Discover the unexpected benefits that you can expect from a dog on a vegan diet, based on pioneering studies ranging to health effects and environmental impact.
The game changing effects of vegan diets on dog health
The green side-effects of a plant-based diet for pets are massive and many, thanks in part to the wonderful world of dog food. However, can dogs really live well on a vegan diet?
Even though dogs are thought of as carnivores, according to their biology they are omnivores so there are a variety of products on the market that have plant, mineral and synthetic components that gives these pets all the nutrients they need. Professor Andrew Knight and his team have just published an exciting new study, which reveals the really outstanding effects of vegan food on dogs’ health.
By looking at medical records from 2,536 dogs — including 336 who had eaten a vegan-only diet for at least a year — they identified declines in seven common signs of disease. Dogs eating plant-based were less likely to require medications, medical diets, or see a significant increase in the number of visits to the vet and more likely to be described as healthy by their owners and veterinarians. Dogs fed insect-based diets were shown to have reduced rates of illness as well as fewer cases of certain health disorders, ranging between 14–51% compared to dogs given non-insect-containing meat diets.
Busting the Fiction: Vegan Diets + Dog Health
A misconception about being a vegan dog owner is that your pet will miss out on several nutrients. The research, though, says otherwise. The researchers found that the health status of dogs fed vegan diets was better in comparison with those on conventional meat-based or raw meat diets.
In a study of the 22 most common health disorders found in the same dogs, 11 were most frequent — and nine significantly less likely to occur — in animals that ate commercial meat substitutes versus conventional meats (eight most frequent/12 least prevalent among those fed raw meat). In addition, the chances of developing six stated health problems including body weight, musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal issues and ear infections dramatically decreased by 50% to 61% in veganos when compared with traditional meat feeding dogs.
This research is monumental and dispels the belief that dogs are not able to be healthy on a vegetarian diet. In fact, the data indicates that vegan diets might actually be best for our dogs. While this is good to know, it’s also nice to see the caveat at the end: You should always make sure that any vegan diet you give your dog or cat has been nutritionally certified by carefuly checking package labels and making purchases from reputable pet food companies.
Conclusion
This water-shed vegan dog study results is indicative of the overwhelming positive effect a plant based diet can have on canine health quality, with reductions in most common health problems. As more pet owners learn about the environmental consequences of their decisions, not only will feeding dog a nutritionally appropriate vegan diet help save the earth, it can maximize their furkids’ health. The study can have major implications for the future of pet nutrition and could lead to a healthier, sustainable future for our canine companions.
