We will start with a commentary by a practicing biologist, founder of an ecovillage, blogger and raw foodist – Yuri Andreevich Frolov. Despite his many achievements in the field of biology, the most important and relevant for many was that he was able to debunk the stereotype of domestic “predators”. The fact is that Yuri Andreevich proved the benefits of a plant-based diet for pets and completely refuted the postulate about the obligatory feeding of cats and dogs with meat!
Yuri Andreevich created the world’s first raw vegan food for cats and dogs. You can explore his blog for yourself to see and read about the new generation of food, and we only let’s talk about some facts, which the inventor focuses on:
1. Animals, just like humans, can switch to clean living food, completely excluding animal products from their diet;
2. Raw vegan food helps to cure such serious diseases as oncology, blindness and problems with the digestive system in a short time;
3. Animals return to normal weight, obesity disappears;
4. Pets do not have watery eyes, they do not feel sick after eating;
5. The composition of the feed contains amaranth, chia, as well as many herbs.
Hippocrates said: “Food should be medicine, and medicine should be food.” Animals, according to Frolov, do not receive microelements and other ingredients that are vital for them from ordinary feed, after which errors begin to occur during cell division, which then accumulate, and this leads to metabolic disorders, blindness, oncology and other serious diseases.
An important point that becomes an obstacle for owners in the matter of transferring animals to vegan and raw food feeds: “What about the fact that all animals are natural predators, and why is it worth changing the pet’s diet to a plant one?”
Yuri Frolov helped us answer it:
“The first point is ethical. When you yourself are vegetarians and vegans and do not want to participate in such an unreasonable and dishonest business as killing animals, you will definitely transfer animals to live food. The second point is related to the health of pets. Many people switch their “predators” – dogs and cats – to a full plant (of course, raw) diet and get great results. Pets go through severe chronic diseases and the digestive system normalizes.”
And here is what one of his raw food customers writes, who was able to transfer two of her dogs to a pure raw food diet!
Olga writes: “I could not even feed the corpses of my two dogs, because “live meat” should run, and not lie on store shelves. I decided that if my husband and I could switch to live food, why not help our pets? So they switched with us to a raw food diet. The dog had a diseased intestine, they did not know what to do. Now he has recovered, and there is no trace left! They started with raw food, and then switched to fruits and vegetables, sometimes sprouts. Beautiful puppies were born in a raw food diet, they eat everything with us, they develop perfectly, a little smaller in size, but they grow steadily and within their breed. Our veterinarian said that they are very well developed. They have more than enough energy.”
However, in contrast to the opinion of Yuri Frolov, we can cite a comment on the topic of vegetarian feed, which was given to us by Mikhail Sovetov – a naturopath, a doctor with 15 years of experience and foreign practice, a raw foodist with extensive experience, a yogi practitioner. To our question: “Do you know brands of vegan pet food?” Sovetov replied in the negative:
“Honestly, this is the first time I hear that such a thing exists. Animals for me are, of course, predators! Therefore, I believe that they should eat what is in nature – meat. I treat people, but I have also dealt with animals. All my friends who have had the experience of switching an animal from dry food to meat unanimously spoke about the great health benefits of such a diet for the animal.”
However, he spoke about the features of the animal organism, which is adaptability to any diet, including vegetable.
“When a predator in wildlife cannot get meat for himself, he begins to eat plant foods – grass, vegetables, fruits. Such a diet helps them cleanse, so wild animals have better health. Highly organized animals have the ability to adapt, so many of them live on plant foods all their lives, although, I repeat, I think that this is completely unnatural for them. But this feature of adaptation allows us to conclude that if an animal is fed natural plant foods from birth (without the addition of chemicals and flavors), then its body will be able to adapt, and such nutrition will become the norm.
It turns out that although artificially, the owners can still make their pets vegetarian, and such a diet is quite acceptable, although not natural for them.
On the Internet, sometimes videos flash in which the cat eats raspberries with pleasure, and the dog eats cabbage, as if it were the most delicious thing she ate in her life!
There is even literature on the topic of vegetarian pet nutrition. Find James Peden’s book Cats and Dogs Are Vegetarian and see for yourself. By the way, James Peden was one of the first to start producing vegan food (Vegepet brand). They contain lentils, flour, yeast, algae, vitamins, minerals and other additives useful for animals.
If we talk about foreign meat-free feed companies, here are the main manufacturers that have proven themselves and are loved by pet owners around the world:
1. Ami Cat (Italy). One of the most famous pet food brands in Europe, which is positioned as hypoallergenic. It contains corn gluten, corn, corn oil, rice protein, whole peas.
2. VeGourmet (Austria). The feature of this company is that it produces real vegetarian delicacies for animals. For example, sausages made from carrots, wheat, rice and peas.
3. Benevo Cat (UK). It is based on soy, wheat, corn, white rice, sunflower oil and flaxseed. Also in this line of food is Benevo Duo – food for real gourmets. It is made from potatoes, brown rice and berries.
As it turns out, many pet owners are actually thinking about making their pets vegan. This happens for various reasons – the ethical component, health problems, etc.
Zalila Zoloeva, for example, told us the story of her cat named Sneeze, who, although temporarily, was able to become a vegetarian.
“He is my bully. Once I left him unattended for a minute, and he jumped over a 2-meter fence and collided with a neighbor’s Rottweiler … the brawl lasted just a few seconds, we arrived in time, but both got it – ours had to remove a kidney. After that, there was a long recovery period, on the recommendation of a doctor, we first sat on food for kidney failure (judging by the composition, there is practically no meat there) – Royal Canin and Hill`s veterinary food. The doctor explained to us that in case of some problems with the kidneys, meat should be reduced, especially fish. Now the cat’s diet is 70 percent vegetables (it was his desire) and 30 percent meat food. Vegetables are not processed. If he sees me eating it, he eats it too. He especially loves squash caviar and sprouted peas. I really liked fresh grass – they eat it for a couple with a rabbit. He also eats tofu pate and vegan sausage, by the way. In general, I never planned to make a cat a vegetarian, he himself will choose what is best for him. I don’t argue with him – he wants to completely switch to veganism – I’m all for it!
And here is another story that Tatyana Krupennikova told us when we asked her the question: “Can pets really live without meat?”
“I believe that yes, it is possible for cats and dogs to eat vegetarian food. Full of videos where cats and dogs eat vegetables and fruits (cucumbers, watermelons, cabbage, and even tangerines). They repeat the habits of the owners. We have three cats (as in the cartoon two cats and one kitty). They appeared when we were already vegetarians (6-7 years old). The question arose of how to feed them if we are vegetarians. At first they were fed classically milk-sour cream and porridge (oats, millet, buckwheat) plus fish or chicken. But they turned out to be gourmets! One cat is ready to gobble up everything that is given, the other is more picky – it will not eat anything. And the cat is a phenomenon. He does not like milk, even if he is hungry, he will not eat. But with great joy he crunches a cucumber! If you forget it on the table, it will drag it away and eat everything! Another watermelon with joy, cabbage, bread croutons (unleavened). Pea-corn is just happiness. And after her, the cats began to eat cucumbers and so on. This is where the thought crept in, but do they need meat at all? I began to study information on the Internet. It turned out that it is possible without it.
Soon the cats will be 2 years old. They ate both vegan food and just vegetables from the table. For the last three months, we have been trying to add vegetables, both raw and boiled, to their usual porridge. And we offer everything that we eat ourselves. We want to accustom to eat fruits and vegetables gradually. We do a fasting day of the week. We also feed millet with the addition of nori.”
Opinions turned out to be polar opposites, but still we managed to find real examples of switching pets to a plant-based diet. This allows us to conclude that vegetarianism is a reality for pets, but the choice remains with the owners. Some settled on vegetarian foods, which can be found both in specialty vegetarian stores, such as Jagannath, and in the line of well-known dry foods. Someone will opt for ordinary vegetables, fruits and cereals, and someone will probably consider such a “diet” an unnecessary restriction.
In any case, all these stories suggest that you need to abandon nutritional stereotypes, even in relation to your pets, and observe their preferences.
“We are responsible for those we have tamed”, for their health, strength and longevity. Animals are able to love and be grateful no less than people, they will appreciate your care!