Vegetarian Dog Food

[sas]

I thoroughly agree that this is ridiculous to say the least!!!

What is she thinking???

This is cruel and potentially detrimental to her dogs health and very well being!

Dogs are carnivores, not omnivores. Dogs ARE very adaptable, but just because they can survive on an omnivorous diet does not mean it is the best diet for them. The assumption that dogs are natural omnivores remains to be proven, whereas the truth about dogs being natural carnivores is very well-supported by the evidence available to us.

Dogs can be omnivorous yes, they do eat plant based matter, but they are essentially carnivores, scientifically they are STILL classified as carnivores, so until the scientific community changes their views, "Dogs are carnivores" whether we agree or not.

All you have to do is look at the teeth structure of dogs. They are nothing like ours or lets say bears (another omnivore), with the flat molars at the back. Dogs teeth are different, they are structured that way specifically to eat meat, not to crush grain or plant fodder. Its pretty plain to see. Although I do agree that they do sometimes have an omnivorous diet (which is healthy), they still are classified as carnivores.

But this is besides the point, at least we all agree that dogs are NOT herbivores!

Does she want her dog to be in optimum health or just getting by???

As stated before, tell her to go and buy a rabbit!!!

Maybe next time you post you can state the website where you copy and pasted the above from as a reference. With Google you can go and get any information you want that supports any theory you have.

[espinay2]

The following articles give references:

http://www.b-naturals.com/Sep2005.php

http://www.b-naturals.com/Spr1999.php

The following article also gives some good info on some of the issues with vegetarian diets for dogs, including references:

http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/vegetarian-diet/

[kyliegirl]

place a bowl of raw meat on the ground on one side, and place a bowl of vegetables on the other side. What do you think the dog will go for first.. yes dogs can eat vegetation but it doesn't mean its their ideal food. A dog is an opportunistic feeder, even so if it finds a nice raw piece of steak it will happy ignore all those plants you offer for that steak, they aren't made to eat a veggie diet, they have a complete set of sharp teeth and no grinding teeth. They can survive on scraps and plants because most animals have to at one stage or another..

for example- if a camel in the desert has no other means of food it will turn on its own kind and eat its own kind, even though its a herbivore, if it isn't getting food elsewhere it will turn to an unnatural diet. Does this make a camel an omnivore?

Edited May 5, 2008 by kyliegirl

[Rusky]

I had a friend who was a vegan, her dog was fed a vegetarian diet,he suffered from all sorts of problems which may or may not have been due to his diet. He could often be seen scavanging (in the days of free roam) in bins and compost heaps.He was not skinny, was in fact a fat little dog but he could roll a dustbin in a second. The vet spoke to her a few times about diet and I tried too to no avail. I felt desperately sad for the little dog. Dogs need meat and bones though I guess in this day and age there are products on the market to provide the high protein needs. I do feel though that it it unfair and possibly even cruel to put your own moral and ethical standards regarding diet on an animal.The dog I am speaking of did not live a long life, his coat always looked coarse and it should have been soft. His teeth were awful. He ate any carion he came across in his daily hunt, so HE wasn't a vegetarian was he?

[Guest Tess32]

Why would someone be so idiotic as to deliberately feed a carnivore, a vegetarian diet? I think they need a trip to the psych office.