Is a vegetarian diet healthy for my beagle puppy? What can he eat?

For the first year of life, puppies go through fairly extensive growth and development, particularly in terms of skeletal maturity. Diet plays a huge role in this development and nutritional deficiencies can cause a host of lifetime problems. I am not aware of any vegetarian diets that are formulated for puppy growth. As a result, I would strongly recommend feeding a traditional meat-based large breed puppy diet for at least the first year of life. After that time, you could consider switching to a vegetarian diet, such as Royal Canin Vegetarian or the Purina HA prescription diet. Enjoy your new puppy!

Royal Canin makes a commercial vegetarian diet that I think is the best option since it is balanced. Otherwise you would need to have a veterinary nutritionist formulate a balanced diet, which can be difficult when you are eliminating meat. This website has nutritionists on staff and can help formulate a diet: they use their own vitamin supplement to balance the diets and are based in the United States but I believe they will ship internationally. Www.balanceIT.com

For one, I wouldn't have Pavi as a vegetarian. Dogs should have meat, being a vegetarian is a human construct and really shouldn't be forced on a dog. I would feed her a high quality dog food like Royal Canin. You should also make sure she is fully vaccinated, has regular flea treatments, is spayed, and sees the vet as soon as she is sick. If she is healthy, have her seen by a vet once a year for a health check. Best of luck.

It is possible to make a balanced vegetarian diet for dogs, and if you are interested in this I would check with your vet first to make sure your vet feels it would be safe to try for Cooper. I typically recommend Royal Canin's Vegetarian diet since it has gone through feeding trials. If you are interested in formulating a home cooked diet it may be more difficult to make something balanced, but would certainly be possible particularly if you do have access to fish or game. You should ask your vet for referral to a veterinary nutritionist who can help formulate a balanced recipe.

Making a homemade diet (especially a diet for a puppy) requires very careful balance between nutrients and supplementing with specific vitamins and minerals. There are a few companies that employ veterinary nutritionists to help formulate balanced diets. The most commonly used one is called Balance It ( https://secure.balanceit.com/ ). They will be able to help you choose ingredients and create a balanced recipe specifically for Sakshi. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Because dogs are mostly carnivorous it is healthiest to have your dog on a meat based diet. Dogs can survive as vegetarians but it is certainly not the healthiest option. Vegetarian dogs may be prone to health and skin issues.

No, I never recommend vegetarian diets for dogs. Being a vegetarian is a human construct, and should not be forced on a dog. Given a choice between eating meat or veggies, a dog will chose meat every time. You should give Patch a puppy formulated food. Brands I recommend include Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, and Iams. I hope this helps!