Thoughts on Vegan Dog Food?

[agentbunny]

So my daughter follows this lady on instagram that uses the handle [MENTION=11470]bulldog[/MENTION]stuff. This lady has two beautiful bullies she always posts pics of and apparently feeds them a vegan diet. She claims it got rid of their allergies and made them healthier.

Personally, I can't see how a diet with no meat protein could sustain an mostly carnivorous animal like a dog. However, her two dogs look so great. We feed commercial raw and cant imagine a diet with no meat but I am open minded as I am no dog nutritionalist.
Anyone know anything about feeding dogs vegan?
The dog food she feeds is called V-dog. Here is their website: www.v-dog.com

 

[ddnene]

I am NOT an expert on raw/kibble feeding at all, but I always assumed that animal protein is the best thing to feed dogs.

 

[Manydogs]

There are other ways to get protein, other than meat. But it seems to me that if a dog has grain allergies vegan foods would contain grains, and cause problems. But-I am not a dietician and do not claim to be one, for sure!

 

[Marine91]

We basically just did that with Harlea for the last 3 weeks. No grain and no animal protein and she did wonderful on it. You just have to watch out as Harlea didn't lose weight but did lose some body fat and slimmed down so you need to find a good vegan source of additional fat. Her itchies stopped within 4 days of being on it.

 

[nycbullymama]

It sounds counterintuitive to me as well. But I can understand why it would work, since there's no animal protein to be allergic to.

But I may try it with our new bullie since he does have allergies.

[MENTION=10206]agentbunny[/MENTION] does she do her own food, or does she buy it pre-made?
[MENTION=8859]Marine91[/MENTION] were you making your own.. or??

 

[Davidh]

Hmmmmm very interesting for sure.

 

[agentbunny]

It sounds counterintuitive to me as well. But I can understand why it would work, since there's no animal protein to be allergic to.

But I may try it with our new bullie since he does have allergies.

@agentbunny does she do her own food, or does she buy it pre-made?
@Marine91 were you making your own.. or??

Im not sure if she makes her own treats but the food she feeds is called V-dog. I posted the link to the dog food website in my original post. I believe it is kibble

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[agentbunny]

We basically just did that with Harlea for the last 3 weeks. No grain and no animal protein and she did wonderful on it. You just have to watch out as Harlea didn't lose weight but did lose some body fat and slimmed down so you need to find a good vegan source of additional fat. Her itchies stopped within 4 days of being on it.

Thats fascinating to know that dogs can thrive on a meat free diet. Will you continue her on vegan?

 

[Marine91]

It sounds counterintuitive to me as well. But I can understand why it would work, since there's no animal protein to be allergic to.

But I may try it with our new bullie since he does have allergies.

[MENTION=10206]agentbunny[/MENTION] does she do her own food, or does she buy it pre-made?
[MENTION=8859]Marine91[/MENTION] were you making your own.. or??

We used The Honest Kitchen Preference base mix and garbanzo and/or soy beans that had been ground up after cooking instead of animal protein. Harlea loved it.

 

[agentbunny]

We used The Honest Kitchen Preference base mix and garbanzo and/or soy beans that had been ground up after cooking instead of animal protein. Harlea loved it.

I thought soy was dangerous for animals.... will have to look it up. Garbanzos are great idea though. I would love to know how she does long term on it. Might be worth a switch.

 

[Marine91]

I thought soy was dangerous for animals.... will have to look it up. Garbanzos are great idea though. I would love to know how she does long term on it. Might be worth a switch.

Its one of those hit or miss thing as a lot of dogs are allergic to soy. Everything we fed Harlea through her detox was approved by her vet and a doggy nutritionist. We just got lucky that she wasn't allergic to them but se definitely had more garbanzo beans than soy.

 

[OpieRay]

I follow [MENTION=11470]bulldog[/MENTION]stuff as well! I thought about switching over to the V-Dog food she praises, but I haven't got around to it as I am hoping to hear form others about it first. I just worry about it affecting Opie's growth as he is still young, I feel he needs animal protein. I guess it's one of those things that is just not a "social norm" I hope to hear more about it from others to see if maybe its worth a try

 

[agentbunny]

I did some research into it and if the animal nutritional it's are to be believed, a vegan diet can cause heart failure. It has something to do with the taurine protein that dogs can't get anywhere but from meat.

 

[xskyzx]

major is on vegetarian food and doing great.

 

[minibull]

Others have recommended V-dog to me so I asked our vet about it as I wondered if it would help Buttercup's allergies. Our vet was not familiar with the food but said the ingredients look fine and that it can't hurt to try it. She had an allergic reaction to something so right now she seems sensitized to everything, including her current food. We ordered some of the V-dog so will post an update to share our experience with it.

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major is on vegetarian food and doing great.

Which brand/type do you use?