HOME MADE VEGAN & VEGETARIAN DOG FOOD RECIPES

It is great news that you have decided to home cook vegan or vegetarian food for your dog - there is no doubt they will benefit greatly from a plant-based diet.

As you are no doubt aware it is vitally important for their health that they get all the essential nutrients they require, and in the correct balance, to ensure their diet offers them the complete and balanced nutrition they require to survive. 

The nutrients needed include protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals (and water).

Ideally any recipe you use for home made vegan or vegetarian food for your dog should have been formulated, or at least vetted, by a canine nutritionist, preferably board certified. You can find a list of the board certified canine nutritionists here.  

It is imperative that home cooked vegan and vegetarian recipes for dogs include a supplement that ensures their complete nutritional requirements are met.

For example, unlike us, dogs cannot produce Vitamin D through their skin from sunlight so it must be included in their diet to avoid deficiency and potentially fatal consequences.

Taurine, L-Carnitine and Methionine are 3 other nutrients that dogs fed vegan or vegetarian diets are likely to lack.

Our recommendation if you are wishing to feed home made vegan or vegetarian diets to ensure their requirements are met is to provide them with dry vegan dog food (or wet) that provides complete and balanced nutrition as the majority of their diet and to supplement this with home cooked toppers.

Be sure to avoid overfeeding as excess weight is responsible for a significant number of the chronic diseases our dogs, like us, are suffering from - diabetes, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular issues and cancers.

The following is a list of vegetables and fruit and a guide to the proportions you should be including in your home made plant-based food for your dog. Those linked are the plant-based ingredients included in Bonza's vegan dog food.