Title : is usually a Vegetarian Det Appropriate For Dogs?
Feeding a vegetarian food to your dog is usually a personal decision probably decided because of your own personal preferences. the Vegetarian Society carries a lot of information on feeding a veggie diet to your dog, particularly how to ensure the basic nutrients are provided. They suggest which if your dog has been brought up on a meat diet, make the changeover to a vegetarian diet gradual.
With active dogs there is usually a problem of bulk versus energy as well as readers are advised to consult their vet for guidance to ensure which sufficient energy can be obtained through the amount of food given.
Vegetarian feeding of cats is usually not generally recommended because cats are obligate carnivores - which is usually, they need meat in their diet. The Vegerarian Society has info on cats.
The main problem with natural feeding of a veggie diet would certainly seem to be the sheer bulk of food needed to ensure full as well as complete nutrition, as well as the variety of foodstuffs needed to make up such a diet (click here for more info)
There are a large number of ingredients which you can incorporate into the diet:
Vegetables - Green vegetables are a great way of boosting your dogs immune system, you can feed these raw or cooked. Raw carrot makes a healthy treat. Vegetables are possibly better for dogs than fruit. Potato must be cooked, as well as mashed potato is usually a suitable ingredient for home cooking.
Fruit - inside the wild, dogs would certainly have scavenged windfall fruit as well as digesting the remains of fruit eaten by different animals when they pick over the carcass, so giving your dog fruit is usually not as strange as which might sound. Fresh fruit is usually packed full of anti-oxidants, vitamins as well as all sorts of different healthy nutrients, so which's great for keeping your dog in top condition. Some fruits are quite acidic (as well as sugary) as well as may not be not bad for dogs with skin or digestive complaints.
Grains - Rice is usually universally recommended, as well as brown rice preferred, however make sure which which is usually well cooked to ensure your pet can get the maximum goodness.
Fish - Vary the protein which you are feeding, to ensure a not bad range of amino acids is usually provided. Fish, particularly oily varieties are a not bad source of omega 3 as well as 6 oils.
Yoghurt - which is usually a great source of protein, calcium as well as vitamins, as well as is usually particularly not bad for dogs with diarrhoea thanks to the probiotics which contains.
Cottage cheese - another surprisingly healthy dairy food which is usually great for growing puppies as well as lactating bitches.
Brewer's yeast - Can be purchased through health food stores or chemists as a food supplement as well as is usually full of nutrients as well as vitamins. You only need to use about 1/2 tsp a day with recipes.
An alternative is usually to look at the modest number of complete vegetarian foods available for dogs which have a declared analysis which meets nutritional guidlines. Feeding amounts on these can be higher than equivalent meat based foods (ie 650g for a 30kg dog as compared to 3-400g with meat based foods) so do follow the recommended feeding rates.
You should be aware which not all Veterinary Surgeons are happy about the nutritional adequacy of home cooking - there are issues regarding vitamin, mineral as well as micronutrient content.
A recent field study presents a survey of the primary reasons for choosing a vegetarian diet as well as an outline of the most frequent nutritional imbalances found in these diets.
The survey consisted of personal interviews. Owners were asked to fill out a questionnaire to provide a detailed account of their pet's diet as well as medical history as well as to present their dogs as well as cats for clinical examination.
If possible a blood sample was drawn. Energy as well as nutrient intake of the animals were calculated as well as compared with requirements. Additionally, twelve prepared complete vegetarian dog foods were investigated.
A total of eighty-six dogs were investigated in Germany, Switzerland as well as Belgium as well as applications continued to arrive after the survey was finished. By contrast, only eight cats were found which currently were fed a vegetarian diet.
With few exceptions, the survey's participants were also vegetarians who believed which animals should not be killed in order to provide meat as well as / or which meat production was carried out in a way which was cruel to the animals as well as detrimental to the health of consumers.
The protein intake was inadequate for over half of the dogs. Nutritional errors typical of all homemade diets also occurred inside the vegetarian diets.
The calcium requirements were not met in 62% of the dogs' diets, likewise for phosphorus, which was below standard for roughly half of the dogs. which resulted in an unbalanced Ca / P ratio.
In addition, 73% of the dogs had an insufficient intake of sodium. In many cases, the supply of trace elements was inadequate. A high number of the plasma samples also showed insufficient amounts of iron, copper, zinc as well as iodine. Of the vitamin contents calculated, vitamin D was most often below recommendations.
Here also, a reduced plasma content of 25-OH-vitamin D was common. Fifty-six percent of the dogs showed a vitamin B12 intake below recommendations. Despite the fact which some of the diets were unbalanced, no clinical problems were found inside the adult dogs.
The protein intake of the cats was not far below the requirements, although the amount of S-containing amino acids was frequently inadequate. None of the cats inside the study were provided with enough taurine although products containing taurine were used.
Similar deficiencies to those of the dogs in minerals as well as trace elements, as well as vitamin D as well as B12 were found inside the cats' diets. Vitamin A intake was deficient in all cases, as well as in all however two cases, cats had insufficient amounts of arachadonic acid. One cat showed symptoms of retinal atrophy as well as two displayed reduced frequency of estrus.
The mineral as well as vitamin content of the prepared vegetarian petfoods frequently did not provide a balanced diet for a dog's nutritional needs. Only two of the twelve products which were analyzed can be recommended without reservation.
Source: E. Kienzle as well as R. Engelhard. A field study on the nutrition of vegetarian dogs as well as cats in Europe. through Proceedings of Sixth Workshop in Pet Food Labeling as well as Regulations. p. 139.
is usually a Vegetarian Det Appropriate For Dogs?
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