Vegan dog food.

[MissBrown]

Hi all.

I'm a very happy vegan and don't have any questions about my own diet but I always promised that when my cat died, I would change my dogs to a vegan diet. I have heard many good things about it.

I am interested in making my own but it needs to be suitable for my very itchy dog who has quite yeast prone skin.

Does anyone have experience with this and have any advice.
They are currently on shop bought kibble and show absolutely no interest in it.

Thank you in advance.

I have experience and it was rubbish. Bought many different types and made my own but the dog wouldn't touch it. He would only eat it (reluctantly) when he was REALLY hungry. Annoyingly he preferred cheap kibble (which made his poops soft and smell so bad).

I have since switched him to a raw diet and now he doesn't want anything else. I am also a vegan but buying/ handling the raw meat doesn't bother me in the slightest. I shouldn't have adopted a dog if I have a problem with feeding them meat.

Thank you for your reply. I totally agree with your point about not having an issue feeding meat when you have a dog. I will carry on my with my research and try adding a lot more beans/veg to their diet. If they don't take to it or thrive from it I will certainly try raw. The pet centre near us has a huge selection of meaty food, raw, anti-allergenic etc so that will be my next call.

Also, have you tried salmon oil for you dogs flaky skin? My dog had really disgusting dandruff that he would scratch off and leave everywhere. One pump of salmon oil in his breakfast and one in his dinner cleared him right up (even when he was on cheap kibble.)

Dogs might be omnivores but they should still be eating a diet which contains meat, they do not eat just beans and vegetables.

It’s cruel to enforce your diet on an animal that would naturally lead an omnivorous lifestyle. Personally, I don’t believe this is the purpose of veganism.

I’ve seen research that suggests dogs can survive with a carefully constructed vegetarian diet (though no recommended) but certainly not a vegan diet. Please remember that dogs cannot absorb vitamin D from sunlight as we can and so rely on their food source as a supply. I’d speak to the vet before making any changes.

Have you tried a gluten free diet? James wellbeloved is good

Dogs are carnivores. If you can’t stand to feed them meat then don’t have one

What would a wild dog eat?

I'd opt for a more natural diet including raw meat. (Obv you're a vegtarian so not for you - but my butcher sets aside meat scraps and bones for the dog)

Just passing on what my aunt who is a very well educated and experienced dog owner told me when I asked her about it. She said it's very difficult for commercial food manufacturers to get the nutrients right, and that most dogs fed a raw diet eventually develop insufficiencies. I can only imagine that a vegan diet would be much much harder to get right.

I wonder if my dog would prefer to be vegan
or vegetarian sometimes. He was really ill when we tried him on a raw diet or even with cooked meats. He’s now on a hypoallergenic kibble with supplemented fish oil.

From direct experience - my husky cross ate this food (V dog crunchy nuggets) from the age of about 2 or so until his death at age 16.

(Since that pretty much pre-dated social media, I'd not heard anything about the potential issues with it until he was old enough that it seemed like a bad idea to change his diet. Admittedly he was a spanish rescue who'd already survived being abandoned on a rubbish tip as a puppy, so pretty tough...)

LOL. No wonder he will not eat it. Like humans, animals need meat.

Such a stupid bloody phase.

@catlady3 It's true, it takes a while to get the balance right and I can't be arsed with all the percentages. So I buy my raw food prepackaged. I just have to defrost and feed the right amount for my dogs weight.

This way I don't have to worry about bone content, how much organ meat to distribute and vegetables/fruit to slice up. It's all done for me.

Dogs aren’t omnivores, they’re adaptable carnivores, but they’re still carnivores.

And if you’ve got an itchy dog, the most likely cause of that is grain in food anyway, so you’d be better thinking about a higher meat content diet for him anyway...

As previous posters have said, dogs are carnivores. Some vegetation won't harm them but that doesn't make them omnivores.

Im not a vegan but my God vegans are so restrained when being accused of being cruel for trying to live by their principles.
Wouldn't it be hypocritical of a vegan not to at least thoroughly research if its possible to keep a dog healthy and happy on a vegan diet or if not what is the most ethical choice.

Dogs/wolves are carnivores that will only become omnivores when meat is scarce. They adapt to survive short term shortages but meat is the mainstay of their diet and what their systems are designed to digest.
If you care about animals, you should want to do what's best for your dogs? So a meat diet would be best for their long term health and well-being.
I agree the skin issue is quite likely to be grain related.

@MrBeansXmasTurkey I think it’s hypocritical for a vegan to have a dog in the first place.

Just to reply to some of the points made. Dogs are omnivores and are able to eat a vegan diet if done properly. Cats are obligate carnivores and do need meat in their diet.

The oldest recorded living dog ( died aged 27) ate a completely vegan diet.

Humans DO NOT need meat. Meat and animal proteins are a major cause of cancer and heart disease. The World Health Organisation classifies red meat as a Grade 2, probably a carcinogen, processed red meat is Grade 1, a carcinogen and in the same category as asbestos and cigarette smoke.

Why are non-vegans getting angry about a question on a vegan page?

Dogs aren’t omnivores, they’re just not...they don’t produce amylase, their digestive tract is shorter than omnivores and they have carnivorous teeth... they also don’t eat an omnivorous diet if left to live ferally in a wild environment. They will if they’re domesticated or in an urban environment but that’s only because they are adaptable, not because it’s whats natural or best for them.

Humans are omnivores and manage fine without meat, dogs need a heavily processed diet to do without it and you do run the risk of making them ill in other ways, many dogs react to grains for example.

Wafcol, yarrah and v dog all do good vegan options. I have a dog who is allergic to meat so eats these - yarrah is her favourite. It's usually cheapest from Amazon. Ignore the vegan haters!

Please don’t force your dog into a vegan diet. I actually find that heartbreaking, poor little soul

Sad that you insist on giving your dog a vegan diet yet he has no say in the matter so you don't actually know what's best for him or what he'd prefer

Jesus Christ everything is a cause for cancer these days so that information is gobshite. Probably took off a vegan supporting website.

Humans have and will eat meat for hundreds of years before us and after us. Nothing will change that unfortunately for you.

Sick of people trying to change facts.

I've just been reading about a Border Collie named Bramble who lived for over 25 years on a vegan diet of rice, veggies & lentils. Am on a phone and can't do links, but it is easily searchable on Google.