I’m interested in the topic of vegan pet food, mostly for dogs and cats.

I know that there are AAFCO and FEDIAF-approved complete vegan pet foods.

I also know that current science recommends approaching this with caution and, if you do choose to try it, doing so with careful observation of the cat and regular veterinary check-ups, because there currently aren’t many studies on this topic, especially regarding long-term outcomes. Most vets will say that cats are obligate carnivores and that their bodies aren’t built to handle plant fibres.

Since dogs are technically omnivores and the evidence base is more developed for them, more and more vets are saying that a properly formulated vegan diet can be safe for dogs.

When it comes to cats, I’ve also come across an ethical argument: if we aren’t certain that a vegan diet will harm cats in some way, but we know with certainty that producing conventional pet food results in the deaths of hundreds of other animals, it may still be worth trying (as long as the cat is monitored very carefully and receives regular veterinary check-ups and appropriate blood tests).

And as a minor (so I can’t become a veterinarian yet), could someone, especially an expert, share their opinion or add something to this topic?

https://samuelbacahenry.substack.com/p/early-1900s-us-labor-day-workhorse

✊🪧🐴🫏⛏️⚒️LABOR DAY WORKHORSE PARADES ⛏️🐴🪧🫏⚒️✊

Interspecies Class Consciousness & Solidarity

“All the world admires a worker.... The worker, man or horse, is a hero.”

“The Equine Proletariat”

_____

Interspecies Exploitation
Interspecies Solidarity
_____

In the late 19th & early 20th centuries, Animal Welfare organizations staged Workhorse Parades to promote Animal Welfare for a city’s draft animals.

The parades included evaluating the horses’ physical conditions, the companies’ stables, and the loads they were bearing.

Teamsters whose horses were in good condition were awarded medals.

Many also included mules & donkeys.

_____

Some Workhorse Parades were held on Labor Day, in explicit recognition & celebration of inter-species class consciousness & solidarity.

The workhorses were recognized as a separate class from the racehorse, warhorse, or showhorse.

Even within the workhorse parades, there were equine class distinctions between the horses vs the donkeys and mules.

And between fire department horses vs garbage hauling horses, with a whole spectrum in between.

#laborday #laborhistory #collectiveliberation #workersrights #animalrights

Veganism is not elitist, but the elites should go vegan. Yes, yes, that might sound odd, but hear me out.

After Billie Eilish recently dared suggest that harming animals is not the same as loving them, one of the most annoying ideas about veganism resurfaced: that it is privileged, a lifestyle that only the elites can afford.

Depending on politics, some people take it further and claim that veganism is something made by white people and ‘imposing’ it on other cultures is colonial, costly, condescending.

There is just one big issue with all this: this idea is mistaken in just about every way, even if some of the people behind it might actually be well intended.

Free full article here.