Vegans and pets?........

since veganism is reverence for Life, recognizing the rights of all living creatures, and extending to them compassion, kindness, and justice..

can vegans have pets?.....this would seam to be a conflict of interest as you are enslaving a creature to be your friend.....

 

What if said vegan has saved pets from a terrible life or untimely death?

 

Why yes, in saving animals lives the dogs become cooks, cats become parlour maids, rabbits become housekeepers. Their paws are worked to the bone and they have to scavenge for their own food.

In my own experience, the animals I've rescued have been the most pampered 'pets' around. They want for nothing and are at the top of our priorities.

 

As a vegan, this is my opinion.

While veganism is certainly a movement that reveres life, it is less about life and more about cruelty. Veganism is strictly against any cruel and/or unusual practices against animals or other sentient beings.

Having a pet is not cruel or unusual in any manner.

Why is it that when pets get loose and run away, they often times find their way home and are happy to return?

Maybe because they have security? They have shelter, they have food, water, companionship?

 

Veganism = a diet
Animal rights = a political stance
Veganism =/= animal rights (or vice versa)

I agree there is often some overlap between the two but they are still fundementally seperate. It depends entirely on the motivations of those involved and what personal beliefs they hold. There never has or will be an overwhelming consensus.
Many vegans adopt the diet purely for health reasons, so no they're not buying into the animal rights manifesto and fair play. It's unfair to lump people together in such a way.

So I see no 'can' or 'cannots' beyond direct dietary choices.

 

I dunno, my guinea pigs would beg to differ with you Jester...

They live in a HUGE (it's the size of my bed!) home where they are served the freshest of veggies, imported top-quality hay and the best of pellets every day. During the day they have the run of our living & dining rooms, and my kids' insist on creating fun new "play places" to keep them entertained. They have 4 human slaves living with them and a grandmom & auntie that have been well trained to always bring them an apple and know that their purpose in life is to pet & love the piggies before associating with any humans who may happen to live here as well.

When we leave the house for more than a few hours, we open the door to be greeted by a serenade singing our praises and demanding chin-rubs. They have all of their human slaves wrapped firmly about their little paws, and seem ANYTHING but upset or put-upon for it.

Were these boys to be left in their native environment, they could be eaten (by humans among other predators) and would not have half of the variety in their diet nor the comfort and care that they have in our home. One only has to watch their reaction when my kids walk by their castle in the morning to know that these piggies are hoppy hoppy HOPPY little boys. If anything, it is US who are the slaves in this relationship. I can't rustle a plastic bag anywhere in the house without paying veggie taxes to the furry lords in their
castle.

Oh yeah... and in the funniest twist of irony, it was our GUINEA PIGS that helped me to finally make the switch to vegetarianism!!!
love,
mom

 

my aunt & late uncle had a couple cats who were at least vegetarian. jackpot, a black cat of theirs, was a vegan & could not get over the smell of aspargus! yummmmmmmmm

 

Humans eat guinea pigs? Not my idea of a good meal... even if I ate meat!

Anyway, like has been said. Pets are our friends. WE take care of them. Do their laundry, feed them, play with them, scold them when they do bad things and praise them when they do good things. Basically, it's like saying, is it wrong to keep children at home and keep watch over them. "Pets" are like children to many people. Infact, they ARE children to many people. They are loved and looked out for, taken around town and shown off to everyone. Ever stopped by someone walking their dog, and you stop to talk, all they want to do is tell how great their pooch is! We as humans love our pets. Veg*ans more that most meat eaters even. This is actually one fight vegs have with the world, "how can you treat you pet so great but still eat another "pet"" (All animals can be kept as "pets" under the right circumstances!)
Hope this helps!
​

 

i never had a dog, she had me. i saved her life from the thousands of ticks on her. she was orphaned after her mother was killed by a car and her father, a coyote, ran off. i had her for fifteen years, and we loved each other very much. i let her run as much as she wanted, in our huge, fenceless yard surrounded by a forest. i ran with her, i slept with her, i dreamed with her. we had such a deep, internal bond i thought i was actually going to die when we had to put her down. she was not a pet, she was a part of the family, and anyone who disagrees with this must disagree with having a human brother or sister.
and in case you have something to say about us putting her down, we had no choice. she had a tumor on her stomache the size of two fists. she was suffering, i could feel it, i could see it, she would bark and cry in pain at night, and allowing her to go on like that would be the biggest crime in animal cruelty i could think of.
so yes, if you have a pet, its debatable, but not set in stone in my opinion. if you have a family member however, then you can still be a vegan, as petty as that sounds, in my opinion.

 

I believe it is unethical for an Ethical Vegan to purchase a pet. There are millions of companion animals who languish in shelters, and millions must be euthanized each year. To purchase an animal under these circumstances is, IMO, deeply unethical.

But I think it's fine to rescue animals from the shelter and adopt them as companion animals. I have four wonderful vegetarian dogs, all of whom were rescued, and looking in their beautiful eyes lends more immediate meaning to my own dietary choices.

 

I understand your point, and it's a good one.

However, looking at things from a different point of view -- is any singular person, especially a vegan, the cause of the suffering of these animals? Are we individually responsible for these pets that live in the animal shelters?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for volunteering at animal shelters and adopting a pet from one. If I ever got a pet that's where I would get it from. But buying a pet that isn't from a shelter isn't necessarily unethical. I might argue that while it isn't ethical, it's not unethical either. It doesn't help the suffering of animals but it doesn't cause more harm either. It's neutral.

 

I don't know. I've seen petstore breeders' conditions for their homes and I can't see that as neutral. Just like a vegetarian or vegan shakes their head at things like meat farms, petstore breeders too keep their animals in horrible living conditions, and literally breed them to death. I could go into detail, but I start sobbing every time I think of what I've seen.

Now there ARE ethical small-scale breeders out there. The ones that only breed their animals a few times, and don't have dozens (or hundreds) of pets roaming around... and that's different to me. But nope, I can't see petstores and the breeders that they "spawn" as neutral.

I will always argue in favor of rescues & shelters. This even more than vegetarianism is something I feel strongly about. People have to eat and if you choose to eat meat, that's your choice. But nobody MUST have a pet, and I do feel that if you choose to have one, you should make all attempts to choose and care for one in the most conscious of ways possible. And to me, that includes how you go about getting them.
love,
mom

 

Yeah, I wasn't necessarily talking about a petstore ... mainly because all of the pets we have in my parents home have been bought (or given for free) from other families -- our dog and two cats.

I definitely would not want to buy from a pet store, but even then, buying from a pet store could be, in essence, saving an animal from cruel conditions (though it does defeat the purpose if the money goes to the pet store anyway).

 

People who breed for money= bad.
People who happen to have puppies and need a good home for them= good.
There is nothing wrong with buying a puppy/kitty/animal from a "breeder" as long as the conditions are right. Many pets have babys, and the "owners" must "sell" or give away these animals. To me, as long as it's done under the right conditions, there is nothing wrong with the "owner" pocketing a few more dollars. Besides, the money, in turn, goes to feeding and maintaining their own pet! So, it all works out.

However, like I said, I would never buy from someone who is in the business to sell animals because they are too cruel. They constantly impregnante the mother just to make money! It's not fair to the animals, and in some cases the puppys who get screwd up homes!

 

i wonder what happens to puppys and kittens in pet stores that aren't sold? do they go to shelters? or someplace else...
does anybody know?

 

That depends on the petstore. Some send them to shelters, some have them euthanized, and others feed the smaller pets to snakes. It all depends on what store policy is.

From what I've seen, larger chain stores tend to go straight to euthanization while a smaller family-owned chain will try to hold onto a pet longer, but that could be just in my area.
love,
mom

 

OK, a vegan has an animal companion (respecting the animal's autonomy and rejecting the concept of ownership implied by the word "pet").

What should the vegan consider when making the spay/neuter decison? And how can they make that decision without exerting ownership and control over the animal companion?

 

I think it depends a lot on what kind of pet it is, and how willing one is to deal with the complications/costs of pregnancies & babies. If you can afford to keep all of the babies OR have homes already lined up for them, AND you're willing & can afford any vet bills that might come from pregnancy complications then go ahead. But otherwise I feel that it's the only responsible thing to do, to be sure that "unwanted" babies don't happen.

I refuse to neuter our guinea pigs because I feel that the risks are too high. There aren't a lot of exotic vets in the area, and most of the ones I found were not comfortable doing the surgery on smaller animals. But I also refuse to rescue females, so that I will not have to deal with the numerous risks that come with breeding them. Most animals do not come with the long list of pregnancy complications that my piggies do, but most pet owners are probably not prepared to care for or find proper homes for 4-12 little critters either. When we have a yard large enough to have a dog, I will be sure that they are spayed or neutered though.

I think that there are ways to get around spaying or neutering your pets. Only having one gender works if you only have indoor pets, (that can't possibly get loose) but by doing that I could see some people arguing that you're denying them the right to reproduce. Maybe so, but it's nothing I wouldn't consider for myself so I don't feel terribly hypocritical about that decision.
love,
mom

 

Would you let your pet decide whether or not your nuts get cut off?

That's what I thought.

 

is it true that male dogs get depressed after theyre neutered?
i know humans would