Nutritional and ethical issues regarding vegetarianism in the domestic dog

Title
Nutritional and ethical issues regarding vegetarianism in the domestic dog
Publication Date
2009
Author(s)
Brown, Wendy
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5309-3381
Email: wbrown@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:wbrown
Editor
Editor(s): Pierre Cronjé and Nerida Richards
Type of document
Conference Publication
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
University of New England
Place of publication
Armidale, Australia
UNE publication id
une:5881
Abstract
Many dog owners wish to feed their dogs a vegetarian diet for the same ethical reason that they themselves are vegetarian. To meet this demand, there are an increasing number of vegetarian diets and recipes available for dogs. However, proof for their claims of nutritional adequacy is often lacking. There is little doubt that a dog's nutritional requirements can be met from a diet that does not contain meat; however, the difference between the amino acid profiles of plant and animal proteins must be considered. It has been shown that exercising dogs may develop anaemia when fed unbalanced plantprotein diets but will remain in good health if the meatfree diet is correctly balanced. Many plant ingredients contain high levels of non-starch polysaccharides and other anti-nutritive factors, which may reduce the availability of some nutrients. A diet devoid of animal ingredients is also likely to be of low palatability to dogs. All diets should be correctly formulated to meet nutrient requirements based on chemical analysis and predicted or measured apparent digestibility, should be sufficiently palatable to ensure adequate dietary intake and should maintain good health when consumed. If a vegetarian diet meets all of these criteria, then it is a suitable diet for the dog, irrespective of the owner's motivation for feeding a vegetarian diet.
Link
Citation
Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition - Australia, v.17, p. 137-143
ISSN
0819-4823
Start page
137
End page
143

Files:

NameSizeformatDescriptionLink