[Michelle B]

GRAPES ARE BAD FOR DOGS BECAUSE THEY ARE TOXIC!!! THEY COULD CAUSE KIDNEY FAILURE!!! IT IS NOT AN “ALLERGY”!!!

Even if your dog ate grapes before and was “fine,” that doesn’t mean that they’re somehow immune. It is possible to have kidney damage without symptoms. The effect is accumulative. So if you keep feeding them grapes, eventually the damage to your dog’s kidneys would be great enough to cause renal failure.

It is the actual flesh of the grape that is toxic to dogs, not the seed, as some people think. Grapeseed extract is safe for dogs, so that tells you that it is not the seed that is bad for dogs. Grapes (all varieties, seedless or not), raisins, grape jelly/jam, grape juice are toxic to dogs (and cats). It is difficult to say how much could cause a dog to become seriously ill, or even kill them, so it is safest to call your vet ASAP (or take them to an emergency clinic after hours).

Garlic is okay in small amounts (some dog foods & treats contain garlic). But unless you know the safe dose for your dog’s weight, do not feed them homemade foods or treats with garlic!

Onions are also toxic to dogs, but again, are okay in small doses (but don’t feed to your dogs if you don’t know how much is safe!).

A dog would have to eat a lot (relative to their weight) of MILK CHOCOLATE (for example, my 60 lb dog would have to eat 1kg of milk chocolate to become seriously ill). If it is dark chocolate, baker’s chocolate, or cocoa powder however, a very small amount (1 tbsp for my dog) could kill them! Here is a great calculator to help you decide whether you should take your dog to the vet or not: http://www.petmd.com/dog/chocolate-toxicity

From what I’ve read, avocados are not actually toxic to dogs or cats (they ARE toxic to birds & other animals though). The risk is that your dog may swallow that giant avocado seed in the center. They could choke on it, or it could block their digestion system, which would require surgery.

As for meat bones, it’s an evaluation of risk and reward that every dog guardian needs to make their own choice about. Large, weight-bearing bones (such as large leg bones from cattle or pigs) are more likely to chip or break a tooth. Chicken or turkey bones are less likely to cause injury to teeth. I like to give my dogs chicken wings or turkey vertebrae to chew on. NEVER give your dogs cooked bones!!! Raw bones are safer b/c they will not splinter like cooked bones would! But raw bones could be risky if you have a young child, elderly person, or anyone with immunity issues in the home, or in contact with the dog. Antlers are a possible alternative for dogs with allergies (but again, chipping or breaking a tooth is possible).

[Michelle B]

Great points Jenn!!! I was feeling the same things, but I didn’t know how to express it!

[Michelle B]

Okay, so the cases above are examples of ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE. Evidence of that sort does not give you a strong case when you are trying to prove a point.

Let’s keep in mind that most dogs that eat meat are being fed crap foods such as Beneful, Science Diet, Pedigree, or Purina which contain lovely ingredients such as animal byproducts, mystery meat, ingredients from China, and loads of corn. And which are notorious for having frequent recalls.

And perhaps people that feed their dogs vegan diets are more health-conscious than the average dog guardian (who feeds their dog the above brands). So maybe this means that their dogs often eat fresh veggies such as kale, broccoli, bell peppers, etc, which are shown to reduce a dog’s chance of cancer. Cancer is a common cause of death for dogs over 10 years of age, so the inclusion of fresh fruits & veggies would skew any outcome.

What you need is a long-term (10 years or longer) study that follows three groups of dogs (you need a large enough sample, 100,000 dogs per group would be best). One group will eat a meat-heavy quality kibble such as Orijen. The vegan group will eat a comparable quality kibble such as…? The third group, which is your control group, will eat the most commonly fed kibble, which will probably be something like Pedigree. Then follow those dogs for their entire lifespan. But don’t just look at how many years they live (their date of birth must be DOCUMENTED), also look at their health, well-being, and overall quality of life. You also have to look at factors such as breed of dog (or whether they are mutts), whether they were neutered or spayed (and how old they were when it happened), how much and what types of physical exercise do they get, etc. All of these factors need to be controlled so that you can determine the effect of the diet without making conclusions based on correlations. And the study must be unbiased (not conducted or financed by a group that has a political or financial interest in pushing meat or a vegan diet). If there was some way to make the study double-blind (such as reformulating the kibble so that the owner or the scientist could not recognize which kibble the dog was eating), then that would increase the validity of the study.

Completing a study of this magnitude would give us the clearest idea of which diet is the healthiest for DOGS. I put dogs in caps, because you can’t apply nutrition studies done on HUMANS to dogs. Canines are primarily carnivores, while our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, are primarily herbivores; although they eat small amounts (5% of their diet) of animal protein like monkeys and termites. The average human diet is so far from what is biologically appropriate for us.

This is what I like to call SCIENCE!

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by Michelle B.

[Michelle B]

Hey look!!!! This old lady lived until 102 even though she first started smoking at age seven!!! Even though she says that she didn’t “inhale,” clearly she was still exposed to secondhand smoke on a regular basis, seeing as she would hold it right in front of her face & between her lips!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/7941676/Britains-oldest-smoker-dies-after-puffing-on-cigarettes-for-95-years.html

And this guy claims to be 126 years old and smokes a pack a day!!! Even if he isn’t as old as he claims, he’s still old no matter how you define it!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/07/16/cigarette-smoking-brazilian-man-may-be-worlds-oldest-person-at-126-years-old/

WOWWWW!!!!!!!1!!!!!1!!! Smoking must be great for you!!! We should all start!!!

[Michelle B]

Eating a dog is the same as eating a pig. It’s ethnocentric (which is just a fancy word for racist) to believe that cultures that eat dog are somehow less civilized than cultures that do not. However, I would not eat dog as dogs have been a part of my family and my only true friends from a very young age.
It’s not about taste. It’s about the fact that a dog is a CARNIVORE. They may be able to survive on vegan dog food, but they will not thrive. A human child will survive eating only potatoes with a little butter or milk, but if there is no justifiable reason (such as poverty, famine, lack of available food choices) why the parent is not feeding them a balanced diet, then that is NEGLECT verging on ABUSE!!!
If you cannot stomach feeding your carnivore companion animal products, then do not care for a carnivore animal! It’s as simple as that! Choose to care for a herbivorous animal such as a rabbit, guinea pig, horse, chinchilla, iguana, one of those mini-pigs, etc. Otherwise, you are prioritizing your own desires, beliefs, and ego over the needs of your furbaby!
Would you argue that any captive carnivores such as lions should be fed a vegan diet (I do not believe that any wild animals should be captive, but people still do so)? What about wild animals? Should we stop carnivore animals from hunting in the wild? If not, why not? Isn’t that hypocritical if you believe that domesticated carnivore animals should eat vegan diets, but wild carnivore animals can? And if so, you are ignorant and do not truly have the best interest of “Mother Earth” at heart. How are you different from any other human that attempts to control and twist nature to fit their own desires, beliefs, and needs?

[Michelle B]

DO NOT FEED YOUR DOG OR CAT VEGAN OR VEGETARIAN FOOD!!! This is animal neglect, verging on animal abuse!!! Dogs and cats are CARNIVORES!!!! Pull back their lips and take a look at those fangs and shark-like molars designed to puncture their prey to kill and hold it still, as well as slice into the meat.
Show a dog an animal being slaughtered, and they will be licking their lips, hoping for a taste. Don’t make me laugh by suggesting that a dog, a natural predator, would feel empathy towards a prey animal. A carnivore with empathy would starve to death in the wild.
Eating meat is natural. There’s nothing immoral about it. Nature is violent. Stop denying the truth. If you feel bad for the enslaved farm animals, then buy meat from a hunter instead. Or just don’t care for carnivorous animals. Get a bunny instead. If you’re a vegan, great! Good for you! But don’t force your lifestyle on others, especially not an animal whose life is in your hands!!!
I fed my dog a vegan food…. she lost 7 lbs of muscle. She often slips or even falls down. She gained a little fat back thankfully, as she was scary thin. She still needs to gain back the muscle she lost. I will be starting rehabilitation with her soon. I feel horrible about this. I am guilty of neglecting her. Now she is eating a grain-free, high-protein and fat, meat-based food that she LOVES.

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