Vegetarian Dog Food
Is a vegetarian diet healthy for a dog? - It
is not uncommon for a dedicated vegetarian dog owner
to desire that his dog follow his own diet. Based on the dog owners’ religious
or moral values, there are some owners who would
insist that their pets be fed vegetarian food only.
While I’m not against a vegetarian
diet for humans, after all it is proven to a certain extent
that humans can survive on a vegetarian diet. Nevertheless,
it is still debatable if dog owners should make their
dogs go vegan, since studies shown that it might not
be healthy for dogs to a very large extent.
Our dogs are closely affiliated genetically
to their ancestors, wolves, and they are one of the
few true carnivores that exist in the animal planet.
Meat makes up a significant portion of their diet
and is a hugely important element that is not advisable
to be left out totally. Proteins offer by meat are
usually too difficult to replace with vegetables and
fruits.
While some claims have been made for
dogs being able to thrive on diets that consist primarily
of tofu that provide plenty of vegetable matter protein.
That protein is not high quality enough to be metabolized
by your dog. In fact, fresh fruits and vegetables
snacks are often recommended for dogs that must lose
weight only because these vegetable base snacks add
very few calories to your dog's system.
Some humans feel that feeding a meat
based diet to your dog is wrong simply because we
like to have control of our environment around us,
in fact, we impose our wills upon our dogs who really
have no choice, since you are the one who bring home
the food. Given a choice, a dog would surely choose
to eat meat rather than vegetables.
It is important to remember that even
if you feel that eating meat is "immoral,"
your dog has no morality; he is an amoral creature
who lives his life based on his desires, not on right
or wrong. He eats meat because he needs to eat and
it tastes good, not because he believes he has a right
to do so or not.
To conclude, if you still choose to
feed your dog a vegetarian diet, there are several
soy-based diets on the market now. It is recommended
that you purchase one of these diets and follow the
serving suggestions made by the company strictly.
It is also strongly recommended that a veterinarian
be consulted before shifting him to a vegetarian diet.
Your dog should also make frequent, regular visits
to the veterinarian until you are certain that he
has adjusted to the new diet.
