Healthy, Ethical or Not? Vegan Dry Dog Food, Vegetarian Dry Dog
Food – is it really good for your dog. Are the pet food industry's offerings of vegan and vegetarian dry dog food actually ethically sourced and formulated? In this
article I look at an actual Case Study - what went right, what went wrong, and
why, and I discuss in further depth ethical issues and impacts…
Actual
Client Case – Seriously ill Dog Needs Help Now!
A woman contacted me after her veterinarian told her that her dog had “vestibular
disease, maybe cancer under the ear canal, and probably epilepsy”.
Her veterinarian
wanted to prescribe additional courses of antibiotics, seizure medications, and
do invasive (surgical) investigation. After listening to her veterinarian’s
recommended ‘course of action’ my soon-to-be client contacted me.
After
listening to her brief, the very first question I asked her was “what are you
feeding your dog?” Her prompt reply was “I just switched to vegan dog food a
few months ago, as my dog had chronic ear infections, and did not want to put
my dog back on veterinarian prescribed food”. The vegan dog food just happened
to be the most popular brand of vegan dog food sold in North America.
After going on the vegan dog food, her
dog developed the following serious health issues…
1.
Ear infection returns
2.
Acquired:
a.
Head tilt
b.
Tremors and twitching
c.
Sudden collapse of legs
d.
Seizures
e.
Stressed dog, no energy, stiffness
After one (1) week on the holistic, species
appropriate custom designed diet I did for my new client’s dog…
1.
No head tilt, ear infection clear
2.
No tremors and twitching
3.
1 collapse on the first day of new
diet – none since
4.
No seizures
5.
Stiffness gone
6.
Energy levels up
7.
Happy dog
Why did the Expensive, Dry Processed
Vegan Dog Food Make This Dog so Ill?
Highly Processed Dry Food Triggers
Health Issues
The manufacturing process used to create dry dog food (meat-based or plant-based food) presents several unsolvable complications that result in serious, chronic health problems for dogs. Even the BEST dry dog foods are subject to these problems. Here are a few examples of those unavoidable pitfalls:
- Carcinogens are an unavoidable side effect of high-temperature processing
- Over processing destroys essential nutrients making it necessary to add reconstituted and synthetic additives to the food product.
- The majority of reconstituted, synthetic essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals are contaminated with GMOs, heavy metals and other toxins that add to your dog’s toxic load, taxing the organs which must deal with the elimination of toxins and triggering his/her body's inflammatory response.
- A dog’s digestive system, eliminatory system, and immune system are not evolved to consume, process, absorb, and eliminate large quantities of dry, processed food. A daily diet consisting of dry highly processed food is a leading cause of immune system problems, urinary tract problems, premature aging of organs, oral health problems, gastrointestinal problems, arthritis and a host of other inflammatory conditions
- Dry processed food does not contain or provide sufficient levels of good source essential; Omega-3 fatty acids – the body and brain’s natural anti-inflammatory. This critical deficit serves to increase the body's inflammatory response, leaving your dog prone to many inflammatory conditions and chronic diseases.
Primary Ingredients in Vegan, Vegetarian Dry
Dog Food
The primary ingredients are grains,
and legumes such as chick peas, lentils, green peas and soy.
Grains
Grains, even good quality organic, ancient grains are
not dog-friendly. A dogs digestive system is not not evolved
to thrive on grains. Grains trigger multiple inflammatory
conditions, and chronic diseases in dogs. Now consider the following:
- The vast majority of grain-in dog food consists of non-organic grains
- The grains are typically animal feed-grade, not human food-grade
- Grains such as rice can be contaminated with heavy metals that the plant absorbs through its roots and leaves – i.e. non-organic arsenic is common in rice.
- Genetically modified grains (i.e. GMO corn, GMO soy) contain higher levels of toxic residue than conventional grains, and have been proven to cause the growth of tumors, trigger the development of serious gastrointestinal problems and more.
- Animal feed-grade grains can contain higher levels of contaminants including aflatoxins, vomitoxin, zearalenone – naturally occurring, potent cancer-causing toxins. While many pet food companies test for the presence of these naturally occurring contaminants, the fact remains - allowable levels of contamination exceed that of human-food grade products. Your dog is just as susceptible to illness from these contaminants as you are.
It’s not just your dog that
will be adversely effected by consuming GMO grains...
GMO agriculture destroys
the living microbes in soil that are essential to supporting healthy plant life
that wild animals rely on as their food source. When GMO crop fields are
sprayed with Monsanto’s 2, 4-D Agent Orange. Natural organisms have now become resistant
to the heavy doses of 2, 4-D. The FDA has just approved a new, more potent
chemical called Dicaumba
for use on soy and cotton GMO crops, which will serve to add additional
health hazards. You can read more about that here.
These chemicals leach into the water table exposing wild animals to
carcinogens, hormone disrupters, mutagens and other very real adverse health
impacting cruelty. GMO crops have been proven to cause bee colony
collapse. If you purchase GMO
contaminated food, marketed as Vegan by the pet food industry, you are unknowingly
supporting Monsanto’s GMO crops, Monsanto’s lack of ethics, their animal
cruelty, and destruction of the natural environment. It is not a pretty
picture, and it’s certainly not what you intended to do!
Legumes
Legumes such as chick peas, lentils,
navy beans and peas may be tolerated by some dogs, particularly when ingested
in small amounts, but when consumed daily as a major ingredient in a food
product – legumes can cause serious health issues due to the presence of lectin
proteins. Lectin proteins can travel
through an organism, and for that reason are used by plants to help divert
predators from eating the plant. The ability to travel allows lectin proteins
to pass from the digestive tract into the blood stream, after which they can
attach themselves to various tissues resulting in poor nutrient absorption, and
may also cause an autoimmune response resulting in a host of inflammatory
conditions and diseases.
Vegan and Vegetarian Dry Dog ‘Food’ Is
Unethical, and Cruel
Dry
food products comprised
of species inappropriate foods, and synthetic additives can have a
significant adverse impact on the quality of a dog’s life, and can
shorten a dog’s life-span.
Some people can chain smoke their
entire life, remain relatively healthy, live to 105 years of age and pass away
in their sleep of old age – but this type of genetic resilience to toxic
exposure is more rare than common. The same is so for dogs - however the
majority of people and dogs simply cannot weather the abuse to their body – the
result is serious illness.
People who
feed their dogs vegan or vegetarian dry dog food products are trying to do the right thing as they seek to:
- Provide their dog with relief from illness, or;
- Aid in the fight against cruelty to farm animals.
The pet food industry simply sees this as an opportunity to take advantage of a special niche, an opportunity to make large profits - the health of your dog is a low priority, although the industry would like you to believe otherwise.
I have been a vegetarian since I was a
pre-teen – for ethical reasons. Even at a very young age I could not tolerate
animal cruelty. Going vegetarian was a decision I made on my own, as a young
child while living amongst others who consumed meat on a daily basis. My choice.
In my opinion animals that live on a
farm (so called ‘farm animals’) should NOT be called or thought of as
‘livestock’. These animals are
individuals with emotional capacity, and intelligence – each one with his/her
own personality, likes, dislikes, and best friends. Large factory farms
(CAFO – Confined Feeding Operations), and associated slaughter houses, auction
houses, feed lots, etc. are places of torture and abuse - the truth about CAFO can be found here. I sign petitions on a
daily basis to stop the daily wrong done to animals by humans…but two wrongs
don’t make a right. 1) CAFO is wrong, and cruel, 2) feeding a dog vegan or vegetarian
dry processed food is also cruel as the dry vegan and vegetarian dog foods
offered by pet food manufacturers contain multiple immune system destroying
allergens, toxins and carcinogens.
My dogs eat plenty of fruits, herbs
and vegetables but they also eat meat adhering to the species appropriate ratio
of +/- 57% meat, 30% good-source fats, with the remainder
of the daily diet comprised of appropriate fruits, herbs, veggies and seeds
(i.e. pumpkin seeds, tahini, chia seeds.) It was
natural, and important for me to be vegetarian – however it would be unnatural,
and unethical to make my dogs eat DRY vegetarian or DRY vegan processed food.
Are Vegan Dry Dog Foods Really Vegan?
If the grains used in the product are GMO, the
product is not vegan. Bees are harmed in the growing of the grain
ingredients due to use of neonicotinoids which cause bee colony collapse disorder , harming bees is in direct violation
to veganism. In addition as noted further above wild animals suffer cruelly from ingesting the herbicides, pesticides, fungicides applied to GMO crops.
Knowledge is the Pathway to Health…
You can find an objective analysis of six
of the most popular Vegan dry dog foods, and Vegetarian dry dog food products
here. I highly recommend reading it, for the health of your dog...
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