My sister's dog eats my sister's cat's poop. She says that her vet says that a cat's digestive system is not totally effective. That there is still nutrients in the cat's poop. and the dog smells them. Some dogs are a bit neurotic about food and will eat when not hungry or maybe they are just always hungry. So that happens.
Anyway, I have no idea if that all is true or even partly true. Although I've seen for myself the dog eating cat poop. Even when it is still coated with kitty litter.
I'm pretty sure you are right about our sense of smell protecting us from eating noxious things. ( I even recall dimly an article I read years ago that hypothesized that is the main function of our taste buds). I'm pretty sure you are right that dogs acidic stomach protect their system better than ours from spoiled food. But dogs, at least the domestic ones are always eating things they shouldn't and then throwing them back up again. I've even seen them sniffing and licking their vomit. It appears that they are thinking about eating it, too. I'm not sure what kind of survival tactic that is.
These things might not be natural behaviors of dogs. Many of the dogs I have met are not well balanced. They are left alone too much, they are bored. they lack stimulation. Some dogs are neurotic with their relationship with food (like some people). Eating even when they are not hungry. or not know when to stop eating.
Your "gripe" doesn't seem to have much to do with veganism. It's more of a gripe about close-minded people. Maybe there is some personal history with this person and you being a vegan.
if pressed I could create an argument that all non-vegans are close-minded. If they were open-minded they would be vegan.
There is a thread here somewhere about "pet hates". oh, I found it. and you have a post in it.
I think you raise an excellent point about neurotic dogs who might have eating disorders or engage in other forms of self-mutilation via neurosis.
I also respect your viewpoint that perhaps this individual is just like this, in general, and is simply closed-minded.
However, I don't have an extensive or intense history with this person, other than us sharing a major. The one incident we had involving food or eating was on a trip to a conference when the vast majority of the students chose the vegetarian restaurant (many of my cohort are vegetarian for environmental reasons, even if they aren't vegan yet) and the only people who chose the restaurant who served meat were this person, one other male student, and the professor (a woman, if that matters, I'm just pointing out it wasn't necessarily related to gender).
That's why I do think this is specifically about veganism. Someone studying science should be able to accept - somewhat neutrally - information like "carnivores have a lower pH and more acidic saliva and digestive fluids than omnivores or herbivores." NO ONE majoring in SCIENCE should be set off by such a factual observation, and I said it quite casually, not in the context of veganism.
This makes me think that "vegan" is a hot button issue for this individual just as "climate change" or "global warming" is for many people who voted for Donald Trump. It's an irrational bias formed to reject factual information.
The professor in question enables it though. She's even had social gatherings for our group where she says things like "there will be meat and vegetarian options but I don't know about other dietary needs" and she's really flippant about it. She eats meat, and it's obvious she's an ostrich about the facts on animal ag and its impact on the environment, I''m waiting until I graduate to report her extensively to the administration. She's the same person who told us to "be careful" when we talk about climate change in presentations to the public. She shouldn't even be in science department, she should be demoted to environmental studies or moved to elementary education.
Haha...anyway.
Do you really think all non-vegans are closed minded, or do you believe that it's simply an argument you could construct convincingly? I'm just curious about your thoughts.