Will a Vegetarian Diet Prolong Your Dog's Life?

With the increasing awareness in humans of how a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and limited meat can improve the health of humans, the question naturally arises as to whether such dietary changes can improve the health and longevity of your dog. Can giving your dog a vegetarian diet reduce his risk of disease and prolong his life span?

It's interesting to note that a British dog deemed to be one of the oldest living dogs in the world was a vegetarian dog. In fact, this vegetable eating dog reached her 27th birthday in 2002. A pretty remarkable feat for a Border Collie rescued from an animal shelter. Her owner reports this amazing dog consumes an all vegetarian diet of organic vegetables, lentils, and rice every day which is a diet similar to the vegan diet her owner eats on a daily basis. It seems this long living canine has been remarkably free of health problems which her owner attributes to the fact that she's a vegetarian dog.

The argument against converting a dog to a vegetarian diet has always been that dogs are innately carnivores with teeth that are designed for tearing and macerating animal tissue. Plus, dogs require higher levels of protein to support bodily functions when compared to humans. They also need sufficient quantities of two amino acids found exclusively in meat products, l-carnitine and taurine which an unsupplemented vegetarian diet fails to provide.

There are ways around this requirement for l-carnitine and taurine. These amino acids can be given in supplemental form and added to the vegetarian dog's diet. Plus, the requirements for a higher protein diet can be met by adding soy to your dog's food on a daily basis. This requires additional diligence as a dog owner to be sure protein requirements are being met on a daily basis.

A study conducted by PETA where they looked at 300 dogs treated with a vegetarian diet showed that dogs who made the switch to vegetarianism had significantly fewer health problems long term. Although this study is hardly scientific (an organization like PETA probably has a natural bias towards vegetarianism), the results are still compelling. Few can deny the cases of dogs such as Bramble who have reached an advanced age on a vegetarian dog diet.

Previously the conversion of your dog to a vegetarian diet would have involved home food preparation which could be time intensive and less than satisfying on the part of both owner and dog. The good news is that dog food companies are making it easy for your dog to go vegetarian by producing vegetarian dog foods which are nutritionally balanced and tasty.

If you're considering converting your dog over to a vegetarian diet, you may want to consider giving one of the new vegetarian dog food formulations a try. Research dog formulations carefully to make sure the diet is high enough in protein and contains sufficient quantities of l-carnitine and taurine. Also make sure the protein used is of high quality. When making the diet conversion, you may way to change your dog's diet incrementally, adding the vegetarian food in small quantities initially to see how your dog responds. This will help to avoid any digestive problems associated with sudden dietary changes.

Certainly there is evidence out there to support the idea that a vegetarian dog can live a long and healthy life. Only you can decide whether this is the right diet plan for your own dog.

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