>> I've already explained the problem of extending the ideology of *possessive
>> individualism* beyond humans and onto animals and other non-human natural
>> entities (see my reply to Ken Hanly in "The Heiress and the Anarchists"
>> thread). Now, I wonder what "animal rightists" think of their fellow
>> vegetarian animal lovers who want to convert their canine friends to the
>> religion of their choice:
>
>Vegetarianism is not a religion. There are plenty of good reasons for
>being a vegetarian. I've been a vegetarian for over 10 years, albeit not
>for animal rights reasons.
>
>BTW, I feed my cat regular Science Diet. Cats are carnivores, dogs
>omnivores.
Vegetarianism can be a rational choice for humans for health and/or ecological reasons. However, trying to convert dogs who are omnivores to vegetarianism just because owners think that vegetarianism is good in itself appears to me to be religious. I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is a form of cruelty to dogs (since dogs probably don't suffer much from vegetarianism imposed on them by owners), but I'd have to say that it might be thought of as a form of alienation (alienating dogs from their historically constructed doggy-dogness). : )
Yoshie