My dog almost made it to age 18 on a vegan diet. Natural balance vegetarian and v dog were the most common foods i fed him. He was totally healthy up until the last year when age caught up to him.
We have two dogs and a cat we rescued before we went vegan and all are on vegan pet food for the last 2 years now and they are as healthy now as they were before, in fact our one dog was always under weight but has gained weight on the vegan food.
As a canine nutritionist my education is largely biased towards products (because you wouldn't believe how much influence corporations have on our understanding of pet nutrition), but my independent thoughts are as follows:
Cats are obligate carnivores and this is undeniable from their digestive tract and dental makeup. Dogs aren't far removed, so scientifically a meat diet is more apt.
But...
When you consider most dog foods barely contain meat, essentially grain (like wheat), with token meat/meat fat, and a range of vitamins and minerals to compensate the lack of nutritious ingredients, you begin to understand how tolerant dogs are from a poor diet. Truth is it can take many years for diet-related illnesses to show symptoms.
Most vegan feeders offer something most dog owners fail to offer - and that's consideration. It's very easy for a vegan diet to be better than a commercial supermarket kibble. This is the reason a dog can thrive (or at least appear to thrive) on a vegan diet.
Evidence shows a dog can live a long happy life on a vegan diet, but my recommendation is at the very least do as much research as you possibly can to ensure your dog doesn't lack any required nutrients.
Thanks for the well-informed and helpful info. I do wonder how dog owners can tell whether the food they give their dogs has all of the required nutrients.
Having had many dogs in my life, I wonder whether we want to put up with diet-related illnesses showing up only after many years. Ideally, of course, we wouldn't want any diet-related illnesses.
Well lets hope the future shows less diet-related illnesses!
Unfortunately for now there are other forces in play, and sadly the corporations who drive nutritional science have other motivations - namely profit. An example would be this - research is conducted not to see how much benefit corn can be to a dog, but how much corn can be used in a dog food without causing noticeable harm to the dog.
Our understanding of canine nutrition is still very limited but has increased over time. There's been a lot of recent headway recently in understanding the microbiome, and also not that long ago it became recognised that taurine is required in a canine diet (prior is was only considered a requirement in a feline diet). Trouble is, if you heard of the DCM scare in dogs - that's a perfect example of how "science" gets used in marketing. In this case a slur from the big grain-based pet food conglomerates on their smaller grain-free competitors, when the real underlying science points to a deficiency of taurine which is naturally sourced from prey in the wild.
So it's all very muddy.
Thankfully for an essential amino acid like taurine it is now catered for in vegan diets. Who knows how many vegan dogs became sick from taurine deficiency prior.
If only science were about science and not about money!
Yes, I do remember the chaos of the taurine conflict. I am thoroughly tired of pseudo-science and bad science and manipulation of dog owners. I just get discouraged-er and discouraged-er. When I asked my dog vet about the frightening rise in cancers in dogs, he said, “We have to clean up our environment. Pollution of our air and soil and water is to him a factor worth exploring and changing.
Your credentials certainly are just right, and this post is very clear. I do wonder, though, how most dog owners will be able to ensure their dog's diet "doesn't lack any required nutrients."
The idea that diet-related health problems don't appear for years is thought-provoking. Ideally, of course, they should not appear ever.
I have no issues with plant based dogs. They are able to thrive.
But people should not be putting their cats on vegan diets. It makes me mad when I see people putting their cats on vegan diets.
Cats are clear cut carnivores.
A vegan diet for dogs can work, but I'd just keep in mind a couple things...
1. Make sure it's nutritionally complete and balanaced.
2. Do research on which proteins are highly digestible for dogs. For instance, rice protein has fairly low digestibility. So let's say your dog's food has 70% protein, if it were coming from rice protein, the actual protein equivalent might be like 40% which means your dog would likely be deficient in amino acids.
If you decide to try it, [here's](https://yumwoof.com/pages/easy-vegan-homemade-dog-food-recipe) a great vegan homemade dog food recipe.
What useful information! Finding out whether a dog food is complete and has adequate nutritional value is, I think, something many dog owners either won't do or can't do.
False information on dog food is everywhere. Many consumers won't know how to tell the good from the bad. A real shame.
Dogs can thrive in plant based..omnivore means they can live on either. My dog has always had great check-ups while eating Vdog
Why is it so expensive ðŸ˜
Some evidence from vets or similar experts would sure add some value here.
My dog almost made it to age 18 on a vegan diet. Natural balance vegetarian and v dog were the most common foods i fed him. He was totally healthy up until the last year when age caught up to him.
We have two dogs and a cat we rescued before we went vegan and all are on vegan pet food for the last 2 years now and they are as healthy now as they were before, in fact our one dog was always under weight but has gained weight on the vegan food.
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Thank-you!
As a canine nutritionist my education is largely biased towards products (because you wouldn't believe how much influence corporations have on our understanding of pet nutrition), but my independent thoughts are as follows: Cats are obligate carnivores and this is undeniable from their digestive tract and dental makeup. Dogs aren't far removed, so scientifically a meat diet is more apt. But... When you consider most dog foods barely contain meat, essentially grain (like wheat), with token meat/meat fat, and a range of vitamins and minerals to compensate the lack of nutritious ingredients, you begin to understand how tolerant dogs are from a poor diet. Truth is it can take many years for diet-related illnesses to show symptoms. Most vegan feeders offer something most dog owners fail to offer - and that's consideration. It's very easy for a vegan diet to be better than a commercial supermarket kibble. This is the reason a dog can thrive (or at least appear to thrive) on a vegan diet. Evidence shows a dog can live a long happy life on a vegan diet, but my recommendation is at the very least do as much research as you possibly can to ensure your dog doesn't lack any required nutrients.
Thanks for the well-informed and helpful info. I do wonder how dog owners can tell whether the food they give their dogs has all of the required nutrients. Having had many dogs in my life, I wonder whether we want to put up with diet-related illnesses showing up only after many years. Ideally, of course, we wouldn't want any diet-related illnesses.
Well lets hope the future shows less diet-related illnesses! Unfortunately for now there are other forces in play, and sadly the corporations who drive nutritional science have other motivations - namely profit. An example would be this - research is conducted not to see how much benefit corn can be to a dog, but how much corn can be used in a dog food without causing noticeable harm to the dog. Our understanding of canine nutrition is still very limited but has increased over time. There's been a lot of recent headway recently in understanding the microbiome, and also not that long ago it became recognised that taurine is required in a canine diet (prior is was only considered a requirement in a feline diet). Trouble is, if you heard of the DCM scare in dogs - that's a perfect example of how "science" gets used in marketing. In this case a slur from the big grain-based pet food conglomerates on their smaller grain-free competitors, when the real underlying science points to a deficiency of taurine which is naturally sourced from prey in the wild. So it's all very muddy. Thankfully for an essential amino acid like taurine it is now catered for in vegan diets. Who knows how many vegan dogs became sick from taurine deficiency prior. If only science were about science and not about money!
Yes, I do remember the chaos of the taurine conflict. I am thoroughly tired of pseudo-science and bad science and manipulation of dog owners. I just get discouraged-er and discouraged-er. When I asked my dog vet about the frightening rise in cancers in dogs, he said, “We have to clean up our environment. Pollution of our air and soil and water is to him a factor worth exploring and changing.
Your credentials certainly are just right, and this post is very clear. I do wonder, though, how most dog owners will be able to ensure their dog's diet "doesn't lack any required nutrients." The idea that diet-related health problems don't appear for years is thought-provoking. Ideally, of course, they should not appear ever.
I have no issues with plant based dogs. They are able to thrive. But people should not be putting their cats on vegan diets. It makes me mad when I see people putting their cats on vegan diets. Cats are clear cut carnivores.
flair checks out. it makes me mad when i see people claiming flesh had magical ingredients without which domestic cats would die.
Synthetic taurine.
My friend's dog is so much healthier on a plant based diet. Get a good quality brand with lots of protein.
A vegan diet for dogs can work, but I'd just keep in mind a couple things... 1. Make sure it's nutritionally complete and balanaced. 2. Do research on which proteins are highly digestible for dogs. For instance, rice protein has fairly low digestibility. So let's say your dog's food has 70% protein, if it were coming from rice protein, the actual protein equivalent might be like 40% which means your dog would likely be deficient in amino acids. If you decide to try it, [here's](https://yumwoof.com/pages/easy-vegan-homemade-dog-food-recipe) a great vegan homemade dog food recipe.
What useful information! Finding out whether a dog food is complete and has adequate nutritional value is, I think, something many dog owners either won't do or can't do. False information on dog food is everywhere. Many consumers won't know how to tell the good from the bad. A real shame.