What do you feed your pets?

Killer_banana

I don't have pets so this is more curiosity than anything else. What do you as veg*ns feed your pets? Do you feel you have a responsibility as to adhere to your lifestyle when it comes to your pets diet or do you think you should feed your pet what they would 'naturally' eat? I'm very interested to here from those motivated by the environmental impact of the farming industry since apparently the carbon footprint of a dogs diet is the equivalent of two land cruisers (my source is QI so I guess the reliability could be debated).

I know there are some vegan/vegetarian pets food out there but from what I've found online some vets say that it's a risk to pets health althoughI couldn't find information on why exactly. I understand some animals are carnivores so does this mean unlike us omnivores does this mean they can't absorb nutrients from vegetable sources like we do? If you feed your dog on plant based food do you feel vets who are against it are simply being close minded, much like some doctors can be?

Tar.Aldarion

I think that keeping pets would of course go against an ethical vegans point of view. However humans domesticated animals and now they need us. I think it is our responsibility to look after such animals, cats, dogs et al. I am against people buying animals from breeders but would be for a person keeping a pet from the pound and so on.

It's no bother to feed a dog a vegetarian diet, but a cat gets ill from it, goes blind and can die. They need taurine etc. I believe I've seen veg*n societs warning about feeding cats vegetarian diets. There are vegetarian cat foods but a lot have been withdrawn from the market as they weren't good for the cats, making them ill. We have a responsibility to look after them well, I wouldn't take a risk on that stuff. I have cats, I feed them food containing meat.

Slaphead07

I made a decision a long time not to eat meat but I'm not making that for my dog. She gets a dry mix (big brand good quality food) and she's a happy doggie. I don't own her, she's part of our family.

Benny_Cake

What Tar said, essentially. We've two cats and there is no way that I would risk their health simply because of my dietary choice. Cats are obligate carnivores and need meat and fish (although one of ours loves potato skins!). If this was an ethical issue for someone it would probably be best to consider not keeping pets at all.

Shenshen

I don't think I could elaborate any better than Tar already has.

We have 4 cats, all of them rescued/former strays that showed up at our door. And I do feel that my choice of diet is mine alone, I'm pretty certain that none of our cats would have any ethical issues with other animals being killed for their food. I feel the occasional rodent or bird which they lovingly bring home to us is testimony to that.

I think the QI bit about the carbon food print of a dog was referring to the larger breeds, Golden Retriever, English Sheepdog, those kind of dogs.
I'd find it difficult to imagine a Yorkshire Terrier eating enough meat in a lifetime to reach such a carbon foot print.

Whispered

I don't believe dogs can be at optimum health on a veg*n diet. They are scavengers and omnivores, but have a definite carnivorous bias. In saying that I know there are people who feed veg*n and say their dog is healthy so who am I to disagree. Personally I like to keep their diet as natural as possible. Then again I don't believe that a dry diet is particularly healthy for dogs either.

My dogs are fed raw food, so whatever off cuts I can get from the butchers, livers, hearts etc, some cooked veg (dog's don't digest raw veg properly), raw and cooked eggs. If I'm out of meat then brown rice and a tin of oily fish will be dinner that day, or the odd time we've been very disorganised, they will get dry dog food with yoghurt mixed in For training treats I use dog biscuits, cheese, cooked ham or chicken or bits of raw carrot. They get beef bones to gnaw on once or twice a week. They get a nice selection of stuff. Keeps things interesting for them.

While I feel a responsibility to eat a certain way myself, when it comes to care of my pets, they are my top responsibility and their welfare comes before the welfare of the animal I might be buying. Hypocritical perhaps, but taking on a pet, you agree to meet their needs. I believe eating meat is something dogs need.

blatantrereg

From what I've read, it seems like domesticating dogs resulted in humans eating more meat and dogs eating more vegetables. Each one's diet had strong influence on the other.

Killer_banana

Thanks for the replies everyone. I never knew dogs were omnivores, I thought they were carnivores. Good to know the vegetarian cat foods have been taken off the market if they weren't actually suitable. They shouldn't have been on the market in the first place but that's another thing.

TooManyDogs

Killer_banana wrote: »

I never knew dogs were omnivores, I thought they were carnivores.

You were right in the first place, dogs are carnivores not omnivores. They're just not obligate carnivores like cats are. Dogs can survive on an omnivorous diet but never thrive to their full potential and will always choose a fully carnivorous diet if given the option. Their teeth, digestive tract and lack of ability to produce amylase put them into the carnivore camp.

I feed my 6 rescue dogs a raw food diet. As far as I'm concerned humans are a true omnivore so can choose to eat meat or not, my dogs are carnivores so need to eat meat. If I don't want to feed my pets meat then I should stick to herbivorous pets. To me it's simple. I get most of my food as waste from the butcher so figure that way it's not going to waste but I'm not contributing much to demand for meat

Serendipity99

There are a number of vegan dog and cat foods on the market. I know many vegans who feed their dogs and cats on a vegan diet. If you want to switch your pet to a vegan diet, please ensure you get the approval of your vet.

There are some links here which might be useful:

http://corkvegans.ie/VeganPets.pdf