Vegan dogs ???

[palo1]

I agree with you re vegan kids totally. I used to be vegetarian and now eat fish for medical reasons (started trialling it and it is helping so here we are). I'm obviously a complete hypocrite but I'd rather have been raised veggie/Vegan and then given the choice to eat meat. It turns me the amount of meat I've eaten in my life time and I'd rather have made a fully informed decision to eat meat as an adult rather than it being the default.

I think this is so with just about any kind of parenting choice isn't it? School or an alternative model, city or rural life, food, religion etc etc? It is interesting and also, to me, slightly horrifying that global meat consumption is rising and predicted to carry on doing so; meat is more desirable in developing countries partly as a status symbol but also because it is widely viewed and understood to be better quality human food.. That is a tangent to vegan dogs I know! We are farmers and eat meat but also recognize the need to reduce meat consumption, improve the quality of life of meat animals, maximise every part of them AND try to support biodiversity. The rise of more complex/meat replacement vegan foods seem difficult to me tbh because it isn't clear why very traditional vegan diets (not lab meat or ultra processed proteins) are not sufficient (though I can't see those being adequate for a dog) but that is a whole other discussion!

 

[Clodagh]

Ycbm you’ll be going vegan next, since you stopped riding you’ve taken a strong animal ethics stance! .
I think we shouldn’t keep animals if we think their dietary preferences are morally wrong. They are animals, they are immoral (amoral too?). I wouldn’t keep snakes for many reasons, ethics being mainly it, but I couldn’t feed something a diet of baby mice and dead chicks or whatever.

 

[skinnydipper]

Another study looking at heart disease and diet but this time, instead of looking at the diet of dogs who had been diagnosed with DCM, it looked at the heart function of healthy dogs fed a variety of diets.

Higher levels of troponin were found in the blood of dogs fed grain free or food with pulses, legumes or potatoes in the top 10 ingredients.

(Troponin is released into the bloodstream when there is damage to the heart muscle)

Journal of Internal Veterinary Medicine, February 2021

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jvim.16075

 

[skinnydipper]

...

 

[palo1]

Maybe they should get a hamster.

I do think it is better for humans to live in a way that has integrity to their values; it feels like a considerable compromise to opt for a predatory/carnivorous pet if you are personally uncomfortable with the diet, habits or needs of that animal. That might include feeling that you must keep a very precious animal safely enclosed, even though it's nature may be to have a different set of conditions.

 

[SAujla]

Maybe Clover doesn't like meat after all (just a joke, she loves all food and never watches TV)

 

[skinnydipper]

I do think it is better for humans to live in a way that has integrity to their values; it feels like a considerable compromise to opt for a predatory/carnivorous pet if you are personally uncomfortable with the diet, habits or needs of that animal. That might include feeling that you must keep a very precious animal safely enclosed, even though it's nature may be to have a different set of conditions.

I thought my comment wasn’t too clever and had deleted it

 

[JBM]

Has any dog ever picked a vegan kibble over a meat one if they’re side by side?
Or a balanced meal with meat over a balanced meal without it?

 

[I'm Dun]

Despite common belief, a proper Vegan diet is really healthy can meet all of your body's nutritional needs. I'm Vegan for the animals, AKA a junk food Vegan, so I am certainly not a poster child for a healthy diet, but I manage just fine and have never felt better if I am honest.

(I didn't raise my kids Vegan; they went Vegan after moving out of home and converted me)

I thought you need to supplement quite heavily?

 

[shanti]

I thought you need to supplement quite heavily?

I occasionally take a B12 supplement but nothing else. Last routine blood test I had, everything was perfect and the Dr told me I don't need anything.
Not saying that's the case for everyone of course, everyone's needs are different.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I think it’s wrong. My sister is vegetarian but she feeds her cats meat and lets her little children eat it if that’s what they ask for or choose.
I think dietary choices shouldn’t be imposed on anyone ever unless it’s for health reasons (allergy etc)

 

[SilverLinings]

Has any dog ever picked a vegan kibble over a meat one if they’re side by side?
Or a balanced meal with meat over a balanced meal without it?

I don't think we can trust dogs to choose sensibly or safely though, my mother's dog would choose a rotten crab from the beach over a bowl of meat, despite the fact that she would throw the crab back up within minutes of eating it. I had another dog who was obsessed with chocolate (never allowed to eat it), and one who's favourite thing to consume was horse manure. I don't think dogs are arbiters of good taste, or able to know when something is good for them!

I think you are probably correct though that most dogs would prefer the meat option when presented with two versions of dog food, especially if the second option was vegan (so no appealing cheese or other dairy fats).

Having had several of a breed prone to pancreatitis (cocker spaniels) reducing animal fats would be a good thing, but I'd worry about getting the nutrient balance correct with a vegan diet.

FWIW I'm a vegetarian but have always fed my dogs meat as in the past I haven't been able to find any reliable information about how to safely/healthily feed dogs a vegetarian or vegan diet (last had a puppy in 2007).

 

[Annette4]

Surely all dogs need protein, regardless of the source?
I'm not being facetious btw, I genuinely don't see how a dog, or any mammal for that matter, can thrive without protein from some source or another.

It's an animal protein allergy (they went through years of testing and countless novel proteins), plant (pea) protein works for him.

 

[maisie06]

Not something that has ever crossed my mind before but a fellow agility trainer mentioned to me that she's having trouble with a reward structure for a new client's dog, as it isn't toy motivated at all and it's also vegan

So I assumed that this was due to some horrendous allergies but no, it's vegan because the owners are vegan!

Apparently they are rewarding with kibble as normal rewards are not allowed, but it's blown my mind that vegan kibble is even a thing.

I can't help feeling that they would have been better off with a rabbit.

Should be an angry face....if a vegan diet is because of meat protein allergies I'm ok with that but for a dog to be vegan because of the owners forcing it on them it makes me really angry indeed. Like you say should have got a rabbit or a horse.