Is it possible to turn pets into vegetarians?

Dogs and cats - the main pets of man - intheir natural habitats are real predators. However, even knowing this, some avid vegetarians add pets to their strict diet, offering them vegetables instead of the usual meat, completely forgetting that they can cause irreparable harm to their health. Very often, such people operate on the argument that since a higher mammal (human) can refuse an animal protein and at the same time feel fine, such a diet will suit animals as well. But is vegetarianism really good for cats and dogs? Let's try to figure this out together.

Can dogs only eat vegetables?

How long can predators not eat meat?

The fashion for vegetarianism among people led to herdistributed to pets, reports bbc.com. However, only a few of us consider such an undertaking to be correct and ethical in relation to animals that are carnivorous in nature. So, both cats and dogs need a large amount of amino acids, the absence of which can lead to serious health problems. Moreover, the cat's body is not able to produce taurine - a protein found in large quantities in beef, chicken and fish. Without taurine, cats are at risk of developing a potentially fatal condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease whose symptoms are very similar to heart disease.

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Cats are unlikely to thrive on a meat-free diet.

If cats need a diet, especially a richanimal protein, then with dogs, things can be completely different. So, one of the reasons that ancient dogs left the wild and became our companions was because of the food that our distant ancestors offered them. And this food was not always meat.

In their natural habitat, wolves,they obviously eat the meat of other animals, but it’s also known that they eat eggs, berries, and even grass if for some reason they lack vitamins. Gradually adapting to a diet with less meat and more plant starch, the dogs acquired unique genes that allowed them to digest foreign food left for them around prehistoric bonfires.
Although dogs can actually live sometime without meat, a long-term vegetarian diet sooner or later can have an extremely negative effect on their health, causing a deficiency of calcium and essential proteins and amino acids for life. So, without the proper amount of meat, a four-legged pet runs the risk of muscle tremors and cramps, and in a severe case it can even fall into a coma.

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Thus, although a vegetarian dietIt has a positive effect on the environment in which we live, its observance by predatory animals can cause irreparable harm to their health. However, environmental problems can be solved without harm when feeding dogs and cats ... crickets. Such an unexpected conclusion was made by specialists from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who clearly “spied” their idea in the countries of East Asia, whose local population considers crickets to be part of their daily and very nutritious diet. According to food organizations, some insects, such as crickets and grasshoppers, are a particularly good option for obtaining alternative forms of protein, not only for humans, but also for accompanying pets.

The use of crickets by animals can make up for the lack of protein in their body

Many studies have shown that crickets contain up to 65% protein by weight, while being very rich in unsaturated fats, dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals.
In addition, the above insects needmuch less necessary resources when growing them on special farms. It is known that at present a number of organizations inspired by alternative methods of nutrition are already working on the creation of new feeds that are entirely composed of insect protein.

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