Raw VEGAN Dogs -- anyone here doing this?

[India1121]

they need the meat for the protein and you can get protein from veggies :-) just keeping a dog on your average priced half decient dog food would not be an actual source of meat. it would just make sure it has protein in it and again...that protein can come from anywhere. :-)

[Arky]

they need the meat for the protein and you can get protein from veggies :-)

A dog is a carnivore.

Just because there is some protein in vegetables does not mean that a dog can satisfy all it's nutritional requirements by eating vegetables. I respect RFT's vegan stance for those humanbeings who are philosophically inclined to avoid meat. But where canines are concerned, it really annoys me that people think they can pluck pretty philosophical ideals out of thin air, using tenuous strands of logic, and thereby casually contravene hundreds of thousands of years of canine evolution, on a whim. It's cruel to animals to deprive them of their native diet. Can they 'survive' without meat? Yes, perhaps. But does that mean they can be happy and fully healthy on an unnatural diet that contravenes their genetics and physiology? Well, I'm not someone who would be prepared to take a chance on that if it meant causing potential suffering to an innocent creature.

This is the kind of head-in-the-clouds fantasy philosophical idealism that would seek to have the lion lay down peacefully with the lamb. Are we so arrogant to presume that Nature is 'morally wrong' to have created a food chain whereby animals consume each other? Does one's personal philosophy overrule Mother Nature..?

just keeping a dog on your average priced half decient dog food would not be an actual source of meat. it would just make sure it has protein in it and again...that protein can come from anywhere. :-)

What utter nonsense.
Even the cheapest can of dog food contains meat (horsemeat, generally). I don't dispute that it may be adulterated with various cereal grains and goodness knows what else, but it does generally contain meat. All sources of protein are NOT interchangeable according to ones philosophical whims. A dogs digestive physiology does not alter itself to cohere with your dietary philosophies.


Anyone who knows me here on RFT knows that I am generally an easygoing individual. Outspoken occasionally, perhaps, but generally easygoing. But I don't like seeing animal cruelty being justified on the basis of sweeping philosophical statements with little or no scientific basis to justify altering the diet of a creature that has evolved for hundreds of thousands of years to consume and digest meat.

[MysticTree]

It's very difficult feeding a dog a natural diet Arky. Mine get tinned food and either a mixer during the warmer months or a supplement of complete food when it's colder. They also mug me for fruit and veg at every turn :) Now that we have a bigger caravan I am hoping they can come inside; their kennel is snuggly but you can't beat a dog under the duvet for extra warmth!