Software Vault: The Diamond Collection/The Diamond Collection (Software Vault)(Digital Impact).ISO/cdr15/vegsocuk.zip/DOGS.TXT

Text File | 1995-03-13 | 15KB | 325 lines

                            VegSocUK Information Sheet
                              THE VEGETARIAN SOCIETY


   ___________________________________

                           DOGS - A VEGETARIAN DIET?

    But they need meat don't they?

   You'll probably often hear people say "but dogs are carnivores, and
   carnivores need meat."  However, the true facts are not that simple.
   Scientific studies have described the "all meat disease syndrome" in which
   animals fed meat alone (without the addition of vitamins and minerals)
   develop soft bones, general poor condition and sometimes die. The condition
   is attributed to lack of adequate calcium, iodine and vitamins A and B1, and
   to a poor calcium to phosphorus ratio. Meat is particularly deficient in
   calcium. The natural diet is far more varied. Wild dogs and cats eat not only
   the meat but also the bones (rich in calcium), the organs, and the intestines
   containing assorted vegetable matter.

    Why should dogs be vegetarian?

   Even with government subsidies, the cost of meat is high in monetary terms.
   To the cow, sheep, chicken, rabbit, pig or fish the cost is even higher: they
   lose their lives, which in many cases will have been short, spent imprisoned
   in intensive rearing conditions. Imported meat may come from countries where
   slaughter methods are extremely cruel. It is indeed kind to save an unwanted
   dog from destruction, but this to some extent loses its point if it means
   that other animals will be killed to feed this one.  Furthermore, eating meat
   is a means of prolonging human suffering across the world.  While half the
   world is starving, we continue to rear animals for food, an inefficient means
   of food production since only a small proportion of the food eaten by animals
   becomes available as meat and dairy produce in the end. The yield of
   essential nutrients from existing available land could be greatly increased
   by growing plant foods for direct use.

    Basic principles

   If you are a vegetarian, you will already know about vegetarian foods.  With
   a little commonsense, your own meals can easily be adapted to suit the
   animal. Give plenty of variety: deficiencies are unlikely if a wide variety
   of foods are eaten.  Find out what your animal does well on and what it
   likes.  Make meals appetising, taste and smell are especially important.

   It is useful to remember that dogs are fond of yeast products so flavouring
   with Marmite or Barmene might make food (such as Textured Vegetable Protein)
   more attractive to them, as well as providing extra B vitamins. Dogs often
   like a little honey for flavour, on cereals for example. At the same time,
   check that you provide sources of all the various nutrients; protein,
   carbohydrates, fats and oils, vitamins, minerals etc.

   If the animal is thriving, then well and good. If there are problems such as
   persistant diarrhoea, vomiting or itchiness, the animal may be allergic to
   certain food items, so try to identify these and eliminate them from the
   diet. However, occasional vomiting may be normal. Avoid strong, spicy foods
   like curries. They tend to cause digestive upsets.  When feeding cooked
   foods, do not give them too hot. Nor should food be served too cold from the
   refrigerator.

   Remember that dogs have a shorter digestive tract than humans, and may not
   cope so well with large quantities of fibrous (roughage) foods. However, they
   do need their share of roughage (vegetables, bran, whole grain cereals, raw
   fruit). Cooking fibrous vegetables (15 minutes at boiling) breaks down the
   fibres, reducing the roughage value and making them more digestible but too
   much cooking destroys some vitamins, especially thiamine. Crude fibre (ie
   roughage) fills the gut to reduce feelings of hunger, and stimulates
   defaecation, so some grated or chopped raw vegetables are useful in the diet.

   Potatoes can cause digestive upsets in some dogs. Over-consumption of sugar
   and sugary foods can encourage bad teeth, diabetes, digestive upsets and
   obesity.

    What they eat

   Details provided by owners of vegetarian dogs living in Great Britain showed
   that they liked and thrived on the following general feeding regime. This is
   intended only as a general guide and should be adjusted to suit your animal.

    ADULT DOGS

   Dogs generally do well on two meals daily, a smallish breakfast and a main
   afternoon or evening meal, though toy breeds may do better on three or four
   smaller meals. Breakfast: (morning or midday)...usually wholegrain cereals
   like muesli, Shredded Wheat, porridge in milk. Flavour with a little honey or
   dried powdered yeast if necessary according to taste.

   Dinner: (afternoon or evening)...a selection from the following:

   (i) Grated cheese, cottage cheese, egg, nutmeat (tinned or home made),
   textured vegetable protein, cooked lentils and other pulses, not forgetting
   baked beans

   TOGETHER WITH

   (ii) Raw (grated or chopped) and/or cooked vegetables such as carrot,
   cauliflower etc.

    Other suitable foods

   i)   raw chopped or grated fruit, dried fruit.
   ii)  Wholemeal bread (fresh or toasted), Marmite sandwiches, baked rusk.
   iii) Brown rice, sprouting grains.
   iv)  Remember that dogs need some hard foods to chew to exercise their gums
   and jaws; perpetual sloppy food leads to dental tartar, pyorrhea and loose
   teeth. Dogs can chew raw whole carrots, lightly roasted cabbage stumps, nylon
   bones, raw whole apples, hard wholemeal dog biscuits.
   v)   Given daily, a teaspoon of uncooked vegetable oil such as sunflower seed
   oil, by mouth or in the food (but unheated) for a medium sized dog such as a
   cocker spaniel, or a few drops for a toy poodle, helps provide essential
   fatty acids (polyunsaturates) to condition the coat.  Vegetable oil should be
   stored in a closed bottle in a cool, dark place (preferably a refrigerator)
   to prevent oxidation of fatty acids.  Oil may cause diarrhoea in a few dogs,
   in such cases the quantity should be reduced.

  PUPS

    Birth to eight weeks

   Pups generally depend solely on their mother's milk until around three weeks
   of age. They continue to take the mother's milk until about seven or eight
   weeks of age, but during this period they will supplement it with
   progressively increasing amounts of other foods.  Therefore from three weeks
   (earlier if necessary) offer small dishes of milk, sometimes with baby
   cereals or finely ground whole cereals as a slopy gruel (perhaps flavoured
   with a pinch of dried brewers yeast powder to enrich B vitamins). A little
   later, offer other foods from the list (i). Start with easily digested foods
   like cottage cheese and poached egg. If certain foods cause serious
   diarrhoea, avoid these. Feed small meals about five or six times daily as
   young animals cannot digest large amounts at a time.

    From eight weeks to about four months

   Give four small meals daily. As a basic guide:
   8.00am: Cereal in milk.
   Noon:   nutmeat and vegetables, egg, cheese, grated nuts, wholemeal bread
   with Marmite or Barmene, fruit etc.
   4.00pm: as 8.00am
   8.00:   similar to noon.
   Also provide foods to gnaw as described earlier.

    From four months to about eight months

   Omit one meal, eg the 8.00am meal thus reducing to three somewhat larger
   meals.

    From about eight months onward

   Feed as adult diet, usually two meals daily. Toy dogs often stay on three or
   four meals daily.

    How much to feed

   This depends a lot on the individual animal. A very rough guide is given as 1
   oz (30g) of total food per pound body weight for grwoing pups and 1/2 oz
   (15g) per pound for adult dogs.

   This rough estimate may be altered drastically by:
   a) the liquid content of the food.
   b) the calorie content of the food; a dog with a tendency to be overweight
   can eat a lot of low calorie vegetables such as cabbage and cauliflower, but
   much less of high calorie bread or cereals to produce the same calorie
   intake.
   c) individual variation: for example, some
   highly-strung Alsatians require three to four times the calorie intake needed
   by some Labradors the same size, or by some Alsatians with a lower metabolic
   rate. The progress of the individual animal should always be the main guide
   provided that a nutritionally balanced diet is fed.

   Don't overfeed. A fat animal is not a healthy animal. If a dog is getting
   fat, he is eating too much high calorie food. Watch the tidbits, they can add
   up to a lot. By getting the animal to like low calorie vegetables from the
   start, you will find it much easier to reduce his weight if necessary later.
   In most cases, weight can be controlled by food intake control; only a few
   are unslimmable "glandular" problems. Don't force a dog to eat if he doesn't
   want to, you may be training him to get fat by so doing.

    Final note

   A perfect diet may be provided and yet the dog's health be spoilt because
   insufficient exercise is given. Every dog needs plenty of exercise and fresh
   air, EVERY DAY. Cleanliness is important and regular grooming is needed. For
   long-haired breeds daily throrough combing is a must, otherwise matted hair
   encourages skin disease and parasites. Lastly but very important, have clean,
   fresh drinking water available at all times.

  SOURCES OF NUTRIENTS

PROTEIN

   Best sources: Cheese, eggs, soya beans, soya flour, tofu, TVP.
   Other useful sources: Pulses (lentils, beans, split peas), whole cereals and
   wheatgerm, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, nuts except chestnuts and coconuts.
   An assortment of protein sources provides a good balance of amino acids, eg
   by feeding pulses and cereals together at one meal.

FATS AND OILS

   Mainly saturated: butter, hard margarines, cheese, eggs, olives and olive
   oil.
   Intermediate: nuts, coconuts, wheat germ and their oils.
   Mainly unsaturated: sunflower seed oil, safflower seed oil, corn oil, linseed
   oil, soya oil, soft margarines which state high polyunsaturate content.
   Dogs utilise unsaturated oils well. Vitamin E helps in unstaurated oil
   metabolism. Unsaturated oils are oxidised, reducing their nutritional value,
   by exposure to light, heat and air.

CARBOHYDRATES

   Cereals and their products (flour, bread, cakes etc), bananas, chestnuts,
   cashews, pulses, pears, dried fruit, potatoes, sugar etc.
   Carbohydrates are unlikely to be in short supply in the average varied diet.
   The startch in potatoes can cause diarrhoea in some dogs.

ROUGHAGE (CRUDE FIBRE)

   Vegetables, bran and whole cereals, pulses.

VITAMINS

  A:

   i) as vitamin A--margarine, butter, milk, cheese, eggs.
   ii) as the precursor carotene--carrots and green vegetables
   In dogs, carotene has about half the nutritional value of actual vitamin A.

  D:

   i) As vitamin D--Margarine, butter, eggs, milk
   ii) As its precursor, which is converted by sunlight on the animal's skin to
   vitamin D - green leafy vegetables, cereal germ, yeast.

  E:

   Cereal germs (especially wheat germ oil), green leafy vegetables eg cabbage,
   spinach, curly kale, lettuce.

  K:

   Green leafy vegetables.

  B-COMPLEX:

   except B12, yeast, whole cereals, cereal germs, bran, eggs, various
   vegetables, nuts.
   Easily destroyed by cooking.

  B12:

   Barmene, fortified soya milk, cheese, some TVPs (read the label!), milk.

  C:

   Fresh sprouts, curly kale, blackcurrants, rose hip pulp and syrup,
   cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, green
   peppers.
   Vitamin C is not normally essential for dogs as they synthesise their own.
   However, some researchers suggest that vitamin C synthesis in dogs may be
   inadequate on a low protein diet and a few individuals may not be able to
   synthesise the vitamin and so require it in the diet.

MINERALS

  CALCIUM:

   Good sources - cheese, yoghurt, sesame seeds. Fair--almonds, black radish,
   kolrabi leaves, dried figs, cucumbers, ripe beans, lemons, milk, tangerines,
   leeks, curly kale, lettuce, cauliflower, endive, celery, peanuts, walnuts.
   Foods with a good calcium/phosphate balance: cheese, yoghurt, ripe beans,
   ripe peas, lentils, hens eggs, currants, curly kale, brussels sprouts,
   kohlrabi, white cabbage, salsify, raisins, dried figs, milk, cauliflower,
   celeriac, lettuce, dates, bananas, oranges, peanuts, almonds, walnuts,
   hazels.
   Low calcium relative to phosphorus: cereals and their products eg bread,
   flour. These foods need to be balanced with higher calcium foods to prevent
   calcium deficiencies. Phytic acid in cereals may also reduce calcium
   absorption. Soaking grains overnight is believed to activate enzymes which
   break down the phytic acid. Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption.

  IRON:

   Celeriac, cream cheese, tangerines, spinach, various fruits, vegetables,
   nuts, whole cereals.

  IODINE:

   seaweed eg kelp powder, eggs, whole grain rye and wheat, lettuce.

   Other minerals are generally well provided in a diet containing a variety of
   vegetables, fruit, nuts, milk cheese, eggs.

   If your dog has been brought up on a meat diet, make the change-over to a
   vegetarian diet gradual. With active dogs there is a problem of bulk versus

   energy and readers are advised to consult their vet for guidance to ensure
   that sufficient energy can be obtained from the mass of food given.

   Milk alone is not an adequate source of calcium for puppies and a mineral
   supplement of calcium phosphate is recommended.  Rapidly growing dogs of
   heavy breeds particularly need a high calcium intake.

   See our Pet Care information sheet for details of ready made canned and dried
   vegetarian dog foods.

   Based on a leaflet originally compiled for the Vegetarian Society by D S
   Morey.
   ___________________________________


//
This article is copyright to the Vegetarian Society (UK), but may be freely
copied for non-commercial use provided it is kept intact, not altered
and these lines are included.

For futher information contact: The Vegetarian Society, Parkdale, Dunham Road,
Altrincham, Cheshire WA14 4QG, England. Tel: (England) 061 928 0793
email: [e-mail]
//



[The text of this file was obtained from the Vegetarian Society (UK) in
March 1995.]