Optimizing Nutrition for Your Canine Companion

We’ve all heard the expression “You are what you eat.” It follows that your dog is what he or she eats. While we know that proper diet is an important aspect of maintaining good health, the question of what to feed our beloved canine companions looms large since many of the commercially available pet foods contain hidden harmful ingredients.

Up to 50% of commercial pet food brands are comprised of “meat meal” and “byproducts,” which include various body parts (such as beaks, brains, spinal cord tissue, bones, lungs, intestinal tracts), slaughterhouse wastes, 4-D meat (from dead, dying, diseased or disabled animals), and supermarket rejects. Other contaminants that have been found in commercial pet foods include old restaurant grease containing high concentrations of dangerous free radicals and trans fatty acids, PCBs, heavy metals, bacterial, protozoal and fungal, viral and prion contaminants, along with their associated endotoxins and mycotoxins, hormone and antibiotic residues and dangerous preservatives.

Many speculate that the increase in incidences of cancers, kidney failure and other degenerative diseases in animal companions is partly caused by poor nutrition. Feeding dogs meat also requires that other animals suffer and be killed.

Fortunately, there is a better way. For both ethical and health reasons, many dog guardians choose to feed their companion dogs plant-based diets. Dogs are biologically omnivorous and can thus adapt well to a plant-based diet as long as it meets all their nutritional needs. They have nutrient requirements, not ingredient requirements, and these can be fulfilled through plant, mineral and synthetic sources. Therefore, dogs can be healthy – and, in fact, thrive – on a nutritionally complete and balanced vegan diet.

Benefits of plant-based diets include avoidance of persistent organic pollutants and heavy metal toxins found in much higher concentrations in even the “organic” meats, which may help prevent cancer as well as lead to improvement in skin allergies and digestive health. It’s important that the food be digested easily as well as have good palatability. The transition to a plant-based diet should be gradual to minimize the occurrence of gastrointestinal upset (such as diarrhea and sometimes vomiting).

In 17 years of treating dogs, I have diagnosed many dogs with food allergies. Beef and chicken are the most common allergies in dogs. Vegan diets may bring these food allergic dogs much-needed relief.

For dog breeds predisposed to urinary problems such as urinary crystals, moist food is a better choice because the higher water intake helps to dilute out the urine and reduce the incidence of crystal formation. One of the potential but unlikely risks associated with vegan diets in dogs is the occurrence of struvite crystals, which can occur if the urine pH becomes too alkaline but also tend to occur if there is insufficient moisture in the diet and/or if the dog has a predisposition to urinary tract infections. (This problem affects certain breeds of dogs more commonly such as shih tzus, miniature schnauzers, bichon frises, miniature poodles, cocker spaniels and Lhasa apsos.) Adding water to the dry food or encouraging the dog to drink water can help make the urine less concentrated, which makes it less likely for crystals to form. Having your veterinarian check a urinalysis two to three weeks after switching the dog from a meat-based to a plant-based diet will determine what the urine pH is, as well as whether any crystals are present, heading off any problems before they start. If the urine pH is too high, various acidifying agents can be used.

Certain dog breeds are predisposed to DCM (dilated cardiomyopathy), a form of heart disease that may be influenced by insufficient intake of taurine and/or carnitine (amino acids, which are naturally occurring in flesh foods but can be added to the diet via synthetic supplements that are readily available. Doberman pinschers, boxers, “giant breeds” (Scottish deerhounds, Irish wolfhounds, Great Danes, Saint Bernards, Afghan hounds), and cocker spaniels are the dog breeds predisposed to DCM. If someone has one of the predisposed breeds, it may be beneficial to supplement with taurine and/or carnitine if not already present in the vegan diet, in conjunction with consulting one’s veterinarian. QCBN

By Armaiti May, DVM

Armaiti May, DVM is an integrative housecall veterinarian for dogs and cats practicing in the Quad Cities area. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in bioresource sciences from UC Berkeley in 2001. After graduating from University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 2005, Dr. May worked at an emergency dog and cat hospital and then trained in veterinary acupuncture through the Chi Institute of Chinese Medicine. She also founded a non-profit organization called the Veterinary Association for the Protection of Animals, to provide education about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle.