[nagdu] dogs cats transitioning

[Raven Tolliver]

Unfortunately, feeding a vegetarian diet to a carnivore is a great
disservice. While a vegetarian diet is leaps and bounds better than
consuming processed foods, there are still many things lacking in a
diet excluding meat. Vitamin B12, collagen, gelatin, and omega-3 fatty
acids are just a few nutrients that must be derived from meat
products. Omega-3 is most bioavailable to humans and dogs from meat
sources, since the plant form of omega-3, called ALA, has a poor
conversion rate to DHA and EPA. Dogs cannot convert ALA into DHA at
all, and humans only convert some ALA into DHA and EPA.
If you look at wild dogs and even native cultures of humans, they
include meat in their diets. What many people don't know is that, even
the earth eats meat. If you do any gardening, you know that the soil
must be fertilized by a product or mixture including bone meal, blood
meal, and meat meal. So even if you eat a vegetarian or vegan diet,
your fruits and veggies rely on decomposed meat products for
nutrition.
Also, plant foods are high in omega-6, which is the fatty acid that
aids, promotes and feeds inflammation. The omega-6 to omega-3 ratio
should be 4 or 3 to 1. If you're not eating meat or supplementing with
fish oil, your ratio is likely imbalanced. Omega-3 is important to
reduce inflammation.
There is a way to eat clean meat without funding the torture and ill
treatment of feedlot operations. Purchase meats that are pastured,
free-range, and grass-fed. Both my dog and I consume these healthy
meats, which are from animals who are allowed to roam the pasture and
graze, are not treated with antibiotics or hormones, and are fed
organic supplemental feeds. Pastured animals yield meat that is high
in omega 3, and much lower in hormones. This is because these animals
are not kept in a stressful environment, and are not crammed together,
preventing the easy spreading of disease. Eating a species appropriate
diet and roaming outdoors promotes health and prevents the need for
hormones and antibiotics. Grain-fed animals live in ghastly, crowded
conditions, are stuck in their cages from day one, eat grain, which is
higher in omega-6 than grasses, and are fed hormones and antibiotics
to make them grow faster and to kill off diseases. Grain-fed feedlot
meat has a omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 25 to 1, while pastured meat's
ratio is 4 to 1. It's obvious which kind of meat is healthy.
Also, animal fats, also called saturated fats are necessary in the
diet, and offer benefits that only saturated fats provide, including:
Bone health: Saturated fat is necessary for calcium absorption.
Liver health: Saturated fats protect the liver from the harmful
effects of alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs and signals the liver to
dump fat stores.
Lung health: The lungs are coated with a slippery substance made up of
saturated fats.
Brain health: The brain is made primarily of saturated fats, necessary
for proper repair and function.
Nerve health: Saturated fats act as transmitters, sending signals that
regulate metabolism and the release of insulin.
Immune health: Saturated fats are necessary for proper function of
white blood cells, which fight viruses, bacteria, and disease (7).

So back to dogs, there are several physiological characteristics of
dogs that prove they are carnivores:
1. sharp, pointy teeth that meet in a scissors bite, muscular jaw, and
powerful neck muscles, all meant for tearing meat and crushing bone.
2. the absence of flat molars, and the inability to move their
mandible from side to side. For this very anatomical reason, dogs are
unable to adequately chew and grind up their food. Look at a horse's
or cow's teeth, then look at a dog's teeth.
If you've seen horses and or cattle eat, they chew and munch up their
food well before swallowing. Dogs typically gobble down their food,
crunching a few times before swallowing. This is because
3. Digestion for dogs starts in their stomachs, not their mouths.
Omnivores and herbivores produce digestive enzymes in their saliva to
start breaking down food and gleaning nutrients.
4. Dogs do not produce amulace in their saliva, nor do they
manufacture cellulace. These digestive enzymes are necessary for
sufficient digestion of plants and absorption of nutrients from those
plants. Without an adequate amount of those enzymes, digestion and
nutrient absorption from plants is insufficient.
Cellulace is necessary to break down cellulose, the tough outer
structure of fruits and veggies. Cellulose is also broken down by food
processing, such as pureeing, grinding, and so on. This is why if you
read recipes and instructions for making homemade dog food, fruits and
veggies must be pureed, frozen, cooked, or ground.
5. Carnivores, including dogs, have short intestinal tracts made of
smooth tissue to allow the quick and easy passage of meat, and to
prevent meat from sitting in their gut, fermenting, and forming
harmful bacteria. Omnivores have medium length GI tracts, and
herbivores have the longest GI tracts. Fermentation produces
probiotics and enzymes which aid in the digestion process for
omnivores and herbivores. Furthermore, omnivores and herbivores have
folds and creases in their intestines to slow digestion for proper
nutrient absorption. Dogs lack these folds.

Again, vegetarian diets that exclude processed foods, sugar, and soy,
exceed the nutritional content of commercial dog food. However, it is
still not the optimal diet for a dog.
-- 
Raven
You are valuable because of your potential, not because of what you
have or what you do.

Naturally-reared guide dogs
https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nrguidedogs

On 5/4/15, Becky Frankeberger via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Dogs, cats differ on transitioning to plant-based diet
>
> May 1 2015 12:01 am
>
> Pet Docs
>
> Question: For ethical reasons, I am a vegetarian. I am the owner of a cat
> and two dogs. I
>
> feel very guilty feeding them animal products, but I continue to do so for
> their
>
> health. Can I safely make vegetarians out of them.
>
> Answer: The first time I (Henri Bianucci) gave this matter any thought was
> during my residency.
>
> One afternoon, while conducting a teaching lab, I heard a student mention
> that she
>
> was a vegetarian. I knew this student, and knew that she had cats.
>
> I asked, "Are you a vegetarian for health reasons, or is it out of concern
> for animal
>
> welfare?"
>
> "Animal welfare," she exclaimed.
>
> "Well, what do you feed your cats?" I asked.
>
> Her response surprised me. She broke into tears and upbraided me for
> putting
> her
>
> in an uncomfortable position in front of her classmates.
>
> I truly asked only because I was interested in how she handled this
> dilemma.
> Clearly
>
> this was something she had not quite come to terms with. It was a clash
> between her
>
> moral convictions, and the bare necessities of her cats' nutrition.
>
> She is not alone. As I mentioned in a recent column, there is a growing
> awareness
>
> in this country that the conditions food animals are subjected to are
> manifestly
>
> cruel. When we consume animal products, we become participants in this.
> That
> has
>
> driven many to become vegans and vegetarians, and they have extended this
> practice
>
> to their pets' diets as well. Many more are interested in doing so, but
> can't quite
>
> make the leap, often due to the belief that dogs and cats are, naturally,
> pure carnivores.
>
> For cats, this belief is fairly accurate. For example, cats require an
> amino
> acid
>
> called taurine because their body cannot synthesize (make) it. They can
> only
> obtain
>
> this from meat sources or supplements. Vitamin B-12, cobalamin, is another
> nutrient
>
> that cats best obtain from meat. Without these vital nutrients cats will
> develop
>
> heart failure, blindness, neurological disease and anemia.
>
> Convincing studies that cats can reliably derive these nutrients from
> plant-based
>
> diets are lacking. For this reason, I could only advise that a vegetarian
> program
>
> for cats be implemented under the supervision and monitoring of a qualified
> veterinarian
>
> or veterinary nutritionist.
>
> Dogs are much better candidates for conversion to a plant-based diet. Dogs
> belong
>
> to the order carnivora. They descended from the wolf 15,000 to 20,000 years
> ago.
>
> So, they are primarily carnivores, but through their association with man,
> their
>
> gastrointestinal tracts have evolved in the direction of the omnivore, and
> they actually
>
> can derive virtually all of their nutritional requirements through a
> vegetarian diet
>
> and supplements.
>
> A 2006 National Research Council report by a team of leading experts in
> animal nutrition
>
> definitively confirmed that a vegetarian diet for dogs is completely
> healthy
> as long
>
> as it provides adequate protein and vitamin D.
>
> Warren, a black Labrador, was plagued with skin and digestive problems. At
> the age
>
> of 1, he was diagnosed with a high-grade cancer and was given no more than
> a
> year
>
> to live. His owner knew he had to act. After painstaking research, he came
> to the
>
> conclusion that if his diet wasn't killing Warren, it certainly wasn't
> helping.
>
> He concluded that, aside from ethical concerns about using animals for
> food,
> "Commercial
>
> dog food is essentially slaughterhouse waste products. It's disgusting."
>
> He formulated his own vegetarian diet, primarily made up of lentils,
> basmati
> rice,
>
> and fresh vegetables. Warren's skin and intestinal problems resolved almost
> immediately
>
> after implementing the new diet.
>
> Warren, now four years out from a terminal cancer diagnosis, came to me for
> the removal
>
> of a suspicious mass on his spleen. Before I even knew he was a vegetarian,
> I was
>
> immediately struck by his appearance. He was solid, sharp and had a thick,
> lustrous,
>
> black coat. He appeared exceptionally vital, and demonstrated a vertical
> leap that
>
> Michael Jordan would envy.
>
> He underwent surgery to remove his spleen. After four tense days, the
> diagnosis returned:
>
> It was a benign hematoma, essentially a pocket of blood. A huge relief to
> his owner
>
> and a reason to continue to believe in his dietary choice.
>
> It is a widely held sentiment that its just not natural to deprive a dog of
> meat.
>
> It is an understandable belief until one really considers what is allowed
> into a
>
> bag of some dog foods. For example, meat is derived from what is known as
> "The four
>
> D's," meaning animals arrive at the slaughterhouse dead, diseased, dying or
> disabled.
>
> In most states, it is legal to use what are otherwise unusable animal parts
> in pet
>
> food. Furthermore, these diets already contain large amounts of plant-based
> starches
>
> from corn and other grains. There is really nothing "natural" about what
> most dogs
>
> consume in commercial foods.
>
> There are commercial vegetarian dog foods, which are nutritionally
> complete.
> When
>
> selecting these, it is recommended that you select a food that conforms to
> the standards
>
> set by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).
> Alternatively,
>
> you may opt for cooking your own recipe up at home. If so, it is
> recommended
> that
>
> you consult a credentialed animal nutritionist, or follow a diet that was
> created
>
> by one, to ensure that its nutrients are properly balanced.
>
> If you are not quite ready to make the full plunge into vegetarianism, you
> could
>
> supplement a conventional commercial diet with plant-based meals.
>
> Dr. Henri Bianucci and Dr. Perry Jameson are with Veterinary Specialty Care
> LLC.
>
> Send questions to petdocs at postandcourier.com
> <mailto:petdocs at postandcourier.com> .
>
> http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150501/PC12/150509991/1117
>
>
>
>
>
> Becky Frankeberger
>
> Butterfly Knitting
>
> -           Ponchos
>
> -           Afghans
>
> -           Shawls
>
> -           Custom Knitting
>
> 360-426-8389
>
> becky at butterflyknitting.com
>
>
>
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