The Vegan Cat-Lover

I went on a bit of a shopping spree during the recent Smashwords sale week and The Vegan Cat-Lover was one of my free book discoveries. (At the time of writing it is still free there!) A collection of seven essays, The Vegan Cat-Lover is much lighter than my previous philosophical read, Magnus Vinding's Suffering-Focused Ethics, but no less thought-provoking.

I appreciated how Wendy Prosser includes questions at the end of each essay encouraging readers to not just acknowledge her opinions, but also to reconsider their own. Her thoughts on Speciesism chime with my own, and her ideas around Animal Rights Versus Animal Welfare were particularly useful as this is an area where my own beliefs are changing. I've long thought that improving living standards for farmed animals is important and my efforts to only purchase the 'happiest' meat was a main driver in my eventual switch to veganism as it became increasingly obvious to me that no animals in our ultra-commercial food system could really be considered to be living naturally and the minimal laws governing their care are frequently ignored anyway. I'm now agreeing more that animal welfare is primarily attuned to pacifying jittery consumers than making any real difference to farmed animals' lives.

Although I found The Vegan Cat-Lover to be a useful read myself, I would say that it is more geared towards new or potential vegans. The very first chapter explains the history and concept of veganism and all the essays are well-written in a clear style that would not overwhelm beginners. I've now seen that Prosser has also written a second essay collection which, on the strength of this first work, I am keen to also read soon.