Why Should your dog be plant-powered?

Thank you for exploring why a plant-based diet can be a healthier, kinder and more sustainable choice for your companion dog. As dog “paw-rents”, it’s important to consider the well-being of our canine companions while also being conscious of the environment and animal welfare. So, let’s dive into a few of the reasons why a plant-based diet can benefit our companion dogs, backed by scientific research:

🍃 Dogs are Nutritional Omnivores: Perfectly Suited for Plant-Based Diets

Contrary to popular belief, dogs are nutritional omnivores, not carnivores. Their physiology and digestive systems have evolved over tens of thousands of years of hanging out with humans to thrive on well-balanced plant-based diets. (See Canine Omnivorous Talents, below.) In the most extensive dog health research conducted thus far, data from 2,536 dogs were analyzed. These dogs were fed either a conventional meat diet (1,370 or 54%), a raw meat diet (830 or 33%) or a vegan diet (336 or 13%) for a minimum of one year.

The study focused on seven broad health indicators:

1) unusual number of veterinary visits

2) use of medications

3) transition to a therapeutic diet after starting on a vegan or meat-based regimen

4) dog guardian’s perception of their dog’s health

5) estimated veterinary evaluation of health status

6) ratio of dogs perceived as unwell, and

7) average number of health issues among the unwell dogs. Furthermore, the occurrence of 22 prevalent canine health issues was considered.

The recorded percentages of dogs with health issues in each diet category were 49% (conventional meat), 43% (raw meat), and 36% (vegan). Drawing from the insights of this research and other similar studies, the researchers concluded that: “Accordingly, when considering health outcomes in conjunction with dietary hazards, the pooled evidence to date from our study, and others in this field, indicates that the healthiest and least hazardous dietary choices for dogs, among conventional, raw meat and vegan diets, are nutritionally sound vegan diets.” ¹

Further, in a 2023 study by Professor Kelly Swanson, PhD and colleagues from the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, vegan, mildly cooked, human-grade dog foods were studied to assess their digestibility and effects on dogs’ health markers compared to a traditional chicken-based extruded diet. The results showed that vegan dog foods were just as “complete and balanced” and digestible as the meat-based food, with specific benefits including lower blood cholesterol, triglycerides, platelets, and neutrophils, improved fecal characteristics, and positive alterations in fecal microbiota. In essence, the tested vegan dog foods not only performed well in terms of digestion but also conferred multiple health advantages over the conventional meat-based diet.²

🍃 Reducing Toxin Exposure: A Healthier Option

Food animals can accumulate toxins in their tissues due to various factors such as environmental pollutants and pesticide residues. When dogs consume meat from these animals, they may inadvertently ingest these toxins, leading to potential health issues, including cancer. A study published in the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research in 2016 emphasized the presence of harmful contaminants in meat products and their potential impact on both animal and human health.³

🍃 Environmental Considerations: The Impact of Pet Food Production

The environmental impact of meat production is undeniable, and meat-based pet foods take a huge detrimental toll on our planet. According to research by Dr. Gregory Okin from the University of California, Los Angeles, the meat consumption of dogs and cats in the United States alone contributes to an estimated 25-30% of the environmental effects from animal production in terms of the use of land, water, fossil fuel, phosphate and biocides. Dogs (and cats) consume large quantities of animal ingredients, which in turn necessitates substantial agricultural output. This level of production not only demands significant land and resources but also results in equivalent greenhouse gas emissions to that of 13.6 million cars annually. Such figures underline the unintended environmental consequences of feeding our canine companions and emphasize the need for sustainable alternatives in companion animal nutrition.⁴

🍃 Health Benefits of Plant-Based Diets

In my book, The Plant-Powered Dog: Unleash the healing powers of a whole-food plant-based diet to help your canine companion enjoy a healthier, longer, life, I call upon hundreds of scientific studies to show how plant foods create greater health at the cellular level in both humans and our canine companions. Individual chapters on chronic kidney disease, diabetes, cancer, foods intolerance and gastrointestinal diseases demonstrate how and why plant foods are superior than animal ingredients to prevent, manage and even reverse a wide variety of chronic canine inflammatory conditions.

🍃 Ethical Considerations: Compassion for All Living Beings

As individuals advocating for animal welfare, considering the ethical implications of our choices is crucial. By opting for a plant-based diet for dogs, we extend our commitment to compassion beyond our own dietary choices to those of our beloved animal friends.

The Bottom Line

Choosing a plant-based diet for dogs is a thoughtful and well-researched decision that can positively impact their health, the environment, and animal welfare. With a growing body of scientific evidence supporting the viability and benefits of plant-based diets for dogs, it’s a choice that aligns with our values and our commitment to a healthier, more sustainable world.

Find Out if Your Dog an be Plant-Powered

References

1. Knight, A., Huang, E., Rai, N. & Brown, H. (2022). Vegan versus meat-based dog food: guardian-reported indicators of health. PloS ONE, 17(4), e0265662. ↩︎
2. Roberts, L.J., Oba, P.M. & Swanson, K.S. (2023). Apparent total tract macronutrient digestibility of mildly cooked human-grade vegan dog foods and their effects on the blood metabolites and fecal characteristics, microbiota, and metabolites of adult dogs. Journal of Animal Science. ↩︎
3. Elliott, J. E., & Elliott, K. H. (2016). Unravelling the effects of environmental pollutants on animal health: A mechanistic approach. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 23(15), 15252-15267. ↩︎
4. Okin GS (2017) Environmental impacts of food consumption by dogs and cats. PLoS ONE 12(8): e0181301. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181301. ↩︎