Is keeping pets cruel??

[LadyMacbeth]

I'm new by the way and have a 4 month old daughter who I am bringing up as a vegan.
Anyway I keep Gerbils, a guinea Pig and a rabbit......but is it cruel to keep them?
My general opinion is that if I don't look after them then some kids is going to look after it and treat it badly. I like to think that I treat my animals with the respect that they deserve.
My Rabbit and Guinea Pig come into the house and run around in the lounge in the evenings for a few hours a night. my Gerbils are kept in the biggest Tank I can find, but I still feel like I am being non-vegan.....what do people think?

Sarah

[Maggie]

It's not cruel at all to keep domesticated animals. What would be cruel is leaving them to fend for themselves. As long as you are not allowing them to breed, and you've acquired them from shelters or rescue groups rather than "pet stores", there's nothing wrong with it at all.
Be careful, though, as your daughter gets older. Toddlers and smallish animals are often not a good mix (kids play rough, they run and don't look down, animals scratch...).
Peace,
Maggie

[Erin Pavlina]

If you pop over to the Peta.org website, you'll probably find some information on this subject.

[Krystal323]

I have cats so this is especially tough for me. I hate to buy meat cat food, but after some real soul searching, I buy Wysong food for them. It's human-grade......meat (if there is such a thing--lol!) :( I decided to buy the cats meat because: God designed cats as carnivores--if they were wild in a natural environment they would eat meat--it would be cruel to let them outside to hunt for their own meat because their health would suffer, they might get lost or run over, and everyone knows outdoor cats live about 5 yrs while indoor cats live 15-20. I should model good stewardship and (loving) dominion over these animals--therefore they must be kept indoors. Of course, I think it's generally agreed upon that the "vegan" thing to do is not have pets, but if I would not have taken these cats in they wouldv'e run wild outside and probably had a bazillion litters of kittens by now who would be suffering. Suffering is exactly what we are trying to minimize by being vegan in the first place. BTW Dr. Wysong has a wonderful essay dedicated to just this subject on his website www.wysong.com
I believe being vegan is just part of God's calling to respect all living things--"food" animals and "companion" animals, not to mention human animals!!