#DogGate

[knot]

What do people of the recent drama in the vegan community about Vegan Gains' dog?

tldr; 1) VG said they adopted a Czechoslovachian (sp?) wolf dog. Turns out it was from a breeder.
2) VG initially said they fed the dog a vegan diet, but it was later revealed that they had to feed it with raw meat because its stomach couldn't handle anything else

My take: VG knew the dog was from a breeder, and thus chose the non-vegan option of getting a designer dog, rather than adopting from a shelter. Should he have known it needed to eat raw meat? I'm not sure. I actually thought all dogs could be vegan, but maybe dogs that are more closely related to wolves do need meat?

A lot of people are saying he's no longer vegan because he feeds his dog meat. On the surface that seems rather dumb to me, given the definition of veganism. I don't really see any other options than feeding the dog throw-away meat (although I'm not sure that's what he feeds it)

[brimstoneSalad]

Generally speaking, dogs can be vegan, but I'm not as sure about wolves. Dogs co-evolved for a long time eating grain.
There may be some dogs who have allergies or other digestive issues, and have trouble with grain or other ingredients. They can still be vegan, but it would be harder because you couldn't just buy a kibble. You'd have to make the dog food based on a recipe with supplements.

Something like this: http://www.vegepet.com/vegetarian_dogs.html

It means feeding the dog meat for a while, and trying other things. Which I think it what Vegan Gains said he would do.

It would be inconvenient, but I don't think that's an argument against it if you made the mistake of adopting a carnivorous animal with digestive or allergy issues. They could always re-home and adopt a dog who can easily eat vegan and doesn't have such issues from a shelter, if it's too much trouble.


As to the breeder thing, I don't really want to get into the he-said-she-said of it.
Vegan Gains said he didn't know. That might mean he was very naive, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt there.

[knot]

True, he could try and swap the dog for a vegan one. He seemed extremely unhappy with having to buy meat. On the other hand he's probably attached to it, and likely also has a feeling of sunken cost due to spending thousands of $$ on medical bills.

I don't think it helped that his GF said she had to "throw her ethics aside and buy the meat" -- a lot of people are using that against him and calling him a hypocrite. It might be a good time to elaborate on the philosophy and nuances of veganism (eww, I used the n-word)

[brimstoneSalad]

True, he could try and swap the dog for a vegan one. He seemed extremely unhappy with having to buy meat.

His reasoning was what somebody else would then buy the dog meat, but he doesn't seem to realize that by rehoming this special breed of dog to somebody who was seeking one, it would displace demand for more of them, and result in less breeding (and fewer dogs).

Fewer animals would be killed by rehoming and then adopting a vegan dog.

On the other hand he's probably attached to it, and likely also has a feeling of sunken cost due to spending thousands of $$ on medical bills.

The former I can sympathize with. The latter, not so much.

[ModVegan]

What do people of the recent drama in the vegan community about Vegan Gains' dog?

One thing that wasn't clear to me from any of the videos was whether the dog could eat regular (non-vegan) kibble, or if it had to eat meat. If VG is just buying meat because he thinks it's less cruel (he made some comments about it being "neck bones and things people wouldn't eat"), he's mistaken. Cheap kibble made in a rendering plant is (imho) the least cruel option, because it's basically recycled, low value meat. That would be my #1 option if I was in his situation.

But overall, I was hoping the whole incident would remind VG that no-one is perfect and he should focus more on calling people INto the vegan movement, rather than on calling them OUT. Don't think that's too likely to happen, though.