Is a vegetarian diet safe for my dog?
Putting Fido on a vegetarian diet can help the planet, but will it harm your precious pooch?
LETTUCE EAT: Owners who have put their dogs on a vegetarian diet say it has resulted in everything from longer lifespans and shinier coats to decreased aggression. (Photo: wstryder/Flickr) Comments
I have a German Shepherd that will only touch vegetables if they are mixed with his dog food in the kibble or if he's sick. He is full of energy and when I take him to the pet stores and I see one that's on a vegetarian diet, I see them scratching and dull coat. He never scratches and he is shiny and sleek. He is full of energy where the v-dog I've seen is kind of lifeless. If dogs are meant to be vegetarians why do they only have an 8 hour digestive track instead of a 12 hour digestive track?.... More
There seems to be a lot of "my dog went veggie to try to find a meat allergy and got skinny so that proves it doesn't work" arguments going on. That's a fallacy because there's ALREADY SOMETHING WRONG with the dog. Many more factors could be playing into the dog's condition, and if fed a high quality diet in the first place (not commercial kibble) perhaps there would not be problems to begin with.
Secondly, to argue that something is or isn't "natural" for a dog begs the question, what.... More
Vegan diet is great and healthy but,c'mon.. you know what it tastes like and
wouldn't it be a pity if your dogs go for a vegan diet too?
Well, Ellen, since I happen to love my vegan diet and find it quite tasty, no, I don't think it would be a pity at all.
By the way, what on earth do you think kibble, which is what most dogs are fed, tastes like? Filet mignon?
No actually its not good for a dog. Vegetables take 12 hours to digest but a dog only has an 8 hour track. Do the math. It is why dogs only eat grass when they are having an upset stomach. Lived in a house for 15 years with a woman that has a vet aide degree and being around animals all my life. PETA is the one putting this crap through. Want your dog's skin itchy give it only vegetables.
for more info, please check out the http://www.vegandognutritionassociation.com/
where you can find a free book on this subject - I am not affiliated in any way to this site, I just love their generosity.
The book by Peden isn't bad either.
"our" Husky mix was raised as a pesco till she was 5 and a half months old, she never got meat.
Then
It's not because the grass is bad, it's because they can't digest it.
Humans, dogs and cats all need certain *animal based amino acids* to thrive because these amino acids are what contribute to a significant part of our biological tissue and processes. If we cannot synthesize it ourselves, we need to consume it; synthetics aren't exactly comparable, especially when they are synthesized with undesirable materials. Dietarily, plant protein just does not ever measure up to animal.... More
To say that your dog suffered on a veg diet is proof that dogs can't survive on a veggie diet is not true. All dogs are different. My pitbull thrives on a plant/small amount of meat diet but my poodle can have NO meat, it causes him severe skin allergies. He's been eating natural balance and v-dog vegetarian for years, and is healthier than he ever was.
I think you need a vet that has experience in nutrition as well, it's a big help.
Each dog is different, each person is different,.... More
Unfortunately, raising crops and harvesting them still requires slaughtering animals, for those who think they're preventing any animal deaths by going vegan/vegetarian.
Ultimately, the best is a mixture of flora and fauna to feed upon. Death is inevitable no matter what you're eating-- even if you could farm without inadvertently killing animals, you'd still be taking the life of a living thing(the plant).
When it comes to dogs, raw meals are the best, but the trickiest. They.... More
Dio Brando - where did you get the idea that raising and harvesting crops still (or ever for that matter) requires slaughtering animals? I happen to own a vegetable/grain farm in Illinois, and I have never seen any evidence that animals are intentionally or inadvertently slaughtered. Are you talking about the worms in the ground that are killed from tilling? That does happen, but it's not absolutely necessary as vegetables can be raise on no-till ground. Please enlighten us.
I'd prefer a vegie diet for Fido on ethical and moral grounds. Nothing about the pet food industry is fit for dogs' consumption, however, I speak somewhat with forked tongue (see diet below.) My fido is 14 years old, no orthopaedic conditions, weighs 23 kilograms, loves his tucker and walks 2 - 3 kilometres daily. A mixed breed is my Fido - his mum was a good sport! Warning: Do not support the mutants in the pedigree dog industry!
Breakfast: 1 tablespoon tiny biscuits and one.... More
Dogs are carnivores and require a meat based diet. I am a vegan and would love to have vegan dogs but nature has not planned it that way. I tried switching my dogs to a vegan diet and they all had diarrhea for a month. I switched them back to a fresh meat product called Fresh Pet. It is refrigerated. They are thriving and healthy. I supplement with treats of fresh cold carrots. They love them. They are also all at optimum weight and never get sick.
Domestic dogs are omnivorous just like wild dogs are. Both coyotes and foxes eat berries and other fruits, in addition to other plants foods at times. Feeding your dog the ground-up leftovers from a slaughterhouse isn't "natural" either; just because it's of animal origin doesn't make it "quality" food. Nasty pet food can cause nasty diseases over time.
Wild dogs and domesticated dogs are Scavenging Carnivores. Period. Their jaw structure proves this. Scavengers are opportunists-they will eat rotting fruits, berries, etc., but this makes up only a fraction of their diet. Their entire bodies are designed to be meat eaters.
Dogs are descendants of wolves - canis lupus. Coyote is canis latrans and foxes are vulpes.
But the point is the digestive system. Dogs do not produce the digestive enzymes needed to break down carbohydrates. It's a just a biological fact. They are designed to get their nutrition from a prey animal. Sure they may eat berries because they have sugar and taste good but they can't survive on them. I think Twinkies taste good too - but I certainly can't survive on them.
Mine eat.... More
It amazes me that animal-eating folks (including those that feed their dogs meat) actually consider themsleves to be living a healthy eco-friendly lifestyle. The animal industry is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global.” From the United Nations Report : Livestock's Long Shadow.
Vegan dogs can thrive - I have three that are proving it. One is a 16 year old with no health.... More
The production of meat in general isn't really the problem. It's the way we produce our food that makes it bad for the environment. Even giant vegetable fields have "run-off." The best way to be "eco friendly" is to just eat organic imo.
*Also how do you sleep at night? Aren't vegans the ones always going on and on about how "humans aren't made to eat meat so we shouldn't." If that's the case then how can you make your poor innocent dog eat vegetables which his stomach can barely.... More
This article is incorrect. Dogs are NOT omivores. They are carnivores and they certainly do not "thrive" on a vegetarian diet. If you are this strict in your non-meat counsumtio values, have a bunny as a pet, not a dog. Here is info on dogs as carnivores: http://www.thewholedog.org/artcarnivores.html
My dogs eat a species appropriate diet of raw meat and raw.... More
If you are this strict about your raw meat dog food theory, maybe you should live in the wild so your dog can hunt their own prey...you know, because it's more "natural" this way.
According to Small Animal Clinical Nutrition 4th edition, “The word carnivore can be used to indicate either a taxonomic classification or a type of feeding behavior. The order Carnivora is quite diverse and consists of 12 families containing more than 260 species. Omnivorous and carnivorous feeding behaviors are most common among members of the order Carnivora; however, the order also includes species that are herbivores (e.g. pandas). Dogs are opportunistic eaters and have developed.... More
Well said, k9rescueNYC.
Interesting - my previous comment along the same lines never posted. Despite the fact that I included sources to back it up.
I guess Mother Nature thinks the truth is icky.
Although I will not eat anything that contains animal products, I wouldn't do so for my dog. I think that owners can sometimes forget that dogs are very stoic creatures - they often endure pain or discomfort without showing symptoms or letting us know. Fido can't tell us, "Since you started with that new stuff, I'm feeling lethargic and my stomach is upset."
I had my dog on a vegetarian diet when, like another poster, my veterinarian and I were trying to figure out what was causing a.... More
It's inhumane to make an animal eat a vegetarian diet. If you gave them a choice they'd pick the meat. Having them eat just vegetables isn't a good substitute for commercial dog food either.
I cook my dogs food like I cook our own. It doesnt cost that much more, it's actually saved us a ton of money, because she's not sick at all, anymore. There's no more unused cans of food she wont eat anymore, and are vet bills are nothing but yearly checkups now.
She eats the same quality.... More
My pet dog was once lucky enough to eat the same diet her ancestors had for thousands of years: fish and meat scraps. She was healthy and atheletic like a working dog is meant to be, and the best part was that by not eating all the indigestible plant fiber in most dog foods, there was dramatically less poop.
There are reasons that nobody has cats pet cats or captive wolves on vegetarian diets. Denying an animal the foods that they have adapted to eat for thousands of years for personal.... More
The person who mentioned avocado should know that it contains persin, which is poisonous to dogs.
Everything else you mentioned look good, though :)
Actually, it is the skin and pit of the avacado that should be avoided. In fact, there is a brand of dog food called Avoderm that uses avacados as a major ingredient.
Even though we've vegetarian, I wouldn't feel right about making our dogs eat that way. But I also wouldn't feel right about having them live on kibble...seems like making a person live on fortified breakfast cereal. So I think buying really high quality food and supplementing with fresh food is a good way to go.
We currently feed our two small dogs a healthy diet with lots of variety: Now! grain-free kibble mixed with Acana kibble and a few "dental bites" that the vet recommends for.... More
We found our dog Verne when he was a couple of months old, he has never eaten meat aside from the occasional rawhide chewy. He is 11 years old and has the energy and endurance of a puppy. His teeth are perfect, he's never had a skin issue, no arthritis, no weight problems; I guarantee that he can run circles around any 11 year-old dog raised on meat.
There are many myths concerning dog nutrition and raw feeding. I see several of them mentioned here. There is an extensive list of myths and facts here:
http://rawfed.com/myths/
We have had lots of dogs, from puppies to tired old strays (we take in whoever shows-up) live active, healthy, long lives on Nature's Recipe vegetarian kibble including a standard poodle who lived to be 17 and a doberman who lived 19 years. Their teeth stay cleaner, their breath is sweet and skin allergies are a thing of the past. Dr. Jessica Waldman who advocates what's "natural" for dogs should acknowledge that wild dogs eat whatever they can scavenge or kill, never visit the veterinarian and.... More
I bed to differ, I also took in a stray dog, and we've had her for close to eleven years now. If you've ever done research on stray animals you would know that the dogs that do die young is caused mainly by disease (not necessarily caused by eating meat), the elements or being hit by cars. They also would not "die young" considering wild wolves only have a lifespan of about 6-8 years. If the human population suddenly died out and animals were left to fend for themselves, I'm positive that there.... More
"Some of those ingredients include meat from animals deemed unfit for human consumption, known in the pet food industry as the 4 Ds — dead, dying, diseased or disabled animals."
I suppose that the vegans want people and pets to avoid eating DEAD animals. But that must mean that they consider eating a live animal is acceptable? Yes, I prefer that my food is dead...and that the butcher or supplier uses a dying animal (which they then kill). And a maimed and put down horse or.... More
I think that I should explain what the 4 D's mean...since you have obviously not grasped the correct meaning. It means animals that have died at the factory...not by a butcher's hand...usually they die from disease, many times from being trampled by the lack of space..or being fed unnatural food such as sawdust. So I think you should try and educate yourself a bit more before you say things that make you sound like an idiot. These animals are not treated as well as horses, they are treated like.... More
"Dogs, like humans, are omnivores, meaning they can survive on a diet of either plant or animal origin"
Omnivore means the organism needs BOTH animal and vegetable foods.
Not either or.
Horses are vegetarians. Humans are omnivores. Dogs are carnivores. Feed appropriately,
I recently had to put my dog on a vegetarian diet as an elimination diet to figure out what meat protein she is reacting to. Her inflammation has decreased but she is also withering away otherwise.
She's tired and getting skinny - no matter how much I feed her.
Dogs CANNOT maintain health on a vegetarian diet - I have just proved this unconditionally. Their bodys' digestive system is designed to get it's nutrition from meat, fat, organs, and bones...not the grocery store.... More
your dog can't speak for itself and tell you it is starving!! Save your carrots for yourself. People are capable of living on vegan diets. But they also seem to forget that there's a whole process of nature that is full of violence in order to survive. Feed your poor pets the meat they need. Wether they live long or not you can bet they're not happy with you and your carrot.
As a vegetarian I can tell you that I have not forgotten that the world is full of violence. I personally don't have a issue with meat, but I am a vegetarian because most of the animals that we eat are not raised properly. They are cruelly abused, to me it is the equivalent of the cruelty we saw in the holocaust but for animals. Even if we eat meat, don't you agree that animals should not be tortured? If you eat meat and think that the meat you are buying from your big chain grocery store is.... More
My three dogs have been vegetarians for more than four years now and there are perfectly healthy.
They may be surviving but they are not thriving. It is not possible for them to get the nutrition they need from plant matter. It will take years but their bodies are slowly deteriorating right now.
They are thriving and doing so much better then when they were plucked off of the mean streets of Mexico. Their vet has no problem with their diet.
They may have been starving when they were plucked off the streets in Mexico (BTW, you surely had them checked and quarantined before you brought them into the country, right?), but you cannot SEE the starvation and degeneration of muscle tissue just by looking at a dog. Your dogs' muscles and internal organs are suffering because of your political baggage.
Dogs are meat eaters and need that in their diets.I make my own dog food and cooked meat is the main source in the food ..I add some veggies and brown rice .I think raw meat is better.Especially meaty beef bones as that helps to keep their teeth clean and healthy .Never cooked bones as they will splinter and cause an emergency situation in dogs,and as anyone knows that is very expensive .I give my dog banana and sometimes a few blueberries in top of her food ,As animals in the wild eat berries.... More
AAFCO is the same "NON-regulatory" body that is completely fine with commercial kibble using spent (i.e., devoid of nutrients and now carcinogenic) restaurant oil and the carcasses of euthanized shelter animals (including the chemicals that killed them) in pet food.
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com
You REALLY want to base your information on what they say?
I'm a vegetarian - aspiring vegan - and even I know that it is cruel and unusual to force a dog to eat the way that I do. My dog gets raw meaty bones, organs & offal.
Humans have the physiology to thrive on a plant-based diet, cats and dogs do not.
Projecting human physiology and ethics onto another species is cruel and speciesist.
Actually humans are omnivores not herbivores. We need animal protein and fat to thrive. You can live vegan just like a dog can live vegan but you will not be able to maintain health.
Carole: Regarding human health and vegan diets, please check out the American Dietetic Association’s official position on vegetarian diets, which states that:
“Appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life-cycle including pregnancy,.... More
"The study, however, also found that vegetarian dogs may be more prone to urinary tract infections as well as a form of heart disease known as dilated cardiomyopathy, which can be caused by a deficiency of the amino acids L-carnitine or taurine. But as the researchers pointed out, DCM isn’t just a problem for vegetarian dogs since L-carnitine and taurine also can be washed away in the processing of meat in commercial dog food."
That's why you shouldn't feed dog "food" either. Feed a raw.... More
"dog food for an average adult dog should contain about 18 percent protein"
Meat is 18% protein. Look it up.
