26/10/2021
Very interesting read as always from Dr Conor Brady
VEGETARIAN PET FOOD FOR CARNIVORES IN THE NEWS AGAIN...
I'm tired of talking about vegetarian pet food. I can't do it anymore. Well, this is my last time. If anyone wants to know more about feeding plant matter to dogs (I'm a fan, done right and keeping that fraction as a minor part of the diet) as well as the major issues with all-plant based pet food, please check out this piece on vegetarian pet food I wrote a few months back.
https://dogsfirst.ie/crucial-notes-on-vegetarian-pet-food/
But just to put this most recent palaver to bed, the fact that vegetarian / vegan pet foods (VPF) can be made in accordance with AAFCO's MINIMUM NUTRITIONAL PRINCIPLES (attached) is not a vote for VPF's, it's a demonstration of how badly AAFCO is serving the needs of our meat-eating pets.
AAFCO's nutritional standards are complete nonsense, encouraging woeful nutritional practices such as minimum protein levels for our pets (protein of no defined source), the use of chemical nutrients to replace the significantly safer and more bioavailable natural form, poor quality fats, as much carbohydrate, sugar and salt that you care to include, etc etc. Worse, the verification of these guidelines via the 6mth feed trial of 8 caged dogs where only blood is analysed afterwards is positively diabolical. Studies show when you add virtually anything to nutrient bereft crackers made this way the pets in question benefit and, once again, when we compare “complete” dry fed dogs to dogs fed a well made, species-appropriate diet, the latter group always come out on top. Always.
Again, the belief these minimum guidelines are somehow the optimum way to feed a dog is woefully misled. As if nutrition was that simple?!! How much andersine, carnosine and glucagon do they need? Have you heard of them? What of creatine in a working dog? No glucosamine, chondroitin and hyaluronic acid (all found in cartilage) needed in pups when they're building their joints, no?! No vitamin C needed by dogs when poorly? How much co enzyme q10, that's an important one surely? What about CBD, they have receptors for that all over their body. Studies show it's very beneficial. What of the thousands and thousands of bioactive compounds, all the wonderful, life-affirming antioxidants that we get from plants (and carnivores get from prey)? What of pre and probiotics?!!
No, the pet food industry excludes all these from their W***y Wonka mix. When an issue pops up as a result of their exclusion, you can assumedly buy them (in supplement form) from your vet. Now you're thinking.
Their simplistic table is like something out of the 1950's understanding of nutrition. A George Jetson approach to canine nutrition. It did serve to get pet food off the ground in the 1970's as they were killing tens of thousands of pets with nutritional deficiency. 50 years later your vet-recommended dry food still uses the same MINIMUM NUTRITIONAL PRINCIPLES to make the only food sadly 70% of pets eat every meal of their life.
The reason all the VPF supporters got their knickers in a twist last week was when the president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), Daniella Dos Santos, recently highlighted that the Animal Welfare Act, 2006, stipulated that pet owners are obliged to feed the pets in their charge an appropriate diet (not mentioning what that might be) and that it was her opinion that VPF's to not cut the cheese in that regard. She stated:
"If your personal belief system means you don’t want to eat any animal protein, that’s fine, but that diet is not designed to meet the welfare standards of your pet.”
She sadly went on to say
"It is theoretically possible to feed a dog a vegetarian diet, but it’s much easier to get it wrong than to get it right," she continued but "you would have to do it under the supervision of a veterinary-trained nutritionist."
OK, we don't agree on that second bit at all but for a vet to even say the first bit, particularly in that position, it's great!
The papers then got their hands on this juicy morsel and, taking the maximum fine from the Animal Welfare Act, ran with the headline “Dog owners who put their animals on a vegetarian diet could face fines of up to £20,000 and a jail sentence of 51 weeks.”. Chortle!!!
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/dog-owners-face-jail-hefty-25233603
Pure sh*t-stirring of course. Great clickbait. This would never happen. Or, maybe it would, and if it did it would surely be only a matter of time before they came for the raw industry (meat being dangerously and totally inappropriate for a meat eater and all!! To hell with the science and evidence as a whole!).
The head of veterinary services at the Blue Cross then waded in, also advising against feeding pets vegan food. “Pets need a balanced diet, cats in particular have very specific nutritional needs which would be unlikely to be met by a vegan diet,” she said.
Great stuff!
But the VPF industry was not about to take this lying down. Andrew Knight, vet professor and vocal supporter of the VPF industry, was quoted in the Guardian as saying his coming research (a survey of the opinions of pet owners, the weakest value fieldwork we can do, testing the acutual animals being far superior, and so far unpublished) shows that “plant-based pet food was both nutritionally equivalent to products containing meat, as well as enjoyable for pets to eat.”.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/20/vegan-pet-food-as-healthy-for-cats-and-dogs-as-meat-says-veterinary-professor
Please have a read of that link but for now, I can assure you, as someone that reads studies all day, in no way shape or form to Knight's survey of pet owner opinions reveal that plant-based pet food was nutritionally equivalent to products containing meat. I mean, how could a survey do that. On the use of word “enjoyable” they did ask questions about palatability – do the pets seem to like eating it? Imagine asking a vegan if he thinks his vegan dog likes high-salt, vegan pet food? What do you think he's going to say?! He's EATING the food, sure, but enjoyable? Can't imagine they were doing too many taste trials with their pet using sausages?! You tell me which food this vegan dog preferred live on air...(skip to 3:30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w8k7xqCxxY
Studies show that when you soak anything in the taste of meat, dogs choose that substrate first. They have a colossal affinity for meat.
Knight goes on in the Guardian piece, stating:
“Dogs, cats and other species have requirements for nutrients, they don’t need meat or any other particular ingredient...the claim is animals on vegan diets will necessarily become ill and it’s somehow cruel to maintain them, is contrary to the scientific evidence in this field and is ignorant.”
What Prof Knight is talking about is best grasped from his review of the available literature in support of VPF (https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/6/9/57). His review highlighted that VPF can be made to the same standards...when those standards are AAFCO's minimum nutritional standards...and when it is and compared to “meat-based” dry food they can perform well, even better in some instances of vitamin or mineral absorption, depending.
OK, but Prof Knight's definition of “meat-based” is at the heart of his problem. In his opinion, “meat-based” dry food is the cereal-based crap sold by vets that only needs to have 4% beef or chicken BONE meal to be earn the label “with beef” or “with chicken”. Probably not anyone's definition of meat-based and most certainly not mine. I would want their to be meat in there, for starters, and for it to be the majority of the product, otherwise why not call it what is, cereal-based?
So, Prof Knights musing on VPF are based entirely on comparative studies using one of the most meat-less products you can imagine, a product so close to VPF you are arguing over the differences between hair and fur.
Bottom line: it's all a load of nutritive nonsense, whether they are talking about cereal-based dry food with 4% cows toenail or meatless VPF, it is all ultra-processed, laboratory nutrient, plant food. None of it is a consideration of the OPTIMAL feeding strategy for a meat-eater which, of course, is meat. As a vegetarian myself, I wish that wasn't a FACT but as the author of the book that goes into the most detail on the dietary habits of dogs, I can tell you that it very much is.
Just like the cereal-based pet food industry, the VPF industry are still yet to produce any head-to-head studies whereby they pit their nonsense, junk food products against the real McCoy and looked at them over time (at least a year). Until they do, it's all just a load of vegetarian flatulence.
