Everyone has the right to decide what type of diet is best for them. While some people choose to eat a variety of anything and everything, other people stick to strict diets like vegan or keto. This is fine until the person on the strict diet tries to force others to switch to their diet.

One stepmom shared on Reddit that her vegan stepdaughter moved in with her and her husband three months ago, and she’s planning on staying with them for a year. She explained, “She’s an educated young professional who’s saving up to buy her own home.”

It’s nice of the stepmom and dad to give the stepdaughter a rent-free place to live, but there’s one big problem. The stepdaughter is vegan, and the family cat is not. The cat, whose name is Mango, has lived a long, happy life eating anything he wants. The stepmom feeds him “pretty much gourmet Gordon Ramsey worthy cat food,” but that’s not good enough for the stepdaughter. She wants the cat to switch to a vegan diet.

The stepdaughter claims that watching the cat eat meat and even smelling the cat food makes her feel sick. The stepmom wrote, “We feed him in the kitchen and she will literally throw up / retch/ leave the kitchen if she sees him eat meat. She HAS lost a lot of weight since claiming that seeing Mango eat meat makes her sick, and we leave out dry biscuits for him to snack on which also makes her sick.”

The stepmom is not willing to switch her cat’s food to appease her stepdaughter. She explained, “Her dad and I both told her if she’s unhappy with it she needs to find someplace else to live and although we are genuinely sorry she’s lost her appetite and has lost weight we aren’t going to change Mangos lifestyle.”

This stepmom turned to Reddit to find out if she was being a jerk for refusing to put her cat on a vegan diet, and overwhelmingly the answer was “no.”

One Reddit user wrote, “Veterinary nurse here. As explained above, cats are obligate carnivores, they absolutely need the taurine that only meat can provide. Cats cant thrive on a vegan diet. My mom is a pretty hardcore vegan and still feeds all her pets a species appropriate diet because she aware that’s what they need to be the healthiest they can be.”

Another Reddit user shared, “Also a Vet Nurse. Agreeing with this one. If your elderly cat is doing well on his food then don’t change it. Perhaps feed him in an out-of-the-way place (e.g. laundry) if he is happy to eat there. Aside from that, your house, your cat, your rules. Don’t like it vegan? Move out.”

In addition, one Reddit user shared that pets can die if put on an inappropriate diet. “Pets can, and have, died whe irresponsible owners force their dietary beliefs on them. Cats aren’t made to be vegan. She is being unreasonable, plus it’s your house – she shouldn’t be making all these demands on you at all.”

Do you think the stepdaughter should find somewhere else to live? Do you think the stepmom should feed her cat a vegan diet? Is there another solution?