Dogs That Eat A Vegan Diet Are Less Likely To Require Medication Or Have High Numbers Of Veterinary Visits, According To A New Large-Scale Study
Plant-based dog food is having its moment, but are dogs actually built for a vegan diet? Recently, it was discovered that vegan pet diets have significant environmental benefits. However, it is unclear how much the health of our furry friends will be sacrificed by eliminating meat altogether.
Dogs are biologically omnivores. Many companies now produce vegan dog food with plant, mineral, and synthetic ingredients.
By 2024, a total of 10 studies showed that dogs had good health outcomes when fed vegan or vegetarian diets. Yet, there has been no research on the size of the health benefits for average dogs after controlling for age, gender, breed size, exercise level, and neutering status.
A veterinary professor named Andrew Knight, along with two colleagues, is the first to conduct a study that controls for all these demographic factors.
They analyzed the health outcomes for 2,536 dogs, including 336 that were fed a vegan diet for at least one year. Overall, they observed a reduction in the occurrences of seven general signs of illness in the dogs.
The researchers found that dogs consuming a vegan diet were less likely to require medication, medical diets, or high numbers of visits to the veterinarian.
The canines were more likely to be determined as healthy by pet owners and veterinarians alike. They also had decreased rates of illness and fewer cases of health disorders.
Reductions ranged from 14 percent to 51 percent for average dogs, in comparison to dogs fed traditional meat-based diets.
In addition, the chances of suffering from six specific health disorders were reduced by 50 percent to 61 percent compared to dogs fed meat.
Christian Müller – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual dog
These included some of the most common health disorders in dogs, such as issues with body weight, the ears, and the musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal system, which can cause lameness, diarrhea, and other conditions.
In a 2022 study of the same dogs, 11 of the 22 most common health disorders appeared regularly in dogs fed traditional meat, eight in dogs fed raw meat, and three in dogs fed vegan diets.
For dogs fed conventional meat, 49 percent were unwell, while 43 percent were unwell when fed raw meat, and 36 percent when fed vegan diets.
“Dogs fed vegan diets clearly had the best health outcomes in this very large-scale study, and these results are consistent with prior studies in the field,” Knight said.
“Nutritionally sound vegan diets offer extremely large environmental benefits, so this is very good news for dog owners who want to protect the environment while also maximizing their dogs’ health.
However, care should always be taken to ensure diets are nutritionally sound by checking package labeling and purchasing from reputable pet food companies.”
According to the findings, it looks like it’s perfectly safe to go green for your pup’s dinner. It will be good for their health and the environment!
The study was published in Heliyon.
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