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  • in reply to: Thoughts on Vegan dogs #85907 Report Abuse
    M M
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    For all those who feed vegan diet to dogs — what do you feed? Olga gave details on her homemade foods, but are there other commercial options out there to use as a supplement? We have been using V-dog but our dog’s stool has lately been a little loose with this after tolerating it well for years. I’m not sure if they changed their formula or if it’s just our dog. I need to learn home cooking for her, but I’d like to have an option for if we get too busy.

    For all the detractors out there, she is highly allergic to meat kibble and fresh cooked meat, but I do agree philosophically with the veg commenters here. It seems commercial kibble is unhealthy for both dogs, the animals who end up in it, and the planet. I don’t think a dog or any animal can thrive on what amounts to baked crackers. She is strong and energetic on her vegan diet, but I’m really just looking for an answer from those with input on how to feed her a veg diet even when we can’t cook.

    Thanks!

    in reply to: Thoughts on Vegan dogs #80081 Report Abuse
    M M
    Member

    @Olga, thank you for your detailed response! I already pressure cook big pots of beans and eat lots of vegetables so it should be pretty simple for me to get in the habit of putting the rest of it together in a big batch as you do. I will try the lentils, too! I already have most of these ingredients although most of the supplements (especially the Nupro, Green Mush, and DE) are new to me.

    I agree that eating the carcass of a factory-farmed animal is not healthy. I also do not think processed food is healthy. I am a long-time vegetarian but bought into the “dogs need meat” dogma when we adopted our girl. Our vet swears that dogs don’t need or miss the meat (as if kibble even resembles meat), which is comforting as a lot of other folks clearly think I’m a dog abuser for feeding her veg food. I know of at least 7 other dogs who have done very well with the V-dog with or without home cooked supplement.

    A few more questions (and I understand if you do not have time to answer all these):

    How did you figure out how much to feed and the ratio of your ingredients? I am concerned I may accidentally under- or overdose on the calorie and protein/fat content.

    Do you feed any kibble at all or just the home-cooked food? If so, what kind? As I said, ours loves her kibble but words cannot express how much our dog adores her beans and greens mix.

    What kind of biscuits do you feed?

    What brand of digestive enzymes/probiotic/prebiotic do you like?

    Do you mash the food or just let it cook down in the stew? Our dog really does not chew unless I give her something long like an apple slice or carrot stick. She has a powerful jaw but her teeth seem to meet only in one place on each side due to her strong underbite. She has some rubber toys from Westpaw which she loves to chew and tug but her breath is pretty bad if I don’t add liquid chlorphyll to at least one of her meals.

    Are there any veggies you know of that are off limits due to toxicity (e.g., raisins, onions, garlic)?

    Thank you again for helping us to improve our dog’s diet. I am going to start using your method this weekend and have saved your post to make sure I explore all of the ideas you gave as seasons change.

    in reply to: Thoughts on Vegan dogs #80078 Report Abuse
    M M
    Member

    @Olga, what did/do you feed your vegetarian dog? Do you give any vitamin or taurine supplement?

    We use V-dog kibble and she adores it enough for us to use it as training treats, but she goes NUTS over blended beans and broccoli so I would like to home cook for her more. Our dog cannot have milk due to food allergies, but she just loves all the veggies and low-sugar fruits she can get.

    I will likely check out a new cookbook called Healthy Happy Pooch with recipes for home-cooked meals, but I would also love to hear what someone with your experience feeds your dogs as you clearly have had great results. We’re happy V-dog exists, but processed kibble in any form doesn’t strike me as an ideal long-term diet.

    Thank you for sharing your story. Our dog is thriving on her veggie diet (vet and staff always remark how nice it is to see a healthy dog of her breed), but it has been only a year.

    in reply to: Thoughts on Vegan dogs #75195 Report Abuse
    M M
    Member

    Oops, forgot rabbit (based on our experience — don’t think this was specifically tested).

    in reply to: Thoughts on Vegan dogs #75192 Report Abuse
    M M
    Member

    She is allergic to beef, chicken, turkey, venison, lamb, fish + milk per the allergy testing. The only one of these we hadn’t previously tried in food was chicken because the original vet said chicken is the most common allergy. She just loved yogurt as a topper but it gave her diarrhea which took more than a month to resolve. But thankfully she loves her bean and broccoli topper just as much!

    The allergy test didn’t specifically check salmon (just “fish”) but our experience before the allergy testing was red face, red watery eyes, and wet sneezes immediately after eating. We didn’t know that wasn’t normal for her until we saw the difference with the V-dog.

    She had been off all meat for a long while and was doing very well before allergy testing so the allergies are likely true allergies, not just markers of an overactive immune system. I don’t know why the pea and bean protein seem to be just fine for her.

    Thank goodness she has done well on the V-dog as she was downright miserable before and it was so hard to watch her and be unable to provide any comfort as meds and topical preparations were no help. We also love that she no longer stinks to high heaven a day after her bath and doesn’t need daily ear flushes to keep yeast in check.

    in reply to: Thoughts on Vegan dogs #75185 Report Abuse
    M M
    Member

    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 (tho’ 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, you’re welcome to call our vet and discuss our dog’s case. It happens. 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.

    A while after switching to V-dog, I tried giving her a fresh raw meat knuckle bone which she gnawed at for 2 minutes then promptly threw up and then refused to touch it. I thought maybe she didn’t like the raw aspect, so I cooked meat and made homemade broth from bones, at which point her allergies dramatically worsened. Stopped the meat, allergies gone.

    The V-dog is expensive, but we happily pay for it as our dog is now healthy and happy. She was so miserable before. When we go to the vet for routine care she and her staff all say how nice it is to see a healthy bulldog. We also supplement with coarsely ground home-cooked beans and veggies (especially kale and broccoli), which she devours. We give her plain organic PB 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).

    I would like to find a home-cooked food option in case there is a time when we can’t get the V-dog (and also it seems that baked kibble is not really an ideal food, despite how well she does with it compared to other kibble and moist foods), but for now I am very happy to support the company. The vet told us that we should stick with V-dog as it is working so well for us.

    Of note, our dog also has environmental allergies, but as long as we vacuum to keep dust/pollen at a minimum she does fine. I do limit her time outdoors during the worst of the pollen season. But even if her allergies flare from pollen they are nothing like what they were before the V-dog switch.

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