Yes, in the "real world" some animals eat animals, but I'm by no means proposing that we go into Africa - into the "real world" - and put all lions on a vegan diet. How "real" is the world in which domesticated cats live today? In the "real world," would your cat ever attack and devour a cow, or dive deep into the ocean and hunt down a 1200-pound tuna? No, in the real world, cats eat rodents, birds, and insects. Why, then, do we think that feeding them common cat foods Not made from rodents, birds or insects is Natural? Furthermore, if you're equating animals living and dying in nature with animals living in squalor and dying in the slaughter-house, then you simply are uninformed.
If cats are "obligate carnivores," then are we "obligate omnivores?" Are humans simply obligated to eat both plants and animals? I think you would have a hard time proving that this is so (as you would have to disprove my existence ; P ). I think that to many people, veganism is about reducing suffering, and while animals have the ability to feel pain, bacteria do not. I believe that there is a substantial difference between cats and bacteria... do you know something that I don't?
Cats' "social rules" - or ethical standards, I believe you meant - do not exist as they have no moral beliefs to which to be held. However, their diet is not their own choice, it is ours. It is our responsibility that all beings under our control abide by our ethical standards. People control their children's behavior until they are old enough to make their own decisions. Cats are not able to make their own decisions, and therefore rely solely upon us. Just because cats cannot be held to ethical standards - basically, cannot be held responsible for actions that, if done by a human, would be considered immoral - would you not prevent a cat from killing a baby (this has been known to occur by suffocation)? The cat does not know that what it's doing is "wrong." In your words "Everything dies, you can't prevent that." I don't think we could call the cat Immoral for suffocating the baby, and yet I think that we could probably All agree that it Would be immoral for a human not to stop it.
I'm not telling you to change your cat to a vegan diet if you find it so morally reprehensible.
Cat Vegans?
