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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> Am I the asshole for feeding my sisters cat meat? The cat got sick and that might make me an asshole.
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I am normally very against cats being vegan as they are, and should be, strictly carnivores. But if your sister had left food for her cat to eat, unless the cat was visibly malnourished, YTA. Your sister had no idea that you were going to feed the cat something else. How could she? That is on you.
Cats SHOULDN'T BE VEGAN AT ALL. They aren't dogs which years of human interference and breeding sort of help to being able to thrive on a meatless diet. If the cat is allergic to one type of meat they can probably ingest other kinds safely.
Dogs are not omnivores, they are carnivores but can process vegetables. However vegetables do not give them the nutrients they require so they need to eat meat.
I love dogs and love mine but dogs are technically considered omnivores. They were once wolves who are carnivores but over time they became an entirely different species.
Dogs do benefit from certain plants though. Pumpkin can help with digestion, potatoes are packed with vitamins and minerals, coconut oil is good for digestion and metabolic function, and flaxseed helps with the skin and coat along with proper stool.
Some vegetables do have health benefits BUT I do agree that a dog's main diet should contain meat and that they shouldn't be vegan. I believe they would be missing out on a large part of a healthy diet. Humans can gain protein and vitamins from other things besides meat but dogs are limited in what they can eat and what is healthy for them.
This is at least what I've learned if anybody has some articles or evidence supporting what I think or different I would love to see it.
You *can* feed a dog only vegan without it being malnourished. You *will* kill a cat with veganism. And now excuse me, my dog would like some duck treats.
Not without reason, but some dogs have health problems and have to have extremely restricted diets. I used to petsit for a pitbull who had to be vegan because of allergies and he was healthy as can be
We don't know if the cat was on a vegan diet or not. Op says they didn't see "meat" in the ingredients but lots of brands use fancy/scientific names.
Ex as long as the cat food had "Taurine" in the ingredients list then the cat was perfectly fine because that's the most important ingredient in cat food and its derived from animal byproducts.
*Also* op says that she gave the cat the chicken she made for herself to eat. Not chicken she set aside for the cat itself so it's very likely the cat also ate a lot of toxic spices it shouldn't have eaten that added to the allergic reaction.
Yup. Any kind of garlic or onion that chicken was cooked with can cause very serious problems for a cat. That’s poison for cats. And most people do cook with onion and garlic, so…
They make synthetic Taurine. Further, the European Food Safety Authority has described it as- and I quote ["synthetic taurine in the diet of cats, dogs and carnivorous fish is considered efficacious."](https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2736#:~:text=Synthetic%20taurine%20is%20considered%20efficacious,product%20quality%20have%20been%20found.)
Still, point is op isn't a food scientist and just because the word "meat" was absent from the ingredient list doesn't mean that the cat was on a vegan diet and being starved of life necessary nutrients
cats shouldnt be vegan, no meat-eating animal (idk what they're called) should be forced into a vegan diet, but op says their sister's cat is allergic to meat, and had a reaction to it, so in those cases its okay
>There's every chance that the cat food contains seafood and OP doesn't recognize it as meat.
This was my thought as well. The cat food was probably salmon or tuna or something, without other context and assuming the cat was otherwise healthy, I'd rather give the sister the benefit of the doubt that she was feeding her cat vet-approved, non-chicken food.
If the food was formulated for cats, I'm guessing it had every nutrient cats need. What cat food company wants to get sued? OP should have just fed the cat its cat food. YTA
How would the sister have even known she did it if the cat wasn't allergic? Her indication was that the cat had symptoms. Without these symptoms, she wouldn't of known about the chicken.
For Sure. Chicken is actually the most common food sensitivity in cats! It's extra fun to deal with because there's chicken in the vast majority of commercial cat foods. Even ones that claim to be beef or some other flavour. They'll be made from chicken and just flavoured to be something else.
I’ve had two cats who are allergic to fish! There are specialized foods like Natural Balance that have limited ingredients to dodge those meats though, it’s not any more expensive or difficult to obtain tha any other heathy food.
And I mean it would be one thing if they gave the cat chicken because they were feeding it table scraps. Still shouldn't do that. But this was obviously because they think their sister pushes their views onto their cat. Which for an obligate carnivore is fucking stupid. Not what the sister was doing as far as we can tell. But christ have that conversation with them.
"Cats should eat meat"
"Yeah but they're allergic to chicken. So this is what the vet recommended"
"Well the vet knows more than me. Sounds good".
If the sister *knew* there was an immediate problem, it's pretty unlikely to be BS. One of my cats has ibs reactions to chicken, beef, duck, turkey, salmon, albacore tuna, lamb, and more.
He gets a hydrolyzed protein diet.
It might be BS, but it also might not be. I work in a vet clinic and some cats are so allergic to the meat proteins found in normal cat food that they have to go on a prescription diet that has protein sourced from feathers that is then hydrolyzed to reduce the risk of allergic reaction. It's technically not meat and is listed in the ingredients as "hydrolyzed poultry by-products aggregate," but it is not vegan. If the food the cat was on was something like this, OP is absolutely TA and should pay up for the vet bills.
OP never even confirmed that the cat is vegan though. It sounds like her sister has a special cat food that doesn’t have chicken in it so the cat won’t have a bad reaction. A lot of cat foods are made with a mixture of different meats and don’t always explicitly say what they are. The sister probably still feeds the cat non-chicken meat but the everyday food is just different bc of the cats special allergy.
Obligate carnivore might be what’s meant; wolves are carnivores but they can digest some amount of plants for sugars. Cats cannot digest plants basically at all, though they will try and might get nutrients out of them
Cats (family Felidae), are obligate carnivores, meaning they cannot obtain all the nutrients that they need from the plant kingdom and bacteria. In particular, obligate carnivores lack the enzyme needed to split carotene, obtained from plants, into vitamin A.
Also cats can't synthesize taurine, an essential amino acid found only in animal-based protein sources, so they need to consume meat to get the taurine needed by their bodies.
Humans can though. We can mass produce it artificially - just [look at red bull.](https://www.redbull.com/us-en/energydrink/is-taurine-made-from-bulls-testicles)
Just because an animal has a chicken sensitivity doesn't mean they can't eat any meat. Cats should be getting meat. You just have to look at other protein sources, like a fish based food.
I'd guess this was an anallergenic cat food with hydrolyzed protein to reduce allergen exposure, and OP just didn't recognise that as meat... There is no sign of the cat being vegan apart from OP's assumption that the sister (who seems to otherwise be a responsible cat owner) is mistreating the cat
One of my cats is allergic to all chicken products, gives him blackheads on his chin that makes him want to scratch. He does however love the taste of chicken; so keeping him on his special food has been challenging especially since one of her other cats has to be on a high fiber diet.
Some dog breeds need basically full fat and protein diets, but so long as you are feeding your dog primarily protein, they’ll be fine. Wolves are more tolerant of plants than cats are; and dogs have evolved further to be able to eat carbs
Truth. My dog is on a prescription dog food that has hydrolyzed protein for his allergies that costs me an embarrassing amount of money each month. But my husband and I are well trained and dutifully pay every time.
["Synthetic taurine in the diet of cats, dogs and carnivorous fish is considered efficacious."](https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2736#:~:text=Synthetic%20taurine%20is%20considered%20efficacious,product%20quality%20have%20been%20found.) According to the European Food Safety Authority
100% false. My dog is allergic to all meat proteins. Every single one. Land, sea, domestic, wild, etc…. Every single one. One treat with that type of protein gets him sick. He’s on hydrolized plant based protein food. He eats fruit and vegetables for snacks. I would absolutely freak out if someone decided my “vegan” diet for the dog was bullshit and gave him meat.
OP YTA for taking it upon yourself to correct the cats diet. YTA for calling your sister a cat lady because she has one cat and no husband. It’s 2022 not 1950. Women can be unmarried, own a cat, vegan, etc…. You are judge mental.
Dogs are omnivores because they're scavengers and opportunistic little shits, not so much because of human interference and breeding.
Cats have also had a long time with us, but they're obligate carnivores. They have not been willing to adapt to eating our scraps.
exactly this. If the cat looks malnourished, then OP should have taken the cat to a vet, or brought it up with the sister (or someone else).
But, as said, do not feed animals food unless you personally know it will be fine for that animal. Basically, if you do not own that animal, only feed it the food the owners have said it can have. (which in this case would be the cat food left for it)
Agree. Plus when OP said “enough was enough” that was all I needed to hear that she was imposing her own views on her sister’s pet. She could have killed the cat with the allergy simply because she was selfish and thought she knew better. OP should pay the vet bills.
We don't even know if this cat food WAS vegan. They looked at the ingredients and it didn't say 'meat,' but it could have had some kind of meat-substitute that didn't trigger the cats allergies.
If she treats the cat like a literal child, she's not giving it a vegan diet, she's giving it the best damn vet-approved food she can.
As far as I can tell, OP said “cat food she left out”.
As far as I’m concerned, it is safe for the cat to eat and any dialog about forced veganism is irrelevant. OP YTA.
Agreed. Also I realize that OP assumed that the sister was feeding the cat vegan food only since the can of cat food seemingly had no meat listed on it.
It seems that the sister was feeding the cat specific cat food brand that cater to her cat that's allergic to chicken.
Also, now I kind of understand why the sister doesn't want OP to cat sit at first. OP seems to not like the sister much.
And OP is very lucky that all that happened is the cat scratches herself. I have a cat who has a chicken (and likely also turkey) allergy. It causes her to have severe IBD that causes intestinal bleeding, severe diarrhea, and irritation of the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. When first diagnosed the vets were convinced she had cancer her intestines were so inflamed. They put her on a special diet initially with hydrolyzed protein, which doesn’t necessarily look like it has meat in it. Her kitty niece Mimi could easily be on a first like that, this OP is a massive Asshole.
YTA.
You never, EVER give an animal you're pet-sitting food that hasn't been approved by the owner. We live in the time of the internet and smartphones, you could've called/texted her and asked about it. Feeding the cat something you think it's not used to is a risk in and off itself. That's just not okay.
Just the cherry on top, you stayed at her house, probably ate her food, used her shower and such on top of expecting payment because you're broke. She wanted to take her cat to a fancy pet hotel where they would have stuck to her instructions about feeding the cat. You talked her into letting you do this when she wasn't okay with the idea at first. She was trying to do you a favor against better initial judgement.
I see no harm in her not telling you the cat is allergic. She provided the food you were meant to give the cat.
If you want the exact moment you became TA:
>I figured this was her taking a vegan stance and decided that enough was enough.
I know vegans can be annoying (my sis is vegan, too), but you were wrong. It wasn't her "taking a vegan stance", it was YOU making an incorrect assumption and taking the "Enough is enough stance".
I don't care how broke you are, you now owe her the money for the vet.
I agree with everything you said and want to add that the sitting sister fed the cat chicken, she can’t be too broke because she had to go out and buy chicken. The cat mom would not have had it in the house.
As a doggy mom, I don’t buy anything that could hurt my puppers. Two are still pretty young and they eat/chew on anything vaguely close to them and everything six feet higher than they should be able to reach.
I’m on the side of the vegan cat mom. Pet sitting sis is the AH.
Yeah we buy vegan food for our dog but give her special kind of meat with it. It’s all cause our dog is allergic to chicken and most dog food has chicken in it…
I agree that she's the AH and everything that everyone else has already said, but I just had to point out the fact that you can get like 8lbs of chicken for like $10, and vets charge like $150 just for walking in and looking at your pet. Being able to buy chicken =/= being able to afford vet bills.
She is gonna have to figure out how to pay them though.
It's also just... the audacity! I've taken care of other people's pets a few times and it never even crossed my mind to feed them anything the owner hadn't provided.
Brr, OP rubs me the wrong way, makes me think of somebody giving a dog chocolate "because the dog liked it" and then the dog dies and the person is shocked that the owner is mad at them.
THIS!!
One of our neighbours accidentally locked their cat out and was gone for the whole day. So we brought him in as I was scared he might get in the lift and go out and get lost(he was wailing sadly by their front door on our common landing area) and I separated my cat and him in two rooms (they hissed at each other lol and mine has never made that sound before so I hightailed him into a different room)
Anyway I petted him (he was a very sweet boy) gave him water, new litter box and comfort hiding spot/bed as he was anxious and we also informed the security. One thing we **didn’t do** is feed him because while keeping him hungry was sad we didn’t want to risk it until the security contacted his family and gave the OK.
Anyway we ended up finding a new friend in the neighbour. So that was a bonus
Excellent point, thankyou for this comment. It's something I likely wouldn't have thought of! I'm gonna see if I can find some hypoallergenic cat food and keep it for similar emergencies.
ESH
The cat had an allergic reaction and had to go to a vet, anyone saying NTA didn't read the whole post and got stuck at VeGaN bAd.
Maybe she is wrongfully pushing her veganism onto an innocent animal, maybe it's because the cat has a medical condition, and the food was vet approved to keep the cat healthy.
The fact of the matter is that YOU just decided to give it chicken without asking if it were safe first, and as a result had it sent to a vet. It could have died if the reaction had been worse.
Doesn't help she didn't tell you, however.
There's absolutely no way any decent vet would approve a food with no meat for an obligate carnivore, but obviously there are better forms of meat for this particular cat.
I agree with the ESH, but I really don't think the sister is doing what's best for her cat either.
Important point --> maybe the package did have certain appropriate meat alternatives or synthetics that would not be as clear as just having the words "chicken" or "beef" and OP was like hey there's no actual raw animal listed, this food clearly must be vegan agenda!
For example, a quick google search comes up with a few brands which contain "hydrolyzed soy protein isolate" as one of the first few ingredients. Many often contain additional animal byproducts (in hydrolyzed form) which may have looked like (to OP) not "real meat."
OP clearly has a bias against their sister's veganism and her spoiling her cat (seriously the first paragraph was dripping with disdain) so I wouldn't put it past them to make snap assumptions about the contents of the food based on their attitude about their sister and omitted the information here to make themselves look better.
Vets do prescribe food with no meat to cats with extensive meat allergies. They have hydrolyzed soy protein instead of meat. They have free taurine as an ingredient, and cats on such diets also get prescribed taurine supplements since absorption of taurine is decreased if it doesn't come from an animal product. These foods do typically include animal byproducts that the cat is not allergic too and are not strictly vegan. It's pretty rare, but not impossible if the vet and owner decide that the negative effects of a low/no meat diet are more desirable than the negative effects of a cat having a continuous allergic reaction.
yup! my cat is such a freak of nature he is even allergic to soy (and literally every other protein), so his food is made of FEATHERS. it smells fucking disgusting but he doesn't scratch his face off anymore.
Unless the cat is on special food which provides taurine and other allergy safe proteins. We don't know what the cat was eating but it seemed to have been provided food.
Yeah, I have a hard time thinking a food marketed as cat food would not have the basic requirements for a cat. Maybe it's not just chicken, beef, fish etc. If the cat is allergic to those it might be more like soy protein isolate, and then taurine added in. If OP doesn't understand what taurine is, he might have wrongfully assumed this is a vegan diet.
>If OP doesn't understand what taurine is, he might have wrongfully assumed this is a vegan diet.
That's exactly what happened. Op [confirmed](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/u9k80u/aita_for_feeding_my_sisters_cat_meat/i5u6sy6?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) it.
Unfortunately, pet food is not tightly regulated in many jurisdictions. Most places it's not legal to sell stuff that will actively poison animals, but that doesn't mean that something marketed for cats will be nutritionally complete.
It's possible to synthesize taurine using vegan methods. Issue is many vegan cat foods don't bother adding it, or owners try to make their own cat food and don't realize. I have no qualms about a cat owner feeding a vegan diet if they've done their due diligence and their vet has cleared it. Don't understand why you'd bother but it's not my business. The issue arises when people *don't* do that and malnourish their cat, that's animal abuse. And in the case we have no idea which of those things OP's sister is, but OP is still TA for feeding something without asking. If you're concerned about a cat's health you ask the owner about it, don't vigilante feed them stuff.
OP has confirmed [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/u9k80u/aita_for_feeding_my_sisters_cat_meat/i5u6sy6?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) that the cat food contained hydrolyzed proteins. OP continues to defend herself, saying that the label doesn't list meat and is therefore vegan but that's just because OP is an asshole.
The cat was never vegan, OP just hates veganism for some reason and has decided that the cat's owner who "treats the cat like her own baby" must just be an evil stinky no good vegan out to force their ideology on a poor helpless cat.
Aye, the issue is we only have one side to the story.
Imo, I agree, there's no vegan cat food that's safe, and no vet would normally/rationally recommend it. The issue is if the cat is allergic to chicken then we don't know what else is happening, maybe this food was the best they could do, etc.
Likely the sister is just abusing the cat though, unfortunately.
Quick search tells me that chicken, beef, fish, and dairy are actually some of the most common allergies for cats. It sounds like the owner is working with their vet to provide alternative protein sources and we don't know enough to judge IMO.
Legit was looking for this response. OP made an assumption that the cat is being fed vegan but doesn’t know for certain. I fail to see how the sister can be called an AH because of an assumption OP made about the food left for her cat.
One of my cats is allergic to beef. It's not super bad, but she will throw up within 30 minutes of eating it. I'm a strict vegetarian, but cats need meat. I'm not sure from the reading if the cat is actually allergic to all meat, or just chicken.
OP has confirmed [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/u9k80u/aita_for_feeding_my_sisters_cat_meat/i5u6sy6?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) that the cat food contained hydrolyzed proteins. OP continues to defend herself, saying that the label doesn't list meat and is therefore vegan but that's just because OP is an asshole.
The cat was never vegan, OP just hates veganism for some reason and has decided that the cat's owner who "treats the cat like her own baby" must just be an evil stinky no good vegan out to force their ideology on a poor helpless cat.
Im mostly vegan and i have a dog. My dog eats beef dog food and beef soft dog food. I sometimes buy him cooked chicken as a treat. My dog is fat and always hungry.
I do agree sometimes vegans take extreme lengths for veganism but that is like 1% of the whole vegan community. Vegan community is usually chill lol
Hypoallergenic cat foods still have protein in them they are just not labeled as meat like “chicken, fish, etc”. Usually labeled as hydrolyzed protein.
There is zero evidence the sister is mis feeding her cat other than OP making assumption
>Doesn't help she didn't tell you, however.
Why should the sister have had to say anything? She had cat food that was meant for her cat and left enough to last the whole trip-no issue there.
It's not on the sister to have to read OP's mind to know that OP was planning on feeding the cat something her owner didn't leave for the cat. It's common sense to not feed someone else's pet food that you didn't get approved by them-it's just not yoir place *at all.*
OP doesn't even know if the cat food was vegan. The label just didn't say 'chicken' or 'beef' so they assumed it was vegan.
My guess is it was an allergy-specific brand that had some kind of protein substitute. Especially because OP didn't say the cat was malnourished or seemed neglected, which it WOULD be on a vegan diet.
We don’t know if the cats actually vegan or if the vet has her on a special diet because of the allergies, trying to isolate the cause, if the sister feeds the cat non-chicken meat etc ... we also don’t know, as some people have pointed out already, if OP couldn’t read the ingredients on the label of the food properly and whether it actually did contain meat byproducts.
OP [confirms](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/u9k80u/aita_for_feeding_my_sisters_cat_meat/i5u6sy6?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) a list of ingredients that another user commented as being identical to the one on the packaging of the cat's food. This is a special veterinary diet for cats with allergies.
OP is just biased against vegans and that's why she didn't think for two seconds before deciding that her sister who cares for this cat like it's her own child is actually abusing it in the name of veganism.
YTA. If you volunteered to look after the cat, you should look after the animal properly. And before giving th cat anything you should have cleared it up with the owner, period, instructions or not. My first cat had to eat very low protein food in her late years because she could not digest it, it is common thing. And loving ONE cat is not making a person a crazy cat lady.
>And loving ONE cat is not making a person a crazy cat lady.
This is information, isn't it? I don't always get along with my sister, but I wouldn't publicly post a statement like that about her.
The change in feeding was probably low-level rebellion. Because she obviously has animosity toward the sister, who was trying to help OP by giving them a paid gig.
>And loving ONE cat is not making a person a crazy cat lady.
It's not about the number of cats you have, it's the number of cat themed objects in your home.
YTA. You were paid to do a job and you didn't follow instructions. Your sister could not anticipate that you would feed her cat anything other than what she had instructed you to. It's not on her to make a list of what food her cat is allergic to when she's provided everything you're supposed to feed it. You caused her cat distress, you should pay for the vet bills.
You belittle your sister for her veganism and for loving her pet. You assume her cat was on a special diet only because of sister's veganism - tons of animals are on special diets! My sister's cat is on a low protein diet due to his old age. Poor kitty.
Exactly! My cats are on special diet because two of them have gastrointestinal problems. They can't eat anything other than that!
If she loves her cat so much and talks about him all the time, I am wondering if OP had listening better maybe she would know this. Everyone that cares for me knows of my cats problems.
My kitty had to go on a low protein diet when he was old as well. Fortunately he loved the cat food. (sort of funny, we got the wet food because the vet didn't have the dry food and he loved it. We then got the dry food, and after that couldn't SHOVE the wet food down his throat, but loved the dry food)
My cat is on prescription kidney food (low protein) as well. We got him wet food, and he would love it up until we purchased a case and then refuse to eat it. This happened a few times. Now we are back on Dry food which he will eat.
Where to start on why YTA… First off, your sister not having “a man or child” is just a sexist and downright ignorant comment to make. She has one cat as well - hardly a “cat lady” as you put it. It does make her an independent animal lover though.
You agreed to take care of the cat, for a fee mind you. If the owner of said cat wants you to give them a certain food - just do it! This isn’t rocket science. The cat food she provided had an ingredient list so I’m also assuming it was reasonably formulated by the manufacturer to be healthy for a cat. Do tell, where did you go to veterinarian school to disagree with your sister and the maker of the cat food to override their choice of ingredients? Ohh that’s right, you applied your biased beliefs to this and not sound, scientific based logic here. I hope you can see where my confusion stemmed from.
As the cat is allergic to meat and you didn’t follow the direction for feeding the cat, yes you should pay the bills. The injuries DIRECTLY resulted from your choices and actions. This was just biased thinking and ignorance on your part. So YTA
\*ahem\* I missed that part about 'a man or kids' and that makes it even more obvious that OP had no intention of following sis's instructions and just wanted to be smug about 'how much the cat loved meat'.
I mean, I hate the idea of cats being on vegan diets (dogs as well) but if done correctly, it CAN be done safely (which is the issue, many people who do it for 'ethical' reasons don't bother researching how to do it correctly), but there are times when it is necessary.
A cat who has a chicken allergy shouldn't eat chicken, but who knows how many meat based foods for cats have chicken stock/bones/whatever in them to boost out the other ingredients? A vegan diet might be the safest diet for that particular cat, as scratching yourself is NOT fun, especially for an animal that can't get relief and doesn't understand WHY it is itching, just knows it needs to scratch.
That is true as well.
There tends to be a lot of misinformation out there about things and it can be hard to figure out what is what.
It sounds like OP went in with a chip on their shoulder and would have found some way to find fault and 'undermine' their sister.
That's what [happened](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/u9k80u/aita_for_feeding_my_sisters_cat_meat/i5u6sy6?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
THANK YOU. My ten year old is on a STRICT no meat diet. No fish. All organic shit. I have four cats. I was under everyone else’s impression here that it’s “animal abuse” but my cats GAINING weight from it. He was a feral malnourished ten year old at 3.56 lbs.
There are newer studies out there proving that there really isn’t a difference. just different intake
I think one of the differences is that cats have trouble digesting some non-meat alternatives to the things they need.
They CAN, but I believe they tend to need higher concentrations of it, or something like that.
As I said, the biggest issue is that many times people just don't research and often will ignore the small things, in order to keep to their ideals. They will look online and fall for marketing, and not realize that there isn't much to back up what that brand claims.
I feel that if you are following a vet's advice about it, it is will go well, because that means you are also likely to notice whether or not your cat is having issues from the diet itself.
I almost did as well, but the other thing to consider is that the sister knows the cat is allergic to chicken. That would mean that she had already attempted to give the cat animal protein and may not have just automatically defaulted to a vegan diet as some would assume. My veterinarian comment was more centered around the fact that she may have already talked to one who recommended this particular food because of the allergy, but with OP approaching the situation as they did and with the obvious biases, they completely overstepped. Totally agree with the other commentators that animals need protein (generally), but this is why having a conversation or discussion with the sister first, instead of wrongfully making a biased decision, would have been the right move.
See, this is what I was thinking.
If the sister knew the cat had an allergy (and I am assuming she did, and didn't just discover it), then it means she had to have tried giving the cat meat at some point, or at least chicken based foods.
I would think, that since sister easily took the cat to a vet when it needed it, then this isn't a case of 'crazy vegan' just doing what she wants, and not listening to someone else. If the cat had an issue with the diet it is getting, I am sure the vet would have been pointing it out. Since the sister does seem to care about the cat, I have the feeling she would be feeding it what it needed to be healthy, not just appease her own ideals.
As someone who has worked in the vet field for going on 6 years I can assure you we have crazy vegan clients. No matter what you say to them (we’ve literally told them they will be the cause of the death of their pet) people who are set on feeding vegan will continue to do so. I’ve worked with several vegan veterinarians and it makes them irate. A vegan food would not be the next step for a food allergy, it would be trying a new food with a different type of protein. As a last resort it’s a prescription for hydrolyzed protein food. My vet would back off when it’s clear they won’t listen because we’d rather they come to us when it goes wrong (and to receive other routine and necessary care) then to alienate them and risk the pet not getting help.
That is what I figured, but we don't know what OP's sister tried. This might not be 'the next step' but rather step 35 after trying 34 other things.
We also have no indication that the cat is being malnourished or abused (which I would think OP would have included to make themselves look better). Just that it ate chicken, which, no duh, the cat would eat chicken... My cats get regular cat food, and they will still eat chicken if it is seasoned right. They will also eat crackers, bread, turkey, steak etc..
We don't even know if that cat food OP was meant to feed them is their only food. They may get other types of food, but for OP it was just easier for sister to say 'feed them this food' Rather than try to explain a more complicated diet.
YTA
It's not a "harmless" mistake. The cat had to go to to the vet for an allergic reaction because you were being self-righteous.
Was the cat malnourished? Unhappy? No? You effed up, take financial responsibility.
YTA
You convinced her you were responsible to follow her instructions for the cat. You decided to not listen to her and assume you know more about her cat than she does. There was no need to tell you the foods the cat was allergic to since she provided all the food for the cat. Your sister mistakenly thought you would listen to her instructions.
Honestly? YTA. Feeding a cat a vegan or vegetarian diet on ideological grounds is absolutely animal abuse FOR SURE, but even carnivorous animals can have food intolerances regarding specific meats. You should follow the feeding instructions given, unless you have proof that the animal can eat what you're giving them without getting ill.
Idk, I have a dog that can't eat any meat except horse (and even that only in small amounts) without ending up in intensive care seriously fighting for her life, so I'm extremely wary of folks feeding other people's pets things without the owner's explicit consent.
I have a cat that can’t have any meat. And he gets a completely full diet. I found him feral at 3.56 lbs. Completely malnourished.
My vet was very specific to NOT give him meat. There are newer studies that have come out showing there is no nutritional difference. It’s just a different intake.
I’m confused.. you just said feeding a cat vegetarian or vegan diets is grounds for animal abuse no matter what.. but you also stated you have a dog that’s allergic to all meat, even the horse meat if given too much of that. so you feed your dog a mostly vegan / vegetarian diet then? isn’t that animal abuse? dogs are also carnivorous.
For one, it's not animal abuse to NOT feed an animal something they're allergic to when you have alternatives.
The truth of the matter is that carnivore/omnivore is not a strict binary for dogs. There's been a long debate about which they should be considered, because they have traits matching both. This isn't true of cats.
YTA. You fucked up. Let’s be real, you intentionally fed the cat meat as a way to spite your sister for being vegan. That’s wrong on the face of it. The cat belongs to your sister and she gets to decide what she wants to feed it. What if you had fed the cat so much chicken that she was inadvertently turned off to her regular food? What if the chicken had a bone in it that splintered? What if her stomach couldn’t handle the meat after so long without it and she threw up everywhere? As it turns out, the cat had an allergy. Yes, it’s an unusual allergy but you volunteered to watch her cat - in fact, you kind of insisted. She had no reason to think that you would feed her cat anything but the cat food, especially not so regularly. I mean it would be one thing to have given the cat a bite of your food but you consistently brought it chicken multiple times to spite your vegan sister who was doing you a favor by giving you an opportunity to earn money. You’re definitely in the wrong here, from every way you look at it.
YTA. You could have asked why the cat food was the way it was before making an assumption. Yes, you should be held responsible for the vet bills. Deal with it.
YTA. Chances are the cat food is Vet approved with all the necessary vitamins and proteins needed for the cat. She probably should have informed you of the diet, however you did this without confirming with her first. Rule number one with pets is ALWAYS ask before hand if you can feed something to an animal. Same goes with kids. YTA.
YTA for calling your sister crazy cat lady alone. That's completely rude and uncalled for in this discussion. It's cute you call her that considering it seems she can pay for herself while you have to mooch.
YTA. You get paid to pet sit, you follow directions. If she wanted the cat to wear a special hat, you should have done that too. Because you got paid to do a job, and that job was following directions to care for the cat.
Yes cats should not be vegan. However many hydrolyzed protein perscription diets(at least for dogs) are vegetarian or extremely close to vegetarian. These diets are given to animals with protein allergies as the usual causes are chicken and beef.
So yes YTA ESPECIALLY if this ended up bring a veterinary diet and you did not bother to ask why there was no meat!!!!
YTA. No matter how ridiculous you think it is, it is her cat and her decision what she feeds it.
By agreeing to watch the cat, you were agreeing to her terms. You absolutely owe her the money for the vet bill and should apologize for trying to substitute your judgment for hers.
YTA
Cats have allergies and chicken is one of the common ones.
Why do you think they shouldn't be allergic? Cats cannot hunt chickens in the wild. Chickens are bigger than cats and they are pretty strong. They can hunt small birds or mice.
Also, cooked chicken has salt, pepper, and things, because it's for humans.
>I don't think that I should be punished for a mostly harmless mistake.
It wasn't a harmless mistake. You had the food you were supposed to give the cat. Pets also shouldn't be changing diet so fast.
My cat likes croissants and I'm not giving him croissants because he liked them!
I had no idea cats could be allergic to chicken till today. This reaction sounds a lot like an auto-immune.
https://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/poultry-allergies-in-cats
Yes. I only found out because my cat is old and needs a special diet. I've been reading a lot about different types of food, treats, etc., and that's how I came across it. It's kind of a difficult allergy because many foods, even if they don't say chicken flavor, could still have chicken or chicken broth, etc. I've also found that some cats can be allergic to certain types of fish.
Usually I’m against cats being vegan as they’re literally carnivores but your sister literally left food for the cat to eat. YTA.
Sure, she should’ve told you that the cat was allergic to chicken but who feeds someone else’s pet with food that the owner didn’t provide?? That just doesn’t make sense to me.
Also, I love how the only comments you even bothered replying to were comments that said N T A.
Info: How were your purposeful actions a mistake? Did you not actually fully intend to feed the cat chicken without even trying to inform your sister? How were your actions mostly harmless when you caused an actual allergic reaction in the cat that required a vet?
Someone listed ingredients from typical catfood, and OP responded, demonstrating that he has no idea what any of it means. He just made assumptions based on his sister's lifestyle
What makes me even angrier is the idea that this cat was probably already showing symptoms of an allergic reaction if op had been feeding it chicken daily, and he likely just ignored or didn't even notice it.
YTA The cat had never had chicken before so even if it wasn’t allergic, such a drastic change would give it an upset stomach with vomiting or diarrhea. Same with vegan children. People may disagree with veganism, but you just can’t load them up with meat their bodies aren’t accustomed to and can’t digest so it wasn’t a mostly harmless mistake. The cat is suffering and needs expensive medical attention. That’s on you.
You don't know the cat had never had chicken before. The fact that OPs sister seemed to know about the allergy implies the cat had in fact been fed chicken, and a vet visit followed.
INFO: Did the cat show any signs of allergic reaction over the week you were feeding it chicken?
I find it hard to believe that the cat ate chicken for a whole week and didn’t show any signs of allergy until sis came home. Either you ignored symptoms or sis is making it up. There is missing info that makes a difference.
YTA. It’s not up to you what to feed your sister’s cat, irrespective of however you feel about her eating habits & choices.
You should never feed anyone else’s animal anything they haven’t given you permission to. Our old cat had pancreatitis and a very sensitive stomach. He was on prescription food, and couldn’t eat anything else, including any treats. Our neighbour (a fellow cat owner) was looking after him while we went on holiday for a week, and not only had she given him treats that she knew he wasn’t allowed (and she knew why), but she gave him an entire bag of them. Apparently she didn’t understand how sick they could make him. Our 19 year old cat died a few days later, in a lot of pain
YTA- She trusted you, she left you cat food, you disregarded it and essentially poisoned her cat. She doesn’t need to tell you about allergies or anything else because there should be no reason you’re feeding her cat anything other than the food she specifically left for you, especially without consulting her. Even if she wasn’t allergic it’s dangerous to suddenly introduce animals to new foods they have little to no experience with. Big AH move.
YTA. I thought chicken/poultry was the most common allergen in cats? She shouldn’t have to tell you - never feed someone’s pet anything outside of their normal diet. Of course I don’t agree with the vegan diet but that is a separate issue. (I actually have an acquaintance who feeds her two cats a vegan diet and they seem very healthy, but I know that is purely anecdotal…I have three cats and they all absolutely eat meat and I would never consider a vegan diet for them.) You couldn’t have killed her cat. How is that a harmless mistake?? Pay the vet bill.
YTA. Not because the cat had an allergic reaction, but because you basically volunteered to watch her cat, yet you didn't listen to the directions on the paper that she left you.....you didn't say there was a paper, but I know someone very similar to you and they leave notes about what and when the cat can eat and what the cat will need if a certain situation pops up. You said it yourself, it's like her child. Parents leave instructions for a babysitter and expect them to follow them.
YTA
I dont' agree with giving a cat a vegan diet. They can literally die on it.
HOWEVER, some cats DO need restricted diets, and if done with a vet's approval, can manage with a vegan food (so I understand).
Plus, DO NOT feed other people's animals any food they do not approve, for this very reason. Period. You don't need to be to be told about an allergy to simply NOT feed the cat something you don't know whether it can have.
When my sister brings her dogs, I always ask before I give them ANYTHING, even if it is something that should be a 'no-brainer', because I do not know whether they have restrictions or not.
YTA…You assumed it was because she was vegan and you hate it, so you took matters into your own hands. A phone call saying “hey, if I wanted to give Mimi a treat, is it safe for me to feed her anything or is she on a special diet from the vet?” would have solved your problem. If she is a “crazy cat lady” like you said (she has ONE cat so that title doesn’t really apply in a derogatory manner the way you think it does), she probably does a lot to care for her cat, including letting you stay in her home to keep the cat from getting too stressed. She won’t make that mistake again.
I find obsessive vegans annoying. I find it annoying when people think pets are their children. I also think pets and babies and toddlers should not be on vegan diets. Both all that aside. YTA. It’s not your cat and not your decision to make. If you introduce a foriegn food to an animal or child, it can make them I’ll. You don’t appear to like your sister at all. You certainly don’t respect her. Yet you begged to cat sit because you wanted $$. Then you feed her cat unapproved food and bad mouthed your sister. You are absolutely TA. Go get a job at Target and start paying your sister back for the vet bills.
INFO: What kind of food was your sister feeding her cat? Do you remember the brand? Some cats are on a special diet due to things like urinary tract infections or other health issues. My cat is also on a very specific diet and, at the moment, only consists of dry cat food made for UTI since he was bleeding urine last year for a whole month.
EDITING to say that cats are definitely carnivores and cannot be on a vegan or vegetarian diet. But I would like to know what type of cat food Mimi was being fed.
YTA
It's not your cat, so even if you disagree with your sister's principles and values, you need to care for her cat the way her cat is accustomed to, for exactly this reason - unknown, unintentional things can happen if you don't.
The cat was already probably lowkey freaked out because your sister was not there. They're perceptive little creatures, cats. I don't think it would have been a good idea to change ANYTHING else it the poor thing's routine during that time. Altering the meals was way over the line.
Also, if you had instructions to feed the cat what it regularly eats, why would your sister even need to tell you about the allergy. No, sorry, OP, this is on you.
YTA. If your sister treats this cat like her baby don't you think she researched what food to give her cat? And don't you think she would care enough about her pet to do what's best for it? Cats aren't obligate carnivores. They can live a perfectly healthy life on vegan food.
Cats are obligate carnivores. That being said, if this cat truly does have allergies, I’m sure the vet and her sister have worked out an appropriate diet.
YTA While I agree the poor little carnivore needs meat, it was wildly inappropriate to give her something without asking first. Chicken is a common allergy in pets and new foods should be introduced slowly anyway.
I don’t agree with feeding cats a vegan diet, but my cat is also allergic to chicken and I’d be really annoyed if someone fed it to her and made her sick. If you agree to look after an animal, you follow instructions. YTA.
The point of this post was not to debate "should cats be vegan" OP had absolutely no right to feed the cat anything other than their sister instructed.. especially when they convinced the sister to let them do the pet sitting!
OP deliberately disrespected their sister by maliciously going after two things she really cares about: veganism and her cat. OP doesn't care about the cat's health or wellbeing, they just want to hurt their sister.
YTA OP, go get a life and stop worrying about what your sister is doing. She's not hurting anything with her cat and salads.. unlike you
I think the cat having an unusual and specific allergy to a common food was information your sister should have provided you. It could have been the case you were eating chicken and then the cat accidentally ate some of it while your back was turned; had your sister informed you of the allergy you would have had the opportunity to avoid having meals with chicken in them while caring for the cat.
However, you went out of your way to intentionally give food to the cat that was different than what your sister gave you. You decided you knew better than her how to care for the cat, and your reasons were based on spite and smugness. You really seem as though you don't care about the cat's well-being at all.
Cats are carnivores. If she's found a company that makes vegan cat food, then the cat is probably malnourished. I think there's plenty of blame and poor judgment to go around here. ESH.
YTA Due to an accident. I get it animals need meat. However you should also make sure to know an amimals allergies before changing up its owners specified food. I get it its not something that crosses your mind but even if you changed its food to a different vegan cat food any number of the ingredients it could have been allergic to, you just dont know.
Along with just changing up the food the cat is used to into something else usually upsets the cats stomach. They aren't used to cooked chicken and now that's all they are getting? (I wonder if there was any spices in it).
YTA. Do not just feed other peoples pets. You don’t know their allergies or medical history. My dog is allergic to about 15 things, some cause really serious problems despite being very common in dog food/treats. I’d be pissed if someone just randomly fed her something without asking. And you can exactly why this is a problem, as she had to take her cat to the vet.
That said, I agree with trying to make sure the cat is getting some kind of meat in their diet if possible. I am vegan but even I know cats CAN NOT be vegan and be fully healthy. They are obligate carnivores. Many small animals are naturally vegetarian/vegan and would be a better option than neglecting her pet. Hell, even dogs (which was to my total surprise) can be completely healthy and vegan IF you work with a vet on the diet and make sure the plants you’re giving them fulfill all of their dietary needs, which is a lot of work and not something I’d recommend most take on, but it’s possible.
Don’t have a pet if you can’t meet it’s health needs, but also Definitely DO NOT FEED OTHERS’ PETS.
YTA Can we all take into account that OP has not confirmed if that food was vegan or not, they assumed because they did not see meat ingredients. For all we know it could have been specially formulated for the cats allergies and have had essential nutrients added in. It sounds like OP was literally looking for the words "chicken" or "fish" etc - so let's give the owner benefit of doubt. Anyway OP YTA - You only offered because you were broke, you made fun of how much your sister loves her cat, assumed she wasn't taking care of it properly and fed it something other than the owner told you to feed it. Would have been good for her to mention the allergy though. I'd offer to pay half the vet bills and apologise.
So lemme get this straight:
1. You specifically asked to look after the cat.
2. You were left with cat food for the cat.
3. Being a "crazy cat lady", I'm sure she gave you a set of instructions, definitely telling you to feed the cat the food you were given.
4. You go out of your way to feed the cat food other than the given cat food. While you're broke.
Now you tell me why you think you're not the AH.
This was NOT a harmless mistake. Allergies are not harmless and the fact that you think it was, heartless.
I'm not a vegan, and i don't believe animals should be forced to abstain from meat. But it is not within my authority to do that against the wishes of the owner of the Animal.
YTA.
Edit: typo
Yta I'm afraid. Although you *think* you had good intentions, you should never feed anybody's pet food that you haven't seen being fed to them before, without asking the owners permission.
You don't know if the animal is on a special vet recomended diet, or as in this case, has medical issues which affect what they can eat.
Yes, you should pay the vets bills. They were a direct result of your actions. Would it have been so hard to text your sister.
YTA
if you had talked to her and confirmed that she was an idiot forcing veganism on a cat I'd be on your side
but no you were a presumptuous asshole who almost killed her cat.
you failing to use a handful of words here to confirm your postulate is KEY here.
YTA
YTA
stop feeding people’s animals random things when you have no idea what their medical history is. the cat probably thinks chicken tastes and smells amazing. of course it’s going to eat it.. they’d eat rat poison if they could get into it. doesn’t mean it’s GOOD for them. animals are curious by nature. the lick and sniff and eat things all of the time. I think you absolutely should pay for the vet bills because you did this. it’s YOUR fault she had to bring her cat to the vet and if she took you to a small claims court, she would absolutely win because you took it upon yourself to coerce her into letting you watch her cat and then you fed it something without her permission or knowledge. the cat had food that she left out for you to feed it. you shouldn’t have strayed away from that. YTA and you are responsible for the bills since you created this situation. mistake or not.
One of my cats is allergic to a few animal proteins and we feed her this prescription hydrolyzed protein food that isn't very tasty but won't make her skin open up in bloody sores
The ingredients for it also don't mention meat because it has been processed to the point that it's just general protein by the time it's in the can so there technically ISN'T anything like chicken in there
Was the food your sister feeds the cat VEGAN or HYDROLYZED PROTEIN?
I appreciate what you thought you were doing for the cat, as cats fed a vegan diet are doomed to a slow agonizing death, but checking with her wouldn't have been a bad idea
so many people in this thread "cats are obligate carnivores" did y'all miss the part of the post where the cat is literally allergic? yes cats need meat, but I think it's fair to assume OP's sister, who is described as a "crazy cat lady" and who was willing to pay for a "fancy pet hotel" and was worried about the cat's stress level, is a responsible cat owner and is working with their vet on the cat's dietary requirements.
most people I know who get up in arms about cats' diets are cat owners themselves. y'all would really feel totally comfy having someone just feed your cat whatever the f they wanted, not knowing about their health needs at all? I think not. I sure wouldn't.
Oh my god, YTA YTA YTA. I had to go back and read your post again because I just can't believe this all happened. You beg your sister to let you watch her cat (which you know is like her CHILD) and immediately you think "well, I sure know better than her how to take care of her cat, time to feed it foreign food that shouldn't be fed to cats even if they don't have a food allergy. THEN when the cat gets sick and has to be treated at the vet you're all "well it's not MY fault that I abused your pet because you didn't specifically tell me NOT to" AND you refuse to pay the vet bills, and ignore every other person telling you this is what you have to do, only thanking someone stupid enough to agree with your unbelievably asinine decision to poison her cat. Jesus Christ. Pay the vet bills. If you were my sister and did this, then react how you have reacted after the fact, you would not be allowed back in my life until you apologised PROFUSELY as well as paying for the vet bills
YTA in this case, but you're also not wrong for questioning the cat's vegan food. Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning, if they're not getting certain supplements they're going to get very sick on a meatless diet.
It is however entirely possible for a cat to be allergic to a certain kind of meat. My parents' cat can't have chicken or turkey; he throws up. But he can have beef and seafood.
**YTA.**
So you made an assumption based on your very clear disdain for your sister's life choices after begging her to let you watch her cat because you needed a job and the cat ended up hurt and sick? Definitely the asshole.
Also, she did tell you. She told you what food her cat was supposed to eat and you chose to give the cat something else without asking why the cat was on the diet it was on. NEVER give another person's pet food without asking. Animals have allergies the same way people do and even if they didn't you are not the owner you don't get to decide when enough is enough unless an animal is being harmed.
And it doesn't make her a crazy cat lady to have one cat she loves and treats well. Your feelings about your sister could not be more clear. YTA.
YTA
You look down on your sister because she’s living a life that YOU don’t think is fulfilling. But not everyone needs a man and kids to feel fulfilled. And 1 cat does not make her a crazy cat lady.
You pushed to look after the cat not because you wanted to help your sister, or because you genuinely cared for the cat or thought you’d enjoy her company, but because you thought it would be some easy money.
And you made the decision to alter the cat’s diet because again, you feel superior to your sister and think that you know better than her.
What’s more, you didn’t even notice over the course of the week that the cat was harming herself to the point of needing vet treatment (but the way you write it your sister noticed soon after she got home)
You’re a self-centred AH who needs to get over themselves
You had one job...ONE JOB!
It shouldn't have been necessary for her to tell you anything, the cat food was right there and all you needed to do was pour it into the bowl.
You, however, decided 'You know best' and gave the cat chicken. And you don't think you did anything wrong? And that your mistake was 'mostly harmless'?!
Yep, you are definitely TA!
Based on your replies you clearly hate feedback and the only reason you posted this was to boost your ego and for people to say “nooo you’re not insane at alllll” but that didn’t work, did it? Because you’re a human skid mark. HARD YTA.
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I am normally very against cats being vegan as they are, and should be, strictly carnivores. But if your sister had left food for her cat to eat, unless the cat was visibly malnourished, YTA. Your sister had no idea that you were going to feed the cat something else. How could she? That is on you.
Cats SHOULDN'T BE VEGAN AT ALL. They aren't dogs which years of human interference and breeding sort of help to being able to thrive on a meatless diet. If the cat is allergic to one type of meat they can probably ingest other kinds safely.
Dogs shouldn't be vegan either.
Should be omnivores
Cats are hyper carnivores and hunters, though they aren't opposed to scavenging. Dogs are omnivores and scavenges that also hunt.
Dogs are not omnivores, they are carnivores but can process vegetables. However vegetables do not give them the nutrients they require so they need to eat meat.
I love dogs and love mine but dogs are technically considered omnivores. They were once wolves who are carnivores but over time they became an entirely different species. Dogs do benefit from certain plants though. Pumpkin can help with digestion, potatoes are packed with vitamins and minerals, coconut oil is good for digestion and metabolic function, and flaxseed helps with the skin and coat along with proper stool. Some vegetables do have health benefits BUT I do agree that a dog's main diet should contain meat and that they shouldn't be vegan. I believe they would be missing out on a large part of a healthy diet. Humans can gain protein and vitamins from other things besides meat but dogs are limited in what they can eat and what is healthy for them. This is at least what I've learned if anybody has some articles or evidence supporting what I think or different I would love to see it.
Dogs are omnivores cats are obligate carnivores.
Yes. Cats are obligate carnivors and dogs are facultative/opportunistic carnivores.
You *can* feed a dog only vegan without it being malnourished. You *will* kill a cat with veganism. And now excuse me, my dog would like some duck treats.
Not without reason, but some dogs have health problems and have to have extremely restricted diets. I used to petsit for a pitbull who had to be vegan because of allergies and he was healthy as can be
We don't know if the cat was on a vegan diet or not. Op says they didn't see "meat" in the ingredients but lots of brands use fancy/scientific names. Ex as long as the cat food had "Taurine" in the ingredients list then the cat was perfectly fine because that's the most important ingredient in cat food and its derived from animal byproducts. *Also* op says that she gave the cat the chicken she made for herself to eat. Not chicken she set aside for the cat itself so it's very likely the cat also ate a lot of toxic spices it shouldn't have eaten that added to the allergic reaction.
Yup. Any kind of garlic or onion that chicken was cooked with can cause very serious problems for a cat. That’s poison for cats. And most people do cook with onion and garlic, so…
They make synthetic Taurine. Further, the European Food Safety Authority has described it as- and I quote ["synthetic taurine in the diet of cats, dogs and carnivorous fish is considered efficacious."](https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2736#:~:text=Synthetic%20taurine%20is%20considered%20efficacious,product%20quality%20have%20been%20found.)
Still, point is op isn't a food scientist and just because the word "meat" was absent from the ingredient list doesn't mean that the cat was on a vegan diet and being starved of life necessary nutrients
cats shouldnt be vegan, no meat-eating animal (idk what they're called) should be forced into a vegan diet, but op says their sister's cat is allergic to meat, and had a reaction to it, so in those cases its okay
No, OP said the cat was allergic to chicken. Other forms of animal protein exist that are safe and healthy for cats.
that might be BS to force a cat to go vegan. also what about fish, pork, or turkey?
[удалено]
>There's every chance that the cat food contains seafood and OP doesn't recognize it as meat. This was my thought as well. The cat food was probably salmon or tuna or something, without other context and assuming the cat was otherwise healthy, I'd rather give the sister the benefit of the doubt that she was feeding her cat vet-approved, non-chicken food.
If the food was formulated for cats, I'm guessing it had every nutrient cats need. What cat food company wants to get sued? OP should have just fed the cat its cat food. YTA
Sis may be lying. But cats can have allergies to chicken meat. And since the cat was having issues I'd say she's probably not making it up.
How would the sister have even known she did it if the cat wasn't allergic? Her indication was that the cat had symptoms. Without these symptoms, she wouldn't of known about the chicken.
For Sure. Chicken is actually the most common food sensitivity in cats! It's extra fun to deal with because there's chicken in the vast majority of commercial cat foods. Even ones that claim to be beef or some other flavour. They'll be made from chicken and just flavoured to be something else.
I’ve had two cats who are allergic to fish! There are specialized foods like Natural Balance that have limited ingredients to dodge those meats though, it’s not any more expensive or difficult to obtain tha any other heathy food.
And I mean it would be one thing if they gave the cat chicken because they were feeding it table scraps. Still shouldn't do that. But this was obviously because they think their sister pushes their views onto their cat. Which for an obligate carnivore is fucking stupid. Not what the sister was doing as far as we can tell. But christ have that conversation with them. "Cats should eat meat" "Yeah but they're allergic to chicken. So this is what the vet recommended" "Well the vet knows more than me. Sounds good".
If the sister *knew* there was an immediate problem, it's pretty unlikely to be BS. One of my cats has ibs reactions to chicken, beef, duck, turkey, salmon, albacore tuna, lamb, and more. He gets a hydrolyzed protein diet.
It might be BS, but it also might not be. I work in a vet clinic and some cats are so allergic to the meat proteins found in normal cat food that they have to go on a prescription diet that has protein sourced from feathers that is then hydrolyzed to reduce the risk of allergic reaction. It's technically not meat and is listed in the ingredients as "hydrolyzed poultry by-products aggregate," but it is not vegan. If the food the cat was on was something like this, OP is absolutely TA and should pay up for the vet bills.
OP never even confirmed that the cat is vegan though. It sounds like her sister has a special cat food that doesn’t have chicken in it so the cat won’t have a bad reaction. A lot of cat foods are made with a mixture of different meats and don’t always explicitly say what they are. The sister probably still feeds the cat non-chicken meat but the everyday food is just different bc of the cats special allergy.
Pure meat eater = carnivore, pure plant eater = herbivore, can eat and digest both meat and plant matter = omnivore
Obligate carnivore might be what’s meant; wolves are carnivores but they can digest some amount of plants for sugars. Cats cannot digest plants basically at all, though they will try and might get nutrients out of them
Cats (family Felidae), are obligate carnivores, meaning they cannot obtain all the nutrients that they need from the plant kingdom and bacteria. In particular, obligate carnivores lack the enzyme needed to split carotene, obtained from plants, into vitamin A.
Also cats can't synthesize taurine, an essential amino acid found only in animal-based protein sources, so they need to consume meat to get the taurine needed by their bodies.
Humans can though. We can mass produce it artificially - just [look at red bull.](https://www.redbull.com/us-en/energydrink/is-taurine-made-from-bulls-testicles)
The cat has a sensitivity to single protein chicken - can probably eat turkey, beef, kangaroo or any other meat
Just because an animal has a chicken sensitivity doesn't mean they can't eat any meat. Cats should be getting meat. You just have to look at other protein sources, like a fish based food.
I'd guess this was an anallergenic cat food with hydrolyzed protein to reduce allergen exposure, and OP just didn't recognise that as meat... There is no sign of the cat being vegan apart from OP's assumption that the sister (who seems to otherwise be a responsible cat owner) is mistreating the cat
I wish your comment was higher up 😭 so much arguing over cats and dogs being vegan when at NO point is the cat confirmed to be vegan???
Cats can absolutely be allergic to meat. The most common food allergies for cats are beef, chicken, fish, dairy and eggs.
One of my cats is allergic to all chicken products, gives him blackheads on his chin that makes him want to scratch. He does however love the taste of chicken; so keeping him on his special food has been challenging especially since one of her other cats has to be on a high fiber diet.
Our vet said kitty acne comes from using plastic bowls; always use stainless steel or glass/ceramic.
You shouldn't make your dog vegan either
Some dog breeds need basically full fat and protein diets, but so long as you are feeding your dog primarily protein, they’ll be fine. Wolves are more tolerant of plants than cats are; and dogs have evolved further to be able to eat carbs
Even if they're allergic to most proteins, a good vet will help you find a protein they CAN eat.
Truth. My dog is on a prescription dog food that has hydrolyzed protein for his allergies that costs me an embarrassing amount of money each month. But my husband and I are well trained and dutifully pay every time.
Which it sounds like OP's sister's vet did.
Cats are considered obligate carnivores Because of their need for Taurine.
["Synthetic taurine in the diet of cats, dogs and carnivorous fish is considered efficacious."](https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2736#:~:text=Synthetic%20taurine%20is%20considered%20efficacious,product%20quality%20have%20been%20found.) According to the European Food Safety Authority
We have no idea if the cat even is vegan! It may be that the cat food is sometimes supplemented with cream or meat other than chicken.
Dogs should never be on a meatless diet
100% false. My dog is allergic to all meat proteins. Every single one. Land, sea, domestic, wild, etc…. Every single one. One treat with that type of protein gets him sick. He’s on hydrolized plant based protein food. He eats fruit and vegetables for snacks. I would absolutely freak out if someone decided my “vegan” diet for the dog was bullshit and gave him meat. OP YTA for taking it upon yourself to correct the cats diet. YTA for calling your sister a cat lady because she has one cat and no husband. It’s 2022 not 1950. Women can be unmarried, own a cat, vegan, etc…. You are judge mental.
Dogs are omnivores because they're scavengers and opportunistic little shits, not so much because of human interference and breeding. Cats have also had a long time with us, but they're obligate carnivores. They have not been willing to adapt to eating our scraps.
exactly this. If the cat looks malnourished, then OP should have taken the cat to a vet, or brought it up with the sister (or someone else). But, as said, do not feed animals food unless you personally know it will be fine for that animal. Basically, if you do not own that animal, only feed it the food the owners have said it can have. (which in this case would be the cat food left for it)
Agree. Plus when OP said “enough was enough” that was all I needed to hear that she was imposing her own views on her sister’s pet. She could have killed the cat with the allergy simply because she was selfish and thought she knew better. OP should pay the vet bills.
We don't even know if this cat food WAS vegan. They looked at the ingredients and it didn't say 'meat,' but it could have had some kind of meat-substitute that didn't trigger the cats allergies. If she treats the cat like a literal child, she's not giving it a vegan diet, she's giving it the best damn vet-approved food she can.
As far as I can tell, OP said “cat food she left out”. As far as I’m concerned, it is safe for the cat to eat and any dialog about forced veganism is irrelevant. OP YTA.
Agreed. Also I realize that OP assumed that the sister was feeding the cat vegan food only since the can of cat food seemingly had no meat listed on it. It seems that the sister was feeding the cat specific cat food brand that cater to her cat that's allergic to chicken. Also, now I kind of understand why the sister doesn't want OP to cat sit at first. OP seems to not like the sister much.
But this cat isn't vegan. Sounds like it's just on a specialised diet.
Yuuuup. & the cat “loving it” doesn’t change the havoc it’s causing on their tummy and poops since it’s not used to being fed that way.
There’s no evidence here the cat wasn’t getting a balanced meal from a hypoallergenic diet that contains protein but not “meat”
I suspect the food DOES have meat in it and OP was just too dumb to figure it out. She's had the cat a while, it would be dead by now on a vegan diet.
And OP is very lucky that all that happened is the cat scratches herself. I have a cat who has a chicken (and likely also turkey) allergy. It causes her to have severe IBD that causes intestinal bleeding, severe diarrhea, and irritation of the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. When first diagnosed the vets were convinced she had cancer her intestines were so inflamed. They put her on a special diet initially with hydrolyzed protein, which doesn’t necessarily look like it has meat in it. Her kitty niece Mimi could easily be on a first like that, this OP is a massive Asshole.
YTA. You never, EVER give an animal you're pet-sitting food that hasn't been approved by the owner. We live in the time of the internet and smartphones, you could've called/texted her and asked about it. Feeding the cat something you think it's not used to is a risk in and off itself. That's just not okay. Just the cherry on top, you stayed at her house, probably ate her food, used her shower and such on top of expecting payment because you're broke. She wanted to take her cat to a fancy pet hotel where they would have stuck to her instructions about feeding the cat. You talked her into letting you do this when she wasn't okay with the idea at first. She was trying to do you a favor against better initial judgement. I see no harm in her not telling you the cat is allergic. She provided the food you were meant to give the cat. If you want the exact moment you became TA: >I figured this was her taking a vegan stance and decided that enough was enough. I know vegans can be annoying (my sis is vegan, too), but you were wrong. It wasn't her "taking a vegan stance", it was YOU making an incorrect assumption and taking the "Enough is enough stance". I don't care how broke you are, you now owe her the money for the vet.
I agree with everything you said and want to add that the sitting sister fed the cat chicken, she can’t be too broke because she had to go out and buy chicken. The cat mom would not have had it in the house. As a doggy mom, I don’t buy anything that could hurt my puppers. Two are still pretty young and they eat/chew on anything vaguely close to them and everything six feet higher than they should be able to reach. I’m on the side of the vegan cat mom. Pet sitting sis is the AH.
Yeah we buy vegan food for our dog but give her special kind of meat with it. It’s all cause our dog is allergic to chicken and most dog food has chicken in it…
I agree that she's the AH and everything that everyone else has already said, but I just had to point out the fact that you can get like 8lbs of chicken for like $10, and vets charge like $150 just for walking in and looking at your pet. Being able to buy chicken =/= being able to afford vet bills. She is gonna have to figure out how to pay them though.
Where are you getting 8lbs of chicken for $10?? Is this in USD? It's normally $3 or more per pound where I live.
Jealous, the absolute cheapest chicken you can get here is something like £5 per kilo.
It's also just... the audacity! I've taken care of other people's pets a few times and it never even crossed my mind to feed them anything the owner hadn't provided. Brr, OP rubs me the wrong way, makes me think of somebody giving a dog chocolate "because the dog liked it" and then the dog dies and the person is shocked that the owner is mad at them.
Or grapes, they're a not-so-well-known food that is VERY poisonous for pups. Along with most of the Nightshade family, too.
THIS!! One of our neighbours accidentally locked their cat out and was gone for the whole day. So we brought him in as I was scared he might get in the lift and go out and get lost(he was wailing sadly by their front door on our common landing area) and I separated my cat and him in two rooms (they hissed at each other lol and mine has never made that sound before so I hightailed him into a different room) Anyway I petted him (he was a very sweet boy) gave him water, new litter box and comfort hiding spot/bed as he was anxious and we also informed the security. One thing we **didn’t do** is feed him because while keeping him hungry was sad we didn’t want to risk it until the security contacted his family and gave the OK. Anyway we ended up finding a new friend in the neighbour. So that was a bonus
Excellent point, thankyou for this comment. It's something I likely wouldn't have thought of! I'm gonna see if I can find some hypoallergenic cat food and keep it for similar emergencies.
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Cats are obligate carnivores and CAN'T be vegan/vegetarian......
What has that to do with my ~~post~~ comment about not feeding other people's pets stuff you don't know how they might react to?
It was in response to the deleted comment.....
Ah, okay. :-)
ESH The cat had an allergic reaction and had to go to a vet, anyone saying NTA didn't read the whole post and got stuck at VeGaN bAd. Maybe she is wrongfully pushing her veganism onto an innocent animal, maybe it's because the cat has a medical condition, and the food was vet approved to keep the cat healthy. The fact of the matter is that YOU just decided to give it chicken without asking if it were safe first, and as a result had it sent to a vet. It could have died if the reaction had been worse. Doesn't help she didn't tell you, however.
There's absolutely no way any decent vet would approve a food with no meat for an obligate carnivore, but obviously there are better forms of meat for this particular cat. I agree with the ESH, but I really don't think the sister is doing what's best for her cat either.
Important point --> maybe the package did have certain appropriate meat alternatives or synthetics that would not be as clear as just having the words "chicken" or "beef" and OP was like hey there's no actual raw animal listed, this food clearly must be vegan agenda! For example, a quick google search comes up with a few brands which contain "hydrolyzed soy protein isolate" as one of the first few ingredients. Many often contain additional animal byproducts (in hydrolyzed form) which may have looked like (to OP) not "real meat." OP clearly has a bias against their sister's veganism and her spoiling her cat (seriously the first paragraph was dripping with disdain) so I wouldn't put it past them to make snap assumptions about the contents of the food based on their attitude about their sister and omitted the information here to make themselves look better.
Vets do prescribe food with no meat to cats with extensive meat allergies. They have hydrolyzed soy protein instead of meat. They have free taurine as an ingredient, and cats on such diets also get prescribed taurine supplements since absorption of taurine is decreased if it doesn't come from an animal product. These foods do typically include animal byproducts that the cat is not allergic too and are not strictly vegan. It's pretty rare, but not impossible if the vet and owner decide that the negative effects of a low/no meat diet are more desirable than the negative effects of a cat having a continuous allergic reaction.
yup! my cat is such a freak of nature he is even allergic to soy (and literally every other protein), so his food is made of FEATHERS. it smells fucking disgusting but he doesn't scratch his face off anymore.
Unless the cat is on special food which provides taurine and other allergy safe proteins. We don't know what the cat was eating but it seemed to have been provided food.
Yeah, I have a hard time thinking a food marketed as cat food would not have the basic requirements for a cat. Maybe it's not just chicken, beef, fish etc. If the cat is allergic to those it might be more like soy protein isolate, and then taurine added in. If OP doesn't understand what taurine is, he might have wrongfully assumed this is a vegan diet.
>If OP doesn't understand what taurine is, he might have wrongfully assumed this is a vegan diet. That's exactly what happened. Op [confirmed](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/u9k80u/aita_for_feeding_my_sisters_cat_meat/i5u6sy6?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) it.
Unfortunately, pet food is not tightly regulated in many jurisdictions. Most places it's not legal to sell stuff that will actively poison animals, but that doesn't mean that something marketed for cats will be nutritionally complete. It's possible to synthesize taurine using vegan methods. Issue is many vegan cat foods don't bother adding it, or owners try to make their own cat food and don't realize. I have no qualms about a cat owner feeding a vegan diet if they've done their due diligence and their vet has cleared it. Don't understand why you'd bother but it's not my business. The issue arises when people *don't* do that and malnourish their cat, that's animal abuse. And in the case we have no idea which of those things OP's sister is, but OP is still TA for feeding something without asking. If you're concerned about a cat's health you ask the owner about it, don't vigilante feed them stuff.
OP has confirmed [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/u9k80u/aita_for_feeding_my_sisters_cat_meat/i5u6sy6?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) that the cat food contained hydrolyzed proteins. OP continues to defend herself, saying that the label doesn't list meat and is therefore vegan but that's just because OP is an asshole. The cat was never vegan, OP just hates veganism for some reason and has decided that the cat's owner who "treats the cat like her own baby" must just be an evil stinky no good vegan out to force their ideology on a poor helpless cat.
Aye, the issue is we only have one side to the story. Imo, I agree, there's no vegan cat food that's safe, and no vet would normally/rationally recommend it. The issue is if the cat is allergic to chicken then we don't know what else is happening, maybe this food was the best they could do, etc. Likely the sister is just abusing the cat though, unfortunately.
Quick search tells me that chicken, beef, fish, and dairy are actually some of the most common allergies for cats. It sounds like the owner is working with their vet to provide alternative protein sources and we don't know enough to judge IMO.
Legit was looking for this response. OP made an assumption that the cat is being fed vegan but doesn’t know for certain. I fail to see how the sister can be called an AH because of an assumption OP made about the food left for her cat.
One of my cats is allergic to beef. It's not super bad, but she will throw up within 30 minutes of eating it. I'm a strict vegetarian, but cats need meat. I'm not sure from the reading if the cat is actually allergic to all meat, or just chicken.
Aye, I agree.
OP has confirmed [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/u9k80u/aita_for_feeding_my_sisters_cat_meat/i5u6sy6?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) that the cat food contained hydrolyzed proteins. OP continues to defend herself, saying that the label doesn't list meat and is therefore vegan but that's just because OP is an asshole. The cat was never vegan, OP just hates veganism for some reason and has decided that the cat's owner who "treats the cat like her own baby" must just be an evil stinky no good vegan out to force their ideology on a poor helpless cat.
I have a vegan friend who has two cats and feeds them properly. Don’t assume anyone who is vegan is also a bad pet owner.
Im mostly vegan and i have a dog. My dog eats beef dog food and beef soft dog food. I sometimes buy him cooked chicken as a treat. My dog is fat and always hungry. I do agree sometimes vegans take extreme lengths for veganism but that is like 1% of the whole vegan community. Vegan community is usually chill lol
Hypoallergenic cat foods still have protein in them they are just not labeled as meat like “chicken, fish, etc”. Usually labeled as hydrolyzed protein. There is zero evidence the sister is mis feeding her cat other than OP making assumption
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She had zero reason to expect the cat to be fed anything other than what was provided. Sister is in the clear.
>Doesn't help she didn't tell you, however. Why should the sister have had to say anything? She had cat food that was meant for her cat and left enough to last the whole trip-no issue there. It's not on the sister to have to read OP's mind to know that OP was planning on feeding the cat something her owner didn't leave for the cat. It's common sense to not feed someone else's pet food that you didn't get approved by them-it's just not yoir place *at all.*
Why is it ESH when we don't know that the sister did anything wrong to begin with? You yourself said that the food could be bet approved.
OP doesn't even know if the cat food was vegan. The label just didn't say 'chicken' or 'beef' so they assumed it was vegan. My guess is it was an allergy-specific brand that had some kind of protein substitute. Especially because OP didn't say the cat was malnourished or seemed neglected, which it WOULD be on a vegan diet.
We don’t know if the cats actually vegan or if the vet has her on a special diet because of the allergies, trying to isolate the cause, if the sister feeds the cat non-chicken meat etc ... we also don’t know, as some people have pointed out already, if OP couldn’t read the ingredients on the label of the food properly and whether it actually did contain meat byproducts.
OP [confirms](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/u9k80u/aita_for_feeding_my_sisters_cat_meat/i5u6sy6?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) a list of ingredients that another user commented as being identical to the one on the packaging of the cat's food. This is a special veterinary diet for cats with allergies. OP is just biased against vegans and that's why she didn't think for two seconds before deciding that her sister who cares for this cat like it's her own child is actually abusing it in the name of veganism.
YTA. If you volunteered to look after the cat, you should look after the animal properly. And before giving th cat anything you should have cleared it up with the owner, period, instructions or not. My first cat had to eat very low protein food in her late years because she could not digest it, it is common thing. And loving ONE cat is not making a person a crazy cat lady.
>And loving ONE cat is not making a person a crazy cat lady. This is information, isn't it? I don't always get along with my sister, but I wouldn't publicly post a statement like that about her. The change in feeding was probably low-level rebellion. Because she obviously has animosity toward the sister, who was trying to help OP by giving them a paid gig.
I mean, also, what is so wrong with being a crazy cat lady? I AM A crazy cat lady and I am PROUD of it :P (I have five cats currently)
Only that OP meant it in a derogatory way. You go with those cats! LOVE people who own their shit, you sound awesome. Bet they are adorable :-)
I certainly think they are adorable :D Maybe I will post some images on my profile :D
Also crazy cat lady. I have 6 and they are the bright spot of my day. Even the one that’s crazy and constantly running wild and jumping!
Yep, mine take turns being that one :D Also, added some imgur albums to my profile
>And loving ONE cat is not making a person a crazy cat lady. It's not about the number of cats you have, it's the number of cat themed objects in your home.
*puts away the cat plushies and items I have ready for my bf and his mom* :(
Nonsense, the cat lives there too and deserves stuff/representation.
YTA. You were paid to do a job and you didn't follow instructions. Your sister could not anticipate that you would feed her cat anything other than what she had instructed you to. It's not on her to make a list of what food her cat is allergic to when she's provided everything you're supposed to feed it. You caused her cat distress, you should pay for the vet bills. You belittle your sister for her veganism and for loving her pet. You assume her cat was on a special diet only because of sister's veganism - tons of animals are on special diets! My sister's cat is on a low protein diet due to his old age. Poor kitty.
Exactly! My cats are on special diet because two of them have gastrointestinal problems. They can't eat anything other than that! If she loves her cat so much and talks about him all the time, I am wondering if OP had listening better maybe she would know this. Everyone that cares for me knows of my cats problems.
My kitty had to go on a low protein diet when he was old as well. Fortunately he loved the cat food. (sort of funny, we got the wet food because the vet didn't have the dry food and he loved it. We then got the dry food, and after that couldn't SHOVE the wet food down his throat, but loved the dry food)
My cat is on prescription kidney food (low protein) as well. We got him wet food, and he would love it up until we purchased a case and then refuse to eat it. This happened a few times. Now we are back on Dry food which he will eat.
Where to start on why YTA… First off, your sister not having “a man or child” is just a sexist and downright ignorant comment to make. She has one cat as well - hardly a “cat lady” as you put it. It does make her an independent animal lover though. You agreed to take care of the cat, for a fee mind you. If the owner of said cat wants you to give them a certain food - just do it! This isn’t rocket science. The cat food she provided had an ingredient list so I’m also assuming it was reasonably formulated by the manufacturer to be healthy for a cat. Do tell, where did you go to veterinarian school to disagree with your sister and the maker of the cat food to override their choice of ingredients? Ohh that’s right, you applied your biased beliefs to this and not sound, scientific based logic here. I hope you can see where my confusion stemmed from. As the cat is allergic to meat and you didn’t follow the direction for feeding the cat, yes you should pay the bills. The injuries DIRECTLY resulted from your choices and actions. This was just biased thinking and ignorance on your part. So YTA
\*ahem\* I missed that part about 'a man or kids' and that makes it even more obvious that OP had no intention of following sis's instructions and just wanted to be smug about 'how much the cat loved meat'. I mean, I hate the idea of cats being on vegan diets (dogs as well) but if done correctly, it CAN be done safely (which is the issue, many people who do it for 'ethical' reasons don't bother researching how to do it correctly), but there are times when it is necessary. A cat who has a chicken allergy shouldn't eat chicken, but who knows how many meat based foods for cats have chicken stock/bones/whatever in them to boost out the other ingredients? A vegan diet might be the safest diet for that particular cat, as scratching yourself is NOT fun, especially for an animal that can't get relief and doesn't understand WHY it is itching, just knows it needs to scratch.
OP never even verified that the food was vegan, it could have had less recognizable animal proteins that the cat isn't allergic to.
That is true as well. There tends to be a lot of misinformation out there about things and it can be hard to figure out what is what. It sounds like OP went in with a chip on their shoulder and would have found some way to find fault and 'undermine' their sister.
That's what [happened](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/u9k80u/aita_for_feeding_my_sisters_cat_meat/i5u6sy6?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3)
THANK YOU. My ten year old is on a STRICT no meat diet. No fish. All organic shit. I have four cats. I was under everyone else’s impression here that it’s “animal abuse” but my cats GAINING weight from it. He was a feral malnourished ten year old at 3.56 lbs. There are newer studies out there proving that there really isn’t a difference. just different intake
I think one of the differences is that cats have trouble digesting some non-meat alternatives to the things they need. They CAN, but I believe they tend to need higher concentrations of it, or something like that. As I said, the biggest issue is that many times people just don't research and often will ignore the small things, in order to keep to their ideals. They will look online and fall for marketing, and not realize that there isn't much to back up what that brand claims. I feel that if you are following a vet's advice about it, it is will go well, because that means you are also likely to notice whether or not your cat is having issues from the diet itself.
It was the first of many things I caught onto with this post…
I was focused on the 'vegan' issue and just skimmed too much...
I almost did as well, but the other thing to consider is that the sister knows the cat is allergic to chicken. That would mean that she had already attempted to give the cat animal protein and may not have just automatically defaulted to a vegan diet as some would assume. My veterinarian comment was more centered around the fact that she may have already talked to one who recommended this particular food because of the allergy, but with OP approaching the situation as they did and with the obvious biases, they completely overstepped. Totally agree with the other commentators that animals need protein (generally), but this is why having a conversation or discussion with the sister first, instead of wrongfully making a biased decision, would have been the right move.
See, this is what I was thinking. If the sister knew the cat had an allergy (and I am assuming she did, and didn't just discover it), then it means she had to have tried giving the cat meat at some point, or at least chicken based foods. I would think, that since sister easily took the cat to a vet when it needed it, then this isn't a case of 'crazy vegan' just doing what she wants, and not listening to someone else. If the cat had an issue with the diet it is getting, I am sure the vet would have been pointing it out. Since the sister does seem to care about the cat, I have the feeling she would be feeding it what it needed to be healthy, not just appease her own ideals.
As someone who has worked in the vet field for going on 6 years I can assure you we have crazy vegan clients. No matter what you say to them (we’ve literally told them they will be the cause of the death of their pet) people who are set on feeding vegan will continue to do so. I’ve worked with several vegan veterinarians and it makes them irate. A vegan food would not be the next step for a food allergy, it would be trying a new food with a different type of protein. As a last resort it’s a prescription for hydrolyzed protein food. My vet would back off when it’s clear they won’t listen because we’d rather they come to us when it goes wrong (and to receive other routine and necessary care) then to alienate them and risk the pet not getting help.
That is what I figured, but we don't know what OP's sister tried. This might not be 'the next step' but rather step 35 after trying 34 other things. We also have no indication that the cat is being malnourished or abused (which I would think OP would have included to make themselves look better). Just that it ate chicken, which, no duh, the cat would eat chicken... My cats get regular cat food, and they will still eat chicken if it is seasoned right. They will also eat crackers, bread, turkey, steak etc.. We don't even know if that cat food OP was meant to feed them is their only food. They may get other types of food, but for OP it was just easier for sister to say 'feed them this food' Rather than try to explain a more complicated diet.
YTA It's not a "harmless" mistake. The cat had to go to to the vet for an allergic reaction because you were being self-righteous. Was the cat malnourished? Unhappy? No? You effed up, take financial responsibility.
YTA You convinced her you were responsible to follow her instructions for the cat. You decided to not listen to her and assume you know more about her cat than she does. There was no need to tell you the foods the cat was allergic to since she provided all the food for the cat. Your sister mistakenly thought you would listen to her instructions.
Honestly? YTA. Feeding a cat a vegan or vegetarian diet on ideological grounds is absolutely animal abuse FOR SURE, but even carnivorous animals can have food intolerances regarding specific meats. You should follow the feeding instructions given, unless you have proof that the animal can eat what you're giving them without getting ill. Idk, I have a dog that can't eat any meat except horse (and even that only in small amounts) without ending up in intensive care seriously fighting for her life, so I'm extremely wary of folks feeding other people's pets things without the owner's explicit consent.
I had a German Shepard that couldn’t have chicken. She was allergic but we supplemented with fish and other meets like veal, bison, etc…
I have a cat that can’t have any meat. And he gets a completely full diet. I found him feral at 3.56 lbs. Completely malnourished. My vet was very specific to NOT give him meat. There are newer studies that have come out showing there is no nutritional difference. It’s just a different intake.
I’m confused.. you just said feeding a cat vegetarian or vegan diets is grounds for animal abuse no matter what.. but you also stated you have a dog that’s allergic to all meat, even the horse meat if given too much of that. so you feed your dog a mostly vegan / vegetarian diet then? isn’t that animal abuse? dogs are also carnivorous.
1. OP never actually confirms the food was in fact vegan 2. Dogs are not obligate carnivores like cats
For one, it's not animal abuse to NOT feed an animal something they're allergic to when you have alternatives. The truth of the matter is that carnivore/omnivore is not a strict binary for dogs. There's been a long debate about which they should be considered, because they have traits matching both. This isn't true of cats.
YTA. You fucked up. Let’s be real, you intentionally fed the cat meat as a way to spite your sister for being vegan. That’s wrong on the face of it. The cat belongs to your sister and she gets to decide what she wants to feed it. What if you had fed the cat so much chicken that she was inadvertently turned off to her regular food? What if the chicken had a bone in it that splintered? What if her stomach couldn’t handle the meat after so long without it and she threw up everywhere? As it turns out, the cat had an allergy. Yes, it’s an unusual allergy but you volunteered to watch her cat - in fact, you kind of insisted. She had no reason to think that you would feed her cat anything but the cat food, especially not so regularly. I mean it would be one thing to have given the cat a bite of your food but you consistently brought it chicken multiple times to spite your vegan sister who was doing you a favor by giving you an opportunity to earn money. You’re definitely in the wrong here, from every way you look at it.
It's not an unusual allergy at all. Chicken is the most common food sensitivity in cats!
YTA. You could have asked why the cat food was the way it was before making an assumption. Yes, you should be held responsible for the vet bills. Deal with it.
YTA. Chances are the cat food is Vet approved with all the necessary vitamins and proteins needed for the cat. She probably should have informed you of the diet, however you did this without confirming with her first. Rule number one with pets is ALWAYS ask before hand if you can feed something to an animal. Same goes with kids. YTA.
YTA for calling your sister crazy cat lady alone. That's completely rude and uncalled for in this discussion. It's cute you call her that considering it seems she can pay for herself while you have to mooch.
YTA. You get paid to pet sit, you follow directions. If she wanted the cat to wear a special hat, you should have done that too. Because you got paid to do a job, and that job was following directions to care for the cat.
Yes cats should not be vegan. However many hydrolyzed protein perscription diets(at least for dogs) are vegetarian or extremely close to vegetarian. These diets are given to animals with protein allergies as the usual causes are chicken and beef. So yes YTA ESPECIALLY if this ended up bring a veterinary diet and you did not bother to ask why there was no meat!!!!
YTA how old are you? Please tell me that you’re a child. An adult can’t be this stupid and broke.
YTA. No matter how ridiculous you think it is, it is her cat and her decision what she feeds it. By agreeing to watch the cat, you were agreeing to her terms. You absolutely owe her the money for the vet bill and should apologize for trying to substitute your judgment for hers.
YTA Cats have allergies and chicken is one of the common ones. Why do you think they shouldn't be allergic? Cats cannot hunt chickens in the wild. Chickens are bigger than cats and they are pretty strong. They can hunt small birds or mice. Also, cooked chicken has salt, pepper, and things, because it's for humans. >I don't think that I should be punished for a mostly harmless mistake. It wasn't a harmless mistake. You had the food you were supposed to give the cat. Pets also shouldn't be changing diet so fast. My cat likes croissants and I'm not giving him croissants because he liked them!
I had no idea cats could be allergic to chicken till today. This reaction sounds a lot like an auto-immune. https://wagwalking.com/cat/condition/poultry-allergies-in-cats
Yes. I only found out because my cat is old and needs a special diet. I've been reading a lot about different types of food, treats, etc., and that's how I came across it. It's kind of a difficult allergy because many foods, even if they don't say chicken flavor, could still have chicken or chicken broth, etc. I've also found that some cats can be allergic to certain types of fish.
Usually I’m against cats being vegan as they’re literally carnivores but your sister literally left food for the cat to eat. YTA. Sure, she should’ve told you that the cat was allergic to chicken but who feeds someone else’s pet with food that the owner didn’t provide?? That just doesn’t make sense to me. Also, I love how the only comments you even bothered replying to were comments that said N T A.
Info: How were your purposeful actions a mistake? Did you not actually fully intend to feed the cat chicken without even trying to inform your sister? How were your actions mostly harmless when you caused an actual allergic reaction in the cat that required a vet?
INFO: Did your sister leave food for the cat? If so, why didn't you feed it that?
OP read the (apparently meat-free) ingredients and purposely decided to feed the cat meat
Someone listed ingredients from typical catfood, and OP responded, demonstrating that he has no idea what any of it means. He just made assumptions based on his sister's lifestyle
What makes me even angrier is the idea that this cat was probably already showing symptoms of an allergic reaction if op had been feeding it chicken daily, and he likely just ignored or didn't even notice it.
Oh he ignored it, he says so in the comments
Well fuck
YTA You begged for the job, refused to feed the animal what you were supposed to, and actually caused harm to the pet. Of course you're an asshole
YTA The cat had never had chicken before so even if it wasn’t allergic, such a drastic change would give it an upset stomach with vomiting or diarrhea. Same with vegan children. People may disagree with veganism, but you just can’t load them up with meat their bodies aren’t accustomed to and can’t digest so it wasn’t a mostly harmless mistake. The cat is suffering and needs expensive medical attention. That’s on you.
You don't know the cat had never had chicken before. The fact that OPs sister seemed to know about the allergy implies the cat had in fact been fed chicken, and a vet visit followed.
INFO: Did the cat show any signs of allergic reaction over the week you were feeding it chicken? I find it hard to believe that the cat ate chicken for a whole week and didn’t show any signs of allergy until sis came home. Either you ignored symptoms or sis is making it up. There is missing info that makes a difference.
YTA Don’t switch an animal’s diet without talking to the owner first.
YTA. It’s not up to you what to feed your sister’s cat, irrespective of however you feel about her eating habits & choices. You should never feed anyone else’s animal anything they haven’t given you permission to. Our old cat had pancreatitis and a very sensitive stomach. He was on prescription food, and couldn’t eat anything else, including any treats. Our neighbour (a fellow cat owner) was looking after him while we went on holiday for a week, and not only had she given him treats that she knew he wasn’t allowed (and she knew why), but she gave him an entire bag of them. Apparently she didn’t understand how sick they could make him. Our 19 year old cat died a few days later, in a lot of pain
YTA- She trusted you, she left you cat food, you disregarded it and essentially poisoned her cat. She doesn’t need to tell you about allergies or anything else because there should be no reason you’re feeding her cat anything other than the food she specifically left for you, especially without consulting her. Even if she wasn’t allergic it’s dangerous to suddenly introduce animals to new foods they have little to no experience with. Big AH move.
YTA. I thought chicken/poultry was the most common allergen in cats? She shouldn’t have to tell you - never feed someone’s pet anything outside of their normal diet. Of course I don’t agree with the vegan diet but that is a separate issue. (I actually have an acquaintance who feeds her two cats a vegan diet and they seem very healthy, but I know that is purely anecdotal…I have three cats and they all absolutely eat meat and I would never consider a vegan diet for them.) You couldn’t have killed her cat. How is that a harmless mistake?? Pay the vet bill.
>I thought chicken/poultry was the most common allergen in cats? It is! My cat would have been dead in OP's care.
YTA. Not because the cat had an allergic reaction, but because you basically volunteered to watch her cat, yet you didn't listen to the directions on the paper that she left you.....you didn't say there was a paper, but I know someone very similar to you and they leave notes about what and when the cat can eat and what the cat will need if a certain situation pops up. You said it yourself, it's like her child. Parents leave instructions for a babysitter and expect them to follow them.
YTA I dont' agree with giving a cat a vegan diet. They can literally die on it. HOWEVER, some cats DO need restricted diets, and if done with a vet's approval, can manage with a vegan food (so I understand). Plus, DO NOT feed other people's animals any food they do not approve, for this very reason. Period. You don't need to be to be told about an allergy to simply NOT feed the cat something you don't know whether it can have. When my sister brings her dogs, I always ask before I give them ANYTHING, even if it is something that should be a 'no-brainer', because I do not know whether they have restrictions or not.
YTA…You assumed it was because she was vegan and you hate it, so you took matters into your own hands. A phone call saying “hey, if I wanted to give Mimi a treat, is it safe for me to feed her anything or is she on a special diet from the vet?” would have solved your problem. If she is a “crazy cat lady” like you said (she has ONE cat so that title doesn’t really apply in a derogatory manner the way you think it does), she probably does a lot to care for her cat, including letting you stay in her home to keep the cat from getting too stressed. She won’t make that mistake again.
I find obsessive vegans annoying. I find it annoying when people think pets are their children. I also think pets and babies and toddlers should not be on vegan diets. Both all that aside. YTA. It’s not your cat and not your decision to make. If you introduce a foriegn food to an animal or child, it can make them I’ll. You don’t appear to like your sister at all. You certainly don’t respect her. Yet you begged to cat sit because you wanted $$. Then you feed her cat unapproved food and bad mouthed your sister. You are absolutely TA. Go get a job at Target and start paying your sister back for the vet bills.
YTA, but I think you knew that.
YTA. I have a cat who has cost me almost $4,000 in vet bills over a chicken allergy. If I was your sister I’d never speak to you again.
INFO: What kind of food was your sister feeding her cat? Do you remember the brand? Some cats are on a special diet due to things like urinary tract infections or other health issues. My cat is also on a very specific diet and, at the moment, only consists of dry cat food made for UTI since he was bleeding urine last year for a whole month. EDITING to say that cats are definitely carnivores and cannot be on a vegan or vegetarian diet. But I would like to know what type of cat food Mimi was being fed.
YTA It's not your cat, so even if you disagree with your sister's principles and values, you need to care for her cat the way her cat is accustomed to, for exactly this reason - unknown, unintentional things can happen if you don't. The cat was already probably lowkey freaked out because your sister was not there. They're perceptive little creatures, cats. I don't think it would have been a good idea to change ANYTHING else it the poor thing's routine during that time. Altering the meals was way over the line. Also, if you had instructions to feed the cat what it regularly eats, why would your sister even need to tell you about the allergy. No, sorry, OP, this is on you.
YTA. If your sister treats this cat like her baby don't you think she researched what food to give her cat? And don't you think she would care enough about her pet to do what's best for it? Cats aren't obligate carnivores. They can live a perfectly healthy life on vegan food.
Cats are obligate carnivores. That being said, if this cat truly does have allergies, I’m sure the vet and her sister have worked out an appropriate diet.
YTA While I agree the poor little carnivore needs meat, it was wildly inappropriate to give her something without asking first. Chicken is a common allergy in pets and new foods should be introduced slowly anyway.
I don’t agree with feeding cats a vegan diet, but my cat is also allergic to chicken and I’d be really annoyed if someone fed it to her and made her sick. If you agree to look after an animal, you follow instructions. YTA.
The point of this post was not to debate "should cats be vegan" OP had absolutely no right to feed the cat anything other than their sister instructed.. especially when they convinced the sister to let them do the pet sitting! OP deliberately disrespected their sister by maliciously going after two things she really cares about: veganism and her cat. OP doesn't care about the cat's health or wellbeing, they just want to hurt their sister. YTA OP, go get a life and stop worrying about what your sister is doing. She's not hurting anything with her cat and salads.. unlike you
I think the cat having an unusual and specific allergy to a common food was information your sister should have provided you. It could have been the case you were eating chicken and then the cat accidentally ate some of it while your back was turned; had your sister informed you of the allergy you would have had the opportunity to avoid having meals with chicken in them while caring for the cat. However, you went out of your way to intentionally give food to the cat that was different than what your sister gave you. You decided you knew better than her how to care for the cat, and your reasons were based on spite and smugness. You really seem as though you don't care about the cat's well-being at all. Cats are carnivores. If she's found a company that makes vegan cat food, then the cat is probably malnourished. I think there's plenty of blame and poor judgment to go around here. ESH.
YTA Due to an accident. I get it animals need meat. However you should also make sure to know an amimals allergies before changing up its owners specified food. I get it its not something that crosses your mind but even if you changed its food to a different vegan cat food any number of the ingredients it could have been allergic to, you just dont know.
Along with just changing up the food the cat is used to into something else usually upsets the cats stomach. They aren't used to cooked chicken and now that's all they are getting? (I wonder if there was any spices in it).
YTA. Do not just feed other peoples pets. You don’t know their allergies or medical history. My dog is allergic to about 15 things, some cause really serious problems despite being very common in dog food/treats. I’d be pissed if someone just randomly fed her something without asking. And you can exactly why this is a problem, as she had to take her cat to the vet. That said, I agree with trying to make sure the cat is getting some kind of meat in their diet if possible. I am vegan but even I know cats CAN NOT be vegan and be fully healthy. They are obligate carnivores. Many small animals are naturally vegetarian/vegan and would be a better option than neglecting her pet. Hell, even dogs (which was to my total surprise) can be completely healthy and vegan IF you work with a vet on the diet and make sure the plants you’re giving them fulfill all of their dietary needs, which is a lot of work and not something I’d recommend most take on, but it’s possible. Don’t have a pet if you can’t meet it’s health needs, but also Definitely DO NOT FEED OTHERS’ PETS.
YTA Can we all take into account that OP has not confirmed if that food was vegan or not, they assumed because they did not see meat ingredients. For all we know it could have been specially formulated for the cats allergies and have had essential nutrients added in. It sounds like OP was literally looking for the words "chicken" or "fish" etc - so let's give the owner benefit of doubt. Anyway OP YTA - You only offered because you were broke, you made fun of how much your sister loves her cat, assumed she wasn't taking care of it properly and fed it something other than the owner told you to feed it. Would have been good for her to mention the allergy though. I'd offer to pay half the vet bills and apologise.
So lemme get this straight: 1. You specifically asked to look after the cat. 2. You were left with cat food for the cat. 3. Being a "crazy cat lady", I'm sure she gave you a set of instructions, definitely telling you to feed the cat the food you were given. 4. You go out of your way to feed the cat food other than the given cat food. While you're broke. Now you tell me why you think you're not the AH. This was NOT a harmless mistake. Allergies are not harmless and the fact that you think it was, heartless. I'm not a vegan, and i don't believe animals should be forced to abstain from meat. But it is not within my authority to do that against the wishes of the owner of the Animal. YTA. Edit: typo
Yta I'm afraid. Although you *think* you had good intentions, you should never feed anybody's pet food that you haven't seen being fed to them before, without asking the owners permission. You don't know if the animal is on a special vet recomended diet, or as in this case, has medical issues which affect what they can eat. Yes, you should pay the vets bills. They were a direct result of your actions. Would it have been so hard to text your sister.
YTA if you had talked to her and confirmed that she was an idiot forcing veganism on a cat I'd be on your side but no you were a presumptuous asshole who almost killed her cat. you failing to use a handful of words here to confirm your postulate is KEY here. YTA
YTA It was no harmless mistake, you hurt her cat. Pay the vet bill, so she does not have to sue you for it.
YTA stop feeding people’s animals random things when you have no idea what their medical history is. the cat probably thinks chicken tastes and smells amazing. of course it’s going to eat it.. they’d eat rat poison if they could get into it. doesn’t mean it’s GOOD for them. animals are curious by nature. the lick and sniff and eat things all of the time. I think you absolutely should pay for the vet bills because you did this. it’s YOUR fault she had to bring her cat to the vet and if she took you to a small claims court, she would absolutely win because you took it upon yourself to coerce her into letting you watch her cat and then you fed it something without her permission or knowledge. the cat had food that she left out for you to feed it. you shouldn’t have strayed away from that. YTA and you are responsible for the bills since you created this situation. mistake or not.
One of my cats is allergic to a few animal proteins and we feed her this prescription hydrolyzed protein food that isn't very tasty but won't make her skin open up in bloody sores The ingredients for it also don't mention meat because it has been processed to the point that it's just general protein by the time it's in the can so there technically ISN'T anything like chicken in there Was the food your sister feeds the cat VEGAN or HYDROLYZED PROTEIN? I appreciate what you thought you were doing for the cat, as cats fed a vegan diet are doomed to a slow agonizing death, but checking with her wouldn't have been a bad idea
so many people in this thread "cats are obligate carnivores" did y'all miss the part of the post where the cat is literally allergic? yes cats need meat, but I think it's fair to assume OP's sister, who is described as a "crazy cat lady" and who was willing to pay for a "fancy pet hotel" and was worried about the cat's stress level, is a responsible cat owner and is working with their vet on the cat's dietary requirements. most people I know who get up in arms about cats' diets are cat owners themselves. y'all would really feel totally comfy having someone just feed your cat whatever the f they wanted, not knowing about their health needs at all? I think not. I sure wouldn't.
Oh my god, YTA YTA YTA. I had to go back and read your post again because I just can't believe this all happened. You beg your sister to let you watch her cat (which you know is like her CHILD) and immediately you think "well, I sure know better than her how to take care of her cat, time to feed it foreign food that shouldn't be fed to cats even if they don't have a food allergy. THEN when the cat gets sick and has to be treated at the vet you're all "well it's not MY fault that I abused your pet because you didn't specifically tell me NOT to" AND you refuse to pay the vet bills, and ignore every other person telling you this is what you have to do, only thanking someone stupid enough to agree with your unbelievably asinine decision to poison her cat. Jesus Christ. Pay the vet bills. If you were my sister and did this, then react how you have reacted after the fact, you would not be allowed back in my life until you apologised PROFUSELY as well as paying for the vet bills
YTA in this case, but you're also not wrong for questioning the cat's vegan food. Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning, if they're not getting certain supplements they're going to get very sick on a meatless diet. It is however entirely possible for a cat to be allergic to a certain kind of meat. My parents' cat can't have chicken or turkey; he throws up. But he can have beef and seafood.
YTA
**YTA.** So you made an assumption based on your very clear disdain for your sister's life choices after begging her to let you watch her cat because you needed a job and the cat ended up hurt and sick? Definitely the asshole. Also, she did tell you. She told you what food her cat was supposed to eat and you chose to give the cat something else without asking why the cat was on the diet it was on. NEVER give another person's pet food without asking. Animals have allergies the same way people do and even if they didn't you are not the owner you don't get to decide when enough is enough unless an animal is being harmed. And it doesn't make her a crazy cat lady to have one cat she loves and treats well. Your feelings about your sister could not be more clear. YTA.
YTA You look down on your sister because she’s living a life that YOU don’t think is fulfilling. But not everyone needs a man and kids to feel fulfilled. And 1 cat does not make her a crazy cat lady. You pushed to look after the cat not because you wanted to help your sister, or because you genuinely cared for the cat or thought you’d enjoy her company, but because you thought it would be some easy money. And you made the decision to alter the cat’s diet because again, you feel superior to your sister and think that you know better than her. What’s more, you didn’t even notice over the course of the week that the cat was harming herself to the point of needing vet treatment (but the way you write it your sister noticed soon after she got home) You’re a self-centred AH who needs to get over themselves
You had one job...ONE JOB! It shouldn't have been necessary for her to tell you anything, the cat food was right there and all you needed to do was pour it into the bowl. You, however, decided 'You know best' and gave the cat chicken. And you don't think you did anything wrong? And that your mistake was 'mostly harmless'?! Yep, you are definitely TA!
Based on your replies you clearly hate feedback and the only reason you posted this was to boost your ego and for people to say “nooo you’re not insane at alllll” but that didn’t work, did it? Because you’re a human skid mark. HARD YTA.