Two Vegans and a Carnivore

"He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars."

- William Blake, ‘Jerusalem’

The Problem

You may have noticed that one third of Big Friendly Vegans is actually an obligate carnivore.

We're of course referring to Chubs, our domestic shorthair cat friend.

To Chubs, unlike ourselves, adopting a plant-based diet is not only inconceivable but also actively harmful.

While some of his preferred snacks are plant-based, at this current time we feel it would be unfair and damaging to enforce our own disengagement with animal products on him. So, alongside the spinach and popcorn he enjoys, meat, on which he thrives, constitutes the bulk of his diet.

For anyone seeking to reduce investment in livestock farming as far as possible, having a companion to whom you have a duty of care and who relies on you to feed them other animals can feel problematic. It's a topic well discussed and debated among vegans.

As with Chubs, certain carnivores have themselves been rescued from harmful circumstances created by humans. Still, one or two might argue from an extreme perspective that the best thing for animals as a whole (rather than an individual) would be to have had Chubs euthanised as a kitten so he wouldn't have to consume tinned portions of the many less fortunate.

But life is more complicated than that.

We weren't vegan when we rescued Chubs, and he was a formative reason for our shift in perspective regarding animal agriculture. By him existing, far fewer animals have been eaten as a whole due to our own retirement from meat, dairy and egg indulgence.

We mention this to example how surface-level conclusions can be misguided, not to make an excuse. Almost all other rescued cats have not unintentionally nudged their human companions towards veganism, and we would certainly not want those cats to be culled either.

We would not call for a ban on rescuing carnivorous animals any more than we would reproach the very few people who eat meat because their health absolutely necessitates it. In fact, we sympathise; from our perspective, having to eat animals with an understanding of the implications would make every meal troublesome.

The difficulty in both scenarios lies in having to buy into an industry, no matter how small the amount, with an awareness of how abhorrent it is.

The Solution

Fortunately, there is a solution to these difficulties, but it would first require a shift of perspective on every level of society. If we all were to accept that animal agriculture has gotten a bit out of hand, there would subsequently be more funds and resources for research into, and availability of, alternatives. Ones that could fulfil the needs of those who require them, including our carnivore companions.

The technology available to us now means we're entirely capable of producing lab-made meat alternatives that would cancel out any and all need for factory farming. We know the very mention of food made in a laboratory will have some readers squirming, but there's little that's natural about meat currently consumed, and at least no one has to die in its production.

Were we to stop funding (individuals and governments alike) an actively harmful system, that money and effort could instead go towards creating a world where animals are respected and protected.

For the time-being, however, we will have to persevere with supplying Chubs his desired and much-needed meat—no matter how it makes us feel personally. Yet because we are feeding the machine of animal agriculture via his small and insistent mouth, it doesn't mean we're going to start feeding it via our larger, humanoid ones.

An understanding of the atrocities of animal agriculture, with a genuine effort to adopt a lifestyle where we avoid its byproducts as far as possible, is better than appealing to futility and doing nothing at all.

We need to move away from creating division by casting judgement on the choices of others and ourselves. We need to consider how we can be supportive and celebrate wholesome but sometimes imperfect intentions, along with what we are already doing for the animals.

We need to take it easy on ourselves and on each other.

We understand this is hard to accept for many vegans. When we really see the extent of the horrors of animal exploitation, we may well be inclined to head for the streets and yell in the face of every bewildered person holding a sausage roll. That passion is beautiful, friend, and those conversations are necessary. But there must also be understanding for where someone is at in their journey of life and the varied difficulties and challenges each person deals with.

We need to work through those challenges together while resisting using their existence as a reason to turn our heads or make no effort at all.

We need to remember the victims. Over 200 million land animals are killed for meat every single day. Yes, seriously. Personally and globally, changes need to happen, difficult discussions must take place, and we need to be brave about this. We need to take action, but we need to be kind, too—inwardly and outwardly.

Perfection isn’t always possible in a complex world, but compassion is, and it’s measured in how we act toward others via the small particulars of life in the present moment, not in ticking ideological boxes. 

For us, we're ok to be considered non-vegan by anyone who wishes to deem us such. We’ll keep on doing our best for Chubs and for all inhabitants of this crazy, crazy world.

- H.R.