Vegetarian Dog Food

[Jennicat]

So you would have no qualms about feeding an herbivore a meat inclusive diet, assuming that it met all nutritional standards, and the animal had no problems digesting it?

[akintolife]

I think you are missing the point of what I was saying. To introduce meat into the diet of a herbivore would go against my ethics to avoid the use of animals and animal products where possible. One of the raesons that I choose to only have pets that are herbivores is to avoid having to make such choices.

As a vegan I try to avoid suffering of all animals. If I had a cat or dog and had the choice of feeding them an unnatural meat-based diet or an unnatural plant-based diet that offered the same nutritional value then I would choose the plant-based diet because if both are of the same nutritional value the plant-based diet is produced with less suffering.

[Jennicat]

Assuming, of course, that all the plants which are put into your pet foods are not produced by doing things like utilizing illegal labor, deforesting places, contributing to pollution via pesticides and killing animals in their habitat?

[akintolife]

Originally Posted by Jennicat

Assuming, of course, that all the plants which are put into your pet foods are not produced by doing things like utilizing illegal labor, deforesting places, contributing to pollution via pesticides and killing animals in their habitat?

That would be ideal. Although the same problems are inherant in meat-based foods if the animals used for such foods are fed grain-based foods.

It's also why I try and buy locally sourced and made foods and if I could I'd only buy foods (for myself and my animals) that are organic and use co-planting as a way to deal with pests.

[Martina]

Our dogs get homemade food, they sometimes get eggs, cheese and some meat, but mostly it is brown rice with a bunch of veggies (some cooked for easier digestion and some raw for their teeth) with some extra supplements like a little bit of garlic, apple cider vinegar, vegetable oil, nutritional yeast, wheat germ, kelp powder etc. and we usually add some cumin for extra taste.
Margo has difficult allergies so that is what started it, and in a way it is a good thing she has them so that we realized what we were feeding them was not that great (kibble) and changed it for the better, by the way her allergies are in control now!

Of course I don't feed my snake vegetables or my cats a vegan diet for no reason or my bunnies a hot dog, but Margo was doing really bad on a couple of diets so now gets only some meat etc. that she is not that reactive with her allergies, and now their coats are shinier, their teeth are cleaner and their energy levels are fine, and they love the food. See it is actually pretty easy to draw the line, for us anyway... and yes I'm vegan too but that has really nothing to do with the best choice made for our dogs.

I think if you want any animals healthy really, it would be a good idea to make there own food, like the raw diet, I don't fully agree with that *always* but since it is usually more fresh with no gross preservatives the animals do better not necasarilly because it is meat based but it is generally better then kibble or other over processed foods, so I think raw diets like that or any well balanced homemade diet is way better then most kibble brands anyway, or at least look into different foods/supplements to keep the kibble/food they are getting interesting and healthy, but that is just my opinion.

Oh and I will be sure to buy brands of carrots that didn't destroy a forest and kill hundreds of animals

[princesspenelop]

Since it's for food allergy/sensitivity, how about asking your vet about Royal Canin Canine Vegetarian Formula?
Royal Canin Veterinary Diet: canine VEGETARIAN FORMULA
No corn or soybean.