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Vegan Pets
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For over one year now, I’ve been discussing all the reasons that it is not a good idea to pursue a vegan diet. However, caught up in the lies spread by the plant-based movement, people go so far as to put their pets on a vegan diet. The problem of this, of course, is, just like how humans are biologically omnivores (to be discussed in a future blog post), cats and dogs are naturally carnivores. Their body make-up dictates that they should rely on meats for the diet.
The vegan argument for this is that animals should not have to die for their pet to live. Of course, as I’ve discussed before, and as I plan to discuss further very soon, a vegan diet is actually responsible for more deaths than an omnivore’s is.
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Photo from www.3milliondogs.com
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Many claim that the “animal agriculture” industry treats animals with unnatural cruelty, but I would argue that making your beloved Fido eat food that goes against his biological design is incredibly unnatural.
To me, it seems entirely hypocritical to criticize an entire branch of agriculture for having animals that live indoors because you think taking them out of their natural habitat distresses them… and use that as a justification for forcing your pets to consume substances that their digestive system was never designed for. You’re saying something is unnatural to justify doing an unnatural thing.
And I’m not the only one who thinks this way. Lew Olson, PhD wrote a book titled Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs. In it, Olson says, “Trying to feed a cat a vegan diet would be like me feeding my horses meat. You’re taking a whole species of animal and trying to force it to eat something that it isn’t designed to handle.”
Mercola’s Healthy Pets Campaign has reported on real-life cases of animals almost dying while on a plant based diet. Again, they explain that a vegan diet is “biologically inappropriate” for cats and dogs.
Research shows that dogs have the ability to digest starches, but perform better on a meat-based diet. Cats, on the other hand, need to be exclusively carnivorous. Here’s some science:
To me, it seems entirely hypocritical to criticize an entire branch of agriculture for having animals that live indoors because you think taking them out of their natural habitat distresses them… and use that as a justification for forcing your pets to consume substances that their digestive system was never designed for. You’re saying something is unnatural to justify doing an unnatural thing.
And I’m not the only one who thinks this way. Lew Olson, PhD wrote a book titled Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs. In it, Olson says, “Trying to feed a cat a vegan diet would be like me feeding my horses meat. You’re taking a whole species of animal and trying to force it to eat something that it isn’t designed to handle.”
Mercola’s Healthy Pets Campaign has reported on real-life cases of animals almost dying while on a plant based diet. Again, they explain that a vegan diet is “biologically inappropriate” for cats and dogs.
Research shows that dogs have the ability to digest starches, but perform better on a meat-based diet. Cats, on the other hand, need to be exclusively carnivorous. Here’s some science:
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Photo from YouTube
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- “There are an increasing number of vegetarian diets and recipes available for dogs. However, proof for their claims of nutritional adequacy is often lacking…. Many plant ingredients contain high levels of non-starch polysaccharides and other anti-nutritive factors, which may reduce the availability of some nutrients. A diet devoid of animal ingredients is also likely to be of low palatability to dogs.”
- “It could be expected that a purely plant based diet, might lack of nutrients like Vitamin B12, iron, folic acid or protein among others and lead to malnourishment of carnivorous pets like dogs and cats…. Because the natural feeding habit of these carnivorous animals does not conform with the own dietary philosophy of a strictly plant based diet, a growing development among vegan pet owners can be noticed that might be a subject for future veterinarians and one that is not to be ignored.”
In conclusion, if you don’t want to feed your four-legged friends meat, get a gerbil. But don’t force natural carnivores to eat a plant based diet… that is the definition of animal cruelty.
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