Do Vaishnavas keep pets like dogs & cats?

aisharya · 09-17-2003, 01:03 PM

I am curious about what vegetarians feed their cats & dogs. They are carnivores so how could a Vaishnav buy a can of slaughtered cow, sheep, pig or fish? What did Srila Prabhupad say about pet keeping? Everywhere I look people have dogs & cats. I live in a house with a friend who says she loves animals but raises cattle for slaughter. There are 5 medium size cow dogs here & two natural born killer cats. I have to feed them when she is gone. I can't say anything about it to her as I needed a place to stay. I will never have a cat or dog as a pet after my experience here in this un-suchi (sp) environment.

yasodanandana · 09-17-2003, 01:35 PM

i know some devotees keeping animals,in most of the cases people who had animals before starting the hare krsna practice.

i know that it is possible without problems to feed a dog, even a big one, with "lacto-vegetarian" food

but it is not at all possible for cats... a totally lacto-vegetarian diet for a cat has the result, in my experience, to make him blind... for example

the remedy is that the cats can do easily some hunting around the house, but the devotees that had their cat blind, think that they get karma if they let the cat hunt

said this...

i know some reasons that for a vaishnava is not good to keep cat of dogs (if a dog sees the bhoga it is no more to be offered to deities..), but i do not remember any verse or quotation

---

a little thing, seen in a tv program:

in jaipur there's a vaishnava brahmin who everyday goes to feed the street dogs with mahaprasadam remnants..

....sir.. why are you feeding dogs if in hinduism they are considered impure?

brahmin: because when a dog howls he is seeing yamaraja coming to take away someone.. in this way they give a valuable service to aspiritualist who starts to pray in the case that the lord of the death is coming for him
--

maybe not yamaraja.. but there's many stories in all cultures of dogs seeing dead people, ghosts, demons etc.

aisharya · 09-17-2003, 01:53 PM

Thank you Yasodanandana. I once met a vegetarian Rottweiller & it had the sweetest breath! I know now that pet ownership is due to loneliness, protection, filling a void, kind hearted-ness(strays)etc. So I guess I need not to be critical of it but this country is inundated with critters at home. Dogs & cats & horses are nearly worshipped in my area. Talk about Holy cows in India. Look in a Petsmart. It is ridiculous! There are studies though that say one lives longer when they have a companion pet to love. I just would like to see a bird or squirrel or rabbit come around my friends place that isn't screaming for help in the teeth of one of her cats! Aish

yasodanandana · 09-17-2003, 02:06 PM

"What is bhoga? "
sorry for the "tech term"... i was speaking of the food prepared for offering to krsna

" There are studies though that say one lives longer when they have a companion pet to love"
due to the loneliness of the days we are living, i can understand that a dog is better than nothing.......

09-17-2003, 05:55 PM

My grandparents in India owned a dog, they never ate meat or any kind of animal food.

They weren't vegan though... just vegetarian.

They fed the dog cow milk and rice every day... they got it when I was born and it survived until like 2 years ago.. (15 years) Normally that type of breed survives for only 10 to 13 years the most.

The dog would have lived more, but it had a tendency to chase autorikshaws in India... so it chased it to the main road and got hit by a car and died.

So, I think vaishnavas do own dogs, but feed it what they eat...

I_L_K

09-18-2003, 09:02 AM

Srila Prabhupada said that the animals shouldnt stay in ones house but should be kept outside.
The animal can then hunt or whatever and then one can every no and then give it prasadam.
Nothing stops one of building a small house where the animal can stay if one lives on the countryside or could otherwise do so.
ys. catlover

09-18-2003, 12:32 PM

Orthodox Vaishavas do not as a matter of custom keep animals like dogs and cats. They are unclean for one thing, and thus it is not very brahminical. Secondly, the danger of becoming attached to one's pet can affect one's consciousness at the time of death. Bharata Maharaja became affectionate to a pet deer at the end of his life, and because he was in that consciousness, he unfortunately took a deer's birth in his next life.

Gauracandra · 09-22-2003, 12:51 AM

I say its ok so long as it is a mini-cow [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

09-22-2003, 02:32 AM

cow born mini... but they grow!! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

stonehearted · 09-22-2003, 03:02 AM

I remember Visvambhara Goswami talking about the Radha-Ramana Temple's pet dog (he sometimes referred to it as a watchdog).

I also know that in the US there are canned and dry vegetarian dog foods available at natural food stores.

aisharya · 09-22-2003, 09:26 PM

Thank you all for good info. I suggested to a friend to feed what you said. I asked him not to support cow slaughter. I saw him give his dogs watermelon and they loved it! Big pieces of rind, running around really enjoying it. At least feed what seems like a lower life form than cattle such as fish or chicken?, until they pass away and then get no more pets.