Re: Vegetarian Pet Food

Julie — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 23:29:50 GMT

Thank you very much for your replys, especially the contribution from Louisesadieandshads as it was very interesting to hear from someone who has done some research into this area and also tried it on their own pets.

Cheers

Re: Vegetarian Pet Food

Louise B — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:54:32 GMT

I have fed my dogs on and off for the last 4 years on a vegan diet. I fed vegan when I have the money and a cheap brand of dogfood when I don't. My dogs have always done well on a vegetarian diet. Out of the various brands the Wafcol vegetarian appears to be the least palatable - but I found it a very useful tool in modifying food aggression in a shelter dog I adopted. The dog appeared less aggressive when fed this diet (probably because it wasn't considered such a valuable resource as something like Bakers Complete or tinned meat) which allowed me to work on the problem (and cure it) which was impossible when fed a more palatable diet.

If anybody is interested in feeding a more palatable veggie diet to their dog then I would recommend checking out this site: www.veggiepets.com Out of the dried diets on there mine seemed to prefer Ami dog > Happidog nuggets > Benevo > Wafcol. I have not tried to museli-mix Happidog. I have tried the veggie chew sticks but they did not agree with one of my dogs. The Yarrah dog biscuits were also popular.

I started feeding vegetarian dogfood as a means of avoiding primarily chicken and fish products as it is almost impossible to buy a guaranteed chicken or fish-free product in the supermarkets or Pets @ Home. If you scan the shelves I think you'll find only one vegetarian product for dogs - Wafcol Vegetarian.

Cats - there are specialist vegan cat foods on the market which derive their taurine source from an artificial source (bacterially synthesised if I remember correctly). The manufacturers of an American brand - Evolution - sell to thousands of cat owners and claim that they have never had complaints about ill health in cats so either vegan owners are totally thick and don't notice (unlikely as research suggests that vegetarians/vegans on average have higher than average IQs!) or the cats are managing pretty well on this diet.

However, there is some research carried out (published in JAVMA a few years ago)which suggested that the two main vegan cat foods on the market are deficient in a number of nutrients not just taurine. However, that is deficient and not absent so it should be possible to adjust the formulation to account for these problems. I have cut and pasted a letter written to JAVMA in response to the study referred to above.

In defense of vegetarian cat food

It is tempting to leap to the conclusion that cats cannot survive without meat after reading the recent JAVMA article by Gray et al titled "Nutritional adequacy of two vegan diets for cats" (December 1, 2004, pp 1670-1675). Two commercially available vegan cat foods were subjected to blind nutritional analyses and found to be deficient in certain amino acids, trace minerals, vitamins, and arachidonic acid.

One was found to be deficient in overall protein content. Yet, does this necessarily mean that cats cannot survive without meat? Not at all. Although this was certainly true for cats forced to hunt to survive in their natural environments, the evolutionary adaptations of their forebears are of diminished relevance for domesticated cats fed commercial diets from cans or packets at predictable times each day.

For cats, as for all other species, the key requirement is that their diets be nutritionally complete and balanced. It is also essential that they be provided in sufficiently palatable and bioavailable forms. There is absolutely no scientific reason why diets comprised entirely of plant, mineral, and synthetically based ingredients cannot meet all of these requirements, and several commercially available diets indeed claim to do so.

Concerned by the study results of Gray et al, I contacted the manufacturers of the two cat foods tested. In response, the CEO of one company stated, "We have 10,000 to 20,000 healthy and long-living dogs, cats, and ferrets living on the Evolution Diet. ... Major animal sanctuaries use our products and stand behind them. These sanctuaries use our products because they have lower rates of illness and mortality when their animals are placed on our foods."

The most likely explanation is that the sample tested was nutritionally inadequate, but most samples sold and used are adequate, and that a formulation error occurred at the factory.

Similar reasoning explains the anomalies detected in the other tested brand. This was confirmed by the manufacturer, who, greatly concerned by study results, scrutinized their manufacturing process, thereby locating the key mixing error that accounted for the anomalies.

The manufacturer then established quality control procedures to prevent a recurrence.

It is entirely feasible that repeated independent laboratory analyses of a range of commercial brands, both vegan and meatbased, would similarly demonstrate nutritional inadequacies and also inconsistency of nutritional content over time. Of course, such findings in no way negate the ability of well-formulated vegan or meat-based diets to meet all the nutritional requirements of the healthy animals for which they are intended; they merely illustrate the need for good quality control during production.

For vegan cats and dogs, a complete and balanced nutritional supplement or complete diet is required to ensure that all of these nutritional needs are met. Regular urine pH monitoring is also important to detect and allow prevention of urinary alkalinization, with its consequent potential for urinary calculi, blockages, and infections that may result from a vegetarian diet in a minority of cats.

Andrew Knight, BSc, BVMS
President, Animal Consultants International
Veterinarian, Tweed House Veterinary Surgery
Yeadon, Leeds, UK

I hope this is of interest to other nurses. I started collecting this information as I am writing an article on this area but when I saw these posts felt I should contribute!

Re: Vegetarian Pet Food

Steph Worsley — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:36:00 GMT

please tell the owner to stop giving cat veggie diet....they are obligate carnivores, need meat in particular taurine to survive!

veggie diets in dogs.....still sceptical about them but if dog looks good, fit and healthy then why not

Re: Vegetarian Pet Food

ginny — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:15:47 GMT

You're right - a cat is an obligate carnivore - must have meat to survive.