Do you ever feel guilty about feeding your cats "cute" animals?

Chickens, turkeys, and fish are kind of creepy to me, so I don't feel guilty about feeding my cats those, but one of my picky kitties only eats duck and lamb usually. I have also discovered recently that both cats like rabbit. I don't like to think about ducks that I feed at the park, innocent little lambs, and fluffy bunnies (like the ones that hop around my yard) being slaughtered and eaten. Does anyone else feel like this, or am I just being silly?

I've never thought that before, but maybe others have. Cats are obligate carnivores, so the fact that they eat other animals is not something we can help. I, on the other hand, am a vegetarian myself. I would not eat any animal...cute or not cute. But if it makes you uncomfortable, then stick to the others

The more distanced I can be from the animal looking as it did when it was alive, the better. I feed my cats some raw food too, so I do see what parts of the animals look like raw, but I would have to put quite the effort into it putting together the picture in my head that it came from a living creature. I have a similar struggle for what I eat - I think chickens, turkeys, ducks, pigs, cows, and sheep are adorable, and fish can be beautiful and cute. As long as I can't tell it used to be a cute animal, I'm usually fine.

When I was 3 years old, I spent 3 or 4 weeks "raising" (feeding, and someone else would clean up after them) baby chicks, and in that same span of time, I had also watched my grandmother slaughter a chicken for dinner, and of course I still ate it. As much as I loved those chicks, I'm resigned to the fact that after I left, they grew up and became dinner too.

When we go to Chinese butchers, they have the whole cooked, seasoned dead animals (pig, duck, and chicken usually) hanging in the display case and when you ask for a cut, you watch them hack off a piece, package it, and give it to you. If you ask for a yellow chicken (at a restaurant too), you get the head with it. I'm used to it now, but if I bring a friend for lunch who isn't used to it, my family and I make a joke of pointing the head at them. We don't eat it though.

I used to feed Canadian mallard ducks in my back yard all the time. I still think duck is really delicious though. I'm more opposed to the conditions of livestock in the time they're alive and the way some die than the idea that they used to be cute and now they're dead.

I totally think about it. Especially because I feed whole, day old quail chicks to my cats as a weekly treat (frozen, feeder chicks, of course. I would never feed live prey.)

The first time I bought them, I was super sad because they are soooo tiny and cute =(  But I just use the reasoning that they are they by-product of the quail industry. Quail farmers have no need for all of the boy quail chicks since they are not hatchers, so they humanely euthanize them and sell them as frozen feeders. 

My cats eat rabbit too, although it is ground and frozen, not whole. I make sure to buy from a source that I know takes good care of their animals and that they have a good quality life before they are humanely euthanized. 

I do feel bad about rabbits. I eat chickens, turkeys, ducks, beef, and lambs, so I don't think about it too much, but I don't eat rabbits and they are kind of looking similar to cats in someways. I only get ground rabbit meat, so I can handle it, trying not to think about it too much. But Dr. Pierson said she used to get a whole rabbit (frozen) and hacked it herself... I never be able to do that. My cats love rabbit meat and also I think rabbit is very close to what they eat in wild, so I don't think I can eliminate it from their diet just because I feel bad. They are carnivore and it's just the way of life, isn't it? 

I am right there with you. Chicken turkey i dont mind. But lamb and ducks. I have a hard time feeding. i have and they love it. My dd doesnt like that i do either. I dont feed it often and have never fed rabbit. I owned one myself.  I am not much of a meat eater myself.  But having cats i have to do whats best for them and what they will eat. 

If it makes you feel better, "lamb" comes from yearling lambs, not teeny adorable babies .

I guess it doesn't make a lot of difference to me if they're cute. I like all animals. For meat, as long as they're killed humanely I suppose it's all equal. But if I had to kill meat animals myself (eek!), I would definitely have a harder time with animals who have a lot of personality. Looks, not so important.

As a vegetarian, yes I absolutely have thought of it.  In fact, I debated a long time before getting a cat, knowing I'd have to feed it dead animals.  Then my life-long love of cats, and the endless pictures of shelter cats needing homes, convinced me to adopt Ruby.   I still find it hard sometimes when I think of what I feed her, especially now that she eats hypo-allergenic canned duck.

Nope. Deer happen to be one of my favorite animals and I cried like a baby when I hit my first (and so far only, knock on wood) deer. I was going at 20 or less MPH and he really only got "bumped" by the car but it still killed me inside that I may have hurt him. I was ready to jump out of the car and run after him in the woods at 4am to see if he was ok. Only reason I didn't was because hubby couldn't afford to be late for work....But I did cry. And cry. And cry......But yet have always got a kick out of watching my animals eat away at whole deer carcasses.....The difference though is I'm harming/neglecting my animals if my dogs and cats don't eat meat. Hitting the poor deer with a car benefits no one. Though tbh, growing up we did eat road kill on more than one occasion. We were taught not to waste but here in the city of North Charleston, I'm pretty sure I'd have the cops called on me if I strapped a dead deer to my Nissan Sentra and gutted him at our apartment complex. Lol! I was actually vegetarian for 12 years and vegan for 8 or so months at one point....Still did raw with the dogs including some whole prey items such as rabbits and squirrels. (Squirrels also being a favorite! Though in all honesty I'm a sucker for any animal, hubby gets sick of my begging for a pet pig. xD) I can make my own choices for diet but my animals can't, and the animals I've chosen to keep require the consumption of other animals to live and be healthy so I can't let emotions get in the way of proper care. I've seen vegan cats before and that is far more sad than knowing my animals eat other cute animals.

My cat used to be feral and went in and out up to 6 months ago when I no longer let her out. She killed chipmunks and baby bunnies on a regular basis, also the occasional young bird. I feel much better now feeding prides rockstar rabbit to her so I can watch the Bunnies in the backyard.

Tabbysia said:

Chickens, turkeys, and fish are kind of creepy to me, so I don't feel guilty about feeding my cats those, but one of my picky kitties only eats duck and lamb usually. I have also discovered recently that both cats like rabbit. I don't like to think about ducks that I feed at the park, innocent little lambs, and fluffy bunnies (like the ones that hop around my yard) being slaughtered and eaten. Does anyone else feel like this, or am I just being silly?

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I do think about it and I don't think I could actually kill Thumper myself but no, not really. As others have said, they are obligate carnivores. They have to eat meat. It's the way nature goes and it's the way of the food chain. Vegetables are alive before they are yanked out of the ground, off the vine, etc before they are eaten but nobody feels bad for them because they don't have faces. Something must die for something else to live whether it be animal or plant. 

Not in the least. My cats love rabbit, which would be their natural prey were they to hunt for their food. I love animals and find rabbits cute, but I also appreciate the "food chain" and "web of life". In all of nature, something has to die so something else can live. Even plants have to die to be consumed. My only concern is treatment of food animals up to and including slaughter.

Kind of a funny story. One of my co-workers has a pet rabbit, which he brings to work on occasion. I love to pet and play with this cute bunny. Shortly after I started feeding rabbit to my cats, this rabbit didn't want anything to do with me, and in fact growled and swatted at me when I got too close. I guess she knew. Previously, when I was feeding duck (I'm not now), I would tease ducks around the lake about taking them home for Abby and Tim.

Lol I eat the deer that roam out back of my house and I don't mind! I've never tried lamb or duck or seen those flavors when looking for cat food, but I wouldn't feel bad feeding them to the cats or eating them. However we also have an indoor pet bunny and I won't feed the kittens rabbit because I don't want them getting any ideas.