pete Burkindine |H Sophomore - Philosophy |I Drury College |N pburkind |K -----| " It is as morally bad not to care whether a thing is true or not, so long as it makes you feel good, as it is not to care how you got your money as long as you have got it. " - Edmund Way Teale, " Circle of Seasons, " 1950 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2000 Report Share Posted April 10, 2000 >In my personal opinion, it's unethical to decide for your pet what kind of >diet they " should " eat. Okay, I can't sit by and not say something here... If our companion animals are not shopping or hunting on their own then we are deciding for them what they should eat. It is NOT 'natural' for dogs and cats to eat other dogs and cats, but that is what they do when we feed them commercial 'pet food'. If the stuff that is marked 'edible' for humans is as bad as we know it is...just think what is left for the 'pet' foods. Two of my cats almost died on Science Diet and nine years ago my cat did die from a commercial 'pet' food diet. If you want to feed your fur-kids meat please prepare it yourself, do not feed commercial pet foods. My new vet said my oldest cat should be dead now from his kidney/liver problems (he had these problems when I adopted)...my non-veg vet said I saved his life by feeding him veg food. My younger cat had terrible alergies...gone since switching to a veg diet. My dad still feeds his cats commercial food, but after convincing him to supplement their diet with canned organic pumpkin, they are much better. His oldest cat no longer suffers from obesity and constipation. I try to do what is best for my kids, not just what is ethically better for me...luckily, in this case it happens to be the same. See website http://vegancats.safeshopper.com/ for ordering info. They have Evolution, Wysong, and a few kinds of 'homemade' food. See the book 'Vegetarian Cats & Dogs' by James A. Pedenand '150 Things You Can Do to Make Your Cat Adore You' by Ingrid Newkirk " The value of a society is based upon its kindness to animals. " -- Albert Schweitzer " The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. " ---Gandhi " While we ourselves are the living graves of murdered beasts, how can we expect any ideal conditions on this earth? " George Bernard Shaw (playwright, Nobel 1925) Even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath, so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast. Ecclesiastes 3:19 (The Bible) " Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. " Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2000 Report Share Posted April 10, 2000 > ---------- > Linda Evans[sMTP:linda.evans] > Two of my cats almost died on Science Diet Would this be Hill's Science Diet? Only my two are on that (have been for a few months) and thus far they seem to be thriving but obviously I don't want to take any chances with them! Can you tell me what caused the near fatalities please? Many thanks Cathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2000 Report Share Posted April 10, 2000 On 4/10/00 10:41 AM, Linda Evans at linda.evans wrote: > If our companion animals are not shopping or hunting on their own then we > are deciding for them what they should eat. It is NOT 'natural' for dogs > and cats to eat other dogs and cats, but that is what they do when we feed > them commercial 'pet food'. I agree completely that commercial pet food is essentially rat poison, but I know my dogs and cats prefer to eat meat, so that's what they get. I know everyone hates this argument, but forcing veganism on everything around us really is messing with the food web. Natural carnivores have a role in the food web that they should be allowed to fill unless they decide not to. We do decide what they eat, but I think it " ought " to be based on what they would eat if we weren't keeping them as pets, instead of what we think they " ought " to eat based on our morals. ---------------- Sincerely, Pete Burkindine Sophomore - Philosophy Drury University pburkind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 10, 2000 Report Share Posted April 10, 2000 If you're interested in the pet food issue I highly recommend reading this article from API. I only included part of it here. The rest of the article is at: http://www.vsquare.com/jordemm/API_1.htm It's very interesting... What's Really in Pet Food An Animal Protection Institute (API) Report Whole chickens, choice cuts of beef, fresh grains and all the wholesome nutrition your dog or cat will ever need. These are the images pet food manufacturers promulgate through the media and advertising. This is what the $10 billion per year U.S. pet food industry wants consumers to believe they are buying when they purchase their products. This report explores the differences between what consumers think they are buying compared to what they are actually getting. This document focuses in very general terms on the most visible name brands -- the pet food labels that are mass distributed to supermarkets and grocery stores -- but there are many smaller, more highly respected brands that may be guilty of the same offenses. What most consumers are unaware of is that the pet food industry is an extension of the human food industry, also known as the agriculture industry. Pet food provides a place for slaughterhouse waste and grains considered " unfit for human consumption " to be turned into profit. This waste includes cow tongues, esophagi, and possibly diseased and cancerous meat. The " whole grains " used have had the starch removed and the oil extracted -- usually by chemical processing -- for vegetable oil, or they are the hulls and other remnants from the milling process. Some of the truly whole grains used may have been deemed unfit for human consumption because of mold, contaminants, or poor storage practices. Four of the five major pet food companies in the United States are subsidiaries of major multinational food production companies: Colgate-Palmolive (Hills Science Diet Pet Food), Heinz (9 Lives, Amore, Gravy Train, Kibbles n Bits, Recipe, Vets), Nestle (Alpo, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Mighty Dog) and Mars (Kal Kan, Mealtime, Pedigree, Sheba). From a business standpoint, multinational food companies owning pet food manufacturing companies is an ideal relationship. The multinationals have a captive market in which to capitalize on their waste products, and the pet food manufacturers have a reliable source from which to purchase their bulk materials. There are hundreds of different pet foods available in this country. And while many of the foods on the market are virtually the same, not all of the pet food manufacturing companies use poor quality and potentially dangerous ingredients. Ingredients Although the purchase price of pet food does not always determine whether a pet food is good or bad, the price is often a good indicator of quality. It would be impossible for a company that sells a generic brand of dog food at $9.95 for a 40-lb. bag to use quality protein and grain in its food. The cost of purchasing quality ingredients would be much higher than the selling price. The protein used in pet food comes from a variety of sources. When cattle, swine, chickens, lambs, or any number of other animals are slaughtered, the choice cuts such as lean muscle tissue are trimmed away from the carcass for human consumption. Whatever remains of the carcass -- bones, blood, pus, intestines, ligaments, and almost all the other parts not generally consumed by humans -- is used in pet food. These " other parts " are known as " by-products " or other names on pet food labels. The ambiguous labels list the ingredients, but do not provide a definition for the products listed. (See the API Pet Food Shopping Guide for a more detailed list of ingredient definitions http://www.api4animals.org/ShoppingGuide.htm ) The Pet Food Institute -- the trade association of pet food manufacturers -- acknowledges the use of by-products in pet foods as additional income for processors and farmers: " The purchase and use of these ingredients by the pet food industry not only provides nutritional needs for pets at reasonable costs, but provides an important source of income to American farmers and processors of meat, poultry and seafood products for human consumption. " 1 Many of these remnants are indigestible and provide a questionable source of nutrition for our animals. The amount of nutrition provided by meat by-products, meals, and digests can vary from vat to vat. James Morris and Quinton Rogers, two professors with the Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California at Davis Veterinary School of Medicine, assert that, " There is virtually no information on the bioavailability of nutrients for companion animals in many of the common dietary ingredients used in pet foods. These ingredients are generally by-products of the meat, poultry and fishing industries, with the potential for a wide variation in nutrient composition. Claims of nutritional adequacy of pet foods based on the current Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient allowances ('profiles') do not give assurances of nutritional adequacy and will not until ingredients are analyzed and bioavailability values are incorporated. " 2 Another source of meat you won't find mentioned on pet food labels are dogs and cats. In 1990 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that euthanized companion animals were being used in pet food. Although pet food manufacturers vehemently denied the report, the American Veterinary Medical Association confirmed the Chronicle's story. Protein is protein once it is rendered. What is rendering? Rendering, as defined by Webster's Dictionary, is " to process as for industrial use: to render livestock carcasses and to extract oil from fat, blubber, etc., by melting. " What can the feeding of such ingredients do to your companion animal? Some veterinarians claim that feeding slaughterhouse wastes to animals increases their risk of getting cancer and other degenerative diseases. One factor is that the cooking methods used by pet food manufacturers and rendering plants do not destroy many of the hormones used to fatten livestock, or medications such as those used to euthanize dogs and cats. Animal and Poultry Fat You may have noticed a unique, pungent odor when you open a new bag of pet food -- the smell of restaurant grease from a hundred fast food restaurants. What is the source of that delightful smell? It is refined animal fat, kitchen grease, and other oils too rancid or deemed inedible for humans. Restaurant grease has become a major component of feed grade animal fat over the last fifteen years. This grease, often held in fifty-gallon drums, is usually kept outside for weeks, exposed to extreme temperatures with no regard for its future use. The next few times you dine out, be sure to look out back behind the restaurant for a container with a rendering company's name on it. It is almost guaranteed that you will find one. " Fat blenders " or rendering companies then pick up this rancid grease and mix the different types of fat together, stabilize them with powerful antioxidants to retard further spoilage, and then sell the blended products to pet food companies. These fats are sprayed directly onto dried kibble or extruded pellets to make an otherwise bland or distasteful product palatable. The fat also acts as a binding agent to which manufacturers add other flavor enhancers as well. Pet food scientists have discovered that animals love the taste of these sprayed fats. Manufacturers are masters at getting a dog or a cat to eat something she would normally turn up her nose at. Other topics in the article: Wheat, Soy, Corn, Peanut Hulls, and Other Vegetable Protein Additives and Preservatives, Additives in Processed Pet Foods The Manufacturing Process, How Pet Food Is Made What Happened to the Nutrients? Contaminants Labeling The 100% Myth -- Problems Caused by Inadequate Nutrition What Consumers Can Do Further Reading about Animal Nutrition What API is Doing Who to Write http://www.vsquare.com/jordemm/API_1.htm -- _____________ Free email services provided by http://www.goodkarmamail.com powered by OutBlaze Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 11, 2000 Report Share Posted April 11, 2000 I get so irritated when meat-eaters (not vegans) ask me what I feed my cats. They don't ask because they're genuinely interested but because they want to 'catch me' - that I buy meat. What do they think I feed my cats? Lettuce? Hello, they're cats! I feed them cat food. I feed them meat, and I don't feel bad about it at all. Unlike humans, cats are carnivores. However, that does not mean that I feed them any old garbage. I don't feed them Science Diet for example because a.it's garbage and b.it's not vegan. Not because it's meat (byproducts) but because it's owned by Colgate-Palmolive who test on animals. So my solution to all this is to get " natural " or " holistic " brands of cat food. I find most pet supply stores carry at least one brand. And if the health food store doesn't, you could probably request it. It's more expensive but it's worth it. When I can, I get them Holistic Blend http://www.holisticgold.com/ The main ingredient is free range lamb's meat. Now, we could discuss whether there really is such a thing as " free range " , but judging by the other ingredients and the fact that it's not made by a slimy multinational, it's better than nothing. http://www.naturapet.com/display.asp?ch=0 & pg=0 http://www.protohype.com/naturalpet/ http://www.phdproducts.com/main.htm http://www.felinefuture.com/ http://www.best.com/~sirlou/catnutrition.html -- _____________ Free email services provided by http://www.goodkarmamail.com powered by OutBlaze Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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