Can you get ethical cat food?

[ShiftyBagLady]

big bump
discovered a good food today. almo nature, been mentioned already. all of the meat is free range and the fish is all line caught. i bought the organic chicken and rice one. he seems to like it. i also bought a few tins of wet food and he likes that as well.

 

[Stig]

One of mine isn't keen on the Nature's Menu - he's just not into pate style foods, he prefers to have something to grab in his mouth and shake about as if he's killing it

Mine don't do pate either. -well, one will give it a desultory lick and wander off, the other just looks at you as if to say 'what's this ploop?'

 

[Funky_monks]

Surely keeping carnivores and not feeding them meat is as bad as keeping herbivores and making them eat meat waste.

And we all know where that leads don't we?

 

[tarannau]

Cats are surely an unethical choice for folks in this country.

They're a non-native species with no natural predators for a start. Arguing about an ethical food choice for them seems a little peculiar with that in mind

 

[Stig]

big bump
discovered a good food today. almo nature, been mentioned already. all of the meat is free range and the fish is all line caught. i bought the organic chicken and rice one. he seems to like it. i also bought a few tins of wet food and he likes that as well.

It's not a complete nutritional food on it's own though, which is why I've been a bit wary of it:

Please note: As Almo Nature is untreated, this food may contain above-average levels of phosphorus in relation to calcium. For this reason Almo should be supplemented with a suitable balanced complete food (wet or dry).

 

[Stig]

Cats are surely an unethical choice for folks in this country.

They're a non-native species with no natural predators for a start. Arguing about an ethical food choice for them seems a little peculiar with that in mind

I don't disagree, but I'm assuming most people here aren't breeding them or buying them from pet shops, they're getting them (neutered) from cat rescue homes. Once their very existence is thus excused, we have to feed the damn things something.

and they're much nicer than Rhodedendrons.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

It's not a complete nutritional food on it's own though, which is why I've been a bit wary of it:

yeah you're right, i didnt realise that at first but if you give them the wet food and supplement it with a good dry food then you can still give them a good balance.
so, ethical dry foods. hmm


tarannau, stop being objectionable. you'll be saying we shouldnt eat bananas next

 

[tarannau]

It's not objectionable, it's honest.

I like cats, but anyone who thinks of them as an ethical choice is fooling themselves. Letting them out unsupervised to kill native wildlife, shit elsewhere and cause allergies (in up to 1/3 of the population) isn't perhaps the most ethical, responsible response. It's your own choice of course, but it's not a particularly ethical one.

Not sure about the cats/bananas comparison tbh.

 

[tendril]

I know you can get vegetarian cat and dog food, although whether your cat will like it is another thing. My poor late moggy was notoriously fussy with her food. Try searching the Ecologist website for brand names or suppliers.

I think that people who make their cat vegetarian should be done for animal cruelty.

Cats are carnivores.

That means that they eat meat. They cannot get all the nutrients they need form a non meat source, unless additives are added. Hardly seems like a great diet to me. Their intestines are longer than ours so that they can digest the meat.

Veggie cat food

 

[tendril]

p.s.

to OP

why not trap some starlings and voles and give them to your cat live. This is about as ethical as you can get and the cat will get to have some 'fun' with the food too

p.p.s.

this is not a puerile suggestion. Little things are what cats eat in the wild.

 

[Stig]

why not trap some starlings and voles and give them to your cat live.

we only got them to keep the mice down.

Two, they've caught so far. TWO. I'm taking them back for a refund.

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

yeah you're right, i didnt realise that at first but if you give them the wet food and supplement it with a good dry food then you can still give them a good balance.
so, ethical dry foods. hmm

erm actually the almo nature wet kitten food says on the tin that it is a complete food even though it is not supplemented and the almo nature holistic kitten croquettes also say they are a complete food and they are supplemented with vitamins and taurine and stuff.
so the packaging says both are complete but the website i was looking at says its not

 

[tendril]

almo nature holistic kitten croquettes

You have got to be shittin me

Do they come with free sandals?

 

[Stig]

You have got to be shittin me

Do they come with free sandals?

They come with a free smock and dream catcher, I believe.

 

[Stig]

We don't get such hippie shite, obviously. We get Bozita. With Reindeer. Doesn't that sound more hardcore?

 

[tendril]

They come with a free smock and dream catcher, I believe.

made of win!

 

[ShiftyBagLady]

yes yes i know, but it is a good food, good ingredients
honest