What should I feed my pets?

Question

I have been a vegetarian for 17 years and recently decided to become vegan.  I have always had this question,  what do you guys feed your pets?  I have always fed my dog and cats regular dog and cat food, is there any other alternatives?

savetheanimals · Answer

Dogs are omnivores and can get everything they need from plants as long as you feed them right. (everything can be fed wrong even you. Make sure you feed yourself (and your family) healthy. for example if you stuff your face with animal products you will end up like the average American) Cats are 100% carnivores but that doesn't mean they cant be vegans. It is true that they need taurine (something found in meat) but they can synthetically make it from a non animal source. Dog/cat food meat is made from slaughterhouse meat that was to diseased or for some other reason humans cant eat it. For manufactured vegan dog/cat food go to        www.vegancats.com/veganfaq.php Of course there are different ways you can get vegan dog/cat food and I encourage you to find the best one for your pets.

happycowgirl · Answer

** All dogs can be vegan. ** Female cats can be vegan. ** With male cats, you have to be careful. The way their urinary tract is designed (narrow) combined with the relative acidity of meat to vegetable proteins can cause urinary blockages (crystals) in male cats that can even turn life threatening. As such, experts recommend you feed males cats only a 25-75% vegan diet and females a 50-100% vegan diet. Of course, many cats (both make and female) will thrive on a vegan diet and never have any complicatons from urinary tract infections or crystal formations. These recommendations are to be sure you're on the safe side. For in depth information about vegan cats and the urinary tract issue I discussed, see: http://www.vegancats.com/veganfaq.php All this said, don't go making your own vegan cat food. They need certain taurine requirements that only a balanced vegan diet can give. So you need to order vegan cat food designed for this: http://store.nexternal.com/vegancats/vegan-cat-food-c1.aspx Find vegan dog food here: http://store.nexternal.com/vegancats/vegan-dog-food-c3.aspx

Adey · Answer

AmiCat and AmiDog,  Best petfood in the world and they love it.

SeekerOfTheWay · Answer

I feed my cat Fancy Feast. I will not make him a vegan. I think that becoming vegan is a choice.

Babbo · Answer

Im veggie but i still feed my dogs meat as i think its natural to them!

veganvet · Answer

HappyCowGirl is on the money. Dogs can thrive on vegan diets, and some in fact do much better on them than on conventional meat diets because of allergies to meat protein. I'm a veterinarian and have recommended vegetarian diets to a number of my canine patients. Here's an article I wrote on this topic: http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vegan_dogs. Although cats are naturally carnivores, they can be healthfully maintained on vegan diets, provided their nutrient requirements are met and their urine is monitored, especially with male cats. Here is an article on the vegan cat question: http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vegan_cats.

beastodon · Answer

vegancats.com has the best vegan pet (cats & dogs) foods like Evolution kibble which is pretty affordable, i would not buy vegan pet food anywhere else! 

They also carry the AmiCat and AmiDog, which is kind of pricy but it is an Italian gourmet pet food brand if you want your pets to have the best, Ami is the best vegan pet food out there, except for homemade but who the hell has time to cook meals for dogs and cats HAHA!

Evolution and Ami vegan dog and cat kibbles are the best vegan pet foods in the world, literally.

my parent's cats and dogs gobbled it up dry without even needing to gradually mix it with their old kibble, went to 100% vegan dry kibble and they love it.

Taylor Hill · Answer

Cats and Dogs were made to eat meat. Humans were not. We made the choice to do it. They were born like that. There might be something out there but I personally would read up on it a bit more. I understand wanting to support animal rights. I myself do that as well and am vegetarian. However I believe Cats and Dogs were made to eat meat. Tigers eat animals. Snakes eat Mice. Try to feed chopped veggies to a snake or Tiger. It doesnt even sound right. Lol.

DC1346 · Answer

I have 4 cats who look after me. I must agree with Seeker of the Way and Babbo. Cats are carnivores. They're natural predators and I won't put them on a vegan diet just to fulfill my own sensibilities. 

At Web MD, Cailin Heinze,VMD, a board-certified veterinary nutritionist and assistant professor of nutrition at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, is quoted as having said, "For cats, it’s really inappropriate. It goes against their physiology and isn’t something I would recommend at all."

At the same website, Lew Olson, PhD, author of Raw and Natural Nutrition for Dogs, made this analogy: “Trying to feed a cat a vegan diet would be like me feeding my horses meat. You’re taking a whole species of animal and trying to force it to eat something that it isn’t designed to handle.”

From my own experience, when I was first selected as a cat caretaker some 12 years ago by my first two cats, Bob and Jasper Baby, I made the mistake of buying a cheap generic dried cat food. The cats gained weight. My vet told me to check the ingredients for the cat food. She asked if the first ingredient listed was some type of meat. I looked and the main ingredient was corn. I switched the cats over to a meat based dried cat food and introduced moist cat food into their diet.

I feed the cats one can of moist food per day. The dried food is always available to them 24/7. My cats healthy and happy. Jasper Baby who had gotten fat eating the generic cereal has long since gotten back to his slim/trim self. 

As a final parting thought, I will say this. I made a choice to become vegan. I cannot and will not make this decision for my cats.

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