Hi !

I'd like to know expert advice on if it's acceptable for a dog to eat
only a vegetarian diet.

I just wan't to make sure we don't start a debate on vegetarianism,
just on the nutritive and health aspect of the question of meatless
dog food.

" said in
rec.pets.dogs.health:

I'd like to know expert advice on if it's acceptable for a
dog to eat only a vegetarian diet.

I just wan't to make sure we don't start a debate on
vegetarianism, just on the nutritive and health aspect of
the question of meatless dog food.

Unless your dog has specific protein allergies, I wouldn't
screw with Mother Nature.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

" wrote in
ups.com:

Hi !

I'd like to know expert advice on if it's acceptable for a dog to eat
only a vegetarian diet.

I just wan't to make sure we don't start a debate on vegetarianism,
just on the nutritive and health aspect of the question of meatless
dog food.


I've been a vegetarian for over 20 years now, and I would never think of
forcing my cats or my dog to be one as well. Its far more natural for them
to eat meat than for us to.

Sure, I've seen some animals do alright on vegetarian diet. I've even seen
two cats do well on a *vegan* diet. But why? Their obligate cornivores who
don't have any choice in the matter.

Since I am very against feed lot farming, I do my best to avoid products
that get their meat from large feed lots....though that's VERY difficult,
and not always possible.

Anyway, while I'm all for human vegetarianism (if that's what someone wants
to do) I don't get forcing our companion animals to go against their
natural diet to that degree.

Tara

In article 6,
Tara wrote:
Sure, I've seen some animals do alright on vegetarian diet. I've even seen
two cats do well on a *vegan* diet. But why? Their obligate cornivores who
don't have any choice in the matter.

A few decades ago I knew a dog whose owner put her on a
vegetarian diet without a lot of attention to nutrition and
the dog lost her eyesight because of it. I understand that
there are nutritionally complete vegetarian dog diets but
the potential consequences from screwing up are awfully
dire.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

Prouder than ever to be a member of the reality-based community

(Melinda Shore) wrote in
:

A few decades ago I knew a dog whose owner put her on a
vegetarian diet without a lot of attention to nutrition and
the dog lost her eyesight because of it. I understand that
there are nutritionally complete vegetarian dog diets but
the potential consequences from screwing up are awfully
dire.

Well, that's my big gripe with people who feed those sorts of diets. The
one guy that fed both his cats a homemade vegan diet was also a vegan (duh)
and while his recipes were well researched, well thought out, and well put
together by him, he wouldn't really deal with the fact that he had no idea
what the long term ramifications were going to be for the animals.

The other cat I knew on a veg diet was diabetic and super duper fat....but
that's certainly not exclusive to vegetarian diets.

In dogs, well all my dogs have taken such obvious *pleasure* in their meat.
So I'm a little less inclined to take away something that provides such
clear joy. Plus (and certainbly not the smallest factor) I wouldn't want to
risk the health of the pets in my charge like that.

Tara