Running is a big question mark that’s there each and every day. It asks you, ‘Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?' - Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Conflict - warning! non vegan friendly pictures!

I aspire to a vegan lifestyle. As much as possible, I refrain from using products from animal sources. This goes for my diet, my clothing, and my footwear. My dogs aren't vegan. I have given this subject a lot of thought. I do know that some people successfully transition their dogs to a vegetarian diet - I just don't think that is the right choice for my animals and myself at this point in time. I don't like having this type of food in my house, but I have resigned myself to it. My way of thinking is that as much as we try to be compassionate, nature isn't. My dogs are omnivores - left to their own devices in the wild, they would hunt down prey animals and eat them. Left to my own devices in the wild, I would be eating grass and berries (probably poisonous ones!). My compromise is to buy the best dog food I can - one of human grade meat so at least I know that my animals aren't consuming the remains of poor euthanised animals :-(

Mally's teeth are not good. It is common for racing greyhounds to come off the track with nasty teeth. I think it is because the track diet is mostly soft food and the dogs don't get to chew hard things - Jen can weigh in on this, she probably knows. Mal is also 8 years old. To have a dental he would have to be anesthesized which I like to avoid as much as possible. Little know fact outside the greyhound community - because racing greyhounds are used to being handled so much at the track and because most of them have a natural placid demeanor, they usually don't have to be anesthesia for minor vet procedures. Mal has had staples with only local painkiller and he has been x-rayed, all with no anesthesia. I brush his teeth but that only helps so much. I give the dogs rawhide to chew, and while I think that helps their gums stay healthy, it doesn't help the teeth. Bridget's Rim has teeth as nasty as Mal's and they have improved vastly by chewing knuckle bones. So today, I stopped at the pet store and picked up some knuckle bones. Nasty, nasty things. I hope the dogs appreciate my sacrifice. I bought a bag of three for $9.99. One of them was the hugest thing I have ever seen!

You can get a sense of how big this thing is by Angus' and Cosmo's faces.

You know Angus was ready to light into this. Look at him licking his chops!

All three boys chewing away:

Of course, Mal got the big one but I don't think the other two were complaining. Angus took his under the coffee table as if that would hide him! By the way, I refused to touch any of them and handled them with the grocery bags. Bleech!

I have made my peace with this issue as much as I can. I am interested in how other's who strive for a compassionate life and have companion animals deal with this.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's one way to settle with your decision. No animal is killed for its knuckle bones. They are killed for more desirable pieces of meat. To use knuckle bones is to be frugle and efficient. To use them for pets is even better, because, it keeps them from being rendered into something that is merely an inexpensive bulking agent in foods or products that could otherwise be vegan.

All my tomorrows said...

Hey, neat blog! I did a "Greyhound" word search today and found this :-).

My comments (and hope they are not intrusive) are: As for feeding, I am a "mostly" vegetarian eater who feeds my dogs "mostly raw" (we keep a little kibble on hand for lazy days).

Dogs aren't vegetarians (as you've noted!) so I don't feel the least bit of guilt over feeding them Raw Meaty Bones.

The health benefits are visible as are the clean teeth (my dogs have NEVER had to have a dental since I got them).

I def understand the dilemma, but I think you can acknowledge that dogs are omnivores and they DO need the protein in the meat. They WOULD be eating "the prey model" were they in the wild. That doesn't ease the sting any I'm sure, but that's my thought on it.

Have you tried turkey necks? I have seen some incredible teeth cleaning happen from turkey necks and they splinter a lot less than the knuckle bones.

Cheers! AMTs

Candi said...

Lol!! "Conflict!" haha! I can relate to that! I feel the same way with my cat food, but I am not sure about them being veggies!

You are so good to try everything to please your dogs! It looks like it worked!

runswithdog said...

Thanks for the comments. I have made my peace with my dogs being meateaters but I can't say that I like it :-) I know quite a few people who use turkey necks and have good luck with them. As for them eating the bones in the house, it's not like there is a lot of furniture for them to mess up :-)