I knew that it was incredibly hypocritical to feed my dog the typical dog food meal made of the leftover byproducts from factory farms when I was a vegan. I just didn't make it a priority to make the switch for my dog to a vegan.Monica's dog, Lady (a lab mix), has had serious skin problems and used to spend her days scratching and biting herself and shedding her hair everywhere, she would even have little patches of hair missing when it would get really bad. She had tried different foods and she found (keep in mind this was before she was a vegan) that switching her dog to the vegan AvoDerm was the only food that worked!
In fact on AvoDerm's website, they say the following, "As dog lovers and experienced dog owners ourselves, we know that the condition of a dog’s skin and coat is frequently a reflection of overall health. Poor skin health can sometimes be traced to dietary inefficiencies or imbalances. Problems with the skin and coat are never just cosmetic. Symptoms such as hair loss, thinning coat, dullness, dry flaky skin, excessive scratching, thickened skin, infections, and odors can often be traced back to either a shortage or an excess of a specific nutrient. In fact, there is no more visible indicator of problems with your dog’s overall health than problems with the skin and coat. The right nutrients in the right proportions are indispensable to keeping your dog healthy... In fact, most dogs that are fed a healthy diet of AvoDerm Natural show improvement in just 4–6 weeks...we guarantee it!"
According to www.veggiepets.com, a supplier of vegetarian dog food for over 25 years in the UK, "Vegetarian diets are well known for relieving arthritis, skin and fur problems and obesity in dogs"
I also read (but didn't not the source) that "Recent research has shown that in some cases dogs are better able to maintain a healthy weight when on a vegetarian diet. Others show a marked improvement in their skin, coat or both. This is believed to be due to the fact that many dogs have undiagnosed allergies to meat, especially poultry and poultry bi-products, which are widely used protein source in commercial dog foods. In addition to skin and coat issues these allergies can manifest themselves as digestive problems, vegetarian dog food diets have appeared to aid in this area as well."
Once I started doing research on vegan dog foods so that I could better learn about making the switch, I became compelled to make the switch immediately after learning about what my dog was eating. However, it is also very important to note that you are not supposed to switch your dog to a new diet without a transition period. AvoDerm's website has a page about making the transition. Click here for the full article. Here is a portion of what they say:
"When switching to Breeder’s Choice, we recommend that you switch your pet over slowly. This is very important so that you don't disrupt your pet's digestive pattern. Changing foods will often cause vomiting or diarrhea if not done correctly. Therefore, we recommend a 5-day transition before you begin feeding Breeder’s Choice exclusively."
Vegan.org has a page all about having a "veggie dog" that has some great information, including a link (that unfortunately doesn't work on their site) to a website called www.bornfreeusa.org where you can learn what's really in your pet's food. Click here for the full article on Born Free USA.
Here are some of the things I read from that article that I found the most interesting:
"The protein used in pet food comes from a variety of sources. When cattle, swine, chickens, lambs, or other animals are slaughtered, lean muscle tissue is trimmed away from the carcass for human consumption, along with the few organs that people like to eat, such as tongues and tripe.
However, about 50% of every food animal does not get used in human foods. Whatever remains of the carcass — heads, feet, bones, blood, intestines, lungs, spleens, livers, ligaments, fat trimmings, unborn babies, and other parts not generally consumed by humans — is used in pet food, animal feed, fertilizer, industrial lubricants, soap, rubber, and other products. These “other parts” are known as “by-products.” By-products are used in feed for poultry and livestock as well as in pet food".
"In the case of poultry, bones are allowed, so “chicken” consists mainly of backs and frames—the spine and ribs, minus their expensive breast meat".
I found the following statement interesting too because I had recently started putting vegetable broth in my dog's food because a friend had told me that her vet said it made the food easier to digest:
"Although the cooking process kills bacteria in the ingredients, the final product can pick up more bacteria during the subsequent drying, coating, and packaging process. Some experts warn that getting dry food wet can allow the bacteria on the surface to multiply and make pets sick. Do not mix dry food with water, milk, canned food, or other liquids."
This is an important fact about feeding your dog dried food vs. wet food:
"Proteins are especially vulnerable to heat, and become damaged, or “denatured,” when cooked. Because dry foods ingredients are cooked twice — first during rendering and again in the extruder — problems are much more common than with canned or homemade foods. Altered proteins may contribute to food intolerances, food allergies, and inflammatory bowel disease"
The article has information on all of the pet food recalls and why they happened as well as a very intense description of all of the health problems that many of our poor pets face because of their poor diets:
"The idea that one pet food provides all the nutrition a companion animal will ever need for its entire life is a dangerous myth. Today, the diets of cats and dogs are a far cry from the variable meat-based diets that their ancestors ate. The unpleasant results of grain-based, processed, year-in and year-out diets are common. Health problems associated with diet include:hen things go really wrong and serious problems are discovered in pet food, the company usually works with the FDA to coordinate a recall of the affected products. While many recalls have been widely publicized, quite a few have not.
Though the article lists all of the recalls, I have just listed the one below that I specifically remember because my cousin lost their Golden Lab Retriever to this specific recall:
"In March 2007, the most lethal pet food in history was the subject of the largest recall ever. Menu Foods recalled more than 100 brands including Iams, Eukanuba, Hill’s Science Diet, Purina Mighty Dog, and many store brands including Wal-Mart’s. Thousands of pets were sickened (the FDA received more than 17,000 reports) and an estimated 20% died from acute renal failure caused by the food. Cats were more frequently and more severely affected than dogs. The toxin was initially believed to be a pesticide, the rat poison “aminopterin” in one of the ingredients. In April, scientists discovered high levels of melamine, a chemical used in plastics and fertilizers, in wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported from China. The melamine had been purposefully added to the ingredients to falsely boost their protein content. Subsequent tests revealed that the melamine-tainted ingredients had also been used in feed for cows, pigs, and chickens and thousands of animals were quarantined and destroyed. In early May, scientists identified the cause of the rapid onset kidney disease that had appeared in dogs and cats as a reaction caused by the combination of melamine and cyanuric acid, both unauthorized chemicals. The fallout from this recall is ongoing as of May 2007 so please be sure to check the FDA website for the most recent updates."
So, not only do I feel strongly that my dog should be on a vegan diet now, I also have educated myself that giving her the same food day in and day out with no variety and no wet food is probably not ideal either. One step at a time, but good to know and to think about.