Cats are obligate carnivores - they *must* have meat to survive - that is their only source of taurine, an essential amino acid. If you force your cat to eat a vegetarian diet, you will be slowly killing it.
Dogs can survive on a vegetarian diet, but they don't thrive.
You don't want anyone to force their opinions on you - great. Why are you forcing your belief system on your animals?Your expericences, good or bad with your dog on a vegetarian/vegan diet?
i'm calling aspca. i can't believe you would even consider this. animals aren't stupid like humans. they don't make their choice of eating by what other animals are doing. it is strictly survival. biology 101- carnivores- strictly meat (cats/dogs), omnivores- both meat and plants to survive (humans)
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Dogs and cats are not vegetarians. They need a balanced diet.
I'm not bashing you, you can do whatever you want. However, your dogs need meat in their diets.Your expericences, good or bad with your dog on a vegetarian/vegan diet?
I am not bashing you but in my opinion, it will probably DIE! Ha ha.
Are you kidding me? Cats and dogs are carnivores by nature. Restricting their diets to plant food would be cruel, and could seriously impact their health.Your expericences, good or bad with your dog on a vegetarian/vegan diet?
Dogs are genetically oriented towards eating meat. Look at their teeth! It would be unnatural to make a dog eat only vegetables.
You do have freedom of choice; your animals do not.
If they did, I'm sure they would choose to eat meat as millions of years of evolution intended.
Why you would knowingly deprive them of something their bodies need is beyond me. Not bashing, just stating facts.
I'm not bashing you. I'll espect your choice.
Dogs need meat. In the wild, they would eat meat, not carrots. They need a healthy, balanced diet which includes meat.
Now, you can be vegan/vegetarian if you want. Humans can survive on fruit and vgetables. But that's still no excuse to enforce your beliefs on your dog, a being who has no option but to do as you say.
If given the choice. he would eat meat. Simple as that.
I don't think you're going to find much experience in the matter -- its not NATURAL.
well I'm a vegetarian so I'm not gonna bash you for your choice
anyway that kind of diet could work for humans but probly not for dogs/cats.
but I heard of these vitamens (spelling?)
that can give them the nutrients that they would be missing so if your gonna stick with that diet be on the lookout...
and good luck
Cats are NOT vegans, and in fact are soley carnivors. You risk great damage to their health trying to make their bodies digest and thrive on a vegan diet. Dogs are omnivors. They need meat protien in their diets as well to thrive properly, but can do well with a lot of veggies in their diets. (Mine eat the fish/potato diets!) There are plenty of HOLISTIC dry foods to feed your pets (Blue Buffalo www.bluebuff.com) that may be a little easier for you to feed.
But, please take into account your pets bodies are made entirely different than our own.
I have been a Veterinary Technician for 20 years and specialize in animal diets as well as parasitology.
I am also a Vegetarian. ;)
While I understand your freedom of choice, this is honestly a poor choice to make for your dogs.
I have a hard time feeding my dogs meat (as I'm a vegetarian, not vegan) but my dogs NEED this meat. I cannot adequately and safely alter their diet without risking their heath. And I will never, ever do this.
There have been no controlled studies done. Why risk this?
But, I guess if this is what you want to choose, then before you switch your dog to a vegan diet, do your research to make sure that the food you have chosen for your dog is a complete and balanced diet.
When in doubt, don't risk your dogs health and PLEASE consult a veterinarian.
Is there a reason for considering switching? Your dog has health issues maybe? Dogs need all the component found in meat for a balance diet....I don't know how you would get that in a vegeratian diet without adding supplements. Without the protein found in meat your dog is at risk of losing muscles and the most important muscle is the heart....you could weaken his heart among other things and that would be fatal.
Dogs are omnivorius and can survive in a properly formulated vegatarian diet in necessary, but not a vegan diet. However they will not generally do as well as a dog on a more balanced diet that includes meat based protiens. There are specially formulated vegatarian diets that are designed for dogs that are allergic to any type of meat protien. So if you must switch your dog to a vegatarian diet they please use on of these to ensure proper nutrition. Here is a link to on of the foods avaliable http://www.petguys.com/-723633808170.htm鈥?/a>
I am not recommending this particular comapny or this partucular food or brand as I have no experiance with either, I just want to give you and idea of what is avaliable.
Cats on the otherhand cannot survive on a vegatarian diet. Cats are obligate carnavores and must have certin nutriants that can only be provided in a meat based diet.
No offense intended...but there is no nutritional reason to put a dog or cat on a vegetarian or vegan diet. In fact, it's borderline cruel. Dogs and cats are carnivorous by nature, and it is not a good idea to deny them this because of your own convictions.
We strive to feed our pets as close to how nature intended as possible. A veg or vegan diet for a dog or cat is the farthest thing from natural.
I know a cat on a vegetarian diet it will go blind,if you don't belive me ask a reliable vet.Dog's are mostly meat eaters in the wild,i'am not sure what would happen ask again a reliable vet.Sorry i could'nt be of more help.
Debbie O
Is this an issue of animal welfare or of the health and nutrition of your pets? Although it might be what you want to do because YOU are vegetarian or vegan, it simply isn't what is right for your pets.
Dogs and cats are carnivores (despite strong belief to the contrary).
I'm a vegetarian myself and I care deeply about animals. Plus I'm all for your freedom of choice, don't get me wrong. To be honest, at one point I seriously considered trying a vegan or veggie diet with my pets. After researching nutrition, I realized that its simply not what is best for them and was more about myself. Yes, I have read about people succesfully feeding a vegan diet. Those diets include countless supplements and special food that all seems like too much work just to make ME happy.
If you are interested in providing the best possible diet for your pets, instead of a vegan or vegetarian diet, I would reccomend a high quality kibble. You should look for foods that do not contain a lot of grain or useless supplements that they really don't need. Cheaper kibble contains, to be blunt, a lot of added crap that is just filler. It can cause allergies in animals, plus they need to eat a LOT more in order to get the nutrition they need. Eagle Pack, Wellness and my personal favorite Evo are all wonderful.
I know this is way on the other end of the spectrum for you, but I would also look into a raw diet. I know you might not be willing, but I just want to mention all the options for you. I feed my dogs raw and it is absolutley the best way to go in my opinion. They are healthy, no longer have any allergies and they really enjoy it. Believe me I get looks when I go to the grocery buying liver, beef, fish, and veggie burgers! Since dogs and cats are carnivores, all they really need to eat is meat. I'll list a bunch of web pages that are great sources of info for you. Good luck, and please consider the welfare of your pet and not just your own beliefs.
Dogs have a MUCH shorter digestive track than humans.
Animals that eat plants have the LONGEST digestive system of all animals.
AND they keep that food and process it a lot longer than other animals - Cows have 4 stomachs maybe more.
All plant eating animals have more than one stomach in order to extract food from plants.
Dogs, cats carnivores are NOT able to extract most of their nutrition from plants.
They are also much more sensitive to the chemicals plants produce to prevent them from being eating.
Things like grapes, onions, garlic are SLOWLY toxic to dogs, in fact many plants that humans eat will SLOWLY poison a dog or cat.
You ONLY find out the damage after several years time, when suddenly your dog starts to get sick a lot, has kidney problems, joint problems Etc.
The plant material did it, and yes even the grains in dog food are not good for dogs. That's why dogs and cats get sick so much.
We humans are omnivores and are able to eat a lot of plants because we have bacteria in our intestines that help us digest plants - dogs and cats do NOT.
If they get the same bacteria we do in their intestines they'll get food poisoning.
We also have a longer intestinal tract so plants have more time to dissolve and release their nutrients.
When you feed a dog or cat plants almost all the nutrition is passed out undigested by a dog or cat.
And NOTHING you do will make it possible for the dog or cat to get the nutrition, because they are physically NOT able to digest plants properly.
Did you know that genetically dogs are the same as wolves?
If you let dogs breed wild, eventually many generations later you'd have a wild dog very similar to a wolf.
Have you ever heard of wolves attacking vegetable farms and digging up carrots eating them, ripping out lettuce and eating it??
Have you ever heard of wolves attacking wheat farms and eating wheat?
Have you ever heard of a wolf attacking a soybean farm and stealing the soybeans or a corn farm and eating corn.
If you're honest, you know the answer to every single question is NEVER.
Remember dogs are genetically identical to wolves - that means what a wolf would eat is the best thing to feed your dog. IF YOU WANT A HEALTHY DOG.
Dogs CAN SURVIVE on a vegan diet, but they become extremely unhealthy OVER TIME.
And you'll pay for it with money later in life as your dog starts to develop all sorts of physical illnesses that you would NEVER EVER blame on yourself for feeding your dog a vegan diet.
You have many good reasons to become a vegan yourself, but you are being cruel whether you intend to or not when you FORCE your dog to eat a diet it simply cannot live well on.
Sure your dog will "survive" but it will be miserable, because he will be hungry all the time, and be suffering from malnutrition, even if you can't see it. Your dog will feel it.
If you love your dog, you'll accept that it is a carnivore and MUST have meat.
If you insist you can cut back on the meat, but if you eliminate it entirely you're not doing the right thing by your dog, and if you love your dog, you won't force him to eat what you eat, because you'll hurt him each and every day that he lives, and when he dies it will be a miserable and slow death thanks to years of plant toxins slowly building up in his tissues until one day his organs fail.
You have the right to choose your own diet. Humans can thrive quite well on a well-balanced vegetarian/vegan diet.. our bodies were designed to eat vegetarian matter tho. In all honesty, I think in general people do have too much meat in our diets.
Cats and dogs are carnivores tho. Cats expecially need meat sources of protein. Dogs may eat some vegetarian matter, but even they need a meat-based diet.
Please do not force your beleifs on your pets. A vegetable diet is more natural for us to eat, as our bodies were designed to obtain the most nutrition from fruits and veggies.. and meat is just more natural for your pets... their bodies were designed to gain the best nutrition off meat.. whereas they get very little nutrition from fruits and veggies.
Even looking at our digestive tracts.. starting with the teeth. We have alot of molars designed to chew and grind... cats and dogs mouths were designed more to rip and tear.
The acids in a dog and cat's stomaches were meant to break down meat.. they also have a shorter digestive tract.
We have a longer digestive tract, as do other vegetarian mammals, as it takes longer to break down the fibers in vegetarain matter.
Dogs and cats need meat in their diets. They are not like humans who can make up the protein deficiency in other ways. I know you don't want to hear this, but you are endangering the lives of your pets.
I will be starting 3 of my cats on a vegan cat food diet from veganpet.com.au. If you would like to know how it goes, please visit my soon to be launched blog below.
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