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Originally Posted by pstinard  I agree that it's possible to feed a dog a vegetarian diet and have it be healthy. It's a lot easier if you're using a commercial food that has good quality control and has already been proven to meet the nutritional needs of a dog (whether it be puppy or adult) by the AAFCO. If I were home cooking from scratch, I'd definitely consult a veterinary nutritionist to make sure the diet is balanced, because I don't have any experience feeding a home cooked diet. The balanceit.com website is a good place to start, as is Dr. Remillard's website.
Eggs and milk protein are fairly well balanced sources of protein, so if the vegetarian diet allows it, these would make it a lot easier. I've read that it's possible to feed a completely vegan diet, but my understanding is that it's more difficult because you have to balance the sources of plant proteins more carefully to provide all of the required amino acids in the proper amounts. |
Legumes are another good source. I fed a dog for five years on chick pea, sweet potatoes, and fish oil! She stopped tolerating fish oil, we added 1 egg white and she couldn't tolerate it. Out of desperation and not being into calamari or kangaroo, I threw chicken at her. Go figure, it's been 9 mos and chicken is holding. She's 15, I only need another year or so of feeding her before she...well... Goes buh bye. Anyway, she looked better on the vegetarian diet and had less allergy symptoms. Many things to balance in one little terribly bred puppy mill mess of a dog.