Vegan dog food ... very curious about your opinions?

[Nikki & Charlie]

I just want to make it very clear that I am NOT considering giving my dog this food. This is solely a curiousity question.

Have you heard about this food? It's called v-dog. I came across it on instagram. This is the website... http://v-dog.com/ ..essentially it's vegan dog food.

Would you ever consider putting your dog on this food? Do you think it's "right" to make vegan dog food? I myself am vegan but I don't think I could ever make that decision for my dog. Dogs by nature are predators and eat meat when out in the wild... so I'm curious as to how this food would be good for them? Maybe for dogs with sensitive stomachs or picky eaters... hmmm.

I'd love to hear what you think about this!

[Stella]

I met a dog who was fed vegan dog food, and I have to say the dog was in amazing shape!! But, dogs are carnivores by nature, who will eat fruits and veggies when the opportunity arises. So, I feel that we should feed what they are supposed to be eating - predominantly meat with a few fruits and veggies thrown in!

[Vivian & Mojo]

I don't believe in dogs being vegan unless for a health issue that would benefit from it.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think that for dogs who have multiple protein allergies or eosinophilic IBD and need to be on hydrolyzed protein diets, this is a better alternative than the Rx crap. It has a similar nutritional analysis and presumably better quality ingredients, but it's still not what I would consider a high quality diet. Protein too low, Omega fatty acids EPA & DHA non-existent, lots and lots of fillers. 

But otherwise, this is strictly a lifestyle choice. This is for people who don't buy anything made from animals, which would include leather shoes, furniture, and car upholstery. 

That's fine for those people, because you can walk perfectly well in shoes made from rubber, nylon and synthetics, and you can sit perfectly well on fabric upholstery. 

But just because dogs can digest plant proteins, doesn't mean their entire diet should be composed of them. 

[Joan Bollaert]

Eccentric in my opinion.   For the dogs not the people. :)   Unless, as Karen mentioned, there are issues with allergies etc....

FYI: Since you're vegan, Nikki, this may interest you.  My nephew is vegan and also an author regarding everyhing vegan. Perhaps you're familiar with his work..James McWilliams .  You can find his books on Amazon.com  :)

[Nikki & Charlie]

I haven't heard of him but thank you for letting me know! I will be sure to look him up :-) Thank you.

[Patti and Bosco]

My husband and I keep a plant based diet but Bosco eats meat. When we first went on a vegetarian diet we tried to switch our previous dogs to a vegetarian diet and they didn't want to eat. :P They never seemed to get used to the change and we eventually gave up. They both lived very long and healthy lives.

If there was a health reason to make the change I would be happy to do it. But for now we have one carnivore in the family. :)

[Nikki & Charlie]

I guess it all depends the dog! They're different, just like us humans are. Some of us can do a plant-based diet and others cannot. I guess we won't know until we try!!

[Oliver & Elizabeth]

I'll be honest, as a vegetarian, I've considered making Oliver a vegetarian dog. The vegan store near my house even sells v-dog. My research showed that it was possible and, if done correctly, shouldn't have any health concerns. Amazingly, one of the longest living dogs on record was a vegan. That being said, commercially prepared vegetarian diets typically aren't very good. Additionally, Oliver is exceptionally picky and clearly innately prefers meat. I now focus on giving him the most humanely raised kibble meat possible, this is one of the reasons we feed Champion. We recently also switched to Six Fish, and we like the fact that it only contains wild fish for meat. We call him our pescatarian dog! :)

[Nikki & Charlie]

I've thought about it for a split second but I'm not so sure how Charlie would do. The reviews for this product seem great but who knows. It's definitely interesting... not something I ever thought they would make. Haha that's great! As long as the dog loves the product and is happy and healthy, that's all that matters

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You can find good reviews for any food, including Beneful. Doesn't mean much. 

A dog loving a food doesn't mean much, either. Lots of dogs love really crappy foods; they also love cat poop and antifreeze, lol. 

As far as being healthy goes, some of the most serious food related issues take time to show up. Kidney damage from Chinese chicken jerky, for example. The dog doesn't just eat something and immediately get sick; things seem fine for months until one day, the dog is sick and bloodwork reveals irreversible kidney disease. 

Not saying that could happen with this particular food, but just a few reasons why choosing what to feed your dog shouldn't be based on things like reviews or whether the dog likes it or not. :) 

[Joan Bollaert]

 Thoughts........I'm a worry wart and always worry about what will happen to my dogs should something happen to me.   Whoever takes over taking care of them surely isn't going to cook for dogs, maintain a vegan or vegetarian diet etc..  nor is a kennel if I'm ever forced to have them stay in one for a necessary out of town trip.    So, I've avoided all that high maintenance dog care.   I'm going out on a limb in feeding them Orijen because there is only one store locally that carries it.  I have a note in with my personal papers stating that my dogs eat Orijen and where to purchase it and if not followed to at least keep them on a grain free food and I listed some brands that can easily be purchased at Petco and Petsmart.  No one cares about our dogs as much as we do so why put them in jeopardy of not having the high maintenance diet you prepared for them and they've become used to when others definitely won't  do it when your "gone".   I'm worried that my request of feeding them grain free won't be followed.   Something to think about when pampering your dogs too much and overthinking what to feed them...  

[Nikki & Charlie]

Wow that's a great point.. I've never thought of it that way!! I would hope that whoever looks after my dog would continue to take the same good care as I did but I guess you can never be sure!