CAN DOGS BE VEGAN OR VEGETARIAN?

I’m a veterinarian who specializes in canine nutrition. And I firmly believe dogs should eat raw meat based diets. But I get the “vegan” question a lot. So I decided to analyze vegan diets for dogs and tell you what I found out. 

When I was studying small animal nutrition at vet school in the early 2000s … I was taught that kibble covered all dogs’ nutritional needs and is the best food for them! They taught us that all human foods are dangerous for them. And that feeding dogs raw meats and bones will provoke their inner instincts to hunt. So they’ll no longer be our best companions … but our enemies ready to attack and tear us into pieces! (So watch out for that killer raw fed dog of yours!)

Two years after I graduated from veterinary university I met a dog named Max in my practice. He was an 18-year old German Shepherd in perfect health. He was rescued at age of 6 and since then he’d eaten exclusively a fresh homemade diet. Until then, I’d never seen a dog who lived that long. In veterinary literature the typical life span of big breed dogs is about 10 to 12 years.

The Benefits Of A Fresh Food Diet

Meeting Max made me realize that nutrition plays a significant role in dogs’ health. So I started to study small animal clinical nutrition. Since I graduated in 2016, I’ve turned away from conventional medicine.

My approach towards my patients has changed. I now focus on addressing health conditions with changes in diet. I’ve studied nutrigenetics, herbalism and raw diets. I’ve learned how to formulate complete and balanced dog food using only fresh foods.

Read the remainder of this article here: https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/can-dogs-be-vegan-vegetarian/