Man Gets An Ultimatum From His Vegan Girlfriend And Is Pressured To Give Away His Cat

May 14, 2021 by apost team

A 22-year-old man had a rude awakening after his vegan girlfriend demanded that he give his cat away. The man was shocked by this ultimatum and took to the internet to try and make some sense of the bizarre request. The boyfriend made a post on Reddit about the situation in August 2020 looking for advice on how to proceed.

In the post, the man shared that his girlfriend is 21 and very passionate about veganism. He said that at the beginning of the relationship he switched from only eating fish to an all-vegan diet to adhere to her beliefs about animal cruelty. It was after seven months that she opened up about her issue with him owning a cat. He explained in the post that her problem with the cat is that it eats meat and kills mice.

This reasoning prompted the woman to ask her boyfriend to get rid of the cat as it does not adhere to the values she has. Needless to say, the boyfriend was thrown off-guard by the request but still cared about his girlfriend and didn’t want to break up prematurely if they didn’t have to. Of course, the controversial request had thousands of people talking about it and chiming in, and the post became viral in a short time.

After taking into account what everyone had to say in his first post, the man created a new post that updated everyone about the situation. It is clear through both of his posts, however, that he dearly loves his cat, Mittens, and did not want to get rid of her.

The man shared in the original Reddit post his history with Mittens and how his girlfriend reacted to her when they first started dating. “Then there is my cat, Mittens ... I've had her for three years and I adore her. However, my girlfriend was always a little apprehensive around her, and she blamed it on not growing up around cats. After a while we sort of made a tacit agreement to mostly hang out at her apartment instead of mine, so Mittens never really came up again in conversation,” he wrote. 

After spending most of their time together in quarantine, the couple started getting more serious and considered moving in together. The man wrote, “She said that with this next phase of the relationship, she did not see a future with me unless I was willing to give away Mittens. She said that she believed owning a cat is unconscionable for vegans, because they hunt mice and eat meat, and because the very act of owning a pet is a violation of vegan principles.”

The cat’s owner made it clear that he would not be giving Mittens away or jeopardizing her health for anyone. “I probably would not have gotten a cat if I had been vegan at the time, but I have Mittens now, and she deserves to eat. Yes, I've researched vegan cat food, but Mittens has some digestive issues and my vet strongly cautions against it,” he wrote.

In fact, Cornell University says that cats are obligate carnivores, which means they rely on nutrients that can only be found in meat from animals. Cats require high amounts of protein and should only eat a minimal amount of carbohydrates, so an all-vegan diet can be dangerous for them. 

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In his update post, the man then made it clear that he is aware his girlfriend does not speak for all vegans. He wrote, “My girlfriend’s extreme views on domestic cats are not representative of the vegan/vegetarian community as a whole. I do think that, sometimes, new vegans can be a little overzealous. In reality, most of us are just doing the best that we can to not hurt animals!”

He shared in the same post that he had broken things off with the woman and that he would never give his cat away for any reason. He said that there were some control issues on her part that he had not been able to see at the beginning of their relationship. “Many users said that this situation was about control, not veganism, and looking back, I do see a pattern of control on my girlfriend’s part. I was blind to it I guess,” he wrote. 

The original post garnered quite a lot of attention, gaining over 28,000 upvotes engagements from users who were outraged by the request; but the original post was outdone by the update which, has over 76,000 upvotes. One commenter said about the break-up, “Good for you. The cat is being a cat. The cat cannot choose and must eat meat to survive. If you treat the cat well, there is nothing wrong with being vegan and owning a cat. What’s her suggestion? We kill off cats? That’s not vegan.”

Other commenters were quick to show support for Mittens and her owner. “Mittens is beautiful and lucky to have you,” one person wrote. Mittens is certainly very fortunate to have such a dedicated and loving owner. 

What do you think about this woman’s request? Was she in the wrong for asking him to get rid of his cat? Let us know your thoughts and be sure to pass this along to your friends and family members.