Vegan Pet Food

Personally i would never buy it. I made the decision to turn vegan, but i don't think its right to force my beliefs on my animal friends, like cats, whom are natural carnivores.

It's been documented that dogs do well on a vegan diet. Cats not so much. I *think* that included the vegan food that has all the added nutrients (I'm not 100% sure but I think I read that somewhere). I feel my cats meat because that's what they're supposed to eat. I don't like it, but I'd hate to think I'd made them sick.

I think just the fact that we have "pets" is forcing them to live a way they don't have a say in... So I think what they eat is up to us aslong as they are healthy. Therefore I think we have a moral obligation to avoid feeding our pets animal products. Dogs can be healthy as vegans aslong as they are fed properly... But cats I'm not sure about, some are fine, some aren't. But if your cat can be completely healthy as a vegan then I think it's wrong to feed them animal products. My dog is 7 and he's been eating meat his whole life, I have no say in what he eats because of my family, but when I got my cat I promised myself I'd try and feed him only vegan food, my mum couldn't stand this idea and simply won't allow it, but I still buy him vegan pet food to reduce the amount of meat he eats... When I move out and have animals I will do everything possible for them to be vegans.


Listen to these to see where I'm coming from...


http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/pets/
http://www.abolitionistapproach.com/follow-up-to-pets-commentary-non-vegan-cats/

Dogs can thrive on a vegan diet. Cats can do well on it, but you need to be aware of taurine, so  you can't just put them on a vegan diet without doing any research.

These companies sell vegan pet food:

www.veganpet.com.au
www.biopetonline.com.au

One of my client's dogs with severe allergies put him on Veganpet and he is doing extremely well!

The way I see it is that you shouldn't force a diet on them that they wouldn't eat in the wild. Put a bowl of meat next to a bowl of vegan food and they'd probably go to the meat. If people are that worried just limit the amount they have and get organic meat or something.

Making pets vegan is what gives us that 'crazy vegans' and such terms.

i feed my cats and dog veganpet biscuits and organic meat- best compromise i have at the moment as they are all fussy eaters. to my knoweledge organic animals are treated better. Also, the 'meat' that goes into pet food? what the heck is that crap anyway? according to the lovely lady who makes veganpet, there are plenty of dogs and cats who are doing well on her product. my mums dog has serious allergies to meat proteins she does fine on veganpet (the pooch that is). i really just prefer to give my animals human grade food because thats what i would want to eat!

Well I wouldn't call my dog a "vegan" as she doesn't base her consumption choices on ethics so much as appetite

She probably eats a healthier diet than we do! She gets steamed vegies for dinner, fruit for breakfast (loves bananas, grapes, apples, pineapple), muesli, raw nuts (very occassionally) and bread as a snack. She also loves the biopet vegan dog biscuits. Sometimes we'll give her those with a bit of peanut butter and she goes nuts for it! She'll get a bowl of Veganpet dog food maybe every second day which meets all the nutritional requirements. Plus we will supplement her diet with flaxseed and savoury yeast when we're low on Veganpet.

That's what we feed her, but we can't and don't stop her from eating whatever she wants so long as we know it is safe. Anyone who's walked a cute little dog past a busy al fresco cafe will know how hard it is to do that

Domestic dog breeds evolved alongside humans and their digestive system is very similar to ours as they have been eating whatever scraps humans gave them for millenia.  They are omnivores, just like us. If humans can survive on a vegan diet (and we know they can), so can dogs.

Cats are another story, however, but I know of many cats who have thrived on a "vegan" diet for years.

THe lives of 'pets' are ridiculouslly unnatural in the first place. This is why we must stop breeding domesticated animals for our own ends.

The life of a 'pet' is thwart with unnatural, invasive actions by their owners and other humans i.e. being kept inside (or outside for dogs), restricted walking times, noise, leashes, neglect, too much affection, etc.

The fact that these animals (in most cases) CAN be vegan and can live just as healthily lives as if they were eating the other shit they claim to be good food for pets (stroganoff? veal? when was the last time you heard about a cat eating a cow? and all the glutinous crap in there is hardly natural) means that we have an obligation to do the best we can to prevent further suffering and certainly to end our support for ALL the aninmal industries - incl. pet food and pet breeding.

I seriously recommend you all listen to Gary Francione's two podcasts on this issue that Apple Scruff posted.