CNN Story On Vegan Dogs & A Forum?

A friend sent me this CNN article today, titled Vegan Diet For Dogs: A Question Of Thriving Vs. Surviving. Over the last several years, I've seen many examples of dogs thriving on a vegan diet and would like to comment on some parts of the article.

"Spector and six other pet experts who spoke with CNN conceded -- some more reluctantly than others -- that most dogs could biologically live on a vegan diet. But doing so requires substantial attention to creating a balanced diet
that makes up for the loss of animal protein with substitutions of beans, soy
and, to a lesser extent, vegetables and grains."

But of course! Just like humans, dogs need a balanced diet. I think it's been proven more than enough that both humans and dogs need certain nutrients and that all of those nutrients can be found in plant foods. Which the next paragraph in the article basically says-

"Dogs are classified in the order Carnivora, but, unlike cats (a topic for another day) they have evolved biologically as omnivores, meaning their systems can derive nutrients from a wide variety of sources, including fruits,
vegetables, grains, legumes and animal products."

I've heard many people insist that dogs are carnivores, which is wrong. As it says above, they're classified in the order carnivora, but are biologically omnivores.

"If a dog has a choice he's not picking a pile of beans over chicken or meat, and he's not going to be lapping up soy," she says. "If you're going to be harmonious in your choices, be harmonious. I say respect each species for what it was meant to be, and if you feel that strongly about being vegan, get a
vegetarian animal. Bunnies make wonderful pets."

How is having a vegan dog NOT harmonious? Even more, how are you not respecting a dog if you're feeding him or her on a vegan diet? Too many people cry "abuse" when they hear of vegetarian or vegan dogs, but as long as the dog is healthy and happy, how is that abuse? Besides, just like a child, when faced with two choices, they may not always pick the one that's good for them. As their guardians, it's our job to make those choices for them and we do what we think is best for them. We're not "forcing our beliefs" on them, but making a choice that we believe is the healthiest for them. From my experience, those people with dogs on a plant based diet know more about dog nutrition than most other dog guardians. I also wouldn't be so sure that some pups would pick meat over a plant food. Dogs are all individuals with their own preferences, so I'm sure that some of them would pick plant foods over meat!

"The vegan diet also lacks some essential fatty acids that are only available in animal products like butter and fish oils, says veterinarian
Michael Fox, former president of the U.S. Humane Society and author of "Dog
Mind, Dog Body.""

Seriously?!?! Essential fatty acids can be found quite plentiful in plants, as most of us vegans know. Does anyone else find it disturbing that this guy is a former president of the HSUS, yet he says something so ignorant? Even more disturbing is that he's a vet, but then again, they seem to know as much about dog nutrition as MD's do.

Well, enough of that. I didn't even bother to read the comments to the article because I'm sure that several of them would raise my blood pressure. I guess I take it a bit personally when people accuse me of abusing my dogs. Just look at Emma & Rowan, all weak, unhappy and struggling to thrive (insert eye rolling here)-
On a different note along the same subject, I've been thinking about creating a plant based pups forum/community. While there's a great email list here, I would love to have a place to go to where I could be around like minded dog lovers. It would also be a nice place for support and to share information. Some of you may remember the ning community I had created a few years ago, and I loved it, but they unfortunately started charging to use it. Would anyone be interested in a community like this? Please let me know if you are! The community would be for anyone that has a dog on a plant based diet (or a mostly plant based diet), anyone interested in transitioning their dog to a plant based diet or other dogs lovers that are open minded to it. 

UPDATE!  There is now a vegan dogs forum on the Vegan Ethos Community!