Dogs can and do live very happily and healthily on a veggie/vegan diet. They can obtain all the nutrients they need from non-meat sources. In fact, the Dogs’ Trust and many vets advocate a veggie diet for dogs with skin problems or digestive upsets. There are some excellent veggie dog foods on the market now, both tinned and crunchy nugget type foods, along with chew-bones, treat biscuits, etc. Some of my friends’ veggie dogs are very elderly now, and they are very healthy (inside and out!) Their diet has not caused them any problems, in fact it has been of benefit to them.
Veggie dog foods are certified nutritionally complete and there are lots of varieties around to choose from. Dogs find these foods very enjoyable – I’m sure they don’t even realise they are veggie, as they are made with a “meaty” texture and flavour. So, if dogs are happy with their food and it’s nutritionally complete, what’s the problem???
Cats are a bit more tricky, as they would normally live exclusively on meat. There is a supplement available from a company called Veggie Pets, which can be added to their food. This contains taurine, along with various other nutrients that cats would normally obtain from meat. Incidentally, most tinned (meat) cat foods are full of so much rubbish, that they have synthetic taurine added to them! Personally, I would be a bit wary of keeping veggie cats, as you have to be so careful to ensure they don’t miss out on anything.
As for the reasons why some vegetarians and vegans do not feed their dogs/cats meat, it’s simply because they do not wish to support the meat industry in any way whatsoever. As I have said before, most vegans do not agree with pet-keeping in principle, but many of us adopt rescue animals because there are so many who need homes. While “pet” animals exist, vegans prefer to take care of them in such a way that causes minimal harm to ALL animals, hence not supporting the meat trade.
Vegans care about ALL animals, not just “pets”. Chickens, pigs, cows, sheep, etc are no less worthy of living! I can never understand why most people see them so differently from their pets and care so very little about them. Vegans see the bigger picture, and try to live their lives causing the least harm possible to other living beings.
Jenny