This is such contraversial topic but ‘are your dogs vegan?’ is a question I get asked a lot as a plant-based dog mum, so I thought I would write this blog post to address the subject. Can you feed your dogs a plant-based diet? It turns out, a lot of people do have vegan dogs. But can a dog thrive on a plant-based diet? Maybe it is too early to tell…
WHY I CHOSE A PLANT-BASED DIET
I had been a meat eater my whole life up until after I moved to Spain in 2017. It all started when one of my friends from back in the UK had randomly messaged our group chat saying ”have you seen ‘What The Health’ on Netflix?”. I hadn’t even heard of it before, so that night my boyfriend and I sat down to watch and see what it was all about.
After digesting all the information from the documentary we both decided to give it a go and cut out all animal based products cold turkey. I had always believed that eating animals was a neccessary evil which we had to do to survive and be healthy, but after watching the documentary it became obvious that that really isn’t the case at all, it’s actually the opposite! So we stopped everything that day, no more meat, fish, dairy or eggs. We managed to stick to it for a few months, but after that we replased a bit and started eating cheese again occasionally. Cheese addiction is real people! There have been studies that show that casein found in cheese triggers the same part of the brain as hard drugs like heroin so it really does cause an addictive reaction. Which explains why it is so hard to give up!
It wasn’t until the beginning of 2020 that we were somehow directed to watch the documentary called ‘Dominion’ on Youtube. This was a real eye opener for us, one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to watch. I was in tears the entire time. It really is devastating. The thing that affected me the most was seeing the sad lives of the dairy cows and I haven’t been able to eat a speck of cheese since. No relapsing this time!
WHAT I FEED MY DOGS AS A PLANT-BASED DOG MUM
Knowing what to feed the dogs is so tricky, there is soooo much information out there all saying different things. There is so much hate towards owners that feed their dogs a vegan diet, and I can understand that because it doesn’t seem very natural. You only need to imagine what a dog would eat in the wild and its seems most obvious that they would hunt, kill and eat small animals like chickens or rabbits for example. I have actually witnessed one of my dogs Indi do exactly that with chickens that have wandered into our garden by accident a couple of times. I have also seen my other two dogs Lady and Baby picking fruit from a tree to eat. Which makes sense because dogs are omnivores, unlike their wolf cousins which are carnivores.
I think that the best diet for a dog could well be a diet of fresh meat, fruits and vegetables, whether it raw or cooked. But I also think that a vegan diet of fresh fruits, vegetables and plant proteins would also be a hell of a lot better than any form of processed kibble where they throw in meat byproducts not deemed fit for human consumption. But, saying that, feeding your dogs a diet of fresh food can also come with a big price tag that is not realistic for a lot of people. Especially with big dogs that need a lot of food!
Its so hard to know if a dog can really thrive on a vegan diet because it is a relatively new concept and I don’t think there are enough studies yet. Although, there is one interesting case which you may have heard of, Bramble the Collie dog who lived to be until 27 years old eating a 100% plant-based diet and he looked very happy and healthy. So basically… yeah, I’m still confused on this topic. I want to do good for all the animals in the meat industry by not contributing to their suffering but at the same time I don’t want to do any harm to my dogs by depriving them of essential nutrients. It’s such a tough one because I don’t even know if it would do them any harm at all! They could thrive on it and it could mean they are safe from certain diseases and ailments that many dogs get in their old age.
I feed my dogs a meat based diet but I always try to avoid buying dog food made from beef, lamb or pork as much as possible and get them the highest quality food that is affordable. I am always open to new information and think only time will tell if dogs really can thrive on a plant-based diet.
INTERESTING DOCUMENTARIES FREE TO WATCH ON YOUTUBE
The Game Changers – Español (subtitulados)
Pet Fooled – Español (subtitulados)
Have you watched any of these documentaries? What did you think? Let me know in the comments below x
The Indi Blog 
Nice blog, I really enjoyed that read, and I think that it’s all work in progress for not only the dogs but us also.
LikeLike
Carefully selected meat-based diet is good for dogs. Thank you 😊
LikeLike