The consensus is not apparent at all, you'll hear a variety of opinions. Also the "Cambridge declaration" isn't a statement of consensus either, just a statement of agreement from a particular conference.brimstoneSalad wrote: ↑Sat Apr 07, 2018 2:57 am It would be nice to have a Cambridge declaration of consciousness style consensus on vegan diets for dogs, but not necessary. The consensus is apparent in professionally written articles on the topic.
You love to talk about "consensus" but its not very meaningfully scientifically and scientists rarely go around trying to make their consensus clear. The only time that tends to happen is when dealing with issues with clear political implications, for example, we've seen attempts by scientists to show a "consensus" on climate change.
There is a lack of good studies on the topic which will become quickly apparent to anybody that looks into the topic. So in this case having more research would be important to convincing people. Nobody is going to be convinced by the claims of vegans.brimstoneSalad wrote: ↑Sat Apr 07, 2018 2:57 am Your recommendations for yet more studies isn't something that will help convince most people.
People have various objections and an "appeal to nature" has nothing to do with religion. Just because a line of reasoning can be fallacious in some context doesn't mean its "qausi-religious" thinking.brimstoneSalad wrote: ↑Sat Apr 07, 2018 2:57 am It's a good analogy; people who object to vegan diets for dogs are primarily doing it on a quasi-religious appeal to nature foundation. That needs to be undermined before they'll consider any veterinary opinion.
And people will hear various things from vets, many vets have a negative view of vegan diets for dogs. Heck, many doctors have a negative view of vegan diets for people as well. You've yet to show there is a consensus about vets, to do this you'd have to do a survey of a large random sample of vets.
The strategy would be far less effective if there was good research demonstrating that its wrong....but there isn't and the anti-vegans have no trouble finding vets and other professionals that are critical of vegan diets for dogs.
Overall its a good strategy for them and they use it frequently.