Is it vegan to buy pets?
What if I told you that millions of dogs and cats were being abused every single year, not just in South East Asia, but instead in Europe, Australia, North America - everywhere? That as we sign petitions to stop people eating these animals, they are also suffering and dying on our doorstep as well?
We often refer to ourselves as a nation of dog and cat lovers. We love them in our homes, we love their company. But how often do we reflect on where these animals came from?
This is what the pet industry does to our dogs and cats.
It is estimated that on any given day in the United States there are 70 million homeless dogs and cats and in the UK there are one hundred thousand dogs and an unknown number of cats living without homes.
At the same time as this, approximately 6.5 million dogs and cats enter US shelters every single year, with 1.5 to 3 million also being euthanised every single year as well. This means somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000 dogs and cats are euthanised each day in the US. And in the UK it is estimated that 20,000 dogs are euthanised each year.
So how can it be that the nations who pride themselves on loving these animals are also responsible for millions of them suffering and dying every single year?
Of course, it is easy to feel angry at the shelters and organisations that are euthanising these animals. But by doing that, do we miss the bigger issue?
To find out who is at fault, the real question needs to be, why are there so many dogs and cats in the first place?
In order to answer this, we must split the answer in two.
Firstly, the issue of spay and neutering. The reproductive cycles of one female dog and her subsequent offspring can produce 67,000 puppies in just six years, while a female cat and her offspring can produce 370,000 kittens in seven years. With these numbers, it becomes easy to understand how overpopulation becomes a significant problem. Especially as there are tens of millions of dogs and cats who are not spayed and neutered.
There is of course also the issue of humans breeding these animals as well.
The most infamous examples of this are of course puppy and kitten mills, which are essentially commercial breeding facilities for the mass production of dogs and cats. These facilities - legal and in the US and even USDA licensed - are where most pet stores globally get their puppies and kittens.
In these mills animals are usually crammed into overcrowded cages, denied healthy food, clean water and veterinary care. The animals are bred constantly, and the horrific conditions, poor genetics, early weaning and stress can cause the puppies and kittens to develop serious health and behavioural problems. Once the animals are no longer able to be bred, they will normally just be killed. And these are the legal facilities.
In the EU, 46,000 dogs are sold every month between the member states, with most of them being unregistered. In fact according to Interpol, the trafficking of pets is the third most common form of international trafficking after weapons and drugs.
But what about smaller breeders?
Breeding puppies and kittens is often seen as a quick way of making money, as it is a lucrative business. However, the issues, albeit on a smaller scale, are still prevalent with smaller breeding businesses as well - with puppies and kittens being prone to health problems, birth defects and incorrect medical care. Ultimately, it is a financial venture, not an altruistic one. And the breeding of dogs and cats, in any situation, contributes to more suffering for those animals in shelters who need a loving home.
Whilst we may call ourselves dog and cat lovers, our actions suggest the opposite. Millions of people buy puppies and kittens from breeders, and then either can’t handle the responsibility or change their minds, and then put these animals on the street, or into shelters.
With the huge numbers of animals being euthanised and forced onto the streets each year, it cannot be ethically justified to breed these animals, especially just to make money from them. And in reality, we are talking about millions of individual animals suffering, each going through their own experience of abuse, neglect, fear and death.
Our selfishness has even led to us going to extreme lengths to selectively breed dogs so that they have specific traits, that we even class as traditional now, even though it comes at a detriment to their wellbeing. For example, toy and miniature breeds who suffer from dislocated kneecaps and heart problems, and dogs with flat faces and shortened air passages who suffer from breathing problems.
Furthermore, pedigree dogs and cats are the victims of our traditions. Events like Cruffs celebrate our forced selective manipulation, inbreeding and mass production of dogs. Our invented and arbitrary requirements of the perfect dog are paraded around for a competition, but what’s kept hidden, or purposefully ignored, are the inherited diseases, health issues, deformities and abuses that take place. With breeders even admitting that they have euthanized healthy dogs simply for having the wrong features desired by the judges.
But there is good news, as it is also reported that the number of dogs and cats being placed in shelters and also euthanised has decreased since 2011, with more and more people looking to rescue animals, and not buy them.
Ultimately, we cannot simply pay lip service when it comes to protecting animals. It is through our actions that we can make sure that what we say is in alignment with what we do. For the sake of those we claim to care about, always adopt, never shop.
