Dogs - Omnivores or carnivores?

Now I've always understood that dogs are carnivores ie if you put them on a vegetarian diet it would do them no harm (not that I'm considering it, quite the opposite actually!) and that cats were carnivores and need meat in their diet.

I've been trawling the RMB and BARF sites to get info and I've noticed that many are claiming dogs are in fact carnivores? Is this right? How can a species suddenly go from one to the other?

Sorry if this is in the wrong place BTW!

Dogs are principally carnivores (the mammalian order Carnivora) but they can survive on a vegetarian diet, and will eat a variety of vegetable matter and fruit when the opportunity presents itself. They will also consume vegetable matter from the digestive tract of prey animals. So, in practical terms I suppose they are omnivorous

Thanks SB that's what I thought, find it worrying that some sites are insisting that dogs are carnivores and should therefore exclude any veg in their diet!

If they are feeding only raw meat, with no supplements, then I think they will find themselves (their dogs) in trouble My understanding is that none of the BARF 'gurus' recommend a solely meat diet?

Think you might be right, getting a bit snowed under with all the info!

Read that many websites I can't remember what I read where!

Perhaps I'll just look at BARF sites for now!

I have the book by Ton Lonsdale,Work Wonders, he states that a dog cannot live on just meat,bone and cartilage must also be included,i feed my own dogs a variety of RMBS,minced meats, offal,fish and eggs,they don,t have any veg,grain or dairy,and neither haVE SUFFERED ANY PROBS RELATED TO DIET.

I thought there were some nutrients dogs needed from veg?

Yeah Tom Lonsdale doesnt use veggies. I feed more along Billinghurst

I feed veggies, as there's a lot of vitamines in them

Ooh I'm getting so advanced.. I've started looking into what kind of veggies contain what vitamin.. And I'm going to start to make a veggiemix once a week, so I can switch the veggies out once in a while.. For other vitamins. Clever, huh?

I'm sooo enjoying this food

Glad you're enjoying yourself J! Got any websites you can recommend, preferably in English!

Uhm no.. The veggiesite is in danish.. but I have a few links to rawfeeders and how they make their veggie mix

And I've found a labradorsite with a special section on natural diets.. I'll pm you the link if you want it..

This one I found fascinating: http://www.rawdogranch.com/rawdiet.htm
I've joined a list on yahoo for labrador barfers: [Moderator edit. URL removed. Rules stipulate no links to other forums]

They are very helpful.

These here are some I've glanced at, but I tend to use the danish ones and then the lab forum more..

http://touchmoon.com/dotters/raw/index.shtml
http://www.rawfoodlife.com/barf_faq.html
http://www.barfers.com/