For humans, a vegan diet provides many benefits. In addition to being the most humane choice, it also lowers the risk of many conditions like diabetes, obesity, and heart complications. As a result, many people are changing their normal lifestyle to a vegan lifestyle in hopes of being healthier and happier. According to a 2018 article by Forbes, the number of people in the US who identified as vegan grew from 1% to 6% between 2014 and 2017, which was an increase of about 600%. But some vegan dog owners don’t just give up on animal products themselves, but they wish their pooches to do the same. And this raises the question: Can Dogs Be Vegan?
Technically, yes, dogs can be vegan. Dogs are omnivores and the canine digestive system is capable of digesting and deriving nutrients from some selected non-toxic fruits and vegetables. So your pooch could survive and even do well on a vegan or vegetarian diet. However, a canine diet needs animal-derived protein and other nutrients so placing your dog on a regimen that lacks these nutrients could be potentially harmful to them unless done with the supervision of a veterinary nutritionist.
Let’s get to know more about the procedure, pros, and cons of your dog being a vegan.
Are Dogs Carnivores?
As dogs descended from wolves, most people assume that our canine companions are carnivores, just like their ancestors. However, this is not entirely true. In the wild, wolves have been known to eat eggs, berries, and even grass if vitamins are lacking, and dogs are no different. The domestication of dogs could also mean that they adapted to a diet with less meat and more plant starch as the food they received from humans wasn’t always meat. In this way, although dogs belong to the mammalian order Carnivora, they’re actually omnivores and they can absorb plant-based nutrients.
According to Hill’s Pet, here are some qualities that support the argument that dogs are omnivores:
- Canine molars are designed to grind up both bones and fibrous plant material
- Dogs can turn beta-carotene found in plants into vitamin A
- Dogs digest almost 100% of the carbohydrates they consume
- Similar to other omnivores, dogs have a small intestine that takes about 23% of the total gastrointestinal volume
Is A Vegan Diet Bad For Your Dog?
Unless you’re a nutritionist trained in veterinary medicine, designing a diet plan for your dog that is free of animal products yet can still provide them all the necessary nutrients is extremely difficult. If you try to do so without professional advice, you’re likely to mess up your dog’s diet, resulting in them not getting proper nutrition.
Furthermore, while the canine digestive system can synthesize nutrition from a plant-based diet, it has a much easier time processing animal matter. At the same time, plants lack the necessary proteins that animal meat provides. For instance, animal-derived proteins like collagen, elastin, and keratin are difficult, if not impossible, to derive from a plant-based diet.
The bottom line is that you must never try to put your pooch on a vegan or vegetarian diet on your own. Always consult your vet if you wish to do so.
Why Do Dogs Love Meat?
While the domestication of dogs has led to deviation from their traditional wolf-like behavior, your dog’s jaws, teeth, and length of the bowels have not changed. Those sharp and pointed teeth are there for tearing flesh and crunching bones. In this sense, consuming meat and bones is the way dogs are supposed to act biologically.
Research also shows that dogs can process meat easier than any other food. A diet plan that’s high in meat is also more nutritional for them and resulted in higher levels of gut bacteria that helped with protein and fat digestion. At the same time, dogs on a high meat diet had smaller droppings and better fecal health as well.
While we only figured this out after the research and its results were in place, chances are that dogs and their ancestors have known this for thousands of years and this might be why dogs love meat so much: it’s good for them and easier for them to digest.
Why Do Dogs Go Vegan Then?
If dogs need meat in their diet and are biologically programmed to eat more meat than plants, why do you hear that some dogs are vegan or vegetarian then? There are two main reasons why some dogs need to follow a plant-based diet:
- The owner’s ethics
- The dog’s food allergies
While the first reason is pretty self-explanatory, the second one may come off as a shock. Like humans, dogs can be allergic to many things, and food items are one of them. In certain cases, some dogs could be sensitive to animal proteins, and eliminating processed animal products from their diet can help prevent an allergic reaction. In such cases, the vet might suggest feeding your dog vegan food only and using supplements for the missing nutrients.
How To Make Your Dog Go Vegan
If you’re a vegan dog owner and wish for your dog to avoid animal products just like you, you must first realize that the health benefits of being vegan don’t extend to your dog. They need meat in their diet to get all the necessary nutrients and stay healthy. However, if your motivations for turning your pup vegan are purely ethical or if your dog is allergic to animal proteins, you might be looking for ways to change your dog’s diet into a plant-based one.
If that’s the case, here are a few tips that may be helpful:
- Consult your vet first. They can give your proper advice on how to remove meat from your dog’s diet.
- Eggs, dairy, and fish-based dog food are likely to be recommended as replacements for meat by vets and other experts so compromise a little for your dog’s well-being.
- Shop around for pet food brands that use high-quality ingredients and support humane farming practices.
- If you’re still insistent on changing your dog’s diet into a vegan one, consult a licensed veterinary nutritionist to develop a nutritional and safe diet plan for your dog. Formulating a diet plan like that is is extremely difficult, even for experts, so don’t do anything rash on your own.
- Always introduce new foods to your dog gradually. A sudden change to a vegan diet could do more harm than good for your dog.
What Goes Well With My Dog’s Vegan Diet?
Your dog can safely enjoy a wide range of vegan-friendly foods, including:
- Carrots, broccoli, and other veggies
- Rice
- Quinoa
- Lentils
- Certain types of beans
- Celery
- Fruits like banana, blackberries, and apples
Do note that there are certain fruits and other plant-based foods that your dog should NEVER eat as they can be harmful to canines and even result in your pooch’s death. This is also one of the reasons why placing your dog on a vegan regime requires adequate research and professional help.
Do Vegan Dogs Live Longer?
V-dog, a popular vegan dog food brand, claims that a vegan diet is beneficial for senior dogs as the anti-inflammatory properties of the diet can help with conditions like arthritis. Dogs who switch over to a vegan diet are also said to live into their late teens and early twenties, even in breeds with shorter life expectancies.
One example of a vegetarian dog living longer than other dogs would be the story of Bramble, a vegetable-eating dog from the UK who held the Guinness World Record for being the world’s oldest dog at the time. She lived exclusively on a vegetarian diet of organic vegetables, rice, and lentils. Bramble lived for 25 years, which would be about 189 in human years. She still ranks 8th on the list of the longest living dogs.
However, no definitive research has been conducted on how a vegan/vegetarian diet could affect the longevity of a dog, so we can’t know for sure if vegan dogs really live longer.
Conclusion
So, Can Dogs Be Vegan? Yes, dogs can live off of a plant-based diet. However, whether or not removing meat and other animal products from your dog’s diet is beneficial to them is still up for debate. At the same time, the moral implications of switching your dog to a vegan diet are a separate problem. If you do wish for your dog to be vegan, remember to consult your vet and a trained nutrition expert to formulate a diet plan that isn’t detrimental to their health.
Thank you for reading the article.
Now that you know whether dogs can be vegan, check out our other articles related to the dog diet here.
Have you ever tried giving a vegan diet to your dog? Did they like it? Or did they prefer their regular food? We would love to hear from you. Please share with our community by leaving a comment below!