Hi all,
I have become a vegetarian along with my kids a few months ago. I have two dogs, and they eat holistic, high value kibble. My question is.... I have heard that a bunch of vegetarians actually convert their pets into veggies too, but although I feel bad for the animals being put into dog food, I find it unnatural for a dog not to have animal components in their diets. A lot of the people at the dog club, actually feed a raw diet to their dogs, which consists of raw meat, turkeys, chickens etc, and their dogs are the most healthy I have ever seen (lean, lots of energy, beautiful coat). While that is not an option for me AT ALL, I was just wondering how you all feel about the dog and cat food situation. For training treats I buy hot dogs, string cheese and sometimes turkey or chicken breast, feeling bad, but getting great training results....

I believe dogs are natural carnivores, and I feed mine a good kibble also that has meat in it.
i would never convert my dogs to being veggies. i think its unnatural for them

i should add, we also give cheese, cooked chicken for special treats.
if you want to hear of an example of the true nature of dogs.........one day some wild turkeys came thru our yard.........2 of my dogs were in their fenced in pen area........one escaped the pen caught a turkey and ate most of it.
it was very upsetting, i tried to stop it.........and by the time i got the turkey away from the dog it was too late, hubby buried the turkey carcass way in the woods.
the turkeys never walk thru our yard anymore........:(

Oh goodness! I am not sure what my puppies would do with access to a yummy wild turkey. We had them walk through our backyard too, and the dogs were glued to the window, growling and whining like crazy. What kind of dogs do you have? We have a 3 year old black labrador girl and a 2 year old Cockerpoo-Lhasa Apso mix girl (see my avatar picture).

she is adorable!
We have 3 dogs, all are lab/shepard/chow mix.......we have the mom who is about 10-11 yrs old ( not sure since we got her as a stray) and the other 2 are her daughters ( she was preg when we rescued her) they are 8........it was one of the youngins that got the poor turkey!

There's evidence that dogs can thrive on a carefully formulated vegetarian diet.

That said, I don't do it. My dog gets a very high-quality holistic kibble with chicken meal as the first ingredient. I wish that there were a kibble that used sustainably farmed meat, but I haven't found one yet. I feel good about the kibble that I'm using health-wise, but ethically I do have some qualms about it.

I also buy my dog beef soup bones that he chews on raw and frozen. Again, I don't feel 100% comfortable with the meat, but I don't feel 100% comfortable with veg*n dog food, either.

My dog is happy and healthy. For now that's enough!

I tried a vegetarian food for my dog but he hated it and prefered the cats poop to it. Yuck! I've experimented a lot with foods and now I've settled on a raw meat diet. It's the only thing he really likes. He hates kibble and I can see why. I don't think the vegetarian dog food is very healthy as they can not digest hardely any of it.

I tried a vegetarian food for my dog but he hated it and prefered the cats poop to it. Yuck! I'd wager to bet any dog would prefer cat poop to any food, even steak. It's like offering a kid a choice between dry cereal and a chocolate candy bar. Hmm, I wonder what they'll choose.

There's evidence that dogs can thrive on a carefully formulated vegetarian diet.

That said, I don't do it. My dog gets a very high-quality holistic kibble with chicken meal as the first ingredient. I wish that there were a kibble that used sustainably farmed meat, but I haven't found one yet. I feel good about the kibble that I'm using health-wise, but ethically I do have some qualms about it.

I also buy my dog beef soup bones that he chews on raw and frozen. Again, I don't feel 100% comfortable with the meat, but I don't feel 100% comfortable with veg*n dog food, either.

My dog is happy and healthy. For now that's enough!

I agree with this. Though personally I don't have any ethical qualms about the meat-based foods I feed my pets.

My dog and my cats are all on a raw food kibble at the moment - InnovaEvo. If I could feed them fresh raw food (meat, veggies, etc), I would. I'm leaning more and more towards it.

I know there are some people that put cats on veg*n diets, but I would never do it. I have heard of a number of dog owners putting their dogs on vegetarian diets and they have thrived, but I would never do it. I don't have a problem with feeding my pets meat-based food. I don't want to impose my beliefs onto them, especially to the point of risking their health.

I DEFINITELY wouldn't put a cat on a veg*n diet. Cats are obligate carnivores.

And the qualms that I have about my kibble are more about the fact that the meat is factory farmed, regardless of the fact that it's organic and hormone-free. I have NO qualms whatsoever about feeding my dog meat. Honestly, in my best case scenario, I would know a hunter and feed my dog hunted meat.

Jenna, Innova Evo is a good food. I'm going to switch my dog over to Evo after he turns 2, because he's a big dog. Evo isn't raw though. Innova markets it as an alternative to raw and it's grain-free, but it isn't raw.

Cheer,
R

And if my dog were formulating his own super-premium kibble, it would include:

cat poop, vegetables that fall of the counter while humans chop them, fast food packaging, fresh steaming horse dung, flies, sticks, rotting seal carcass, sea water, banana peels, cat poop, grass, seagulls (not that he knows what they actually taste like...but anything that much fun to chase MUST taste good), muddy water, cat poop, whatever cookies are being distributed at the dog park, toilet water, leftover human food, socks (particularly if feet are still in them) and cat poop

Dogs LOVE cat poop. The fact that they like them more than kibble doesn't necessarily mean that they don't like the kibble.

Random i was laughing at your dogs made up kibble!!! seems our dogs have the same taste! do you know how much horse dung i have cleaned off my dogs??? we have neighbors with horses, and every chance my dogs get they run over there :(

You guys are too funny!! I also have cat poop lovers at home. Add some deer and rabbit poop to it, and you are my doggies bestest friend for life. Bunny even likes to roll in it, if she's fast enough.
I too feed InnovaEvo for Bunny, who has always had some trouble with allergies, and although it looks like it is seasonal, I switched to what I thought was the best food ever without feeding raw. Velvet, my labrador is on Eagle Pack Diet, because she is about 8 pounds overweighed and she loves bulk. She doesn't care for high quality kibble that is not A LOT. So I felt horrible just feeding her 2 cups of Evo per day. I will try to switch her back on Evo once she has lost that extra fat. We do Agility, and she just cannot be rolling into the tunnels. She might get stuck, hahah.

Thanks for all the input, though. I feel a bit better now feeding meaty kibble.

Both my dogs went vegan last summer and are doing great. Super silky hair, bright eyes, and a HUGE enthusiasm for tofu, plain 'old dry oatmeal, fruits, vegetables.....they have a vegan kibble on hand for munchies, but I much prefer that they don't eat it because I think that whole foods is better for them than processed foods (kibble). But, I like a good potato chip now and then, so I let them have the kibble. However, they much prefer the wholefoods and only nibble on the kibble sometimes. :D Smart dogs!

Something I found strange is that before they went vegan, they would often try to eat just about anything they found on the ground during walks and especially went after meat. I worried that that habit would get worse after they went vegan...that they'd be craving the meat. But, 95% of the time, they IGNORE bits of meat and bone that they find lying around. (If I take them out before they eat breakfast, all bets are off.) Instead, they've taken up begging at the fruit vendors we pass and I had a hard time getting Noodle to drop the smushed baby tomato he found on the sidewalk.