Some people think about their food habits and feel that a vegetarian diet would be far less cruel than a carnivorous one. Sometimes, people who are vegetarians will think a little past this and wonder how they can possibly tolerate letting their pets eat meat either. How can they be so inconsistent in their affection for animals, they think to themselves, to kill one to feed another? And so, they begin to seriously look up information on a vegetarian diet for dogs.
Dogs are omnivores. They certainly can live on a vegetarian diet – vegetables and a little dairy. Of course, you can't start your dog on a vegetarian diet just overnight. To be switched so totally away from familiar food won't be a good thing. You could give your dog serious gastrointestinal distress this way. It's always a good idea to make the transition slowly.
A well-designed vegetarian diet for dogs will usually give your dog all the nutrition he needs. Nevertheless, you do want to make the transition in a gradual manner, you want to watch closely if your dog seems to come up we an allergic reaction of any kind.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to start your dog's transition off by speaking to the veterinarian and designing a diet in consultation with him. Ask about whether there's something about your particular breed of dog that could need more than what a regular vegetarian diet might provide. Your veterinarian might prescribe supplements in that case.
Vegetarian diets are able to provide anyone with all the nutrition they need – witness powerful animals like cows and rhinos, growing up on a totally vegetarian diet. It's not that vegetable matter doesn't have what it takes to completely supply us with all we need. It's just that we need to know what to eat, as wild animals do.
The reason why many Western people become anemic when switching to a vegetarian diet, is that they are not familiar with how to put a vegetarian meal together. If you would look at places like India where there's a traditional vegetarian diet in existence that is thousands of years old, their recipes are completely designed to supply those people with everything that they need. You need a cultural tradition in vegetarianism to really know how to work it. You can't just switch to a vegetarian diet, eat carrots, and think you can survive. You need a 1000-year culinary tradition to tell you what works.
It's the same for dogs, too. Since there is no cultural tradition that will tell you what a vegetarian diet for dogs is supposed to look like, you have to look to some kind of scientific source for what works. And it's different for every dog breed, too. At first, commercially produced dog food that's certified by the AAFCO should be perfect.
Dogs are omnivores. They certainly can live on a vegetarian diet – vegetables and a little dairy. Of course, you can't start your dog on a vegetarian diet just overnight. To be switched so totally away from familiar food won't be a good thing. You could give your dog serious gastrointestinal distress this way. It's always a good idea to make the transition slowly.
A well-designed vegetarian diet for dogs will usually give your dog all the nutrition he needs. Nevertheless, you do want to make the transition in a gradual manner, you want to watch closely if your dog seems to come up we an allergic reaction of any kind.
It wouldn't be a bad idea to start your dog's transition off by speaking to the veterinarian and designing a diet in consultation with him. Ask about whether there's something about your particular breed of dog that could need more than what a regular vegetarian diet might provide. Your veterinarian might prescribe supplements in that case.
Vegetarian diets are able to provide anyone with all the nutrition they need – witness powerful animals like cows and rhinos, growing up on a totally vegetarian diet. It's not that vegetable matter doesn't have what it takes to completely supply us with all we need. It's just that we need to know what to eat, as wild animals do.
The reason why many Western people become anemic when switching to a vegetarian diet, is that they are not familiar with how to put a vegetarian meal together. If you would look at places like India where there's a traditional vegetarian diet in existence that is thousands of years old, their recipes are completely designed to supply those people with everything that they need. You need a cultural tradition in vegetarianism to really know how to work it. You can't just switch to a vegetarian diet, eat carrots, and think you can survive. You need a 1000-year culinary tradition to tell you what works.
It's the same for dogs, too. Since there is no cultural tradition that will tell you what a vegetarian diet for dogs is supposed to look like, you have to look to some kind of scientific source for what works. And it's different for every dog breed, too. At first, commercially produced dog food that's certified by the AAFCO should be perfect.
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