![]() | This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's work-in-progress page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable. For guidance on developing this draft, see
Wikipedia:So you made a userspace draft. Find sources:
Google (
books ·
news ·
scholar ·
free images ·
WP refs) ·
FENS ·
JSTOR ·
TWL |
Armaiti May DVM, CVA | |
---|---|
Armaiti Khorshed May | |
![]() Armaiti May teaching | |
Born | USA |
Nationality | American |
Other names | Armaiti K. May, Armaiti Khorshed May, Khorshed Armaiti May |
Citizenship | USA |
Education | natural resources,
veterinary medicine, veterinary chiropractic, veterinary acupuncture |
Alma mater | Samohi,
University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Chi Institute of Chinese Medicine |
Occupation(s) | Veterinarian, vegan advocate |
Years active | 2005 until present |
Employer | Armaiti May's Veterinary Housecalls |
Known for | Advocating vegan diets for dogs and cats,
Plant-Based Dog Health Study, ballot measure for feeding plant-based diets to Los Angeles shelter dogs |
Spouse | Unmarried |
Website | http://veganvet.net/ and http://vapavets.org |
Armaiti May, DVM, CVA, is a mobile vet who practices holistic veterinary medicine in West Los Angeles. She researches and speaks about philosophical perspectives on animals and advocates for the evidence base for optimizing safe, health-supporting vegan diets for dogs and cats and is organizing and advocating for addition research relevant to vegan companion animals. Currently she is publicizing and soliciting money for a study comparing 25 breed-match dogs on vegan diets with 25 other dogs on conventional, nonvegetarian diets. The animals will be compared with data from blood samples, stools, and clinical/physical exams done over 4+ months. She practices evidence-based ethical veganism. She also founded the nonprofit Veterinary Association for the Protection of Animals (VAPA), to educate the veterinary profession about the benefits of veganism and to encourage veterinary schools to offer humane surgical teaching methods to students.
Childhood
Armaiti May was born into a Gandhian family. She is the granddaughter of a freedom fighter for social justice in India.
Early career
Armaiti May was reared as a vegetarian by her Zoroastrian parents from India. She was a vegan and animal advocate before college and before her study in veterinary school. On earth, some of the strongest mammals and other animals are vegetarian: giraffes, elephants, oxen, bulls, moose, silverback gorillas.
For two years (2005-2007) following her 2005 vet school graduation, Dr. May worked at McClave Veterinary Hospital in Reseda, California, an emergency dog and cat hospital, and then trained in veterinary acupuncture through the Chi Institute of Chinese Medicine, 'to integrate Eastern and Western veterinary medicine' for her animal patients.
Advocacy
Dr. May attended her first animal rights conference in 2001. Today she translates her vegan ethical moral compass through her veterinary profession and her scientific understanding and practice. She travels at her own expense to speak as an invited guest or participant in free vegan and animal advocacy events.
Pet cancers and other diseases
About 40% of all cats are diagnosed with cancer during their lifetimes. A higher percentage of dogs are diagnosed with cancer during their lifetimes. These cancers are largely traceable to the commercial pet foods these companion animals are being fed. How an older animal responds to the introduction of plant-based foods is a significant factor in how well that specific animal could fare with such a plant-based diet. Such diets need to be carefully monitored by veterinary professionals to adjust their food for their well-being. [1]
"85% of pets over age 3 years of age have periodontal disease." citing Dr. Wendy C. Brooks, DVM, DipABVP.
Veterinary medicine
Her speaking and writing as a veterinary concerns how to care optimally for animals, how nutrition plays into proper and optimal care for animals, and how vegan values can inform animal-optimizing vegan nutrition as part of optimizing care and health outcomes for animals under stewardship-level care.
Her issues concerning vegan dogs can be itemized in this way:
Her clinical veterinary business, "Armaiti May, DVM", is incorporated as an LLC in Santa Monica, California.
Plant-Based Dog Health Study
In Los Angeles County, a ballot measure would require shelter dogs to be fed on exclusively plant-based diets. [2] This is expected to save money for taxpayers, reduce risk of preventable food-related degenerative conditions in shelter animals, save the lives of other animals designated as 'food animals' in factory farming, reduce money spent in the oppression of 'feed animals', and reduce greenhouse gases produced by the production of meat and animal products. Many if not most of the animals in shelter are not placed through adoption, and thus most of them are slated for euthanasia.
If this Los Angeles initiative passes, the plant-based dog food provided at the second largest shelter system in the United States could dramatically reduce direct harms to animals and indirect harms to the ecosystem.
Currently, by their own admission, the plant-based diet for dogs is lacking in scientific research results. Without evidence, shelter veterinarians are vocally opposed to it. Equipoise is a key epistemological issue in any comparison study, and two items need essential funding.
The Plant-Based Dog Health Study is being conducted from the newest veterinary school in the United States, Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, which publicly expresses a humane philosophy of animal care in research and practice.
Bringing to fruition the goal of providing plant-based food for Los Angeles shelter dogs, which is calculated to save lives of approximately 33,000 farmed animals each year and possibly to model for other municipalities globally and across North America requires external funding for its project-driven budget.
Clinical veterinary trials would be designed, conducted, and supervised by Professor Tonatiuh Melgarejo, DVM, PhD [3] [4], Professor of Translational Medicine at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California in order to compare and evaluate health outcomes of dogs fed a plant-based diet as their only source of nutrition, compared with those fed standard meat-based commercial diets. Some generous sympathetic donors have offered $50K in matching funds for $75,000 raised from other donors. Dr. Melgarejo was formerly with Kansas State University and the Kansas State University Research Foundation.
As part of her advocacy for developing the strong evidence base for optimizing safe, health-supporting vegan diets for dogs and cats, Dr. May currently is organizing and advocating for addition research relevant to vegan companion animals. She is publicizing and soliciting money for a study comparing 25 breed-match dogs on vegan diets with 25 other dogs on conventional, nonvegetarian diets. The animals will be compared with data from blood samples, stools, and clinical/physical exams done over 4+ months.
Written support from vegan organizations and leaders has been significant:
About 72,000 site visitors to http://www.plantbased.dog/ signed a Care2 petition benefiting Los Angeles Animal Services, the ad hoc nonprofit for this fundraising purpose, drew atures. The effort was designed by vegan practicing veterinarians invested in the development of strong bodies of knowledge on the ethics and science of feeding omnivorous canines with exclusively meatless plant-based diets:
Selected bibliography
Online
Online
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Dr. May's Business and non-profit Facebook Pages: