• Home
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Contact
facebook
twitter
email
  • home
  • Travel
  • DIY&Crafts
  • Architecture
  • Art&Design
  • Home Decor
    • Living Rooms
    • Bedrooms
    • Bathroom
    • Offices
    • Kitchen
    • Decorations
    • Home Improv
  • Outdoors
    • Gardens
    • Pools
  • Other
    • Photography
    • Animals
    • Food and Drinks
    • Parks
    • Hi-Tech

Can You Feed Dogs and Cats a Vegetarian Diet?

Posted On 26 Jun 2020
By : Snow White
Comment: 0
Tag: cat, cats, dog, Dogs, food, fruit, vegetable, vegetarian, vegetarian diet

The debate about whether people are herbivores or omnivores has been around for a long time. Both sides have many arguments, defending their point of view. Some move from one camp to another to find out the truth. Especially obsessed vegetarians and vegans are switching to a plant diet their pets too.

Due to some fashion for vegetarianism and animal protection, the business is not far behind. It is ready to offer unique goods for individual customers. In general, it is not difficult for modern science to develop a formula based on herbal ingredients and additives that meet the needs of the dog. The presence of taurine, L-carnitine, and alpha-lipoic acid is believed to be important in such feeds. On the other hand, most of these feeds contain soy, wheat, or corn, which often cause allergies. Also, according to the guide of a vegan diet for dogs on source, most of these diets are made up of rice, lentils and vegetables, amino acid supplements like L-carnitine and taurine, and vitamin and mineral supplements.

Can You Feed Dogs and Cats a Vegetarian Diet?

Ensure your cat gets regular exercise and look into online resources on feline nutrition and how to keep your cat in trim shape, like this one from All About Cats.

A study in the United States showed that 25% of the market feeds do not contain all the necessary nutrients. And a vegetarian diet, compiled at home, may not benefit the pets. A study conducted in Europe with 86 dogs showed that more than half were deficient in protein, essential amino acids, calcium, zinc, and vitamins D and B12.

Against Nature

Looking at dogs, for example, you can easily see predators in them: they have a short digestive tract, which helps digest fats and animal proteins. They do not have enzymes in the saliva, the joint of their jaw allows only up and down movement, unlike cows, for example, and the pharynx has a large opening for swallowing large pieces of food. All teeth are sharp, designed to nibble and bite, not chew. Thus, we see many signs of adaptation to a predominantly animal diet. Adaptation of dogs to plant foods in the process of domestication occurred not only at the enzyme level. In all animals, bacteria in the intestine to one degree or another participate in the digestion process. So is it worth changing the nature of the dog? Or is it better to get a rabbit or a mini-pig?

Can You Feed Dogs and Cats a Vegetarian Diet?

Recently in Australian news was featured a terrible story about a kitten that almost died because the vegan owner fed him potatoes, pasta, and rice milk. Cats are obligate predators, and without food of animal origin, they will not be able to live normally. In the best case, such cats will kill small local fauna – birds, mice, etc. on the street.

Health Risks For Vegetarian Pets

Some of the nutrients in a dog’s body are completely different than in humans. There are some examples.

  • Vitamin D, unlike people, does not form in our pets in the skin, and therefore must come from food. Moreover, vitamin D3, which is precisely the body’s needs, is contained in products of animal origin.
  • Plant sources include another form of this substance – vitamin D2. It can be processed by people and partly by dogs. But for cats, Vitamin D3 is vital.
  • Taurine. This essential amino acid can be formed in the body of dogs, but only in cases where the food contains components for its construction. Cats cannot synthesize taurine at all—that why its intake with food is mandatory.

Can You Feed Dogs and Cats a Vegetarian Diet?

And, therefore, vegetarian diets can lead to the following problems in dogs:

    • inadequate protein intake (at least 25 g per 1000 calories is recommended);
    • the wrong ratio of amino acids in food, such as taurine and L-carnitine (for dogs), or essential fatty acids, such as arachidonic (for cats);
    • lack of vitamins and minerals (B vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, and iron) comes only or mainly with animal products.

If such dietary problems persist for a long time, they can lead to severe and sometimes irreversible diseases. Veterinary medicine often refers to cardiomyopathy associated with taurine deficiency. In this condition, the heart muscle becomes flabby and lethargic, and the heart expands, gradually losing the ability to contract. A lack of taurine also leads to an inhibition of the growth and development of the animal, breaching the breeding cycle and eye problems.

Rules and regulations

If you are going to switch your dog or cat to a vegetarian diet, you need to think a lot before. This decision is not one that is easily and quickly made.

Can You Feed Dogs and Cats a Vegetarian Diet?

Here are some of the most critical points:

  • Never feed puppies and kittens or pregnant animals with vegetarian food.
  • Use only feed that has been tested and certified to meet the American Association for State Control of Feed Quality requirements.
  • Consult with a veterinarian-nutritionist to evaluate the quality of the food you buy or prepare for your pet and recommend maintaining the animal’s health.
  • Conduct routine examinations of the animal in a veterinary clinic more often, including blood tests – at least twice a year. This also applies to young animals converted to vegetarian food.

Superior nutrition for animals

For some diseases, veterinarians recommend special foods according to guide that contain, for example, egg or soy protein instead of meat. They are introduced into the animal’s diet for the diagnosis or treatment of conditions such as food allergies, liver diseases, urolithiasis. Such feeds are designed, tested, and created by large manufacturers specifically for sick animals.

Can You Feed Dogs and Cats a Vegetarian Diet?

When using them, the doctor carefully monitors the general health of the dog and reveals its changes. Nutritional Supplements for Vegetarian Dogs Owners who switch their pets to a plant-based diet often give them dietary supplements to compensate for the deficiency of certain nutrients. And this is correct and normal. However, it is worth considering that instead of the natural components of food, your pet receives chemically synthesized compounds that are not always safe.

So What Are The Risks?

First of all, the risk is that cats and dogs, which are converted to vegetarians, deprived of animal proteins, do not receive many of the essential substances for the normal functioning of the body. It must be remembered that many vitamins and amino acids of carnivores are absorbed quite differently than in humans.

Can You Feed Dogs and Cats a Vegetarian Diet?

Vitamin D is not synthesized in the skin of dogs and cats under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, so they should receive it with food. And it should be vitamin D3 contained in animal food, and not vitamin D2, the source of which is plant foods. A human and a vegetarian dog can be limited to vitamin D2 until a certain point, but a cat needs only vitamin D3.

Carnivores and B vitamins, as well as calcium, phosphorus, and iron, can be absorbed only from meat and other animal products. The same situation with amino acids, for example, with the most important of them – taurine. If the dog’s body can synthesize the required amount of taurine from other amino acids, then cats should receive it in its pure form and sufficient quantities only with food.

Veterinarians of the Swiss Association for the Protection of Animals encourage vegetarians to prudence. Although cats and dogs do not have to eat meat every day, it contains elements essential for their bodies, which they especially need during the growth period or during intensive training or activities. Any breed can eat only plants for some time. But if it has a choice, it will undoubtedly prefer meat.

Can You Feed Dogs and Cats a Vegetarian Diet?

Professionals who oppose the way vegetarians feed dogs and cats are sympathetic to the reasons why owners make such a choice. But there are also the interests of the dogs and cats, which are forced to eat food that they are not adapted to.

People do this for their own sake, not for the purpose of animals, but harm to their health can be avoided. To do this, convinced vegetarians instead of a dog or cat should get a bird, rabbit, or guinea pig.

    Previous Story

    Amazon Outdoor Cat House

    Next Story

    How To Know If Your Pet Needs Additional Nutritional Supplementation

    Related Posts

    0

    5 Yummy Protein Foods to Prepare in 20 Min

    Posted On 24 Jan 2023
    , By Snow White
    0

    Top Specialties You Must Try When In Turkey

    Posted On 16 Jan 2023
    , By Snow White
    0

    Tips On Creating A Balcony Vegetable Garden

    Posted On 17 Nov 2022
    , By Snow White

    Recent Posts

    How Risk-Free is Hot Air Ballooning?

    Posted On 01 Feb 2023

    Benefits Of Canopies Made To Order

    Posted On 31 Jan 2023

    Car Repairs You Can't Wait Around On

    Posted On 31 Jan 2023

    Incorporating Antique Decor into Modern Living Spaces: A Guide to Creating a Timeless Home

    Posted On 31 Jan 2023

    Outdoor Trampoline Games That Will Make You More Fun

    Posted On 30 Jan 2023

    Book your stay!

    Booking.com
    All materials, unless otherwise noted, were taken from the Internet and are assumed to be in the public domain. In the event that there is still a problem or error with copyrighted material, the break of the copyright is unintentional and noncommercial and the material will be removed immediately upon presented proof. © 2013 BeautyHarmonyLife.com