Claim: vegetarian dogs live longer

4 Responses

1. Katherine

   29|Mar|2002 1

   I think the record is 29 years - an Australian cattle dog. And, for a small dog such as a terrier-schnauzer mix, 23 isn’t that far out of the question. A Great Dane at 23, sure. Anyway, there are a lot of debates about the best way to feed dogs… ranging from Ol’ Roy dog food at Wal-Mart (which almost no one believes is good nutrition - but it’s cheap) to whole host of premium foods such as Wellness, Innova, Canidae, etc… many of which at least have human-grade ingredients in them, rather than leftover “parts.” Then there are those who feed the BARF (bones and raw food) diet. But I’ve never heard vegetarianism discussed in the dog world, other than to point out that baby carrots make good treats and canned green beans are a good weight loss tool. I would imagine the counter-argument would be that since dogs are basically domesticated wolves, a vegetarian diet would be “unnatural.” This begs for a research study. :)

2. Dana Travers, DVM

   26|Mar|2004 2

   Even though evolved from wolves, dogs are opportuistic eaters, and have fed at Man’s table for over 12,000 years. As such they’ve adapted to an omnivorous diet and are not obligate carnivores. They can live very healthy lives on a vegetarian diet and need no special foods, just the same varied, healthy diets humans enjoy.

3. anneh

   14|Dec|2005 3

   I would like to switch my dog to a more vegetarian diet (I am vegetarian)but he cannot have wheat/soy/corn altho he could have brown rice. He is currently eat raw meat/raw veggies with fruits/nuts/seeds as treats but would like to at least cut back on meat.

4. Jamie

   12|Jun|2006 4

   I’ve started a vegan dog blog to document what my dog likes and dislikes in his vegan diet.

   http://vegandogblog.blogspot.com/