Plant-based diet is healthier for dogs - Results of the Largest-Ever Study Revealed

It is estimated that there are nearly 500 million pet dogs around the world (this number may be significantly higher), and all of them have to be fed. Dogs, just like humans, are omnivores, which means their diet should naturally include vegetables, fruits and grains however what we feed them is either only meat, or dry food and wet food containing meat and other animal parts. Is it healthy for them and sustainable?

The damaging impact of meat consumption on the health and the environment makes many people reconsider their own diet and also rethink the diets of their dogs. It is becoming more and more apparent that eating meat is wrong for many reasons. 

An increasing number of people are considering changing their dogs' diet to more plant-based due to these serious health and environmental concerns. 

Although, the health benefits of a plant-based diet for humans have been very well documented by scientists and doctors over the years of studies. There hasn't been so much research on the effects of an entirely plant-based diet for dogs until recently. 

According to the latest study published in the journal Plos One, vegan dogs visit the vet less often and require fewer medications. 

Researchers followed the diet and health of more than 2,500 dogs for over a year through surveys that pet owners completed. The surveys assessed seven general health indicators, including 22 common dog illnesses and multiple vet visits.

The results show that a nutritionally complete vegan diet is healthier and safer for dogs than a traditional meat-based diet. The analysis of 2,536 pets (mainly from the UK and other European countries) is the largest ever research on the effects of plant-based nutrition on dogs' health. 

The survey found that nearly half of the dogs who eat meat every day required medication compared to only a third of the dogs fed vegan food. 

Prof Andrew Knight from the University of Winchester, who led the study, said: "Our study is by far the largest study published to date. It revealed that the healthiest and least hazardous dietary choices for dogs are nutritionally sound vegan diets."

"The raw meat diet appeared to have marginally better health outcomes," he said. "But those dogs were significantly younger, which gives them a health advantage. A substantial body of prior studies have also shown that raw meat diets are much more contaminated with pathogenic bacteria and parasites."

From the analysed surveys, 13% of dogs were fed vegan diets, more than half of the dogs were fed traditional meat diets, and a third ate raw meat. 49% of dogs on the conventional diet reported having suffered from health disorders, compared to 43% of those on the raw meat diet and 36% on the vegan diet.

Of those dogs on a traditional diet, 17% of dogs had four or more visits to the vet in a year, compared with 9% for those on vegan diets and 8% for those on raw meat diets. 

"One of the most common health problems for dogs is being overweight or obese and it is unfortunately common that when we do tests on the commercial meat-based diets, there are more calories," said Prof Knight. 

"We also know the health hazards associated with overconsumption of meat and dairy for people, and it's often the same ingredients." he added. 

In some countries, pet food can even contain low quality meat and animal parts which cannot be consumed by humans. 

"The key limitation of our study is that we didn't have a population of animals locked up in a research facility and fed one specific diet without any alteration," Knight said. "We studied what real dogs in normal homes ate and their health outcomes. It gives us a good indication as to what the outcomes are for dogs in the real world," he added.

These days, it's easy to find nutritionally completed plant-based food for dogs online. Here's where you can find it: The Vegan Kind-dog-food