Despite all of the debate on whether or not a vegan diet is good for dogs, it all comes down to one thing: a loving pet parent simply wants their dog to be healthy. This visual guide to the most important nutrients by vegandogfood101.com (shown below) helps illustrate the key information to look for when choosing your dog’s food.
- Digestive enzymes, such as protease, amylase, lipase or cellulase, should be included in the vegan dog food formula for an increased absorption of nutrients. They also improve your pet’s digestion and prevent issues such as abdominal discomfort and gas, bad breath and vomiting.
- Vegan dogs might be subject to urinary alkalinisation and other urinary diseases because of the naturally lower intake of protein in the diet. A simple addition of cranberries, vitamin C, and methionine in the diet can prevent such issues.
- Even though most dogs can synthesize adequate amounts of taurine and L-carnitine, they should be supplemented for vegan dogs. Research has shown that these two nutrients can prevent and even reverse many forms of heart disease.
- Vitamin B12 is pretty difficult to obtain through a fresh vegan diet, therefore it needs to be supplemented. B12 helps prevent neurological diseases and is crucially important to your dog’s health.
Not only can a vegan diet be beneficial for dogs who are allergic to animal-based protein, but it also brings a lot of benefits to the table. Studies have shown that the longer dogs have been vegan or vegetarian, the longer and the healthier lives they tend to have. Moreover, because of the larger quantities of carbohydrates and easily digestible food, dogs tend to have much more energy than on a meat-based diet. Dogs can not only survive on a vegan dog food, they can thrive on it! Just make sure they get all the necessary nutrients they need.
Alice Sparkle says
Hi Hellen,
First and foremost, thank you for this wonderful shopping guide about vegan dog food. I was about to start feeding my pet with vegan dog food, and this is a quick head start for me. All I want for my dog Mercy is to become healthy and active for most of the time, and vegan dog food is a perfect start for her healthy diet.
Cheers!
Alice
S. Lincoln says
Great article. I have found your article so much informative than others. I think Vitamin B12 is really important for dogs because it reduces neurological diseases. Consuming vegan diet is also very important for getting tremendous health benefits for dogs. Vegan dog food improves pet’s digestion and prevents issues such as abdominal discomfort, gas, bad breath and vomiting. I also believe dogs will live longer and healthier if they follow a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. Thanks for sharing!
Sarah Hockel says
Thank you, S. Lincoln for reading!
Sandy says
Dogs are not vegans. Loving your animal doesn’t mean changing the way the world works. Humans are omnivores and it is perfectly reasonable for us to choose to be vegans.