A vegan diet for my dog?

Well, this Dallas Morning News Lifestyles Q&A from "natural vet" Shawn Messonnier was annoying:

Dear Dr. Shawn: I am a vegan and strive to improve my nutrition. I feel it important to do the same for my dogs. Both are adults at 7 and 10 years of age. Is it safe to slowly change their diet from their existing brand of dog food to a vegetarian diet? [snip]

Answer: While dogs are not strict carnivores like cats, I prefer they eat animal protein in their diets as this closely resembles what they eat in the wild.

While I respect your decision to not eat animal protein, in reality animal protein has the best ratio of amino acids (more important than the "protein" value of food) when compared with vegetables. Even vegetarians must work hard to properly balance the diet to prevent vitamin and amino acid deficiencies. [snip]

I wrote this letter to Dr. Shawn Messonnier in response:

Dear Dr. Shawn,

I read your Dallas Morning News Q&A on vegan diets for dogs, and I have to say I was dismayed by your response.

Not only have I cared for many healthy dogs that ate a vegan diet, but I am also vegan, and have had no problems in the last 4+ years getting enough protein, which is available to anyone eating a varied diet. "Complete" proteins and and the idea of combining proteins at every meal are "old school" nutrition, as we now know that as long as all 8 essential amino acids make it into the diet on a regular basis, it does not matter if the proteins are eaten at the same time.

This is known to the ADA and many other organizations, so you're doing a disservice to your readers to suggest it is difficult to stay healthy on a vegetarian diet.

Here are some resources I suggest you review:

http://www.ivu.org/faq/protein.html
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/protein.htm
http://www.vegansociety.com/html/food/nutrition/protein.php
http://www.vegsoc.org/info/protein.html

Tags: vegan | dogs