Pets at home

What about the diet of pets. If a gursikh family wants to keep a dog or a cat at home. How should these be fed? Is there any exeption for the pets? Can the family purchase the pet food containg meat in it? Any personal experiences or accounts from others Gursikhs?

from a purely scientific viewpoint, dogs can do fine in a balanced vegetarian diet. there are several brands you can find at pet specialty stores.
cats, however, are obligate carnivores and must have some meat products to survive. i don't think putting an animal's health at risk to keep one's religious views is either practical or ethical, and for this reason, i wouldn't keep a cat if you're worried about having meat in the house.

from a personal viewpoint, we have a dog at home... she eats a purely vegetarian diet, she's healthy and happy, and she's a loved member of the household. so yes, it's doable.

from a gursikhi standpoint... well, i guess this topic has been discussed before. some are adamant that gursikhs should not care for animals in their home. others disagree, and many gursikhs have pets. i guess you have to do ardaas and take a hukamnama and see what guru sahib says to you on this particular issue.

Were the Baaj (Falcons) kept by our Guru Sahibans and Puratan Singhs vegetarian?
Were the animals kept by Guru HarRai Sahib also on a vegetarian diet?

Quote

Were the Baaj (Falcons) kept by our Guru Sahibans and Puratan Singhs vegetarian?

this is an interesting question.

one major difference i'd highlight (with regards to the specific question of feeding/keeping meat in a gursikh home) between a baaj and a domesticated house-dog is that the dog eats food that is either stored or prepared inside the home, while the baaj hunts for it's food by itself. i don't know if these puratan singhs were patronising butcher shops or preparing meat inside their homes like one would have to with a dog.

Quote

Were the Baaj (Falcons) kept by our Guru Sahibans and Puratan Singhs vegetarian?
Were the animals kept by Guru HarRai Sahib also on a vegetarian diet?

I am not aware of Puratan Singhs keeping Baaz as pet but surely Siri Guru Dasmesh jee kept Baaz as pets. It is also mentioned in our history that the Baaz that Siri Guru jee kept were not vegetarian.

In villages, most houses used to keep dogs but mostly these dogs were fed vegetarian food e.g. roti, milk, lassi etc.

Kulbir Singh

lol as you know, there is no such thing as pet food in india. i used to have a dog in india. we used to give it roti in milk and butter. obviously it has to be broken up in burki's or parts.