There are statistics showing that cats allowed outdoor kill mulitple (>1) small mammal/bird per day, and often in slow and torturous ways, which makes it very easily more suffering caused than their meat consuption in a day if they consumed land animal meat.
I think the opposite: since that outdoor prey gets to live its life freely until that moment, those few moments of suffering are nothing compared to the suffering of an animal in the food industry, that spends its whole life caged and handled. I also factor in the bigger animal’s much higher capacity for suffering.
I disagree that it’s “nothing” in comparison. It’s not as long a suffering as the factory farmed animals’ whole lives, but it’s often very prolonged (most likely longer than the average slaughter).
I tried to search for how much canned meat a cat might eat a day and did my calculations again. I revise my position: I think if a cat only eats canned cat food that is made with a high portion of chicken (>50%), eating that very likely causes more suffering than 1 small mammal/bird killed.
But if a cat eats canned food made from sheep or cow meat, or ones with very low proportion chicken, it remains very likely that eating these causes way less suffering than the cat’s hunting behavior.
I also disagree that bigger animals always have higher capacity to suffer. I think mice are quite possible to have higher capacity to suffer than chickens.
It seems that we strongly differ on the importance we give to “chronic” vs. “acute” suffering. I put much more emphasis on the first one (though both are, of course, important). And while cats do often toy with their prey, it usually is just a matter of minutes, not sure if that is what you referred to.
Re mice vs. chicken: that is a good point, I haven’t thought of that.
Re your calculations: have you read the post someone linked to in reply to one of your other comments, specifically about the suffering cats hunting causes? While I didn’t read it thoroughly, it is very illuminating, and might change your mind on the number of bird/mammals the average cat hunts.
And while it is but one sample, I can tell you that my own cat (that is very active, has access to wildlife and is a fairly good hunter) definitely does not reach that number. Most days it is just insects. A small mammal (usually a shrew, which I hate seeing as they are adorable) - possibly once every couple of weeks, recently? And until a few months ago, none, so I guess it also varies depending the season and weather.
I think the opposite: since that outdoor prey gets to live its life freely until that moment, those few moments of suffering are nothing compared to the suffering of an animal in the food industry, that spends its whole life caged and handled.
I also factor in the bigger animal’s much higher capacity for suffering.
I disagree that it’s “nothing” in comparison. It’s not as long a suffering as the factory farmed animals’ whole lives, but it’s often very prolonged (most likely longer than the average slaughter).
I tried to search for how much canned meat a cat might eat a day and did my calculations again. I revise my position: I think if a cat only eats canned cat food that is made with a high portion of chicken (>50%), eating that very likely causes more suffering than 1 small mammal/bird killed.
But if a cat eats canned food made from sheep or cow meat, or ones with very low proportion chicken, it remains very likely that eating these causes way less suffering than the cat’s hunting behavior.
I also disagree that bigger animals always have higher capacity to suffer. I think mice are quite possible to have higher capacity to suffer than chickens.
It seems that we strongly differ on the importance we give to “chronic” vs. “acute” suffering. I put much more emphasis on the first one (though both are, of course, important). And while cats do often toy with their prey, it usually is just a matter of minutes, not sure if that is what you referred to.
Re mice vs. chicken: that is a good point, I haven’t thought of that.
Re your calculations: have you read the post someone linked to in reply to one of your other comments, specifically about the suffering cats hunting causes? While I didn’t read it thoroughly, it is very illuminating, and might change your mind on the number of bird/mammals the average cat hunts.
And while it is but one sample, I can tell you that my own cat (that is very active, has access to wildlife and is a fairly good hunter) definitely does not reach that number. Most days it is just insects. A small mammal (usually a shrew, which I hate seeing as they are adorable) - possibly once every couple of weeks, recently? And until a few months ago, none, so I guess it also varies depending the season and weather.