A tribute to fashion or dog vegetarianism

In recent years, the topic of vegetarianism and disputes about the nature of man have become so widespread that they began to gradually move from the category of odious to the category of quite familiar. The dispute – herbivorous or omnivorous person still has not received a clear answer, and a new, surprising most of the inhabitants, the problem: is it possible to feed pets belonging to predators with vegetarian or vegan food? Sad incidents have already occurred when zealous vegetarians and vegans boldly transferred their pets to a plant diet, thereby putting their lives in danger. This happened, for example, with the kitten of an Australian who fed him wheat products, potatoes and rice milk - the animal was on the verge of death.





We all know cats are obligate predators that can not survive without eating food of animal origin. The question of dog nutrition in this sense, as it turned out, is not so critical. Dogs are usually associated with a predatory animal, which is the case. Eating the waste of human life, the dog is also a scavenger. But, in addition, scientists found in dogs significant differences in the genetic code in comparison with wolves – the first copies of the gene amylase is many times more than the last. This gene, amylase, is responsible for the breakdown of starch, which in turn is a plant substrate. Wolves have two copies of amylase (one on each homologous chromosome), and dogs have thirty. The result of this difference - the ability to split starch is increased five times.

It can be assumed that the genetic changes that occurred in the dog will be preserved in the future by the efforts of the same vegetarians who seek to convert their pets to their “religion”. And enterprising capitalists are already ready to offer special customers and a special product, and according to all the rules of competition - vegetarian dog food. Vegetarian dog food contains all the substances necessary for them - taurine, L-carnitine and alpha-lipoic acid. But there are pitfalls – most of these feeds contain soy, wheat or corn – products that can cause a dog digestive disorder or allergies. This means that your pet first needs to be checked for an allergic reaction and the ability to tolerate and absorb a number of products.





As for the physiology of dogs in general, it has the characteristics of predatory: the absence of enzymes in saliva, a short digestive tract, the jaw joint is designed only for movement up and down, all teeth are sharp and stabbing, necessary for a predator to tear, and a large throat is designed to swallow large pieces of food, not chewing. Feeding a dog with animal food or attaching to a plant diet is not only a matter of the health of a pet, but ethics. Should we change the nature of the animal to suit our interests? On the other hand, is not all human activity directed toward changing nature? For a vegetarian, vegan and animal rights activist, this issue is controversial.

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