Considering this topic inevitably becomes a debate in the hangout, I put it here for discussion. I stumbled across this blog post and thought some of the CFs on here might be interested in this hot mess and her ability to abuse her dogs in the spirit of animal rights. Also I think it begs the question... is it natural to force a dog to go vegan? Is it humane? And then by extension, why should humans be compelled to do such a thing if they too are naturally meat eaters? http://www.wellmindedpets.com/blog/2013/12/12/dogs-going-vegan "As a professional pet sitter, I see a wide variety of canine diets. A big part of my job is to maintain the established routine for the pets in my care as best I can, so whatever they eat on a regular basis is what they eat when I'm feeding them. I don't judge–well, mostly I don't. I see both high-quality and low-quality kibble, canned food, raw diets, dehydrated food, and homemade food. Regardless of what the pets in a family are eating, I have to believe that their owners are feeding them the best they can with the knowledge and finances available to them. I try to keep my clients educated about the benefits of feeding a high-quality diet. That being said, I am not an animal dietician, and I am constantly learning. Whether dogs are carnivores or omnivores is hotly debated. The argument that dogs should be fed meat is largely based on the belief that dogs are carnivores, meaning they eat only meat. In fact, dogs are omnivores. "In the wild" is almost a mute point, now, since they have been domesticated for so many generations, but if in the wild, they would eat a diet of mostly meat and some plants. As an aspiring vegan, I was particularly interested in the vegan diet my client, Karla, feeds her dogs. I may have just stepped in a pile of poop, because I understand that feeding a vegan diet to a typically meat-eating creature who is at your mercy for, well, everything, could be quite controversial. To me, it's less controversial than feeding your pooch a bag of low-quality kibble composed mostly of fillers, artificial colors, and preservatives, which doesn't have much meat in it, anyway, but most people don't bat an eye at the person in the big box discount store throwing a 50-pound bag of complete garbage in their cart, then feeding it to their dog for the next month. So I decided to learn more about the vegan diet for dogs, and Karla helped me understand her story. She has fed her Papillon, Chi-chi, and Yorkshire Terrier, Abby, a vegan diet for almost one year."
I looked into it a while back, not recommended but generally accepted that they will live just fine if you make an effort to meet their nutritional needs. Cats are a different story, just flat out highly unrecommended.
Dogs can't be vegans. It's a belief system, and they're dogs. Let's just call it a plant-based diet. Pretty much the same as people. You can make it work, but it's a lot of work.
A healthy diet in general can take "a lot of work" depending on who you are and what type of diet you are adjusted to. Overall a healthy vegan diet is really not much harder, in general, it seems to be more forgiving than a standard diet from a health perspective. And vegan isn't a belief system it's just a classification term for avoiding animal products/byproducts
Getting the protein you need from a plant-based diet is hard. I tried for over a year. It takes a lot of time. If you don't think veganism isn't a belief system, tell people that you're a vegan for a month. See their reaction. Then tell people that you're on a plant-based diet. There's a massive difference. Or just ask @jacoby
That's a pretty classic myth, getting protein is not hard and if you have any stats to show vegans are deficient in protein I'd be interested in seeing it. I've been doing it for 8 years brother, I think I know what it is for me better than you do, agreed? It's a descriptive term for the avoidance of animal product/byproduct use/consumption. Now, some people can and do make it into more, the same way anybody can make any diet/lifestyle/trend/hobby/activity into more. We've had this convo before, I'm guessing it's not going anywhere, but all in all, I still call bull **** on your thought process here.
Humans do direct the "natural force" for domesticated dogs, yes. We are their only source of nutrition for the most part and just like in domesticated livestock we have forced animals into whatever roles we see fit through thousands of years of domestication. If Humans want animals to live off corn (which they weren't evolved to eat) we could theoretically switch their diet away from meat but that would take generations or breeding to work. No, it's not hotly debated but again people still debate Darwinism and climate change so whatever. Dogs are natural carnovors. The only breeds of dogs I could see getting away with a no-meat diet are small designer dogs such as those listed. A full-sized dog still closely connected genetically as say a German Shepard would suffer greatly with a reduced meat diet as its genetic traits such as large canine teeth are an evolutionary feature. Humans would have extra-large canine teeth as well if we didn't evolve on a diet that was more diverse than meat. None the less this is an interesting theory even if it's a troll job.
This take isn't what you think it lol Nearly all vets/experts will tell you dogs are omnivores. But I can tell you with 100% certainty, they are not "carnovors"
Oh I'm sure there is some variance in the diet of all "carnivals" I mean you see it when your dog eats grass but you see a lot of dog allergies that come along with these lower protein diets. Those teeth didn't evolve that way because they are the same level of omnivores as humans.
I'm the dog owner person that says just look at the back of your dog food bag, read what's actually in the food (first few items listed are the highest percentage), and just make a good decision. I typically stay away from anything that is just straight up rice, and filler, and I stay away from Chicken which seems to always create allergies. Food that has fish, and lamb always seem to create good results. Good healthy poops. Good skin. Good energy. Veganism.... whatever... I don't know what that means for dogs. Sounds like a made up right wing outrage culture war thing. Just read the F-ing bag, and try to give your dog food that is healthy.
Fair enough. It was hard for me to get the protein I needed. I'm a big guy and I work out a lot. I get drained by the end of the day if I don't get enough protein. Again, that's me. I do think that plant-based diets work better for Ectomorphs. I still contend that veganism, while associated with zero animal product intake, it has also had enough spiritual and belief behind it over the decades to develop a stereotype. 'How do you know people are vegan?' They tell you. It's a belief system, not just a way of eating. But as you said, that's my POV, and I agree with you.
I grew up with a golden retriever that absolutely loved eating cat poop out of the litter box. He would come up and lick you and you look down and he has cat litter on his nose lol
I think the baby raccoons are cute and all but I think most dog owners would be weary of lime disease and possibly rabbies in that instance. Just the reality no pun intended.
