ChiKat

Happy Thanksgiving! Since I was eight years old, I have been saying the following on Thanksgiving, "Yes, I know it's Thanksgiving, but even on Thanksgiving I don't eat turkey."

My family has a tough time with that concept. They get that I don't eat turkey, but apparently there is a loophole in vegetarianism that I don't know about, a loophole that allows for turkey on Thanksgiving. It's like white meat:

"No, thanks. I don't eat meat."
"But it's white meat!"
"…"

Another loophole my family has tried to introduce me to is the "baby animal theory":

"No, thanks. I don't eat meat."
"But it's lamb!"
"Errr…lamb is still meat."
"But it's a BABY animal…it's HARDLY the same."
"…"

Anyway, while I fend off turkey, I will have a delightful time eating green beans, potatoes, vegetarian stuffing and salad. The whole time I will be thinking, "Thank goodness…less than a week left to this whole 'posting everyday' crap."

While I'm on the Peta kick, here's a list of things I still buy but feel very, very guilty about:

(1) Purina dog food. Most dog food is tested on dogs. The dogs are kept in cages. They are not always exercised regularly. They have to endure repeated biopsies so scientists can examine how nutritious the dog food is that the dogs are being fed.

At the dog shelter, I see dogs in cages all the time. They aren't happy. It pains me to know that by buying Purina, I'm keeping dogs in cages so Purina can continue to introduce new dog foods to the market (one of the strongest growing markets in the supermarket, by the way).

And yet, I can't bring myself to buy cruelty-free dog food. All the brands I have found that don't test on dogs are three times the price of Purina dog food. My dog is huge. He eats 4 cups of food a day. So I keep buying the Purina and I live with the guilt.

(2) Neutrogena Anti-Wrinkle Cream. This stuff is the nectar of the gods. My skin loves this stuff. I'm sure it is so wonderful thanks to some little bunny that is now missing a chunk of skin from the animal testing.

I have to force myself to try a new cream that isn't tested on animals. I know somewhere, some tiny, fluffy bunny will thank me. But I have this tiny part of my brain telling me that I'm going to instantly become a wrinkled crone if I stop using my magic potion.

(3) Leather, silk and wool. I KNOW! It feels like it is impossible to be animal-friendly all the time.

As soon as I feel like I've started to make a difference, I find out I'm doing a dozen other things that are terrible.

When I gave money earlier this year to Peta, I had reservations about doing so. I support a lot of their campaigns, especially the ones that raise awareness about the heinous things done to minks to make a fur coat (a soft, luxurious, wonderful fur coat…sigh).

They also publish the Caring Consumer Guide, which is a simple and easy way to know what cosmetic products are tested on fluffy little bunnies (Hello, L'Oreal!) and which are cruelty-free (Hello, Revlon!).

In short, they've done a lot of good things. But right now their website is triumphantly announcing that Gloria Steinem has written a letter to the NIH "blasting animal 'models' as being irrelevant."

I'm all for ending unnecessary animal testing. I don't think that any rabbit should have its skinned burned off just so I can shampoo my hair. But animal models do have a place in science. They are a critical part of the drug-testing process.

Peta has done some great things to make sure laboratory animals are treated as humanely as possible. They are willing to compromise with scientists and allow animal testing when it is done as humanely as possible. I'm all for that.

But how can I feel good about their practices when they turn around and support the outlandish announcement that animal models are irrelevant?

Peta just hung up on me. Huh.

They called to ask me to donate more money. I said, "I'm sorry, but—" and before I could get my "I've donated all my money for the year already" spiel out, they had hung up on me.

You'd think they would be a little more pleasant with someone who has already given them money. And I'm vegan, for gosh sake! Can't they just SENSE that over the phone?!