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Showing posts with the label companion animals

[Ethics] Is it wrong to keep pets? Can we respect an animals rights whilst keeping them as property?

  In this episode, Jake and Ant look at the ethics of pet care. Is it ok to keep any sentient living being as property, free to be made infertile if their aggression annoys us and even to be put down if they become an inconvenience or minor danger.  Part of this discussion will feel familiar from our vegan/vegetarianism episode (how do we compare animal vs human rights?), but the fundamental question is how do we square the very common stance of being anti-livestock/vegan but pro-pets?  We do care about our pets, but we also violate what may very reasonably be their rights as sentient creatures in the interest of our enjoyment - and their being happy with the arrangement may not necessarily get us off the hook, just as it doesn't solve the 'benevolent slave owner' argument.  Also, to what extent does keeping pets enable negligent or non-benevolent pet owners to cause suffering, and can we even agree what counts as negligent - by some accounts keeping a dog in an inn...

[Companion Animals] How I Feed My Cat a Vegan Diet

   I give a breakdown of how I feed my cat a nutritionally complete vegan diet to keep him healthy and happy.

[Animal Life] Meet The Oldest Golden Retriever at 20 Years!

  At 20 years old, Augie is the oldest golden retriever in history! On April 24, 2000, August (affectionately known as Augie) was born. After being rehomed twice (due to no fault of her own), she eventually landed with Jennifer and Steve Hetterscheidt of Oakland, Tennessee, and it’s still unclear who the lucky ones are here. Jennifer and Steve, who were active in their local golden retriever rescue organization when they got Augie, adopted her when she was 14 years old. They figured that most people wouldn’t want such an elderly golden, but they had no idea of the upcoming journey they would be on with Augie. They’ve taken her on RV trips all around the country, she’s got several canine and feline siblings, and she gets to play fetch in the pool. On the other hand, Jennifer and Steve have been rewarded with over six years of love and loyalty from this wonderful (and now record-holding) golden. Continue...