-Caveat Lector-
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200108\CUL20010802a.html
Vegetarian Canines: It's a Dog Eat ... Tofu? World
By Jason Pierce
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
August 02, 2001
(CNSNews.com) - Animal rights activists are taking another bite out of
what they call animal cruelty, passing on their vegetarian lifestyles
to their pets and urging millions of other pet owners in the United
States to do the same thing.
According to several books written about vegetarian dog food, dogs can
sustain healthy lifestyles by getting enough exercise and eating foods
that contain sufficient nutrients but no meat.
Ingrid Newkirk, president and founder of People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, put her dog on a vegetarian diet for the last 12
years of its life before the animal was put to sleep at age 17. She
said it's unhealthy for dogs to eat the type of pet food products
found at the grocery store because they're made from slaughterhouse
animals deemed unworthy for human consumption.
"No matter how fancy and expensive the canned or dry stuff you buy in
the store may be, it is made from what they call the 'four d bins' at
the slaughter house -- the dead, dying, diseased and disabled bins --
meat products which are unfit for human consumption," said Newkirk. "I
don't understand how people adore their animals, but continue to feed
them that muck."
\tx1260
Newkirk added that the fat in meats, along with chemicals and hormones
found in many processed meat products, cause heart disease, cancer and
strokes in canines just as they do in humans.
Newkirk said the idea of creating vegetarian diets for pets is popular
within the vegetarian movement but hardly a new idea.
"People have long looked for a solution, going back about 20 years
ago," said Newkirk. "Soon after, you would begin finding vegetarian
dog food kibble springing up and there was a proliferation of recipes
for dogs and cats that started appearing in vegetarian journals.
"Most of those who were concerned did not wish to support the
slaughter industry [and] started to explore what vitamins and minerals
our animals needed," she said.
According to Newkirk, research performed by veterinarians at dog shows
in the early 1980s revealed that dogs fed meat products often had skin
infections, lacked a shine in their coats, or were allergic to the
food. From that point, vegetarian food for dogs was given serious
consideration, she said.
Newkirk also dismissed the idea that dogs are carnivores and that
vegetarian foods deprive them of necessary vitamins and nutrients.
"If anyone has any compunction and thinks they (animals) are not going
to get enough protein from vegetables because they are carnivores, I
say use road kill," said Newkirk. "That scandalizes people, but it is
certainly far less scandalous than animals processed in
slaughterhouses because they die quickly, do not know what hit them,
and were raised organically."
Stephen Payne, a spokesman for the Pet Food Institute, said it is
natural for dogs to eat meat, and necessary for their diet because of
the protein meat contains.
"Meat is a dog's preference, and they have evolved over time to eat
meat," Payne said. "If you go to the zoo or watch [wildlife shows on
television], you don't see wild dogs grazing, so neither should
domesticated dogs."
He added that the protein dogs need, cannot be substituted as easily
as it is for humans, and doing so for animals can place them at
danger.
"Dogs are naturally omnivorous. They aren't particularly picky about
their diet, but they do need the protein meat has to offer," he said.
"That is why dogs, and humans for that matter, have canine teeth,
which are designed for cutting into meat."
Payne said that since no plants are grown or livestock raised solely
for pet food, the byproducts are cooked, processed and used in pet
food. He added that just because the pet food comes from the parts
humans don't eat doesn't mean that those parts do not contain
important vitamins and nutrients animals need.
"Pet food companies are in the business of making pet food products
that make pets healthy and happy, and millions of dollars have been
spent and many years have gone into the research to make sure they
do," Payne said. "That is why the labels say 'complete and balanced,'
because they are meant to be the sole source of nutrition. No such
other product exists for people quite like that."
David Almasi, Executive Director for the National Center for Public
Policy Research, said he believes vegetarian diets for dogs are more a
part of a political agenda than an attempt to care for pets.
"I think that trying to get this movement is never going to work,
because it caters to the radicals, who have always been believers in
vegetarianism and animal rights," Almasi said.
Almasi said when individuals go to such extremes as putting their pets
on politically correct diets they blur the line between the nature of
humans and animals. He said although humans can reason for themselves
and make conscious decisions to be politically correct, they cannot
make their dogs politically correct as well.
"There is a difference between animals and humans, which some would
say is a soul," Almasi said. "You can give rights to an animal, but
you can't expect an animal to respect other animal's rights."
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