Dog nutrition. What do we know for sure?

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Jebus
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Dog nutrition. What do we know for sure?

Post by Jebus »

According to nutritionfacts.org there are around 1500 nutritional studies per year. So far, I have failed to find one single study concerned with dog food. Please let me know if you know of any.

The websites advocating a vegan diet for dogs seem a bit woo and all recommendations seem based on anecdotes. What do we know for sure regarding dog nutrition? In the lack of dog nutrition studies, can any inferences be made on dog nutrition based on human studies?
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brimstoneSalad
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Re: Dog nutrition. What do we know for sure?

Post by brimstoneSalad »

We have information on adequate nutrition for dogs, and it appears to be consensus among veterinary nutritionists that properly formulated vegetarian and vegan diets are fine for dogs.
http://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/jcoates/2014/jan/can-dogs-stay-healthy-on-a-vegetarian-diet-31188
Not a lot of research done into optimal nutrition and health for dogs or cats. We just know the nutrients they need, and properly formulated vegan or vegetarian pet foods are fortified with those nutrients. I would expect dogs to do better on a vegan diet long-term for the same reasons as humans, but there's not a lot of data on that.

As a mainstream brand, even Purina makes a vegetarian dog food for dogs with allergies.
https://www.purina.com/dogs/dog-articles/understanding-dog-food/vegetarian-and-vegan-dog-food-what-you-should-know
That article isn't very useful, and really just says improperly formulated diets can be dangerous (obviously).

For dogs it's pretty easy, since they evolved along side us to digest starches well, and they don't have serious problems with urinary tract blockage like cats do. Any website that recognizes the challenges of feeding cats fully vegan is probably pretty credible.

You could formulate one yourself with cronometer and whole foods, and just add a couple supplements or a supplement powder.
Something like this is probably a good idea:
http://store.vegancats.com/vegedog-mix-by-hoana-p17.aspx
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