There is much discussion on what kind of a diet should we use to keep our dogs healthy. What is a good diet is and what is bad.  The prevailing discussions continue, from all meat, all raw, all vegetarian, and the “Only commercial dog food”. What if your dog has a medical condition that makes it important to look seriously at a special vegetarian balanced diet? 

 

How do you decide?

Start first with consulting your veterinarian or a veterinary nutritionist. Acknowledging that many of these professionals may be lacking in or have strong opinions that might differ from your own, at least ask.

 

What medical conditions?

There are dogs that have severe food allergies, liver conditions, yeast infections and itching, allergies to animal protein, (being allergic to meat), among others.

 

While most of us are not veterinary neurologists, veterinary nutritionists, vegan or vegetarian. Most of us can agree on:
Dogs need a balanced healthy diet.
No two dogs are 100% alike.
Age, life style, environment, and breed, all must be fractured into what a healthy diet is for a particular dog.
There are many dogs that have severe food allergies.
Dogs are OMNIVORES, with that in mind most of us agree they are adapted to be able to absorb both plant and meat nutrients.
High protein diet is very hard on the kidneys and could eventually lead to premature renal disease.
It does not matter much whether that protein is from animals or plant based. It’s a question of the correct balance of nutrients.
Where there is some medical issue that a dog can’t have meat or fish, then a vegetarian diet may be required.
Surviving is not the same as thriving.
Our dog's ancestors were not spayed or neuter, they were not on flea, tick or heartworm prevention, they were not vaccinated. And, their ancestors didn’t live very long.

 

Suggestions on Vegetarian diets form several sources.
Rotating dog food companies and protein sources often so that if one company diet is deficient the others may make up for it.
Consider using soy as a protein source in a vegetarian diet, as it has a decent AA profile.
One of the concerns with vegetarian diets is getting enough sulfur containing AA into the dog.
We can use vegetarian pet foods which have equal or more proteins than meat mixed foods.

Some people believe that "Meat does not contain better “quality” protein; it simply contains complete amino acids. If you combine properly and add B12 and a few other supplements, the food is complete."

There are many dogs that have severe food allergies and their quality of life is greatly improved by a strict vegan diet.

 A case in point:
One reader explained what she has gone through with her dogs with food allergies to animal protein. “She’s solidly in her teens; she has a bit of arthritis and some hearing loss. The other is blind from glaucoma, she had before I adopted her, and has had reflux for at least a couple years longer than we’ve had her. My shelter had fostered her through heartworm treatments for a couple months with another employee when she first arrived there. When we first adopted our allergic girl, we tried all the atypical meat and carb sourced foods out there (duck and potato, venison and pea, etc). She reacted to everything, even plain fish. Her allergies are bad enough that when my brother was letting her lick out his empty individual serving yogurt cup, the teeny tiny amount of gelatin the yogurt contained was enough to cause her to have a flare up. Because of that, we switched to a vegetarian diet as soon as we found one that worked for her. She still craves meat 9 years later, but she just can’t have it even with twice daily antihistamines. An accidental mouthful of cat food is enough to cause a $300 vet trip for antibiotics, special shampoo, powerful antihistamines, and steroids and land her in an ecollar for a month because when she has a flare up, she’ll scratch and chew every inch of herself bald and keep right on chewing and scratching, crying as she’s doing it because she’s already gone through the skin. For us, vegetarian food is not a choice, it’s a necessity. Our other dog is vegetarian as well because the allergic dog will eat meat-poop if she can.”

 

An Example of a method to find a solution for extreme allergy symptoms.

Here is another discussion and suggestions on trying to find a “novel meat protein”. A “Novel protein” would be a protein that is a rare meat protein. Something the dog is unlikely to have been exposed to.
In this case the dog was diagnosed with allergy symptoms of very advanced, chronic diarrhea. “He can, so far, tolerate a small amount of egg and a small amount of fish without any change in his stool. He’ll eat a little more kibble now if I entice him with some scrambled egg or a bit of fish mixed in, if I’m having salmon or sole for dinner. But just a little bit or his poop immediately becomes runny again. We tried digestive aids, no improvement."
It was suggested  this method of elimination be used:
“Maybe a novel protein, with Limited ingredient diet (LID) would do the trick. An example would be Zignature’s Kangaroo diet. By starting with a LID it helps narrow down where the intolerances are coming from. Allergy tests don’t really tell too much, they give false negatives and false positives. The best way to figure out intolerances is trial and error. Since you know he can handle fish, I’d find a fish LID and keep very close tabs on ingredient labels, keep a list of what things aren’t working. Natural Balance, Nature’s Variety, Zignature, Acana, all have diets that may work. Buy small bags so you aren’t out all the cash, but it will take some time and money to get it pinned down.  Don’t cut out all options of animal protein until you’ve exhausted them. Grandma Lucy’s has a goat food. You can feed a raw diet. I feed a ground raw, one of the companies has novel proteins that I doubt your dog is allergic to: goat, llama, quail, rabbit."

Then there is the case of the hyper-allergic English bulldog
“We have been using V-Dog for 10 months with amazing results in our hyper-allergic English bulldog. Only after switching to V-dog did we learn through allergy testing that she is allergic to milk and every kind of meat (we suspected at least some meats were an issue as we tried ~6 types). To the person who has never heard of a dog being allergic to meat! A week after we adopted her, her previous owner commented that she has “allergies” but he didn’t specify details and we had never heard of meat allergies. I had to buy a cone collar to keep her from scratching herself raw. The first vet we saw recommended a novel protein diet so we proceeded to try salmon then various rare protein and grain/potato-free options. I didn’t notice any changes in her intense whole-body itching, skin yeast and bacterial infections, and ear infections, so I figured we had not given it enough time to show benefit as I was told it takes 3 months after switching foods to notice a change. We switched to the V-dog a week after our pup had a severe allergic reaction with facial and airway swelling, wheezing, and hives that failed to resolve with 2 steroid injections and oral prednisolone. She gobbled up the V-dog and begged for more, which was a huge change from me having to lace the other foods we’d tried with peanut butter or moist food (which she often would just lick off and leave the kibble behind).
Within a few days of switching to V-dog we noticed a dramatic reduction in the itchy-scratchies, yeasty body smell, yeasty ears, red face after eating, and watery eyes after eating. Her hives resolved and thanks to her improved smell I was able to wait 2+ weeks between baths (vs 3x/week with medicated shampoo as previously directed by our vet). Her hives totally resolved. The bald spots in her coat filled in and now her coat is thick and shiny. We stopped the meat, allergies gone. . We also add coarsely ground home-cooked beans and veggies (especially kale and broccoli), which she devours. We give her plain organic Peanut Butter mixed with freshly ground flaxseed for treats. For training treats we just use the V-dog kibbles since she loves them so much. She also loves and begs for raw carrot sticks and fruits like thin apple slices, mashed cherries/berries, watermelon, and banana (tho’ we heavily limit fruit to small amounts due to high sugar content and also give watermelon from near the rind to limit sugar). She is allergic to beef, chicken, turkey, venison, lamb, fish + milk per the allergy testing."

Low meat or limited source meat diets
We can feed freshly prepared meat to our pets when we cook for us. It’s made by the pet’s owners and it assures quality.
As everyone knows meat easily decays. Manufacturers add some chemicals to make it useful for long period and it makes meat unfit since meat should be eaten fresh to get the energy from it fully.

Snack ideas
Try Broccoli and carrots as a treat or snack.

 

 So with all of the above in mind we thought we would suggest a Vegetarian make it yourself dog food recipe.

 

 

Vegetarian dog chowder recipe
Ingredients:
3 potatoes with skin, chopped
4 cups water
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1½ cloves garlic, minced
1 big baby cabbage, chopped
6 cups fresh corn kernels (or frozen)
1½ cups kidney beans cooked
1½ cups milk
Salt
Ground black pepper
In a pot, put in the potatoes and water and bring these to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat once it starts boiling and cook the potatoes until they are tender. This should take approximately 15 – 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes once they are ready and put aside. Keep the liquid from the potatoes.
Heat up the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add in the garlic and baby cabbage. Cook until the baby cabbage is transparent. Add in the corn and cook for 3 – 4 minutes more. Stir in the beans and the liquid from the potatoes and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the corn is ready.
While the soup is cooking, blend the potatoes with the milk in the blender or food processor. Add this to the soup. Add in salt and pepper to taste.
Makes 2 ½ liters of soup.

If you have another vegetarian recipe do let us know... If you try this one let us know how your dog(s) like it...