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What do Vegans feed their dogs?


Guest SportyDog
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Hey guys,

 

I've been wondering about this, I'm still feeding my girls (maltese) regular dog food and some raw dehydrated food, and the chicken I have left over I have in my freezer.

 

Anyway, I'm wondering if you guys would be morally opposed to still feeding your pets regular meat product dog food?

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For my cat, I try to buy mostly poultry and fish instead of beef. In cans and dehydrated.

But when there's fish for humans that are reduced, I buy some for my cat, like tuna, salmon, sardines, herring, etc... But believe it or not, my cat don't like those food (except tuna) and sometimes refuse to touch it, so I must mix it with the regular cat food -- containing corn, wheat, all kind of stuff that cats aren't supposed to eat -- and she likes to eat my human food in my plate sometimes, like grains or bread... If I give her a whole fish, she will barely touch it, I have to cut it into tiny pieces -- a cat is supposed to eat voraciously, tearing the flesh apart with the sharp teeth... or when she catches and kills a small animal, she don't eat it even if I make her starve-- so what is going on ? Domesticated animals seem to have lost completely their food instinct and it has been overturned and perverted by humans since many generations.

 

But those who feed their dogs and cats only with vegan food like grains, fruits and greens... I mean, if the animal seems healthy like this, fine... Cats love to eat grass once in a while, for fibers and vitamins, but I wouldn't feed my cat ONLY with grass, it's not a cow.

 

But some interresting studies made on raw vs cooked foods... a vast study made on 600 cats over 3 generations... the group of cats fed with strictly raw food kept in good shape over the 3rd generation while the group fed only with cooked food had lots of diseases and the 3rd generation couldn't even survive because the babies and mothers where dying at birth or soon after...

But what's strange is that commercial food for cats and dogs is always cooked, but they manage to live over 20 years old... another study that doesn't mean anything?

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I believe it's different for every animal. I have had dogs that would only eat certain dog foods, and loved certain human foods. Right now I have a cat that will only eat Fancy Feast, I've tried all sorts of brands, not Iams, but have not been able to afford organic, or vegetarian catfoods yet. I have no idea if my cat would even eat it. The cats are smart though because if we give them a can of food that looks grey, and smells really awful they won't touch it.

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Thanks all, I don't feel so bad now! I like eating Vegie for the health aspects, and after doing it I now am on board with the animal humanitarian aspect too. I just feel that my girls are carnivours and as much as I don't want to hurt animals if it comes down to my girls eating healthy, I'm going to pick them over any other animals.

 

I will say they love Broccoli and baby carrots which they are getting a lot of now that I eat them so much.

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In my opinion - there is not a single reason on earth that one animal should justify the slaughter of infinite others. Not one. Especially not in the name of "optimal health" or "natural diet". If your pet has to live slightly less than optimal - which is only really the case for male cats- in order for many other animals to keep their lives then surely that's the most logical choice.

 

Vegan Essentials has an entire section devoted to companion animals.

 

VEGAN COMPANION ANIMAL PRODUCTS

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Pathetic! I'm not even going to get in to this conversation again on this board. It's just a waste of time.

 

Agreed. Let's ignore the debate for now, shall we?

 

My mom's puppy has been doing fine on home made food. She buys the nutrients and yeast from vegecat.com and makes the food at home herself. I don't see any problem with it...

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If you don't want to feed your dog/cat meat...get a bunny.

 

 

trying to feed a natural carnivore a vegan diet is animal abuse. Cats can go blind without meat. They cant synthesize certain vitamins like humans can. Dogs can do ok on a vegan diet...especially older dogs that need low fat...but not CATS!! I don't think this is pathetic at all it's a good question. What if you had a child and you deprived it of something they needed for optimal health just like certain religions not taking kids to the doctor. It's cruel. Seriously there are a wide range of vegetarian companion animals that you can rescue...but don't adopt a cat just to abuse it. If it makes you feel any better about it cat /dog food is slaughterhouse leftovers......kind of gross but you are just feeding your animal what would have been thrown away....unless you buy fresh...better for the cat/dog...not so good for farm animals.

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I don't mind feeding my cats with vegan food instead of meat and fish, in fact I would prefer because that way I wouldn't participate in this killing industry... I've seen some vegan cat food at a store but as I remember it was too expensive, I'll check again to make sure... Otherwise, perhaps I could make it myself, with which grains/greens ? I'm almost sure my cat won't like it because she only loves junk food for cats. If I buy the commercial vegan cat food she may like it because it would be more "junk" than homemade, lol.

 

Is there any study about feeding cats and dogs with vegan foods Vs meat? Or, could someone give me the link of the previous debate that I missed on this forum ?

I understand a cat use proteins as it's main source of energy and doesn't really need any carbohydrates... I guess it doesn't make much difference from where those proteins come from, whether it's from fish or from a vegan protein, but I guess it's important that the levels of taurine and other amino acids are high enough for the cat to function properly.

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Hey guys,

 

Sorry to have stirred anything up, I didn't realize it was such a hot subject, I'm new and hadn't seen an older thread about it.

 

Regardless of what happens, my girls meat intake is drastically reduced because I'm not eating any. I'm interested in looking into other options though for sure, but I just want to make sure my dogs are healthy, which is why I originally asked.

 

Hope I didn't offend anyone.

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How extremely sad that this even needs to be a discussion among vegans. As we found in the past, discussion is futile.

 

Personally, I don't value the life a companion animal more than the life of farm animal. I want to say more but f-ing forget it.

 

 

 

Then don't own a cat.....get a vegetarian companion animal

Edited by Emmybear
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Hey guys,

 

Sorry to have stirred anything up, I didn't realize it was such a hot subject, I'm new and hadn't seen an older thread about it.

 

Regardless of what happens, my girls meat intake is drastically reduced because I'm not eating any. I'm interested in looking into other options though for sure, but I just want to make sure my dogs are healthy, which is why I originally asked.

 

Hope I didn't offend anyone.

 

 

Dogs can do ok on vegan diets I asked my uncle about it when I became vegan... He said not cats though if you want a cat to be healthy .... it needs to eat meat. Just like a mother lion hunting for her cubs..ya do what you gotta do....ideally they would be vegan but like I said animal food is slaughterhouse waste and roadkill even......until all people are vegan no animals are specifically killed for cat food...especially the kind I buy....it's pretty cheap and my cats only eat chicken and fish no beef

 

http://www.messybeast.com/cat-food-industry.htm

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my dog (black lab) has been vegan her entire 11 years. she's happy and healthy as a puppy. we feed her Natural Balance Vegetarian formula (sold at Petco, and other places) and whatever table scraps she likes.

 

and I second the bunny comment - i have 2 awesome bunnies, who are natural herbivores. they make great housepets, easy to litterbox train, and are smart as hell. for those of you who are thinking of adopting, check out http://www.rabbit.org for info.

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Actually cats can also be vegan, it just takes more work and caution. My mom has a vegan kitty. She has been vegan for about 5 months now, and she is doing great!

 

Lets say you worked at a wildlife preserve and you had to take care of 2 baby tigers who's mother was killed

by a poacher.....what would you feed them .tofu? She is slowly starving that cat and depriving it of what it needs. I don't know what your veterinarian has said about this but all I have spoken to agree that cats are carnivores. They have retractable claws, night vision, hinged jaws and fangs. You could let them hunt in the wild but that would cause more suffering.

 

Farm animals are not killed for cat food they are killed because omnivorous humans like to eat them. Unfortunately there are slaughterhouses and slaughterhouses create waste....the waste can either

A..be burned

B. dumped

c. processed into food for companion animals

 

Not feeding that cat commercial pet food saves no animals.Buying commercial pet food for your cat is the compassionate thing to do.

Edited by Emmybear
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my dog (black lab) has been vegan her entire 11 years. she's happy and healthy as a puppy. we feed her Natural Balance Vegetarian formula (sold at Petco, and other places) and whatever table scraps she likes.

 

and I second the bunny comment - i have 2 awesome bunnies, who are natural herbivores. they make great housepets, easy to litterbox train, and are smart as hell. for those of you who are thinking of adopting, check out http://www.rabbit.org for info.

 

I had 12 bunnies...as a kid... I started out with two...you know how it goes. I had to give them up when I moved to Florida I was horribly sad but they went to good homes.

 

Most dogs can be fed vegetarian /vegan diet without problems so I have heard they can be omnivores. The dogs closer to wolf variety have a harder time with it.

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Hey guys,

 

Sorry to have stirred anything up, I didn't realize it was such a hot subject, I'm new and hadn't seen an older thread about it.

 

Regardless of what happens, my girls meat intake is drastically reduced because I'm not eating any. I'm interested in looking into other options though for sure, but I just want to make sure my dogs are healthy, which is why I originally asked.

 

Hope I didn't offend anyone.

 

 

Dogs can do ok on vegan diets I asked my uncle about it when I became vegan... He said not cats though if you want a cat to be healthy .... it needs to eat meat. Just like a mother lion hunting for her cubs..ya do what you gotta do....ideally they would be vegan but like I said animal food is slaughterhouse waste and roadkill even......until all people are vegan no animals are specifically killed for cat food...especially the kind I buy....it's pretty cheap and my cats only eat chicken and fish no beef

 

http://www.messybeast.com/cat-food-industry.htm

 

Unfortunately, your uncle is completely wrong about cats needing meat, but that could be a whole different topic in and of itself.

 

I've posted in the "can cats and dogs go vegan?" threads many times before, so without going to the same long lengths, I'll summarize it up into a few short points (I can get awfully long-winded when left to my own devices )

 

- Cats do NOT NEED MEAT!!! Cats need taurine and arachadonic acid, which are most commonly naturally found in meat but can both be created synthetically and have been for over 20 years in vegan cat (and dog) foods. The statement that cats need meat is so woefully outdated, it makes me sad when I hear people say it, since it's the nutrients and not the meat itself. but there's a LOT of misinformation out there and people like to believe the common story rather than seek the truth. Cats and dogs don't need meat any more than we do, but unfortunately, that myth is still propagated way too frequently and is very much widespread. It's as antiquated as when people tell us as vegans that we need meat to be healthy - total rubbish, but still the mainstream conception.

 

- The store-bought average-brand cat food is not MOSTLY MEAT as most people would believe. Animal food companies do not have to list ingredients, so you don't get to see what's really in those foods, but believe me, there are more binders, fillers and all-out junk in most store-bought brands than actual meat that it's almost incredible. Most people don't know that major cat and dog food companies had to start adding Taurine and Arachadonic Acid to regular cat and dog food because as most formulas go, they are naturally lacking in these nutrients and must STILL be added synthetically to meat-based animal foods. There was a time a few decades ago when massive amounts of cats across the USA were dying of complications due to the lack of proper nutrients, at which time it was discovered that the majority of meat-based foods were inadequate and that's when the industry started to supplement such foods heavily. So, before people say that what they give their cats is natural, consider how many unnatural things are added to the foods as fillers/preservatives/etc., and that the two major necessities for cats to be healthy STILL need to be added to the foods to be nutritionally sound. As long as the food meets AAFCO (American Association of Feed Companies) certification for being balanced, it can contain just about anything so long as it has the proper ratio of nutrients, with little concern about unnatural additivies in the formulation.

 

- People do like to say that "no animals were killed for my cat's/dog's food", however, the same could be said about consuming by-products such as gelatin and dozens of other inocuous ingredients that we as vegans tend to avoid in food, supplements, body care items, personal care products, cleaning products, etc. You can't say that it goes one way for what we as humans use and what we feed our companion animals. It's all the same thing - when you buy something that contains animal by-products, the meat industry STILL profits from you, regardless of what you'd like to believe. This isn't a condemnation, but simply a fact that does ring true regardless of what people like to believe or not.

 

- MOST (not all) veterinarians are unfortuantely suckered into the "vegan is bad" thing for cats and dogs, even if they should know better. Feeding animals vegan food is unfortunately still such a fringe notion as of this time that most vets don't bother to educate themselves on it and instantly assume that it's bad. It's much like how you could poll a dozen human physicians on diets, and most would be likely to tell you that a vegan diet is less healthy than an omnivorous one, simply because of ignorance and lack of knowledge. I've been fortunate enough to speak with a vet who actually agreed that a vegan diet can be very healthy for cats and dogs, but I've also heard of dozens more from our shoppers who had their vets tell them that it was a horrible diet and that their animals would die painfully. Guess who had the last laugh when their cats were still completely healthy years later after continuing to be vegan? Veterinarians are no more dietary specialists than human physicians, so taking their word as law is like believing your doctor on EVERY bit of advice they have, even if they think that it's crazy for you to be vegan yourself.

 

- Buying meat-based cat food does not "stop waste" for vegans any more than it does for us to buy a slab of ground beef that's nearing its expiration date because nobody else wants it and it'll go to waste soon. The damage is already done, and spending money consciously to purchase something that is rooted in cruelty doesn't do any less to reduce it in the future or prevent any actual waste. Just because a few thousand vegans would no longer buy meat-based cat food won't cause an overflow of the product that will go to waste - it will still be purchased by the same people who have always been buying it. What WOULD make an impact on the meat industry is for Americans (and everyone else) to be less reliant on by-products, which in turn would raise the cost of meat as the by-products are also quite profitable, and without the same demand it would change the way human-grade meat cuts are priced. It's like leather - we can argue that it's simply a by-product, but guess what? If most people demanded synthetics or natural fiber instead of leather, the demand for leather would lessen, the cost of leather would inflate, and the price of cruelty-free leather alternatives would in time come down more. It goes as well for the industry of meat by-products - everything is connected, and a change in one area affects that in another.

 

There's more, but those are the main points that need to be addressed when the topic arises. While I don't necessarily agree with people giving their animals a meat-based diet, I can sympathize in that most people do not wish to rock the boat and try something different for their animals due to the massive amounts of misinformation out there and fear of bad things happening.

 

By the way, thanks for the referral to our site, VeganMadre! Same goes for VeganCats.com as well - both run out of our warehouse, with plenty of options for cats and dogs to have a healthy vegan diet that's nutritionally complete.

 

And yes, I did still manage to write a novel-length post after all

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Unfortunately, your uncle is completely wrong about cats needing meat, but that could be a whole different topic in and of itself.

 

My uncle is a doctor of veterinary medicine....He knows how cats work inside and out and obviously was taught to spot certain deficiencies in nutrients as way to diagnose illness.

 

What are your credentials? What do veterinarians have to gain by telling you to feed your cat meat? Nothing.... they are only interested in the well being of the animal. Veterinarians have agreed with the fact that dogs are omnivorous and can be healthy on a vegan diet....why would they continue to to say that cats are carnivores if there was not a good reason for it.

 

 

 

 

- The store-bought average-brand cat food is not MOSTLY MEAT as most people would believe. Animal food companies do not have to list ingredients, so you don't get to see what's really in those foods, but believe me, there are more binders, fillers and all-out junk in most store-bought brands than actual meat that it's almost incredible. Most people don't know that major cat and dog food companies had to start adding Taurine and Arachadonic Acid to regular cat and dog food because as most formulas go, they are naturally lacking in these nutrients and must STILL be added synthetically to meat-based animal foods. There was a time a few decades ago when massive amounts of cats across the USA were dying of complications due to the lack of proper nutrients, at which time it was discovered that the majority of meat-based foods were inadequate and that's when the industry started to supplement such foods heavily. So, before people say that what they give their cats is natural, consider how many unnatural things are added to the foods as fillers/preservatives/etc., and that the two major necessities for cats to be healthy STILL need to be added to the foods to be nutritionally sound. As long as the food meets AAFCO (American Association of Feed Companies) certification for being balanced, it can contain just about anything so long as it has the proper ratio of nutrients, with little concern about unnatural additivies in the formulation.

 

 

You are right about this....the common dry kibble cat food is not optimal wet food should be supplemented....

 

 

- People do like to say that "no animals were killed for my cat's/dog's food", however, the same could be said about consuming by-products such as gelatin and dozens of other inocuous ingredients that we as vegans tend to avoid in food, supplements, body care items, personal care products, cleaning products, etc. You can't say that it goes one way for what we as humans use and what we feed our companion animals. It's all the same thing - when you buy something that contains animal by-products, the meat industry STILL profits from you, regardless of what you'd like to believe. This isn't a condemnation, but simply a fact that does ring true regardless of what people like to believe or not.

 

We do not use animal byproducts for ourselves because it is not necessary and the belief that killing animals unnecessarily is why most people become vegan

 

Carnivores need the high protein and easy digestibility of meat in their diet therefore something must die so they can survive....using what is leftover so another animal can survive does not seem wrong to me at all.

 

 

- MOST (not all) veterinarians are unfortuantely suckered into the "vegan is bad" thing for cats and dogs, even if they should know better. Feeding animals vegan food is unfortunately still such a fringe notion as of this time that most vets don't bother to educate themselves on it and instantly assume that it's bad. It's much like how you could poll a dozen human physicians on diets, and most would be likely to tell you that a vegan diet is less healthy than an omnivorous one, simply because of ignorance and lack of knowledge. I've been fortunate enough to speak with a vet who actually agreed that a vegan diet can be very healthy for cats and dogs, but I've also heard of dozens more from our shoppers who had their vets tell them that it was a horrible diet and that their animals would die painfully. Guess who had the last laugh when their cats were still completely healthy years later after continuing to be vegan? Veterinarians are no more dietary specialists than human physicians, so taking their word as law is like believing your doctor on EVERY bit of advice they have, even if they think that it's crazy for you to be vegan yourself.

 

- Buying meat-based cat food does not "stop waste" for vegans any more than it does for us to buy a slab of ground beef that's nearing its expiration date because nobody else wants it and it'll go to waste soon. The damage is already done, and spending money consciously to purchase something that is rooted in cruelty doesn't do any less to reduce it in the future or prevent any actual waste. Just because a few thousand vegans would no longer buy meat-based cat food won't cause an overflow of the product that will go to waste - it will still be purchased by the same people who have always been buying it. What WOULD make an impact on the meat industry is for Americans (and everyone else) to be less reliant on by-products, which in turn would raise the cost of meat as the by-products are also quite profitable, and without the same demand it would change the way human-grade meat cuts are priced. It's like leather - we can argue that it's simply a by-product, but guess what? If most people demanded synthetics or natural fiber instead of leather, the demand for leather would lessen, the cost of leather would inflate, and the price of cruelty-free leather alternatives would in time come down more. It goes as well for the industry of meat by-products - everything is connected, and a change in one area affects that in another.

 

Cat food is parts of the animal not fit for human consumption....it will never ever be sold as human food...as long as there are omnivorous people there will be parts of the animals left over. Instead of having feral and house cats outside hunting wild birds and mice causing more animals to die.....wouldn't it be better to use what is left over to sustain a life that needs it.

 

Vegans who disagree with this should not keep carnivores animals as pets and the blood is no longer on their hands.

By the way, thanks for the referral to our site, VeganMadre! Same goes for VeganCats.com as well - both run out of our warehouse, with plenty of options for cats and dogs to have a healthy vegan diet that's nutritionally complete.

 

So basically your entire post was a commercial and plug so you can sell your product....nice

 

 

Here is a link to some information written by veterinary doctors and research scientists if you care... form your own conclusion....

 

http://cats.about.com/b/2006/03/22/vegan-cats-dialogue.htm

 

One more thing...would you feed a tiger your vegan kibble and expect it to survive???

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I agree with VeganEssentials that commercial food for cats and dogs are full of shit, the meat and fish in it is from animal parts with high risk of infection, not very good source of protein but gelatin and bone flour, and they put lots of corn and flour because it's cheaper for the industry. All this mixture is so defficient in everything that they add supplements, so basically we feed our cats with supplements. That's why I try to buy whole fish or in cans, destined to human consumption because it's better quality.

I agree that cats do need the proteins, taurine and arachadonic acid, not the meat or fish itself... Since we know that supplementation works (cats on commercial cooked/deficient/supplemented food live older than 20 years old, which is pretty good), then I guess we could just take the same supplements and put it into legumes and grains instead of in low-quality meat and fish that is just fillers anyway...

 

Emmybear, I understand what you mean, felines are carnivorous. I could imagine a world in the future where every human would be vegan, and the only animals that would being killed would be in the wildlife - animals eating other animals. I think it's ok to let my cat go out and kill a bird or a mice, if she doesn't eat it, some insects will. But to feed our cat with vegan food, I guess it's really possible with todays science and supplements; I guess it's just a hard transition to make for us, like the transition we made ouself when going from omni diet to vegan.

 

About veterinary doctors and research scientists that say cats do need meat... remember also that there's lots of doctors and nutritionnists that say humans need meat and can't live healty on a vegan diet.

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Actually cats can also be vegan, it just takes more work and caution. My mom has a vegan kitty. She has been vegan for about 5 months now, and she is doing great!

 

Lets say you worked at a wildlife preserve and you had to take care of 2 baby tigers who's mother was killed

by a poacher.....what would you feed them .tofu? She is slowly starving that cat and depriving it of what it needs. I don't know what your veterinarian has said about this but all I have spoken to agree that cats are carnivores. They have retractable claws, night vision, hinged jaws and fangs. You could let them hunt in the wild but that would cause more suffering.

 

Farm animals are not killed for cat food they are killed because omnivorous humans like to eat them. Unfortunately there are slaughterhouses and slaughterhouses create waste....the waste can either

A..be burned

B. dumped

c. processed into food for companion animals

 

Not feeding that cat commercial pet food saves no animals.Buying commercial pet food for your cat is the compassionate thing to do.

 

 

Tell me ONE nutrient my mom's cat is being deprived of. Just ONE. But you can't, because we have researched it, and we are feeding the cat everything it's body needs. I would never contribute to the death of other animals just because I wanted a pet. (And no matter what you say, buying commercial animal feed DOES contribute to the death of other animals, it's supply and demand).

 

Your uncle is just as stuck in the past as many doctors are about veganism. Vet school teaches many things, one of which is how to obey and conform to the system. I know of many many vegan cats that do just fine if fed an appropriate diet...

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Its the way the nutrients are absorbed...the Taurine from synthetic sources fed in a high fiber diet does not absorb the way Taurine from meat protein does...a diet higher in fiber means more Taurine is needed but vegan cat food does not account for that. And most commercial dry cat foods with added filler doesen't account for that either. Cats have short digestive tracts.... vegan cat food does not stay in their body very long.... the vegan cat food does not break down fast enough for all the nutrients to be absorbed...does that make sense? And even if you add extra the nutrients they are not utilized the same way because cats bodies cannot synthesize amino acids the way dogs and people can. Cats need quick digestion for optimal nutrient absorption.

 

I'm done with this topic. You did not go to veterinary school and neither did I. I've read about both sides of the issue and so did you. You came to your conclusion and I came to mine.

 

I will ask one more time because you did not answer me....If you were taking care of a tiger.....what would you feed it?

 

Simple solution to not wanting to kill animals for a pet.... get a vegetarian companion animal..there are tons... I've rescued bunnies, chinchillas, birds they are wonderful animals and they eat seeds and little green pellets.... although I once had a cockatiel that ate chicken.... weird bird

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