9/28    Here's an ethics question:  Suppose someone is a vegetarien for ethical
        (animal suffering) reasons, and thet also own a pet dog/cat.  The can
        either feed their pet standard meat-based pet food (and directly
        contribute to the death of more animals) or they can feed it high
        protien vegetarian food which costs 3x as much and gives their animal
        indigestion.  What is the ethical thing to do? (This is purely abstract)
        \_ Cats are carnivores, and can't survive a vegetarian diet.  Dogs
           can, though their diet has to be watched carefully to make sure
           they're getting enough nutrients.
        \_ Vegetarians == Murderers     - Fruitarian
           \_ What do you do with the seeds?
              \_ shit them out and watch them grow..
              \_ eating seeds is like abortion! It kills!       -fruit cake
              \_ the whole reason trees bear fruit is for animals
                to eat them and spread their seed ... symbyosis..
        \_ You should feed pieces of yourself to your pets. Start eating tons
           of vegetarian food, so you get really fat, and hopefully you will
           regrow chunks of yourself fast enough to let the pet survive.
           You can tranquilize and take parts off other people at first.
        \_ I have an acquaintance who adopted a cat from a vegan moron who
           fed the cat a vegetarian diet. The cat was unhealthy and small.
           She's still messed up by it. You have to feed your pet a proper
           (carnivorous) diet. Period. If you cannot do that then do not
           get a pet.
        \_ Cats are carnivores. In fact, one argument vegetarians often use
           to show that humans *aren't* pure carnivores is to contrast the
           digestive tract of a feline with the digestive tract of a human.
           Felines have short, straight digestive tracts versus the long and
           bendy digestive tract of a human ... Feed the cat meat or don't
           have a cat.  I don't know anything about dogs.
           \_ please.. look at archeology.. all the tools prehistoric
              humans used to evolve were mostly to kill animals
              and eat them.. we evolved as carnivores..
           \- IMHO, vegetarianism is mostly a life style choice and only
              putatively an "ethical" choice. "can you be politically
              opposed to slavery and have a pet" ... shouldn't you give
              it the chance to run away at any time? looking for ethical
              it the chance to run away at any ime? looking for ethical
              consistency here is silly. There are some big ethics questions
              this touches [like how to respond to the "infinite demands
              or morality" and the comission/omission problem (if you are
              opposed to animal suffering why arent you quitting your job
              and helping animals rather than "merely" not eating them) but
              the motd is too small for extended discussion of that kind of
              thing.
                \_ The point is that if you have a cat and are hurting it
                   by feeding it vegetarian food then you can't win if you
                   don't want to hurt animals -- cats need meat -- so either
                   feed the cat meat or don't have a cat.
           \_ Humans aren't carnivores.  Humans are omnivores.
        \_ some options:
           1. choose not to own a pet
           2. if you must own a pet, get a vegetarian pet (most animals
              are vegetarian, so its not that hard)
           3. if you must own a non-vegetarian pet, let the pet feed
              itself via hunting (its not like you personally are doing
              the killing)
           4. if you can't let the non-vegetarian pet feed itself, then
              feed the thing appropriate food.
              \- 5. get a chiapet
                 \_ or a nintendog
                    \_ Or a Penthouse Pet.  Are those vegetarian BTW?
                    \_ Or a Penthouse Pet.  Are they vegetarian BTW?
        \_ Well thanks for the pet care tips but this is a purely hypothetical
           question.  I'm an omnivore and so's my dog. -op
           \_ i don't understand your 'animal suffering' logic.
              Animals suffer a lot more as a whole due to expansion of
              area of human activities.  If you really care about animal's
              well-being, have less children, and don't critize countries
              who are trying (i.e. China). And at the same time, dump your
              SUV, and seperate your garbage.  These things will go a long way
                       \_ "separate." And "loose" is not the same as "lose."
                          \_ i meant seperate and recycle
                             \_ nope, still not a word.
                                \_ seperate?
                                   \_ http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=seperate&x=0&y=0
                                   \_ http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=seperate
                                   \_ http://tinyurl.com/dx4fe (webster.com)
                                      \_ seperate!
                                         \- Why cant we all get along ...
                                            and have a Separate Peace.
                                            and have A Separate Peace.
                                                --rodney && john
                \_ dump your car, even if it isn't a SUV.  RIDE BIKE!
                   \_ WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICA?
                      \_ What if the bike is made in the USA?
                         \_ It probably looks French.
                            \_ riding bike looks french? really? I
                               always thought that riding bike looked
                               asian or british.
                               \_ Commuting by bike is very popular in the
                                  Netherlands.
              than eating them, as they are legit source of protein.  Just
              skip any sport that kills for fun, such as possum hunting and
              fishing... unless you are planning on eatting possum and all
              the catch you got.
              \_ I call the big one bitey.
        \_ I'm a vegetarian and if I had a cat I would feed it meat.  I would
           laugh at people who tried to call me on my ethical inconsistency,
           because they just Don't Get It.  None of us are perfectly consistent.
           That doesn't mean our sporadic "good" actions have no weight. -niloc
        \_ I'm a vegetarian and if I had a cat I would feed it meat.
           I would laugh at people who tried to call me on my ethical
           inconsistency, because they just Don't Get It.  None of us
           are perfectly consistent. That doesn't mean our sporadic
           "good" actions have no weight. -niloc