Vegan MoFo: Vegan Pet Food

Hey! It's Vegan MoFo Day 9!! I want to take a break from talking about vegan people and their foods, and talk about vegan pet food. I really want this to be more of a feedback kind of thing, because I don't yet have a very strong opinion on the topic, but I haven't really done a lot of research on it either.

I currently do not buy vegan cat food for my kitty cats. From what I understand, cats and dogs are omnivores by nature. I am not sure if it would be right for me to "force" my cats to be vegan. But, then again, I guess I am "forcing" my cats to live indoors with me in my apartment. So, I guess I'm torn. On one hand, I don't want to support the factory farming industry and companies that have unethical, unsustainable practices. I currently buy a natural pet food that is made with no fillers or factory farm meat products. But I must admit, every time I buy the food for my cats, I feel guilty about buying animal products. I know I don't necessarily need to feel guilt, since cats are not vegan by nature, but I just can't help it!

There are lots of articles and forums, including the PPK, on the internet that discuss this issue, and both pro- and anti-vegan pet food sides make good points. Both this Huffington Post article
and this IVU article got me really thinking a lot about this issue. What better place to discuss it than on my blog during Vegan MoFo?

My kitty cat companion, Stewie.

So what do you all think: should companion animals/pets be given vegan pet food?

Do you feed your pets vegan pet food?

I wanna hear your opinions!