Switching to a Vegan (Dog) Diet!

I've finally decided to put our rescued pit bull Maynard on a vegan diet! When we first took him in in 2012, we had another dog (Datsun) and six cats, and I just couldn't afford to feed the dogs a vegan diet. Then, Datsun passed in 2016, and I just kept Maynard on the non-vegan kibble they'd been eating. But in the past year or so, I've noticed his gas has gotten much worse. It may just be that, with working from home during the pandemic, I have far more opportunities to smell (and hear!) his farts. But either way, I knew he couldn't be comfortable with all that gas.

I foolishly decided to try the grain-free, high-protein foods that some swear are best for dogs. Bad idea! Those foods made the gas much worse (and much smellier) and resulted in diarrhea (even after slowly easing him into new food). So then, a few weeks ago, I pulled my Vegan Dog Food book off the shelf and baked Maynard a vegan casserole.

He loved this very unappetizing-looking casserole of barley, lentils, and whole wheat flour! It lasted for a few days of meals, and guess what? No gas! No diarrhea! 

Next, I tried another recipe with beans, brown rice, and pumpkin puree. He loved that too. In fact, rather than running straight to the cat bowls to finish what they left behind (his usual routine), he ran to this bowl first! And again, no digestive issues.

I've been feeding him home-cooked meals for three weeks now, and it's going great! But after reading up on vegan dog diets, I've learned that it's best to either supplement home-cooked meals with vegan dog vitamins (like VegeDog) or include some vegan kibble to make sure they're getting all the necessary nutrients. I have several friends whose dogs have successfully been eating vegan diets for years, and I've read quite a bit on making the transition.   

I just ordered a small bag of V-Dog to try! He loves it, and so far, so good. I did have Datsun on V-Dog for a while (before Maynard came along), but back then, I just couldn't afford to keep feeding with that.  It's quite a bit more expensive that storebought dog food, and at the time, I just didn't have the funds. Datsun did well on it though! I ordered the small Mini Bites to test with, but if he does well on this food, I'll order a big 30-pound bag of the kibble for big dogs.

It feels good to know that I'm supporting vegan companies now, and I'm not feeding my dog all the gross 4D meat that's in most non-vegan dog food. It's also nice to know that my household is a little more cruelty-free than before. Now I just need to get Paul on a vegan diet. Ha! I don't believe it's safe to put cats on vegan diets though, so unfortunately, our three cats are still contributing to factory farm cruelty. Little carnivores!