To all vegetarians and vegans: Do you feed meat to your pets?

Question

Raymo 51, have I offended you in any way? If so, I apologise. Just in case, I have reported you.

Answer 1

This question has been done to death.

Dogs and cats are carnivores by nature. We KNOW that and good pet owners will feed them a high quality pet food with animal protein. A vegetarian diet is not for them. If someone cant bring themselves to feed their pet a proper diet, they should not have a pet.

Answer 2

if you have a dog and you are VERY careful about making sure he or she gets ALL the nutrients he or she needs, dogs are capable of being very healthy on a diet that is predominanatly vegetarian, but no matter how careful you are it is still better to give them some meat. that's what their short digestive tract was made for and it's the only way they can live. If you have a dog and you want to emphasize grains and veggies in its diet then you should consult a veteranarian
on the other hand, cats are ENTIRELY carnivorous, except for a little bit of grass every now and again which they use for roughage and derive NO nutrition from. They cannot survive at all if you try to feed them a vegetarian diet.
If you have a bird you should not be feeding it meat. Most of them can process it through their digestive system but it makes them crazy and antisocial in many cases.
Most rodents like rats and guinea pigs do not need to eat meat.
If you have a snake of a lizard you need to feed it meat. That's what they survive on and they can't live on just veggies.
Pet rocks do not need to eat any meat or vegetables.
We humans are lucky that we have such versatile digestive systems that can break down so many different things. It gives us a lot of choices in this world. Pets do not have the same choices. They have definite nutritional requirements that need to be met.

Answer 3

Answer quoted from source/link given below: "Yes, dogs have no problem being vegetarian. Dogs do not have to rely on eating meat as they can find all the nutrition that they require from non-animal sources. There are thousands of healty dogs living on vegetarian diets without any problems. Happidog, the first vegetarian dog food in the UK, is celebrating its 25th anniversary and is going strong with more vegetarian dogs than ever! In fact, some health problems can be alleviated by cuuting out meat. Vegetarian diets are well known for relieving arthritis, skin and fur problems and obesity in dogs."

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Cats, on the other hand, are carnivores and survive only by digesting certain amino acids found in meats. It is not a good idea to put a cat on a vegetarian diet! The second link talks about this.

Answer 4

Of course! You are possibly a little slow educationally? Look at the answers given then go out and buy a book that describes how some creatures are naturally vegetarians and others meat eaters, others able to eat virtually all kinds of food. Or are you just trying to be smart and failing miserably?

Answer 5

I feed commercial pet food to my cats because cat's can't survive without taurine, an animal derived amino acid. Dogs do great on a vegetarian diet, so that's not a worry for me. I do not cook meat for my pets and there are some varieties of food I won't buy. We got free samples of this food that was fish flavored cat food and we couldn't use it because there were identifiable bits of fish in it. My husband and I both nearly threw up. It was sooooo gross.

Answer 6

We are omnivores, we are built to eat plant matter as well as meat. Dogs are not.

What's more, if any dog could talk it would be adamant that it wanted to eat meat, the only reason they ever wouldn't is if they didn't have a choice. You cannot aply human sensitivities to animals.

Cats and dogs are built solely to eat meat, and while it is true that they sometimes eat grass to aid digestion, to give them a meat free diet could be very harmful to them.

Anyone who deprived a cat or dog of it's only natural food, meat, is sick and should be reported to the RSPCA.

Answer 7

Yes. I have two cats and they eat their fish or their meat. It's disgusting stuff but they enjoy it. Who am I to tell anyone what to eat? Even cats? They do a job of work, keeping the mice down, therefore, they earn their keep which is their breakfast and dinner - just because I find it revolting, doesn't mean I'm going to make them starve. Besides, they don't like vegetables much. Just cheese!

Answer 8

Any vegetarian that feeds meat to pets is a hypocrite!
If you as on omnivore refuse to eat meat on principle, then if you can survive then so can your pet.
Me I'm a meatatarian!

Answer 9

Well i can get over that as some people in my fammly are alurjick to them but...

if i did have a pet i would make it a rabbit so again i could get over taht as they could survive as a vegetarian but...

If i had a dog i wouldn't feed him meet so...

Short answer NO!!!

Answer 10

I don't have any animal at the moment but I know vegans who have dogs and with regular vet checks they survive well on meat replacements. So they do not have meat in the house ever.