Buying animals such as dogs and cats for companionship should be rejected as morally unacceptable, just as it happens in the case of other animals. Things are very different, though, when someone rescues an animal who would otherwise be killed or have to spend its life in a shelter in poor conditions. This gives to animals in this situation the opportunity to live in a happy home, sometimes for the first time in their lives.
However, an apparent dilemma arises in cases like these. An increasing number of people are nowadays opposed to animal exploitation. As a result, they have stopped using the products of this exploitation and choose to live vegan. But they are often confused when it comes to feed the animals they have rescued and live with. Many people still believe that these animals need to be fed by killing other animals and making with them what is often called “pet food”.
Fortunately, this is not like that. It’s perfectly possible for animals such as dogs and cats to live healthy and happy on vegan diets, without exploiting other animals in the process of feeding them. Many healthy vegan products are now available, and home-made vegan food is also easy to prepare.
In the past, we already wrote about this issue. Because this is an important topic and it affects a very significant number of animals who are killed for this reason, we have written a longer and more detailed study about vegan food for nonhuman animals. This new article includes practical tips, links to vegan products for animals and answers to some frequently asked questions regarding this issue. As we usually do, this paper also includes scientific references supporting the points made in it. You can read the article here:
This paper makes a very simple case in order to not feed animals for other animals. It points out:
Should we oppose exploiting animals, causing them needless suffering and killing them? If nonhuman animals are morally considerable beings who shouldn’t be discriminated against, the answer must be “Yes”. This is the reason why we should reject what happens in farms, fishing nets and slaughterhouses, where billions of animals suffer terribly and are killed when they are very young. But then, we should reject this in all cases, when it’s done to produce meat for humans and also when it’s done to give meat to other animals. In none of these cases it it necessary, and none of them prevents some harm that is worse than the one it causes