is it right to feed a dog a vegan dogfood

No, not right to feed it to humans either, but if is their choice then, well that's their choice, but it is total against the nature of the animal.

Hi in my opinion dogs were meant to eat meat cant be sure on how well they would cope without some form of meat protein in their diets.

Janines

For the average dog, no.

i myself am a vegan i get a lot of stick because i choose not to feed my dogs a meet free diet lots of people say im not a true vegan ect.....
i dont think it can be a good thing not to feed a dog meat after if they were wild this is what would be in there nature. was told though that the oldest vegan dog is 17 yrs old is that a record

17 is a good age, but by no means a record.

i meant more for a dog who didnt eat meat prhaps thats a record.

a vegan dog hahaa
My dog hates meat only veg but i still try my best to stuff her with the stuff:D vet says they need meat!and its true

No!

John

no.......right got ya.

Dogs are a relative of the wolf. In the wild they are opportunist feeders in that they eat whatever they find and like the taste of. You cannot put your morals onto your dog, their brain does not work that way. They see, they eat and if nice they eat more! Simple as that. That philosophy has, over generations made them into omnivores, not vegetarians or vegans. If you wish to keep dogs then you can do no better than feed them in the way they have developed to feed. If you look at animals equipped to live off of vegetable matters they have the dentition to cope. The canine teeth are expressly designed as tearing teeth to enable them to handle animal remains.

John

all true yes.....

I have a vegetarian friend who would not dream of feeding her hounds on anything but a normal diet for hounds, dogs like us can manage without muscle protein but do need it for proper growth. IMO you are correct not to try and inflict your beliefs on your dog. My dogs like vegetables but they go straight through, most could be washed off and fed again, from that I would assume that their bodies are unable to digest vegetable unless it is prepared in some way.

I agree and to me it also seems somewhat cruel on the dogs especially if they have been on a meat based diet previously

I agree it would be cruel to MAKE dogs be vegetarians,i am a vego myself but i would never ever dream of forcing this on my dogs,they get the yucky green tripe plenty of bones and every meat and offal choice there is. By the way i tried rabbit for them last night and they devoured it which is very unlike my dogs so if anyone has a picky pooch give rabbit a go.
I would be very interested to know how a dog would cope mentally and physically on a non meat diet?

~christine~

do you think that some supplements would be called for if the dog was a puppy or adolesent i dont see how they could cope witha vegan diet ....or maybe it would be more acceptable for a young dog to get used to??????

The best supplement would be meat!! :rolleyes: Just feed the poor dog with proper dog food!

Sorry was that directed at me if it was you shoul re read this thread. if not sorry

If it is necessary to supplement a dogs diet then that is in it's self an admission that the diet is wrong. A good diet has everything a dog needs without supplements of any kind.

John

i agree but do you no if many vegan dogs do have to have suplements you seem the person to perhaps no this as you seem very Knowledgeable
and i would assume that the statistic maybe quite high.

I would think the numbers would be very low, because surely nobody is silly enough to inflict their own dietary preferences onto anything else!

well lets hope so but some people dont see it this way..

Then perhaps they should have a rabbit as a pet instead!

I have a veggy friend who does NOT inflict her diet on her Malamute , and another who does NOT inflict on her 5 Golden Retrievers ;)

good for her does she get a lot of stick about that though

Why on earth should she, having a preference to not eat meat or animal products does not mean, surly, that you have to inflict your 'choice/religion' on others, or do those who follow such diets think the whole animal kingdom should join in?

a lot of vegans are very one sided and for anyone thats vegan i mean by this some not all have a certain attitude to this although i am a vegan i do not support the vegan dog diet but with some vegans they will not even associate with meat eaters let alone feed the dogs it. for me its all about personal choice no wrong no rights im afraid thats what makes it personal... but as you say why not have a rabbit then... i argee........

I completely agree JG. Horses for courses!

A dog's diet does not need to be balanced for every meal any more than a humans but it does need to be balanced over the longer term. If what it is lacking today is there tomorrow that is perfectly acceptable.

Dietary deficiencies are not something we need to concern ourselves with so much these days but that was not always so. In the years following the war when food rationing was the order of the day there was all sorts of problems both in dogs and in humans. Rickets is just one which springs to mind.

Rickets is caused by a shortage of Vitamin C, and where does Vitamin C come from? Cod Liver Oil, Eggs and Animal products. Exactly the things which would be deigned to a dog on a vegan diet.

John

Lack of vitamin D, surely, John?

exactly and surely these would have some sort of lasting affect on a pup or young adult dog in perticular

Of course it would. That's why we've all agreed that feeding a vegan diet to a dog is wrong. Let's not labour the point.

<Rickets is caused by a shortage of Vitamin C, and where does Vitamin C come from? Cod Liver Oil, Eggs and Animal products. Exactly the things which would be deigned to a dog on a vegan diet.>

Rickets is caused by a vitamin D defficiency, vitamin C is actually present in large quantities on a vegetarian diet.

snomaes

From a health point of view you can raise a perfectly healthy dog on a vegetarian diet, but not a vegan one . If you look on the vegetarian soc website there is a very detailed discussion on it
Jane

Thankyou snomaes, correct as usual!

thankyou all for your replys glad im not the only one who thinks this.

sorry but can i just say that although maybe rickets may be a lack of vitamin c....usually rickets (osteomalacia) is caused by a deficiency of vitamin D.

That has already been said.

no vitamin c has twice only one person brought up vitamin d...but no one commented on it.

If you look at the previous posts, I think you'll see that both JG and Snoames mentioned it was vitamin D :)

liberty:)

As you know the answer Devonpoppy, I wonder why you asked the question in the first place?

well i didnt actually ask what rickets was caused by i was trying to say earlier that i jst beleived vegan diets were bad for dogs and i havent upset anybody i hope was just saying that rickets is caused by lack of of vitamin d ....???

IMO this one is done and dusted and if we carry on we are in danger of disappearing up our own search engines.

agreed