EnviroLink Forum

Well the oldest dog in the world was documented as a border collie that ate a vegan diet of lentils, rice, and veggies and lived to be 27....it just makes you think.
Are we depriving them of their natural instincts of eating meat?
Check out this article I wrote that discusses some Green Pet Tips and such...
http://begreen.botw.org/2012/04/fido-go ... pet-guide/

Actually, it would take more than one instance to make me think. It might even take data if multiple instances one experiences differ from that of another.

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I will leave it upto the dog.

Yeah great. Some good tips. But what does it have to do with dogs being vegan? Most of us know that dogs are omnivores just as humans are .... ? And what does all this information have to do with the (your) heading? .... "Should your dog be Vegetarian"?

Omnivores. Dogs are carnivores, however.

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non-obligate carnivores would be the more accurate description

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True, they are equipped to deal with a significant portion of plant matter in their diet despite their carnivorous nature. The carnivorous giant panda is even more "confusing"

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Interesting article.
I'm a vegetarian. Also I give a lot of vegetarian food to my dog, but sometimes I give him meat because his vet told that my dog should eat some meat, because his digest need it.

Yes, your dog needs some meat, every once in awhile mixed with the other stuff. They have evolved that way much in the same way we have. Sometimes, we need it just as they do.

Scanning my upbringing, there were few incidences where I needed it. As an adult, this becomes more apparant.

If I don't eat meat, I can't function physically at optimum levels. I've tried vegetable protein however I simply can't get enough of it before feeling full. If I try to perform regardless, I get lightheaded and literally start to lose vision. I can even get by off straight protein, assuming my hydration level is sufficient, but do better if I throw in some carbs with it.

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Made me laugh.

When told what I had for breakfast, my opponents thought it was pretty funny too. It wasn't long before I was hitting junk food 3 or more times a week at 4500+ calories a pop just to break even and to stop losing weight. By that time, my foes were getting low single digits if scoring against me at all. You give me a double quarter pounder from Mcdonald's, couple of orders of large fries, 2 pies, and a liter of soda and two hours later I'll take on anyone.

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Since my digestive system seems to require a high fibre level -- I have to take fiber supplements in spite of an almost completely vegan diet -- if I ate as much meat as you or most people, I'd be constipated every day. The omnivore's dilemma for humans is that, although we require very little nutrients specifically from animal sources, most hunter/gatherer tribes spent thousands of years adapting to consuming high quantities of meat -- especially in northern climates where Inuit and other tribes living along the Arctic Ocean lived almost exclusively off fish and seals. But, like the Giant Panda, the forces of natural selection don't bother making an animal species adaptations complete unless it is absolutely necessary. So, too many people these days have too much of the negative aspects of meat consumption: digestive troubles, obesity, high cholesterol levels...all eventually leading to heart disease and cancers in many people. So, if humans do require some meat in our diets to remain healthy, it is a very small fraction of what we are actually consuming today on average.

As for dogs....I haven't checked these stories out about vegans making their dogs vegan too. I've just assumed this is something that hairbrained yuppies do when they become fanatics about vegetarianism. A dog may be an omnivore, but I'd like to hear from a veterinarian or a zoologist on this issue, because dogs seem to have a lot more adaptations for a predominantly meat diet than we do. And, if most dogs are like mine, they see vegetables as something to eat when there is no real food available! My spoiled rotten dog would live on an all-beef diet if he had his say on the issue. He even turns up his nose at almost every store brand dog food.

Since we also have a cat (who prefers tuna and salmon to cat food), I'd like to know if any vegetarian fanatics have tried to turn their cats into vegans? From my limited understanding, the modern house cat is a true carnivore, and likely has a digestive tract too short to live adequately on plant food sources.

This is generally true for Americans. As for remaining healthy, one needn't consume meat if an equivalent vegan/fortified alternative is available. Note that I was talking about performance, not general health. I can go forever on no meat at all. Lastly, processed carbs are a bigger factor in obesity than protein and fat, and they're are totally vegan in nature. You see, it isn't so much avoid X because of Y, avoid A because of B, but rather knowing how much X and A constitutes moderation.



Dogs are quite typical carnivores, however their gut has evolved to look more like that of an omnivore. This is due to the amount of inadvertent plant matter that they've ingested over the millenia.



There are vegan cat food options out there. How folks feed it to animals that go nuts when you break out the sliced turkey or make tuna salad is beyond me. Then again, I’m not so much an uptight, anal fool over animals killing other animals for food either.



Gut length is a factor, though cell specialization is really the key.

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