My dog thrives on vegetarian, but is a vegan diet truly healthy?

Related Answers from Veterinarians

• Answered By Linda G, MS, DVM

  Veterinarian

  Published on December 3rd, 2018

  Hello. Dogs are omnivores which mean they need a varied diet of meat & some plant based foods. Without the nutrition derived from meat, dogs will develop some very severe amino acid deficiencies which can lead to long term chronic disease & possibly even death. Dogs are not people & should be fed a good balanced diet made for them. Anything else is just misguided. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

  

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• Answered By Sara Farmer, DVM

  Veterinarian

  Published on April 14th, 2019

  There is not a commercially available vegan diet that I would recommend. It is very difficult to make a balanced vegan diet for a dog - a board certified nutritionist would certainly need to be involved. In my opnion it would not be ethical to knowlingly feed an unbalanced diet to a dog.

  

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• Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

  Veterinarian

  Published on September 11th, 2018

  Dogs are not vegan by nature thereby, I don't recommend feeding them this type of diet. While it may be possible to feed an exclusively vegan diet to a dog, you would have to feed additional vitamins and trace minerals to make it a complete healthy diet. Regular dog food is your best bet.
  
  Hope this answers your question. Best wishes.

  

  2Pet Parents found this answer helpful

• Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

  Veterinarian

  Published on September 27th, 2017

  You are not asking a weird question. It is a good question and we do get it quite a bit actually.
  
  Feeding a vegetarian/vegan diet is really not recommended. If you feed your dog dry food you will not even notice it's meat (in my opinion); it is not like the canned food that looks like and smells like meat.
  
  Dogs are omnivores but they are designed to eat meat. Their bodies are made to process it and use it. We always suggest that if someone wants a vegetarian/vegan pet they should get a pet that is meant for that type of diet (ie: rabbit). I have seen numerous dogs that owners have put on vegetarian diets and the dogs end up with nutritional deficiencies - especially when they start the dogs on this type of diet as puppies. While I respect your choice to be a vegan it is not really fair for you to subject your beliefs onto your dog. It is just really not recommended.
  
  That being said, there are companies that make these types of diets commercially. I do not recommend them as they are not regulated and do not have to uphold themselves to any standards/regulations. They are also extremely expensive. However, it is up to you if you want to feed them. I honestly don't know what is available in the UK in the way of these types of foods you will just have to research it.
  
  Hope this helps. Best wishes.

  

  1Pet Parents found this answer helpful