Author: Rick Scholtes
Rick is co-owner of the wholesale Veganpets and the webshop Vega Vriend. Together with Lisette Kreischer he wrote the book Dog.Eat.Plant, which was released in December 2020. It is the scientifically based guide to safely and lovingly switch your dog to a plant-based diet.
Table of contents
How can I raise my dog vegan
Can my dog eat vegan?
When you tell them that you feed your dogs vegan dog food, people sometimes wonder “can a dog eat vegan!?"
Nowadays, many well-known brands also have a vegetarian line in addition to the regular range. In addition, there are various studies that show that vegan dog food is a healthy and tasty choice.
Benefits of vegan dog food
Vegan dog food has a number of important benefits:
- More animal-friendly
- Better for the environment
- Healthier
- The ideal solution for dogs with allergies
Dogs that are fed meat eat a large amount of meat throughout their lives. This requires many animals from the bio-industry, who lead a life there that we certainly wouldn't wish our dogs! All the animals needed to make meat food have a major impact on the environment.
Both meat and vegan dog food generally contain all the nutrients a dog needs. In that respect there is not a big difference between vegan food and food with meat.
However, foods with meat much more often contain harmful substances, such as residual hormones or antibiotics. In addition, the meat used for animal feed is mixed with other – sometimes contaminated – products that are not considered suitable for human consumption, but are suitable for our dogs, such as hides, hooves or kitchen waste.
Best vegan dog food
There are various types of vegan dog food, all of which contain the necessary nutrients. Do you have a dog that suffers from allergies? Then one feed will be suitable and the other will not. That depends on what your dog is sensitive to.
In addition, it is also important what your dog likes. Most dogs have their preferences and some are even very picky. With the help of us starter pack, which contains a small amount of all types of kibble we have, you can find out what your dog prefers.
Is vegan dog food healthy?
There are more and more studies on vegan dog food, which show time and time again that dogs can lead a healthy and long life with a vegan diet. Do you want to feed your dog vegan? Then make sure you opt for complete food. At Vega Friend, all chunks and wet food contain the essential nutrients that a dog needs.
What nutrients are in vegan food?
Vegan dog food contains all the nutrients a dog needs to live a long and happy life. Most dog food (vegan and non-vegan) available in the Netherlands meets the nutritional guidelines of the FEDIAF.
FEDIAF is the European trade association that has drawn up a guideline with the amounts of nutrients that dog food must contain. On the website of the FEDIAF can you find this guideline.
A vegan dog needs the same nutrients as a meat-fed dog. In the end, it's about the nutrients that are in the dog food, not the ingredients.
Some nutrients are added because they disappear during preparation and therefore have to be added again afterwards. Adding nutrients such as vitamins and minerals to vegan dog food is the same as with meat food. It may have a different composition, so that it is optimal for the vegan dog.
How can I raise my dog vegan?
Why vegan food?
There are several reasons to consider vegan food for dogs:
- Contributes to a better environment
- Reduces animal suffering
- Is healthy and delicious
When can you start feeding your dog vegan food? The answer is actually in all cases: you can do it at any time! For many dog owners it is often a difficult step. How do you start the transition from meat food to vegan food?
Step-by-step plan for a good start
Switching from meat food to vegan food for dogs is usually much less difficult than you think. Therefore, in most cases it is not necessary to do a long introduction.
If you want to raise your dog vegan from an early age or if you want to switch at a later age, there are two ways to ensure that the process runs smoothly.
Option 1 - Gradually switch to vegan food.
Replace the amount of old food with the vegan food every two days:
Is this still going too fast for your dog? Then take longer, for example two weeks, and make the steps smaller.
Option 2 - Add something extra to the vegan food.
Add nutritional yeast, margarine or vegetable oil to the new vegan food. Start by mixing 1 teaspoon for every cup of plant food.
Then, over the next two weeks, gradually reduce the amount of nutritional yeast, margarine, or vegetable oil to zero. After that it will no longer be necessary to add anything extra to the food.
The tastiest vegan dog snacks
Of course you also want to give your dog a vegan dog snack every now and then. As a reward to teach him/her something or just because the dog likes to chew on something.
What is a vegan dog snack?
Vegan dog snacks come in all shapes, flavors and sizes. You can think of vegan dog biscuits, but also vegan sausage, vegan chew sticks and even vegan ice cream! And of course, all these delicious snacks contain no animal ingredients.
Top 5 vegan dog snacks?
- The tastiest snack and ideal for teaching dogs things is the Vegusto dog sausage. I always have this sausage with me as an instructor at the dog school. Even the fussiest eaters love it. That's why some people even call it 'magic sausage'!
- Very popular are also the Beevy en Jerry snacks from Vegdog. These semi-dry, soft snacks to which smoke flavor has been added are appreciated by almost every dog.
- The snacks are for dogs with allergies or other physical problems soopa very suitable. Soopa has even made a chart that shows which snacks are suitable for dogs with allergies, bad breath, obesity, diabetes, liver and kidney disorders, etc.
- It is difficult for the real jibs to find a hard vegan snack. The hardest and biggest bone is the Rice bone XL from Whimzee. In addition to the XL variant, there is also a medium Rice beans.
- Of course you make the best dog snacks yourself! On the internet you can find various recipes for the tastiest vegan dog biscuits, for example the Woof Hearts en Peppery Paws. In the book Dog.Eat.Plant. there are also three recipes for vegan dog snacks.