What I have always given my animals isn't essentially human only food. There is always food designed for animals either in combination or rotation with it...I figure as long as it's not processed garbage, it's fine. There's a lot of rubbish in commercial pet food too...you have to be pretty selective.

I used to have this little black cat and I would give him dry food moistened with water and with a little tuna or chicken mixed in there to sort of flavor it up a little. He got along pretty well on that stuff but then he moved to another house. :( But he was a happy litta cat when he was here :)

I absolutely believe that even though some animals will eat just about any crap indescriminantly, to some extent, they appreciate effort in the food department.
I just feel that if you consider an animal more towards a friend than property (there's a large scals of in-betweens), then you won't want them to eat just any old garbage.

I'm glad to hear you say that, cheebs. I have known people that had pets when they told me what they fed them I looked at them like "Are you out of your mind?". It's unbelievable what some people will feed their pets. I don't know why I doubted you, I should have known better. You're smarter than that!

Well thanks...I just try and do my best to make an animals time spent with me worthwhile on their end too.

I think I would feel badly about Both pictures.
Cops are assholes sometimes but they are here to protect and they have a seriously tough job,so the death of one of our Thin Blue Line is a very sad thing to me.
If it were just a picture of a random someone....maybe I would feel less? I'm not sure.
The doggie would definitely cause me to tear up,I cry when I see dead animals of any sort on the road...so animal deaths do tug my heart much more.
I feel that animals are here for us in so MANY ways,they add beauty to Life.
Pets are on the top of my list because they provide much love and comfort.
People can be cruel and hard to empathize with, and let's face it-so damn many of them just taking, taking, taking without much giving back.



And I really don't mind doggie bakeries....I think though, if I HAD a dog, he/she would only get a treat from there on it's birthday.:)


edit: I just re-read the first post.
It's a man SHOT by a cop.
My bad.
Yeah,it would still disturb me to see a picture like that.

I would not dare make any judgements on the dietary restrictions placed on your cat C, because that would just be really shitty on my part. You know what's best, and I hope your cat remains and retains it's health and vigor. I just wanted to say that before I posted this.

I know that all cats from the "big cats" (tigers, lions, panthers, cheetahs, etc) to felis catus (house cats of varying variety) are carnivors (now hammerfan, you may know differently, but that last veternary piece I read stated that they were carnivors). However, dogs, believe it or not, the canis familiaris, are, in fact, omnivorous.

Cats can only derive real nutrition from meat and meat bi-products, while dogs can derive some nutrition from plant material. Over the thousands of years of our companionship with them (cats), in other words, the years that they've allowed us to be in their presence, they have retained their predatory nature.

(The great thing about our relationship with our cats is that it's symbiotic. Like with my Irish... I've been there for him, when he needed my intervention, and he's been there for me. Our love (cat and cat's mum) is a mutal thing. He's not loyal to me, although he does love me and thus is loyal. Ya dig?)

Cats are totally different from dogs. You kick a dog (you deserve to be kicked repeatedly until something breaks...just my opinion) it'll probably return. You kick a cat (same thing) it just might kick back, but it most likely will not return. You have to earn a cat's love and trust, even if you raise it from kitten to adult.

To answer the question, there is often more empathy about killed animals than humans because they are of a different species.

More specifically, people generally believe other creatures to be of lesser brilliance than humans but of no less relevance - especially in death.

Therefore, more concern is offered to the 'innocent' species that died under circumstances clearly beyond its ability to control.

You're absolutely right, cats ARE carnivorous and get most of their nutritional needs from meat.

And in your second point, you're also correct except that if you kick a cat, it'll probably rip your face off and then leave and never come back! ;) At least, I know Lucy would!

no pun intended..dead monkeys make good trophies :D