Why You Shouldn't Veganize Your Pets
Before you get all up in arms or before you start using this article as a source for your arguments, please remember that I am currently only a college student who has not officially studied nutrition yet and I am only getting the information I've gathered here either from the internet or documentaries.
I have two dogs – Harley and Cody – and I have been surrounded by animals my whole life (more dogs, cats, guinea pigs, a hamster, a turtle, a mouse, etc.). As we all know, humans are herbivorous (watch Forks Over Knives on Netflix and Gary Yourofsky's video Best Speech You Will Ever Hear), but I have witnessed some people who are feeding their animals vegan foods (yes, this is perfectly fine with herbivorous animals). These people must take into consideration that other animals like dogs and cats are carnivorous animals and must eat meat to get the proper nutrients for their bodies.
I am aware that that is the argument of many meat-eating people ("Humans are omnivorous; if we stop eating meat, we won't be getting enough protein!" etc. etc. etc.) But, dogs are descended from wolves and cats are descended from wildcats in the Middle East and they most certainly need to eat meat. Their digestive systems, predatory instincts, bodily construct are made for hunting and eating meat.
The only reason I could see as sensible is if you're concerned more about ethics than health. Many pet food companies are not cruelty-free, I can also understand how (like in the linked Gary Yourofsky video – what is "humane slaughter"?) people could also be against buying mass produced meat altogether. You can never really know where your pet's meat is coming from unless you specifically go out and investigate the companies and their growers. Here's a forum I found on Quora about how some people feel about having carnivorous pets.
How do you feel about this topic? Let us know!