can veggies own a dog?

LoadsaMoney · 5 May 2006 at 23:43

When i saw the title i thought, wtf how would a potato or summit own a dog.

punky_munky · 5 May 2006 at 23:46

LoadsaMoney said:
When i saw the title i thought, wtf how would a potato or summit own a dog.

Yeah, I was wondering if he meant a vegetable owning a dog or pwning a dog in a fight. :confused:

CossackNoodle · 5 May 2006 at 23:48

Not read all posts but i dont see why a veggie cant have a dog and feed it meat it is a dog after all whatelse would it do humans in a way can decide for themselves

Velocity219e · 5 May 2006 at 23:50

jidh007 said:
Though arguably dogs need to eat meat, whereas humans can do fine without. Personally I don't care, but that's the point they argue

Thats not strictly true, cats are obligate carnivores, which is to say they MUST have meat to have a properly functioning digestive system
dogs on the other hand (as far as I know) are not, they can subsist entirely on meat free foods, but will probably look a patch on the unhealthy side as they won't be getting as much protein...

axe · 6 May 2006 at 00:00

Velocity219e said:
Thats not strictly true, cats are obligate carnivores, which is to say they MUST have meat to have a properly functioning digestive system
dogs on the other hand (as far as I know) are not, they can subsist entirely on meat free foods, but will probably look a patch on the unhealthy side as they won't be getting as much protein...

but would did wild dogs eat? everytime mine ate grass it was sick

SexyGreyFox · 6 May 2006 at 00:04

CossackNoodle said:
Humans in a way can decide for themselves

Babies, toddlers and children can't though and they should be protected against vegan parents.

Velocity219e · 6 May 2006 at 00:18

axe said:
but would did wild dogs eat? everytime mine ate grass it was sick

don't dogs eat grass for their digestive system anyway?

and Wild dogs are totally different to household dogs, the point I was trying to make was that domestic dogs don't 'need' meat in their diets, My fathers dog eats only dry biscuits (wet foods make him sick) whereas a cat that didn't eat meats (from a packet or otherwise) would most likely die from digestive problems (or at least be incredibly ill and malnourished)

dmpoole said:
Babies, toddlers and children can't though and they should be protected against vegan parents.

That I have to agree with

a baby needs what it needs, wierd eating habits be damned. Give it a nice big medium rare steak for gods sake, it'll be fine.

PeterNem · 6 May 2006 at 00:28

My mum is the ideal vegetarian.

My dad, brother and I are all meat eaters and I've never once heard mum say a bad thing about it - she quite happilly cooks us meat dishes and loves sunday roasts and BBQs (although for the veg and salad respectively, rather than the meat).

semi-pro waster · 6 May 2006 at 01:41

Jon Frost said:
As above really.

As dogs eat meat, can veggies/do veggies own dogs / cats?

Jon

/random thought.

Very random and if you don't mind me saying so nonsensical thought. Of course vegetarians can own dogs or cats, I've yet to hear of the law stating otherwise.

I've been vegetarian since I was 4 or 5 but I've never been without a dog or cat, it is natural for them to eat meat in one form or another(my dogs have always eaten dried food and the cat ate Whiskers) but they didn't seem to be any the worse off for that, in fact I often got compliments on how healthy my Whippet was. Regardless of popular belief a lot of dogs do enjoy vegetables (all in my experience love carrot for some reason) so while my dog(s) eat/ate dried food they also loved some vegetables as well as meat whenever it was given to them.

As PeterNem says not all vegetarians are militant about their beliefs, if you or anyone else wants to eat meat that is fair enough, I wouldn't dissuade anyone but do me the same courtesy and don't tell me vegetarianism is wrong either. It is the same with religion, if you respect my rights I respect yours

fps133 · 6 May 2006 at 03:23

I have been a veggie (on and off, tbh) for many years and my cat eats Whiskas pouches and Hills chicken biscuits just like any other. The higher quality the meat is, the less animal rights issues there are likely to be.

PinkPig · 6 May 2006 at 07:59

When I saw the questions I was expecting something like, "What if they get tempted to eat it?"

I can't imagine many vegetarians would have a problem with keeping a dog who eats meat - vegetarians aren't a different species, why are they any more likely to have a problem with a dog eating meat than with friends or family doing so?

I'm a strict believer in not going to the toilet on top of lampposts. For years and years I've done no such thing, not even once. Don't have a problem with Rusty doing it though.

the_brainaic · 6 May 2006 at 08:06

dmpoole said:
Thats an excellent point.
I've posted before that 15 years ago my sister in law/brother in law had their first child and bought him up vegan.
He became ill and the doctors warned them if they didn't feed him properly social services would be called in.
They have four kids now and trips to McDonalds are regular occurences now.

I'm guessing that social services were called in after all.

xyphic · 6 May 2006 at 08:33

semi-pro waster said:
Very random and if you don't mind me saying so nonsensical thought. Of course vegetarians can own dogs or cats, I've yet to hear of the law stating otherwise.

I've been vegetarian since I was 4 or 5 but I've never been without a dog or cat, it is natural for them to eat meat in one form or another(my dogs have always eaten dried food and the cat ate Whiskers) but they didn't seem to be any the worse off for that, in fact I often got compliments on how healthy my Whippet was.

It's also natural for humans to eat meat - we are omnivores. It's just social conscience that makes most people into vegetarians or vegans (I accept that some people just don't like meat, but that's a different matter). I find it quite hypocritical when someone who objects to eating meat because of farming methods, or other ethical reasons has no qualms about feeding their pets meat products. I suspect most who do this simply don't think about it.

singist · 6 May 2006 at 08:48

Oracle said:
what!? Are you being serious!?

snip

In addition, the dogs shouldnt eat raw meat as they cant digest it (popular to contrary believe) and it contributes to heart disease!

Most of their food is porcessed into chunks (wet) and biscuity form( dry)

Sorry, I think that the above sort of misinformation is irresponsible!

More and more people are turning to RAW meat diets and finding that their pets become healthier; to state that dogs shouldn't eat raw meat is wrong; kibble and cooked meat is not as good for them, but not particularly harmful.

Raw meat is the natural source of protein for both carnivorous and omnivorous animals. Protein is an amino acid, and an amino acid is a molecule. Raw meat is made up of long molecule chains that are easily broken down by the dog's digestive system. The long molecule chain is broken into short chain amino acids through the cooking process, and the dog is left with a deficiency of a complete amino acid profile. Amino acids, essential nutrients, enzymes and antioxidants are destroyed or altered through the cooking process. These nutrients are absolutely vital to good health, and in fact are essential for every biochemical activity in your dog's body. The feeding of cooked or processed foods interferes with many of the body's normal functions, and therefore is responsible for impairing or otherwise compromising the immune system. When fat in the meat is cooked it transforms to trans-fats, which are toxic and have been found to have a detrimental effect on the immune system, cell membranes and liver function.

ElRazur · 6 May 2006 at 08:57

singist said:
Sorry, I think that the above sort of misinformation is irresponsible!

More and more people are turning to RAW meat diets and finding that their pets become healthier; to state that dogs shouldn't eat raw meat is wrong; kibble and cooked meat is not as good for them, but not particularly harmful.

Raw meat is the natural source of protein for both carnivorous and omnivorous animals. Protein is an amino acid, and an amino acid is a molecule. Raw meat is made up of long molecule chains that are easily broken down by the dog's digestive system. The long molecule chain is broken into short chain amino acids through the cooking process, and the dog is left with a deficiency of a complete amino acid profile. Amino acids, essential nutrients, enzymes and antioxidants are destroyed or altered through the cooking process. These nutrients are absolutely vital to good health, and in fact are essential for every biochemical activity in your dog's body. The feeding of cooked or processed foods interferes with many of the body's normal functions, and therefore is responsible for impairing or otherwise compromising the immune system. When fat in the meat is cooked it transforms to trans-fats, which are toxic and have been found to have a detrimental effect on the immune system, cell membranes and liver function.

I was gonna say so before but since i dont own a dog i didnt.
As for your effort and simple yet logical explanation i am awarding you an A-!

Nicely done.

phykell · 6 May 2006 at 09:20

Why is it so many people can't accept that others can draw the line somewhere? Talk of hypocrisy is ridiculous and just because I happen to choose not to eat meat it doesn't mean I can do that for my cats. Unlike dogs, they really are carnivores and must eat meat. When I decided to stop eating the stuff, for health and ethical reasons by the way, my responsibility to my cats shouldn't change should it? Also, if I choose to rehome another cat I'm not going to deprive it of its natural food just because I don't eat meat. What a stupid idea that would be! As for the ethics, yes I'd love to be able to buy food that I *knew* came from an ethically farmed source, but no doubt it's as difficult and expensive to get for pet food manufacturers as it is for the rest of us. As it happens, my cats get "James Well-Beloved" food which is the best I know of.

William · 6 May 2006 at 09:46

This reminds me of that futurama sketch where the hippies come and show the professor the Lion that they brought up on Tofu.

As to general vegitarian bashing, I caught a girl I know the other day munching on chicken crisps, so I shouted somthing at her (being drunk) but then she won when upon initial horror at the crime she had commited, she checked the ingredients, no chicken in them. I was willing to let her have this victory as she has massive norks. :cool:

Skully · 6 May 2006 at 09:57

As long as they don't eat the dog it should be fine.

SKILL · 6 May 2006 at 09:59

My mum and sister are both vegetarians, and have been for a good 10 years now, in with time we've only not had dogs for about a year of that time, we've always fed the dogs on dry biscuits with some tinned meat thrown in as well.

My mum and sisters aren't the kind to think they are making a difference to animals welfare in the long run, but they simply don't want to be contributing in any way, however insignificant, to the harm of animals when it's really not needed...

With regards to the crisps, you'll find a lot of crisps don't contain any meat, it's all just flavourings, and with quorn the mince is actually quite nice, it's got the same texture and the taste isn't far off the 'real' stuff but it has the huge benefit that it's so damn easy to cook

masterk · 6 May 2006 at 10:01

Velocity219e said:
don't dogs eat grass for their digestive system anyway?

Im pretty sure they eat grass to make themselves vomit.