A new trend has begun to emerge among pet owners: having their animals follow their human lifestyle choices, including eating vegetarian and vegan diets. The French newspaper Le Temps covered the subject in an article that was translated for the fantastic site, Worldcrunch.
Many pet owners increasingly see their animals as members of the family and believe they should follow the same diet as everyone else. These owners are "disgusted by the idea of buying meat-based food for their cats or dogs" and turn to specialty forums to create their own vegan and vegetarian animal foods.
At least one veterinarian strongly disagrees with pet owners that make this choice. “Even though it doesn’t need it daily, meat contains essential nutriments for your dog’s body, especially if it is growing or if it is being trained for sporting events. At its natural state, a dog could feed on vegetables for a while if there is nothing else available. But if it has the choice, it will always go for the meat," Julika Fitzi said.
Leading the charge for these vegan and vegetarian diets is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
What do you think? Is this a good idea or potentially harmful to the animals?
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