WHAT? DOGS SHOULDN’T EAT AVOCADOS?
As you know, after much (but apparently not enough) research, I decided on Avoderm Vegetarian for my dogs, which has avocado in it (hence the name). Sure enough, in my e-mail box this morning, was an alert from the ASPCA regarding the dangers of avocados for dogs (particularly in large quantities, and I’m thinking that a couple of servings a day–over a decade, would probably qualify as large).
WHAT THE F*CK?
Geez, I can’t get a break. And THEN, a kind, well-meaning woman named Laura commented yesterday, about how Breeder’s Choice, which makes Avoderm, might still be testing on animals. OY! I totally forgot about that part.
WHAT THE F*CK?
Once I calmed down, I recalled that while at Nanci Alexander’s home a couple of weeks ago (founder of the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida) for a fundraiser for Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, I asked her what she feeds her dogs and she said she does some home-cooking, but also has had great results with Evolution (which has dog and cat vegan food, and doesn’t test on animals. Click here for the list of companies that are cruelty-free).
I immediately researched it and found I would only be able to buy it by mail, and pay a pretty penny for shipping, so I nixed the idea and that’s how I ended up with Avoderm and Solid Gold (which has some fish, and after the other post for today, if I bought that I’d be a HUGE hypocrite, rather than just a small one).
What’s a conscientious doggie mommy to do? I sucked it up and ordered the Evolution for the dogs and the cat, and I’ll transition them slowly when they arrive. I’m REEEEAAAALLY hoping this is the end of this saga. But of course, you’ll be the first to know if it isn’t.
Thanks for making the decision to go with a cruelty free pet food company.
I do a lot of protests on behalf of animal causes. I have always wanted to find a way to reach more people and then one day I got an idea……
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The Chain of Compassion Has Come To You…….
It’s like a chain letter but it’s for a great cause! I hope people all over the world will finally know what really happens to animals in the: entertainment industry, fur trade, laboratories, puppy mills, and shelters. Please go to this webpage:
http://www.chainofcompassion.org/helpanimals.html
Please print copies of this article or have copies made at a printing store. Then spread the word! Give this to everyone you know: at home, at work and at school. Put it in your neighborhood mail boxes and even bus and subway seats. Send it over the internet to people. Then hopefully more caring people like you will do the same thing. Please start …Your Chain of Compassion Today!
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Each month when I am on the go train heading to Toronto for our Fur and then later KFC protest I put them on the train seats. Other places its being spread around to is Elliot Lake, Portland and all over myspace to over 1200 individuals and animal groups. If you can let people know about The Chain of Compassion I would really appreciate it.
Laura
http://www.myspace/theanimalrightsforum
Why not actually stop abusing *your* pets and feed them the diet they were intended to eat. If you wanted vegan pets, you should have gotten a rabbit. Dogs and cats are obligate carnivores. By depriving them of the diet they were intended to eat you are creating serious health problems for them down the road and it is a cruelty. It is just as wrong as if someone forced you to eat a diet of 100% meat. Humans are omnivores and do just fine if we choose a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. Dogs and cats are *obligate* carnivores. They would choose to eat raw meat if they could but would not inflict that choice upon you. Why do you feel you must inflict your lifestyle choice upon them, particularly when this is in direct conflict with their health and what millions of years of evolution have designed them to eat?
Actually, Kim, you are not correct.
I recommend reading "Obligate Carnivore: Cats, Dogs, and What it Really Means to be Vegan
http://www.amazon.com/Obligate-Carnivore-Really-Means-Vegan/dp/0974218006
Dogs aren't even considered obligate carnivores (they are considered secondary carnivores) by many. It is not abuse to feed a companion animal a diet that will help that animal live a long and healthy life. Male cats appear to need some meat, and by no means do all vegans feed their dogs or cats (particularly cats) vegan diets.
With regard to "serious health problems" and "cruelty," I hope a little education, like the book mentioned, will change your mind.
Cats are a gray area. The gray area is not whether they need certain chemical compounds found in flesh, but whether we’ve duplicated those needs properly in vegan cat food. I’m of the opinion that we have from discussions with people with long-time vegan cats.
Dogs are clear-cut omnivores who can thrive optimally on a vegan diet and I have personal proof of that by feeding large dogs a vegan diet for several years with my vets amazed at how healthy they are/were for their size and age. One of them was a 110 lbs. Lab mix who lived until 17 years old on a vegan diet – off the charts, baby. A 110 lbs. dog living to 17 is almost unheard of. The truth is that most people are likely killing their dogs young on sh*t like Iams.
Does anyone have some insight for me on the Merrick brand of food? (dog and cat). I started with the regular Merrick, Cowboy Cookout, Grandma's something or other, but now I use the Before Grain line of foods. I think that I am doing a good thing, but I would like some other insight. Thanks a lot
Becky,
My experience with Merrick resulted in massive runs with both dogs. Before Grain is similar to Wellness' Core (grain free and not super high protein like Evo), and I've had fabulous results with Core. I haven't tried Before Grain but have read comparisons that rate Core higher than Before Grain.
One of my hounds doesn't tolerate grains at all, and the other does. I always tell everyone that each dog is an individual and has his own needs and tolerance for fat and grains and protein. If Before Grain is working, I say stick with it. Core's fish variety is the one I use for my grain-free boy.
Well, you need to do a little more research on your own instead of reading and believing everything you hear from the ASPCA (an organization who isn't known for their keen investigative research at times either!) AvoDerm uses meal and oil from the fruit and not from bark, leaves or the pit. In addition, the toxicity issues arise from Guatemalan avocados – not California avocados and AvoDerm ONLY uses California avocado fruit to extract oils and produce meal. Eating this food is perfectly safe for your dog and mine have been eating it for 2 years. There have been extensive tests at UC Davis on this very issue – no worries on the avocado part.
I had to laugh at the poster who commented on the vegetarian blend.. when will cat and dog owners wake up and realize that a vegetarian diet is YOUR choice, but not the choice of your dog or cat. Sorry vegans.. but if meat eating is that abhorrent to you, then perhaps you should own a gerbil and not an animal that must eat meat in order to remain healthy. I shudder to think these poor animals are fed a vegan diet.. they don't deserve such treatment.
I agree with Bellies. I've been in school studying animal science for the past 3 years, at one of the best schools New England has to offer. I am a vegan, and I'm not even that cruel. I know what my dog needs….. Meat!!! He is a dog, he should eat lots and lots and lots of meat! Because that what his diet calls for. Anyone who thinks their dog is ok just eating weeds and seeds, is a f*cking idiot. I think it's sad when someone is so obsessed with their diet, they put their animals on the same diet they are on. Wake up people. I choose to be a vegan for my own personal reasons. I won't take advantage of my animals choice, because he can't tell me what he wants to eat that day. I'll just give him what he needs to live a long happy life.
A cartoon about a vegan family will premiere on May 27th. The family dog is put on a vegan diet and consequently portrayed as starving, regularly seeking out neighborhood animals and pets to eat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKRUgzmkQk0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvr3i-JWSG4
WOW!!!
All of you that think your dogs and cats are vegans, are ANIMAL ABUSERS.
It's pretty simple: You are closed minded and intolerant of different lifestyles other than your own, and consider your choice to be the "right" choice.
Feeding your dogs a vegan diet is abuse, plain and simple, and you should have your dog taken away.
MATTHEW DANIEL LAWSON,
Perhaps you'd like to speak with the general veterinarian I use or one of the specialists I use for my dogs and cat. The general vet has no problem recommending a vegan diet for dogs and the specialists have no problem with a vegan diet for dogs.
And the diabetic greyhound who shares our home uses less insulin as a vegan than she did when she ate animals.
Educate yourself. Visit http://www.vegetariandogs.com/ and you can read about AMI vegan cat food and how it was researched and formulated here: http://www.downbound.com/AMI_Vegan_Cat_Food_p/tcn-ac-cf-ami-k-4.4lb.htm
And before you call anyone an animal abuser, you should think about what you eat and wear each day.
Have a nice day.
Ok, I read the site. This new counterculture is hilarious, living in their own little self-created bubble of false information. It is simply another gimmick to sell merchandise to the ever-expanding Green Crowd. Soon, everything will be cruelty-free..maybe even your q-tips and guitar strings.
Clearly this is animal abuse. It is also completely unnatural. Should we venture into the forests to liberate the wolves from their evil dietary ways? (That is NOT rhetoric) Are all carnivores in the wild committing the same anti-PC sins as domestic carnivores?
And, is taking insulin from the pancreas of a pig to keep your greyhound healthy cruelty-free? Or is it justifiable to keep the dog alive? I think it is. Why shouldn't that pig give up his insulin to enrich your greyhounds blood? And why shouldn't other animals give up their flesh to nourish the canines diet? That is how nature does it.
I am calling this as it should be called: Animal abuse for self-righteous reasons.
MATT LAWSON,
You raise a valid point or two (that I've addressed elsewhere) as well as ridiculous ones, such as the "natural" argument and the wolf comment.
I wish I could say I want to respond to you because I believe you are genuinely interested in a civil conversation and in learning about people who have a moral code they live by, but I have no such belief.
And I'd ask you again what you eat and wear, which you never responded to, but that would require another comment from you and I'd rather not have one.
I spend a lot of energy and time here at this blog, as do the readers of this blog. Don't come here to disrespect us and be rude to us.
It is most unkind.