archive.today • How Owners Are Putting Their Pets on Human Diets - The New York Times
Karl Malone starts his day with a breakfast that includes ashwagandha root and psyllium husk powder. His dinner is always seasoned with ground turmeric, and then he takes his joint supplements. He goes on two brisk walks daily and avoids restaurant food, as his doctor recommended he lose weight.
Karl Malone is a dog — an 11-year-old sandy-brown Australian shepherd mix.
[...]
The market for what the pet-food industry calls "nutritious pet food" — higher-priced products that claim to contain premium or nutritionally enhanced ingredients — is expected to reach $17.9 billion by 2026, according to a report last year by Pet Insight, an independent analytics company. Pet wellness in general has become an even bigger industry, and has spawned a subset of social media influencers and Facebook groups devoted to refining the diets of all kinds of domesticated animals.
This sentence annoyed me: "Vegetarian diets, he said, are not suitable for most cats because they need animal protein, but can be acceptable for dogs." For NYT pet articles are the words obligate carnivore now taboo?
Naming your dog after a black person is incredibly sus.
Beyond the stupid shit of not understanding animals aren't human, "owning" a black person just don't sit right.
I was going to say "Maybe she doesn't know anything about sports." But even if that's true - it's still weird that nobody told her.
Yeah like he's a known pedophile, but it's not like "common knowledge" but just the act of naming the dog after him is really getting the alarm bells to go off 🚨🚨
Everyone knows the best dog name is Karl Barx anyways, right?
Carl Barx and Chairman Meow. These are the o ly pet names that are allowed under communism.
There has to be a way to work Lenin's name into this, he fuckin loved kitty cats
That's better than my best jdea of Vladimeow Lenin
I still think we need to workshop this a bit more, this is important dammit
People will surely tell her now.
Ninja edit: The more I think about this - the more improbable it seems that she never learned or she didn't get strong hints. Like if she took him for a walk (or a dog park) and he did something bad and she told him "Karl Malone - stop that!" - somebody might ask her why she named her dog after a black man. Or at least she'd get dirty looks. And we live in a google era - all it would take if for her to take out her phone and google.
Maybe she thought Karl Malone was a Jimmy Kimmel character?
Ruh roh, I sense the revival of a struggle session.
Hopefully this list of points can help people discuss this comradely:
CW: non-vegan descriptions of food, slavery
- Yes, cats are classified as obligate carnivores. They can't synthesize a bunch of stuff their bodies need and they get those nutrients from eating other animals.
- Dogs have fewer nutrients that they don't synthesize themselves. They still eat other animals in order to get them.
- Food is just chemicals. It is entirely within the realm of possibility for us to create nutritious food for cats and dogs that has no meat or dairy in it. Hopefully this contextualizes the meaning of calling a cat an obligate carnivore, because that term does not exclude humans creating a healthy diet for them without animals in it.
- Pet diet research is difficult and poorly-funded. Veganism is treated like a fad diet by US companies, as is vegan pet food. It is difficult to know how much you should trust corporate-funded studies about vegan pet foods.
- With that said, cat and dog foods are already bullshit not backed by gold science or flying in the face of it. Pet food is full of vitamin additives because those nutrients that cats + dogs need from meat get cooked out during the preparation of canned food / kibble. The only way you're simulating a wild-appropriate diet for your cat is if you're feeding it raw, recently-killed rodents and birds. And c'mon, nobody is doing that. We're all just crossing our fingers and hoping that grain + cooked ocean fish gathered by Thai slaves + factory-added vitamins is "good enough" despite the fact that cats are frequently allergic to both.
Basically, I hope we can t least all get on the same page about pet food already being crap and that it is at least theoretically possible to create a healthy vegan cat/dog diet.
Basically, I hope we can t least all get on the same page about pet food already being crap and that it is at least theoretically possible to create a healthy vegan cat/dog diet.
No.malnourish yourself for all I care, but don't do it to your defenseless pet
They sell CBD pet stuff everywhere as well. Probably harmless since CBD doesn't do shit but I'll stick to just rolling catnip in cigarette paper for Yma thank you very much
There's actually been a few studies that showed CBD can help dogs with joint pain, mobility, and other inflammation issues.
Like 3 studies doesn't mean it def does but there could be something there.
Yeah, this is clearly just an article to get clicks from people who get mad at X diet. Who cares.
Well said. While I am vegan, my cat is not. However I have known vegan cats that were extremely healthy (long term too). But it does require paying careful attention to how much of the essential nutrients they are getting as well as making sure they're not getting garbage ingredients that are just there as filler or that just sound good.
And as others have said, a lot if not most regular old meat product animal food can actually be pretty unhealthy.
Edit: See CheGueBeara's comment that went into detail on all of that and said it far far better than I could.
My cat eats gluten-free, because I'm celiac. If she eats something with wheat in it and then grooms herself or licks me, then that contamination can eventually give me a reaction. If she drops food on the floor and I have to clean it, if I miss a bit or use the wrong sponge to wash her dish, I can be contaminated. Cats shouldn't be having grains anyway, they're only in cat food because they're cheap. I am so sick of people lumping in gluten free with voluntary diet modifications like going vegan. It's not the same thing.
my grandma is celiac and was misdiagnosed as having lupus for about a decade. my family says she was a completely different person; apparently it affected her memory and stuff too. she's better now thankfully
hope you're doing alright
Thanks ❤️ It's a pretty brutal disease but it goes undiagnosed a ton because doctors aren't informed. Sorry to hear about your grandmother; I also had symptoms from neurological damage before being diagnosed, but many don't even realize that's a possible consequence of celiac. I really had to fight to get tested. The bright side is that it's the one autoimmune disease that can be fully controlled by lifestyle changes. I'm doing so much better now, a year or so since my diagnosis.
I'm 100% on board with a mandatory veganism society as long as we also fix the labeling requirements and cross contamination standards in food/supplement/medication manufacturing for gluten. Being a celiac here in the US is suffering
"Most" cats? Imagining the exceptions are outdoor cats who sneak a songbird here and there.
I have to buy my cat grain-free cat food, or they get the liquishits, though, so there is something to the idea that mainstream pet food is garbage.
A comment...
cupla focal
I work at a public elementary school where eighty percent of the students receive free lunch and breakfast. It is not a choice for them whether they get this free food or not. They would go hungry if they did not get it.
But the food is highly processed full of salt, sugar and fat. Not high quality at all. I wonder how this must affect the daily ability of these children to learn and their health now and in the future.
The children are given a few carrot or celery sticks or apple or orange slices with their lunch. But they also get chocolate milk, slushies, fried chicken, very cheesy pizza once a week. Cinnamon rolls for breakfast. You get the idea.
I worry about the fate of these children. I do not worry so much about my ten year old terrier mix who gets high quality kibble and whatever falls on the floor. She's doing fine. Better than fine. The children of this nation are not.
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Kb
About five years ago, I had a conversation with a pet store employee. She told me that a young woman, about 19 or 20, came in asking for vegan kitten food. The employee said there was no such thing, because cats are carnivores. Blank stare. The employee patiently defined carnivore, and the woman, apparently distraught, said she would go elsewhere. Sigh. I still wonder about the fate of that unfortunate kitten.
By the way, I suspect the dogs are wondering why they can’t have tastier human foods like ice cream and Doritos.
ahhhhh im so mad at (x) personal consumer consumption choice, if only they did (y) things would be so different!1!1!!
