Vegan Dog Food

If your Sheltie has serious ethical/religious issues about eating meat, and is willing to do the research and work necessary to get all the nutrients necessary from a plant-only diet, then a vegan/vegetarian diet is definitely doable! :wink2:

Otherwise, unless there is a medical reason, I would feed your dog what s/he was meant to eat - a diet that relies heavily on meat. It is wrong for us to impose our ethics on another species (again, barring medical issues)
 
mimiretz said:
It is wrong for us to impose our ethics on another species
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At the risk of being "that person" - in my defense, I don't eat meat and I'm married to a philosopher -

We impose our ethics on other species every single day. Domesticated animals exist entirely within our ethical systems: we decide (for the most part) when they are born and when they die. We define which species are family members and which ones are dinner; which ones need to be euthanized by barbituate overdose and which ones can simply be slammed to death on a concrete floor; which ones should be coddled and treasured and which ones can be thrown away, by imposing our ethics on them.

I'm not saying it's right or wrong, and I'm not coming down on any side. But, as the far-and-away dominant species on this planet, we get impose our ethics without even needing to think about it. I think it's worthwhile to think about it.
 
mimiretz said:
If your Sheltie has serious ethical/religious issues about eating meat, and is willing to do the research and work necessary to get all the nutrients necessary from a plant-only diet, then a vegan/vegetarian diet is definitely doable! :wink2:

Otherwise, unless there is a medical reason, I would feed your dog what s/he was meant to eat - a diet that relies heavily on meat. It is wrong for us to impose our ethics on another species (again, barring medical issues)
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While I AGREE with the overall point you are making here, the highlighted section (emphasis obviously mine) of your comment has far reaching implications beyond diets. (Unless of course the smiley face emoticon applies to the last sentence as well.)
 
I don't think it's as much about ethics as it is about what's good for the dog. If dogs are physically carnivores, which we know they are, their system is structured to process meat protein better than plant protein. I'm not saying one is better than the other; simply that canine physiology is built to survive on meat, unless there's a medical reason they can't.

Ethics aside, that's the bottom line IMHO. An ethics discussion is another whole area of murky water.
 
In my remarks regarding ethics, I was referring solely to the issue of what we feed our domesticated animals, specifically dogs. Of course we, as the planet's dominant species, impose our ethics on other species - and we hope we do so with their best interests in mind.

Slightly off topic, but I believe relevant, I keep kosher as I truly believe it is Hashem's command that I do so. In addition to the eat this, not that part of keeping kosher, there is a whole section on how to kill animals. Although these rules were wrtten over 3,000 years ago (and probably in practice even before that) they are still the most humane way of killing an animal. Additionally, even though I keep a fairly rigid form of kashruth, my pets do not. I do not believe that Hashem's commandment extends to them as they are incapable (as far as we know) of forming the necessary thought and intent that is required to carry out this commandment.
 
From what I learned in college, felines are the only obligate carnivores (meaning they cannot survive without meat in their diet). So technically, dogs can live on a vegetarian diet (although I'm not sure about vegan; I guess they can if people are doing it?), but I wouldn't put my dog on one. They are carnivores by nature, so I would think that protein from meat would be best for them.
 
kryslaurelle said:
From what I learned in college, felines are the only obligate carnivores (meaning they cannot survive without meat in their diet). So technically, dogs can live on a vegetarian diet (although I'm not sure about vegan; I guess they can if people are doing it?), but I wouldn't put my dog on one. They are carnivores by nature, so I would think that protein from meat would be best for them.
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Interesting you say that. When I was at the vet yesterday I asked as a matter of interest. She said she has clients who give their dogs vegetarian diets (not vegan), but it does need thought and supplements.
 
The key here is there is a difference between just being able to survive and actually THRIVING on a diet. Technically I could throw my dogs a Chicken leg daily and they could survive. It doesn't mean they are getting everything they need from that one chicken part.
 
My dogs love vegetables, but I would never feed them an exclusively vegetarian diet. I feed raw and I source my meat from humane sources (ie. chickens which have been reared free range). While not a vegetarian personally, I do understand why a person would be, and there are days when I wonder if I can really justify killing animals for myself - but my brother is an aspiring sheep farmer so really the veggie-only option is never going to be for me.

My friend is a committed vegetarian, but her dog eats raw and she has never considered putting him on a vegetarian diet.

I don't personally think it is fair on the dog as their digestive systems are designed to exist on a mainly meat diet (wolves don't exactly get a lot of access to vegetables), which is why they can process raw, rotten meat and bone without problems. In comparison humans evolved from apes and had a primarily vegetable based diet, but with the addition of meat-based protein when they could get it. Which is why humans can exist on a vegetarian diet.

I remember a gundog training explaining how she was trying to train a Weimerar(sp?) whose owner fed it an exclusively vegetarian diet. All the dog wanted to do when off lead was go scavenging. She suggested putting him on a normal meat-based diet and at once the dog's off lead behaviour improved. He was craving the protein from meat which he wasn't getting in his diet.

So in short, unless there is a medical reason for it, I would never feed a dog a vegetarian, and certainly not a vegan, diet. They are meat-eaters, pure and simple.
 
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