Some health people highly advocate vegetarianism, and some owners intend to adopt this approach to cats and dogs. Only when cats and dogs eat vegetarian food can they meet their physiological needs. Is it suitable to adopt this feeding method?

First, cats are not suitable for vegetarianism.

Domestic cats often run to the lawn to eat grass, but they don't want to make a living by eating grass to help expel hair, undigested food residues and parasites from the digestive tract. Some things are easy for you to eat, but not easy to digest. In order to convert some food into energy and raw materials for building the body, animals must have corresponding equipment-suitable digestive tract and necessary digestive enzymes.

In fact, after a long evolution, cats and their big relatives have given up plants, which are an easy source of food. The relatively short digestive tract is one of the characteristics of carnivores. Cats are suitable for eating meat, and the ratio of intestinal length to body length is about 4: 1, herbivorous rabbits are 10: 1, and sheep are 27: 1. In addition, all kinds of mammals suitable for digesting plants have evolved a long pouch-shaped cecum, especially those animals that can't ruminate. The rabbit's cecum can grow to 60 cm, which is almost negligible compared with that of a cat.

Starch is a very good energy source for herbivores and most omnivores, but not for cats. Cats lack salivary amylase, and the content and activity of amylase secreted by small intestine and pancreas are low, which limits their ability to utilize starch. In addition, cats lack several enzymes necessary to decompose fatty acids and do not make good use of lipids (which is why many cat foods emphasize low fat). Therefore, cats are only suitable for eating foods rich in protein.

You don't have to force your dog to be a vegetarian.

Second, dogs may have the talent of being a vegetarian.

Dogs are carnivorous omnivores. Although they can't be digested by microorganisms born in their bellies, herbivores like cattle and sheep have no problem eating fruits and rice. The ratio of intestinal length to body length of dogs is about 6: 1, and the length of cecum can reach nearly 10 cm, both of which are longer than cats. It can also be seen that dogs are more likely to accept vegetarian food than cats.

In addition, dogs' requirements for protein content in food are not as high as cats', and their utilization of starch and lipids is not as low as cats'. Although dogs do not have salivary amylase, their pancreas and intestines secrete enough amylase for them to use starch. Therefore, as long as the food formula is appropriate, they may get enough energy and nutrition in vegetarian diet.

Like cats, there are vegetarian and animal-free dog foods for sale in foreign markets. And because dogs are not as picky as cats, there are many tutorials on homemade vegan dog food on the Internet. Some people have also published books, arguing that vegan food is safe for dogs.

However, the famous American pet magazine "Everything about Dogs" once published an article entitled "Don't force your dog to be a vegetarian", warning people that dogs are mainly carnivores after all, and don't be too enthusiastic about vegetarianism. Because vegetarian dog food is artificially made after all, the nutritional mix may not be suitable for every dog's needs.

Since our current breeding method can still raise dogs well, there is no great need for us to force dogs to be vegetarian.