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General Science => General Science => Topic started by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 01/10/2021 20:32:57

Title: Can someone healthily raise a cat or dog with meatless food?
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 01/10/2021 20:32:57

This is a huge dilemma for vegetarians/vegans. All the nutrients and what-not can be artificially produced, but some still think it will slowly kill their pet somehow as if there is a magical component in meat that cannot be replicated.

Title: Re: Can someone healthily raise a cat or dog with meatless food?
Post by: Just thinking on 01/10/2021 21:27:10

Quote from: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 01/10/2021 20:32:57

This is a huge dilemma for vegetarians/vegans. All the nutrients and what-not can be artificially produced, but some still think it will slowly kill their pet somehow as if there is a magical component in meat that cannot be replicated.

I think meat is important in a dogs/cats diet I feed my dog lees meat and add pasta rice dry dog food carrots spinach cabbage. The meat in pet food is most often animals at the end of their life or pests. Why is meat so important? I hope someone can answer this question.

Title: Re: Can someone healthily raise a cat or dog with meatless food?
Post by: Halc on 01/10/2021 21:40:03

A dog can theoretically be fed nothing but plant-based foods. To remain reasonably healthy they'd need synthetic supplements to supply nutrients unavailable in plants.
Cats on the other hand are true carnivores and must eat meat to remain healthy. There are places that will bring criminal charges (cruelty) to those withholding mean from feline pets. Lab-grown meat will do the job, if your reasons for the weird diet come from an aversion to the slaughter of food animals.

Title: Re: Can someone healthily raise a cat or dog with meatless food?
Post by: wolfekeeper on 01/10/2021 22:19:28

No, cats can eat an entire non meat diet if they have to. But there are issues with things that are normally missing from plant diets (e.g. taurine, vitamin D, etc. etc.) and things that are normally in plant diets in too high quantities (carbohydrates).

But these are not show-stoppers, taurine is routinely synthesised (it's in Red Bull) and is already added to cat food. Things like carbohydrates aren't in all plant foods. But they are in game meat, because muscles and livers contain glycogen.

Basically, cats are mammals, and their dietary requirements aren't THAT dissimilar to human ones, but the proportions they've evolved to need are different.

The issue is not so much that it can't be done, it CAN be done, at a cost. The other issue is that we don't necessarily know the exact nutritional requirements cats need to stay healthy.

Title: Re: Can someone healthily raise a cat or dog with meatless food?
Post by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 01/10/2021 22:53:49

Back in the day, didn't we feed our pets and livestock chaff bread?

Title: Re: Can someone healthily raise a cat or dog with meatless food?
Post by: Just thinking on 01/10/2021 23:04:23

Quote from: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 01/10/2021 22:53:49

chaff bread?

I believe bread is safe for dogs in small amounts it is rising dough that is toxic.