Vegetarian dog food

[Citygirlrurallife]

Does anyone feed their dog a vegetarian (kibble not home made) diet and have a recommendation for a manufacturer? One that does samples would be great so I can check with my DDog before committing. One that fulfils all needs of vitamins, proteins etc and also supplies toppers if poss?

we’ve tried herbie and wilde and it went down well

Cats are a little bit different in that they're obligate carnivores and need meat to survive.

Dogs can survive on a vegetarian diet but the vast majority wouldn't recommend it as it's not natural or normal for them to have all meat removed from their diet like that.

Agreed

@Citygirlrurallife the first few posts put me off reading the whole thread, so sorry if you've had this recommendation already. Veggiepets is the best place to order from and they do sample packs.

v-dog traditional flakes goes down well for my dogs, you add some hot water to it to soften it up.

My dogs really love benevo duo canned wet food. And this comes in 12 packs of your dog likes it.

I also try a lot of the treats when I do a big order.

Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years. It's not as though they'd just be wandering around living "natural" lives in the wild if they weren't in our homes.

It's not really comparable to feeding them an unnatural diet for their species.

Poor dog.

Brilliant Thankyou - same, I’m not engaging with posts that haven’t responded to my question. I really appreciate your response

@Citygirlrurallife
Out of interest why do you feed a veggie diet? Understand if you'd rather not say but I am genuinely interested.
Mine is fed meat but I am vegan myself. I think - rightly or wrongly - that much of what she eats would go to waste if pets didn't eat it.

I think - rightly or wrongly - that much of what she eats would go to waste if pets didn't eat it.

Yes, it would be a lower grade of meat that is used. You can buy second grade venison mince as a supplementary food for example.

https://deerbox.co.uk/venisonshop/p/second-grade-mince

Venison is a sustainable meat and it may be an option alongside vegetarian kibble?

@Citygirlrurallife yeah, the thing is all you can do is try it and see if your dogs takes to it. My old dog that has now passed, she wouldn't eat vegetarian food (and we tried many varieties) so I needed to feed her meat. My current dogs absolutley wolf veggie food down, all have clean bills of health at the vets, all are happy. I am always hearing of dogs that lived to an old age fed on a veggie diet.

Worth remembering that not everyone sets out to keep a dog. Our dog was from a litter dumped by the roadside (not in the UK) & the only other home offered I knew was going to keep him chained 24/7 as a guard dog, which is why we took him in. Others may end up re-homing an elderly relatives dog to keep it with family that it knows, etc etc.

We wanted to avoid factory farmed meat & these days I'd have looked at one of the organic brands. But 20 years ago they weren't readily available - & also realistically we were on a low budget back then. So we tried a sack of the v-dog to see how he got on with it & since he liked it & was healthy, just stuck with it. If he hadn't thrived, we wouldn't have continued to feed it. (We did also try the v-dog flakes mentioned upthread, but he didn't like those.)

Essentials do a vegetarian kibble called Eternal Living. We got a sample of it with one of our orders so they do have sample bags.

https://www.essentialfoods.com/meals/eternal-living

Bonzo dog food look them up
Some folks have come to the erroneous conclusion that dogs must be carnivores because they fall under the order Carnivora. A close look at the anatomy, behavior and feeding preferences of dogs shows that they are actually omnivorous — able to eat and remain healthy with both animal and plant foodstuffs.

Thanks so much everyone - some excellent suggestions so will have a gander and try some out on him

The science says-

“Dogs can thrive without meat, but only if they are fed a properly balanced vegetarian diet. As is true with people who prefer vegetarian diets, protein or vitamin deficiency can occur in dogs who eat strictly vegetarian diets if they are not properly supplemented.”

If you do it, you’ll have to do it properly. Don’t listen to strangers on the internet- and speak to a vet.

Butternut Box have a few vegetarian meal options for dogs. You can sometimes find them at dog events doing samples.

@margotrose

she's thriving on it

of course she is because dogs do on vegetarian diets completely irrespective of why they're on them.

I know there is a food made from insects, if that is something you would consider .

of course she is because dogs do on vegetarian diets completely irrespective of why they're on them

You're missing the point - probably on purpose judging by your other responses.

She's only on that diet because she has to be for her health - if she could eat meat then that's 100% what she'd be getting because dogs are omnivores and designed to eat meat.

Before her allergies were diagnosed she loved meat - it was her favourite thing ever and her owners wish she could still have it.

Just because a dog can eat well on a vegetarian diet doesn't mean it's what you should be feeding them benefit.

*by default, not benefit.

My DD worked in a fancy pet shop and they got tons of training about different pet food brands. She says Canagan insect based food was one of their best sellers.

Lots of independent pet shops will give samples if you ask @Citygirlrurallife. They often get given bags by the reps just for this purpose.

@TimeToGetSomeFlowers has the vegan diet helped your dog’s skin issues?

Lol at the outraged responses. My dog has IBD and a meat protein allergy, I prefer to keep him on his hydrolysed soya diet so he doesn't vomit and shit blood. Actually he was shitting blood when I tried insect protein.

OP we use Purina hypoallergenic which has no meat protein, dog is just fine after 4 years. We also use plant based treats and chews if you need ideas.

Most people have said there's a difference between doing it out of necessity for their health and doing it out of choice.

I’ll leave this here

Loads of dog food brands give samples!

You're not a vegan for animal welfare reasons then I take it?