My Pet Cat Is Not A Cat At All .

Can vegans justify owning a pet cat?

I went vegetarian 4 years ago, and vegan 2 years ago. I say ‘vegan’, but there are disclaimers.My two cats are 6, which means they were 2 before I stopped eating meat. Does this mean I should have gave my cats up for adoption because I’m no longer a suitible carer?Now, my partner is not even vegetarian. She eats meat occasionally and is a veterinary nurse. Because of the industry she works in, she sees cats suffering time and time again because as more people move towards a vegan lifestyle they try to bring their furry friends along with them. They have very sick cats that are sometimes nursed back to full health in a matter of weeks just from adjusting their diets.The trouble is, cats need taurine and vitimin A, else they can go blind and die of renal failure. Although vegan cat foods attempt to suppliement this, they are new to the market and their molecular structures are not perfectly digestible. They may get there, but they’re not there yet.Cats are obligatory carnivores. They have evolved to eat nothing but meat. The comments that suggest cats will evolve to become vegan if we feed them vegan diets are deluded. Evolution takes tens of thousands of years. That is a lot of dead and suffering cats. Sure they might evolve eventually. But your cat will be a fossil in the ground by that point. As a vegan, you’re not supposed to cause any suffering to animals. So this is a paradox.I eat vegan. I buy canvas shoes and fabric sofas. But I feed my cats fish based foods. I don’t call myself a vegan because then you get grouped with all of the militant vegans that take great pride in shaming anybody who is not. A lot of vegans don’t even agree on what’s right and what’s wrong. Veganism should be about reducing suffering, not thinking you’re superior to everybody else.I do my best, for both my cats and to live as vegan as possible. I don’t try to be perfect. I did at the start and my mental health suffered drastically. There is a lot of guilt comes with it if you label yourself 100% vegan and you then buy cat food. If more people did 90% better the suffering in the world would reduce dramatically.So, I don’t know if you should own a cat as a strict vegan. But turning their lives upside down and sending them to a shelter just because I chose to ditch dairy doesn’t feel like a great choice either. I think you have to do your best, and stop trying to follow a vegan rule book that doesn’t exist.

I got scratched by my pet cat accidentally. It is not vaccinated against rabies. So can I catch rabies?

If your pet cat is allowed to roam outside, then the answer is, yes - you are at risk for rabies. How much risk depends on where in the world you live (the UK is virtually rabies-free, so there’s no real risk there). It’s very irresponsible to fail to vaccinate a cat or dog against rabies.However, you can rest easy in knowing that your cat would die of rabies before you showed any symptoms. Nevertheless, you should consult a veterinarian and your doctor. Rabies is almost 100% fatal. But it’s easily prevented by a series of shots, if the shots are administered before the incubation period is complete.Rabies is transmitted through saliva introduced to an open wound, or through blood contact, but of course, cats lick themselves often. Rabies is only infectious for about one day before symptoms begin, and while the animal is symptomatic, until its death. So, there aren’t any carriers without symptoms.Symptoms of rabies you might spot in an animal include fever, eating non-food items, paralysis, seizures, inability to drink water/aversion to water (hydrophobia), jaw dropped, inability to swallow/drooling, change in voice, lack of muscular coordination, unusual shyness or aggression, excessive excitability, constant irritability/changes in behavior and attitude, excessive salivation/frothy saliva.Rabies can be ‘furious’ (the classic violent/aggressive manifestation, where an animal may attack without warning), or it may be ‘dumb’ (the animal becomes passive and quiet, paralyzed and unresponsive).If you have been exposed to rabies, and do not receive treatment, the first symptoms include fever, tingling or discomfort at the bite site, and muscle weakness. These signs develop usually 4 to 12 weeks after exposure. And once they do, you will die. The shots are only successful if administered before symptoms manifest.Some people will likely say I am overstating the risk, but rabies is endemic and an ongoing threat to humans in some parts of the world, and I don’t know where you’re from. I also want to make sure you understand fully just how incredibly dangerous it is to fail to vaccinate your pet against rabies.