vegi diet

[veerle]

Hey,

does anyone has experience with vegetarian food for dogs? Somebody asked me about this, but I couldn't really answer questions about this. I would like to know more about vegi food.
My opinion is that a dog is not a vegitarian and that vegi food
must not be his nr 1 diet.

[eydimork]

There's a lot of talk about this, now and then, in the RawDogs community on LiveJournal.

Bitchfest about vegan diets (you can browse through the community for other mentions of veganism):
community.livejournal.com/rawdogs/163346.html

An article about vegetarian diets:
b-naturals.com/Aug2003.php

A pro-vegetarian site would be:
www.vegetariandogs.com/


Funny to note is that VeganCats.Com (another carnivore animal being fed a vegetarian diet), no longer recommends not feeding your cat meat:
vegancats.com/pages/1007/FAQ.htm#1070

[Leslie]

I really, really wouldn't recommend a vegetarian diet for dogs. Dogs are omnivores slanted more towards carnivores. Their digestive system is completely different than a humans. I know of a lot of people who are vegetarians but feed their dogs meat. Do read that b-naturals article.

Read this too: www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/protein.html

"dogs are classified as omnivores. They can survive on a diet of either plant or animal origin if it is balanced and diverse. But to thrive and not merely survive, dogs should have a source of animal protein - MEAT - in their diets. There is a huge difference between survive and thrive!"

"the dog's digestive system has evolved to digest mostly meat proteins. Feeding it vegetable sources of protein simply make it work harder for less nutrition. There's no real good reason to do this (unless you're a devout vegetarian {but I doubt your dog is}). Vegetarian diets for dogs are not much more than a fad in this country. Veggies are good for your dog but a total veggie diet is uncalled for."

Read this article: Very good:
www.thepetprofessor.com/articles/article.aspx?id=426

"Another reason that a pet owner would wish to feed a vegetarian or vegan pet food is because some people may be philosophically opposed to the consumption of products derived from animals, even by their pets. While this is a personal matter that each pet owner must decide for himself or herself, consideration also should be given to the ethical issue of feeding an animal a diet that is against its nature."

[veerle]

Thanks!