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Originally Posted by Ellie May  Not sure what is meant about dogs not being able to do well on vegetarian diets. There would be many Yorkies in trouble if that were the case.
AAFCO is not perfect and there are two ways to get a diet approved. One is a nutrient analysis and the other is a feeding trial (done on the life stage that is represented on the bag/can). The latter may be preferred and is a good indicator of how dogs will do on the food.
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Most veg. fed dogs do not do well at all and what is meant by that from the reading/research I've done is that a lot end up with stunted growth, and malnourishment among many other things. Most studies on dogs that are vegetarian have shown dogs to be severely lacking in basic nutritional needs, particularly calcium. It's not an optimal diet. Sure dogs can "survive" on it (those on it due to allergies and digestive problems more so). Dogs can "survive" on a lot of things, but personally I want my dog to "thrive". I don't think anyone is making a blanket statement that no dog can eat a veg diet, that would be completely fallacious. Luckily, vegetarian fed dogs do get protein although the amounts aren't usually excessive and the proteins are of a low quality. Veg. fed dogs get their "protein" through nuts and seeds, pulses, soya product among other things. Ovo-vegetarians give their dogs eggs then there are Lacto-vegetarians to feed their dogs dairy products but disapprove of eggs.
Plant foods do contain protein but this is the problem: Proteins are made up of smaller units called amino acids. There are about 20 different amino acids, eight of which must be present in the diet. These are the essential amino acids. Unlike animal proteins, plant proteins may do not contain all the essential amino acids in the necessary proportions - that's a problem since proteins are needed for growth and repair and play a role in all biological processes in the body (Muscle contraction, immune protection, the transmission of nerve impulse, structural support, source of energy, etc., etc. etc.) Also if digestibility is the factor that determines how much of the nutrients are absorbed then we can all agree I think that a properly devised diet with highly digestive nutrients should form the base for optimal health. Studies show that vegetables are basically useless by dogs and they get little nutrional value from them. With veggies making up a large portion of a veg. fed dog that seems like a big issue.
Sure a feeding trial is probably a better indicator, but the AAFCO feeding trials are a joke. The weren't designed to measure the long term effects of diets. The trials consist of at least 8 dogs, fed the same diet for only 26 weeks. During this time, 25% of the dogs can be removed from the test. Dogs eating the food can lose up to 15% of their weight and condition and the food will still pass the test and be labeled complete and balanced. I'm sure if you extrapolate these figures to the number of animals eating this food for much longer than 26 weeks and you will have much more of a problem. If a food caused dogs to start losing condition over the 26 week period yet still passed, imagine how many animals would fail to thrive in real life while being fed this food for years.. I don't think studies with standards like this are good or real indicators of how dogs will do...I'd be very interested in looking at the full AAFCO studies though...