12. Transition Dog to Vegetarian Diet

IN PROGRESS.

When I adopted my dog Noah, it was without a lot of prior preparation. Getting a dog was something I'd obsessed about for a long time, but when it actually happened, I didn't have a lot of time to prepare. I wanted to feed him a vegetarian diet, but I hadn't researched it. Plus, I had no idea where to get vegetarian dog food. I didn't have the luxury of ordering online and waiting for delivery, so I went to Costco.

I bought a big bag of lamb & rice food, and some meat-based treats. Noah liked the food, and everything was fine. Still, I felt bad serving him this food for a few reasons. First, Noah resembles a lamb; he's all white and fluffy. I felt like I was making him a cannibal. Second, I worried about the unhealthy things that get into conventional dog food: all the poisons that were in the random meats made into the dog food, other additives, etc. Third, I felt like a hypocrite: I think eating meat is unhealthy for me, and I refuse to support the meat industry with my meals, but I was feeding my dog meat and explicitly buying it for him.

When the bag of dog food was running out, I did my research and found a vegetarian dog food. Interesting note: the dog food says vegetarian, but looking at the list of ingredients, it's vegan. I think the manufacturers chose "vegetarian" because it's more universally accepted. I, being a cultural anomaly, was excited to see that the food contained no animal profucts.

Now to be honest Noah is not a full-fledged veggie dog yet: he still eats treats with meat in them. After all, we did get a Costco-size container of them. While I don't like him eating meat, I also can't support the wastefulness of just throwing the treats away. Giving them to another dog wouldn't address the fact that I don't think dogs shouldn't be eating meat. So I just suck it up and give them to my dog.

To make mealtime more enjoyable for Noah, and to make sure he's getting all the good nutrients he needs, I try to mix in healthy stuff. Ground flaxseed provides Omega 3's. Wheatgerm or Oatbran is another good option. I've also mixed the food with some apple cider vinegar. Noah eats it, but the smell is a bit much. Molasses is a more popular liquid, both for taste and smell. In the morning, if I have the time, I make Noah breakfast by mixing his food with some oatmeal, flaxseed, and molasses. I know he's spoiled!

We also give the dog scraps of human food when we'd otherwise just throw it away. I feel that "whole foods" provide more nutrition (and fiber!) to him. The only trouble with this is that he likes to take his food out of his dish and eat it over the carpet, making a mess in the process. Sometimes he even tries to hid bits of food in all sorts of fun places, like under sofa cushions, in the bed, or even under me while I'm sitting down! Oh silly dog.

Vegan Dog Muffins

Recently I made my dog some cornbread vegan muffins from this recipe on it's a vegan dog's life. I would recommend that blog for dog owners looking to have happy, healthy pooches. My dog loved the muffins! It was like he could tell I was making them for him: he was eagerly watching everything I did as I made them! As soon as they cooled I gave him one, and he devoured it.

To give you a bit of analysis on the recipe, the mix seemed dry, but it cooked just fine. I ended up getting 16 smallish regular-size muffins out of it. The recipe was really easy, and since I plan to give the dog one muffin a day, I have over two weeks worth of muffins!

I'd like to take a moment to highlight that dogs (and cats) can be perfectly healthy and happy on a vegan diet. While my dog is transitioning over right now, I have seen no adverse effects from his new diet. For you doubters out there, I don't see what is "natural" about a dog eating meat byproducts from animals much too large for any wild dog to catch, much less my 20 lb. guy! Plus mainstream meat dog food has a lot of awful additives and is designed for cost efficacy, not healthfulness. There are many books on the subject if you are interested in learning more. Obligate Carnivore is a highly recommended book that I intend to read in the near future.

My dog does eat a commercial vegetarian dog food. On any given day I will supplement it with a few healthy nutritious items. Nutritional yeast, ground flaxseed, molasses, fruit/vegetable parts apple cider vinegar, and oatmeal are common additions. I am now looking to add a daily muffin to the mix to ensure nutritional variety.