Vegan and Vegetarian Pets: Inhumane or Evolutionary?
Is your pet a Vegan or Vegetarian? Well, according to some people, yours might be.
A growing number Vegan and Vegetarian pet owners are turning to plant-derived diets instead of meat-based for their pets. For your average pet owner, this may seems like a gross offense that upsets the very fundamental nature of canines and felines. And I’m not surprised; in fact, I’d define many people’s initial reaction as being more shocked and appalled than intrigued. One friend I spoke to even called the practice “borderline abuse.”
Meanwhile, Vegan & Vegetarian pet owners seem to believe this is the healthiest and most natural way to feed your pet. Sites selling Vegetarian dog food claim that dogs are natural omnivores and can survive on a nutritious and well balanced diet of non-animal proteins and supplements, but other sites completely disagree saying that yes, these animals can survive, but they can not thrive.
Why Would You Feed Your Pet A Veggie Diet?
After the pet food crisis in 2007, more pet owners turned to making their own pet food at home instead of turning to supermarket chain pet food, which means, more people are thinking about the food that their pets are actually consuming. Animal Rights group, PETA, who has looked deep into the more gruesome side of the pet food industry, reveals on their site that most supermarket chain pet food is usually made up of the biproducts of animals unfit for human consumption.
If you’re Vegan or Vegetarian and don’t usually handle meat, I could imagine it would be very difficult to feed your pet not only food considered unfit for human consumption, but food that is made up of animal parts you’d never consume yourself. If one will not consume another animal because they’re against the unethical treatment of animals, is it therefore right to speak for your pets by allowing them to eat a diet that may go against their evolutionary needs?
Is It Healthy? The Answer May Differ From Pet To Pet.
Ethical questions about treatment of animals strike at the very heart of this issue, but what it comes down to is the health of your pet. People want to know: Can dogs and cats live healthy, natural lives while subsisting on a vegan or vegetarian diet?
There are many books which claim that a vegan or vegetarian diet works for their dog or cat. A quick search on the internet reveals many sites that advocate for animal rights also advocate for vegetarian & vegan diets for dogs and cats. After reading much of this information, I found it difficult to deduce if anyone in the Veterinarian industry had made a claim recommending the diet more-so than a meat-based diet.
There was an abundance of websites selling Vegetarian dog food or cat food, that had this kind of information, but I had difficulty finding appropriate, unbiased sources from which to pull from.
However, I did find one gem among the rough. It turns out that the AVAR (Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights) published a position statement about this very topic in August of 2006. Though they don’t come out and say that Vegetarian and Vegan diets for pets are not good for your pets, they do seem to imply that without proper knowledge of your pet’s nutritional needs it is impossible to have them sustain on a Vegetarian or Vegan diet. They also seem to imply that this kind of nutritional discipline and understanding is beyond most average pet owners.
On the whole though, the AVAR is much more optimistic about dogs being about to achieve their nutritional needs through a plant derived diet than cats. Cats are carnivores by nature, where as dogs are considering omnivorous, therefore cats “require a number of nutrients in their diet, including taurine, carnitine, and arachidonic acid, which normally are derived only from animal flesh.”
The continue on to say that “ in light of recent studies that have proven two commercial vegan diets to be nutritionally deficient, nutritional adequacy of plant-based cat food diets cannot at this time be reliably assured and are, therefore, not recommended. “
Even PETA issues a steady warning to those attempting to convert their cat or dog to a meat-free diet: it won’t and shouldn’t happen overnight. Though their stance is completely against commercial pet food industry, they seem to imply that no one should convert their pet to a diet or lifestyle that in the end, is not good for the health of the animal. Before making such and important decision, they first recommend reading the book Vegetarian Cats & Dogs to learn about the proper nutrition guidelines for their pet. The next step is understanding what supplements they’ll need for their pet and then, once that key research and understanding has been achieved, then the pet owner should slowly making the diet adjustment by mixing vegetarian food in with their regular diet.
Ethical Pet Food
For those of you who find a Vegetarian or Vegan diet doesn’t agree with your pet, there are other options and diets for your pets that don’t use commercial meat-based industry. Sundance’s Treehugger channel recommends trashing the “Junk Food” and replacing it with “Natural and organic pet foods use meats that are raised in sustainable, humane ways without added drugs or hormones.” Ideabite totally agrees and even gives a list of green and organic pet foods that aren’t derived from animal byproducts.
Other pet food diets on the rise are the BARF diet (Biologically Appropriate Raw Foods) – many believe this is the most appropriate diet to feed their pet because they believe it’s the diet they evolved to eat which consists mostly of whole, complete raw meat, just like the kind of food they’d eat without human intervention. By choosing minimally processed, grass fed meat, you can keep your animals diet as natural as possible.
Conclusion
For those of you considering a Vegan or Vegetarian diet for your pet, keep in mind that though you may choose to feed your pet a diet that you find ethically sound, it will destroy your pet’s natural preference. As Janet Tobiasen Crosby also notes in her article, Roadkill Versus Asparagus, “despite your best cooking efforts, they might choose a day-old dead rabbit on the road.”
So, listen to your pet carefully if and when you transition them to a Vegetarian or Vegan diet. Ask yourself — what is my pet’s fur, dietary tract, weight, sheen, and attitude saying about the change?
Together, if you’re both listening to one another carefully, you can make the right decision about what is right for your pet in the long run.