'Are we killing our pets?' Petfood article.

sleepymy

Shoshannah wrote: »

AFAIK this is under debate. Wild canids may pick at ripe fruit on the ground, but their diet is predominantly meat. Wolves do not eat the veggie stomach contents of their prey, they shake it out and eat the rest of the carcass.

Dogs can live perfectly healthy lives on a vegetarian or vegan diet, they don't need meat in the way cats do.

Fire_Fox

IIRC domestic dogs are omnivores AND carnivores, depending on which branch of science you are talking about: anatomically they are omnivores, taxonomically they are carnivores. I think it's telling that the average cat will not eat plants without being 'fooled' into it, whereas the average dog will eat almost anything! AFAIK dogs cannot remain healthy on a vegan diet without supplementation, tho I am prepared to be corrected.

foreign_correspondent

I think we can worry too much about what we feed dogs - they have evolved for hundreds of thousands of years living on whatever we chuck out, which I guess will have depended a lot on our culture and lifestyle at various times and in various locations. We have only had commercial dog food in this century, and whilst I avoid anything with colours etc in it, I think most dogs will live a long and healthy life on leftovers, basic dog food and the odd meaty bone.

The examples given in the article are anecdotal, and the deaths of the animals may well have been due to many other factors than diet.

Kayl06

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Just because an animal is sensitive to a meat in it's ultra heat treated form does not mean they will necessarily be allergic to the same meat raw, as heating denatures (restructures) the proteins.

Has your dog been allergy tested or have you worked out his allergies from an elimination diet? Has he been tested on any raw? The Food4Dogs minced lamb only contains lamb. When he has had an upset stomach did you change the food over slowly?

He was tested for them. He's very low on the scale 1s and 2s out of 5 apart from chicken, but because he has other allergies we were advised to cut out those meats all together.

He was only bad after being given cooked lamb, the dried food doesn't bother him luckily so we've just stopped giving him that. Seems cruel as he loves chewing the bones. The fish was a trial packet and because he was on antibiotics and steriods at the time we didn't give it to him again.

Shoshannah

sleepymy wrote: »

Dogs can live perfectly healthy lives on a vegetarian or vegan diet, they don't need meat in the way cats do.

They can live on these diets, but it doesn't mean it is what their body is designed to do. My rabbit used to eat bits of sausage we dropped from the barbecue, but I wouldn't for a minute suggest rabbits are not 100% herbivores! :rotfl:

Paradigm

sleepymy wrote: »

Dogs can live perfectly healthy lives on a vegetarian or vegan diet, they don't need meat in the way cats do.

They can exist on a veggie diet but I'm not sure that makes them omnivores... there's a big difference between existing & thriving!

Everything about a dogs jaw, teeth & digestive system shouts carnivore, meat is what they were designed to eat.

Give a dog a choice & it will pick meat everytime.

foreign_correspondent

Paradigm wrote: »

Give a dog a choice & it will pick meat everytime.

... my dad's dog will go for an apple core over meat every time!

sleepymy

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

... my dad's dog will go for an apple core over meat every time!

Shuussssh, don't spoil it for them

Paradigm

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

... my dad's dog will go for an apple core over meat every time!

You sure it's not a very large hamster... in disguise?

Paradigm

sleepymy wrote: »

Shuussssh, don't spoil it for them

It doesn't spoil anything. The facts are that a dog is designed to eat meat.

Wolves on the tundra spend many a happy hour chasing down Reindeer, Caribou & other fleshy creatures instead of digging up arctic turnips, carrots & the like... wonder why? After all turnips can't run fast so why expend all that energy? They will eat roots & berries if they have to but it isn't what they were designed for.

I'd also hazard a guess that if foreign correspondents dad fed his dog nothing but apple cores & the odd sprout here & there it wouldn't be long before the dog had problems.

One of my dogs likes sweet popcorn & would kill for it but I'm pretty sure that's because it's a treat & she knows the "proper" stuff isn't long in coming