A vegan diet for dogs? Could it be? Would it be something a dog would even want to eat? When my Mom and sisters came home from BlogPaws last month and told me about a vegan diet, I was skeptical. At my house, veggies are not usually on the favorites list for edible items.
My GBGV Life received the Halo® Holistic Garden of Vegan™ Recipe in this post to review. My GBGV Life receives no additional benefits for barking about Halo products or the company. The opinions in this review are the honest opinion of My GBGV Life. Halo is not responsible for the contents of this post.
Can a dog eat a vegan diet?
At our house, we are all carnivores, including my mom. We all eat some veggies, but meat is our love. When Mom met with Halo, and heard that dogs could actually eat a vegan diet, and it would be healthy for them she was shocked. She always thought dogs had to have meat in their diet, but that is not true at all. Because she is a curious human, Mom was happy to take home a bag of the Garden of Vegan™ Recipe for us to try. Honestly, she expected us to all turn up our noses and walk away, especially our little food snob, Madison.
Why choose a vegan diet for dogs?
- Your dog suffers from food allergies? These days with all the processed, unnatural ingredients in many dog foods, many dogs have developed allergies to many ingredients. By feeding a vegan diet, there is a good chance your dog will react favorably, and after a time, possibly be able to add back in a meat protein if it is a natural, holistic one. The proteins in Halo Garden of Vegan are plant based from sources such as chickpeas.
- You eat a vegan diet yourself and would like your dog to enjoy the same diet.
- Some pet parents feel a vegan diet would be more healthy, but are afraid by attempting to make the food at home, some vital nutrients may be lacking.
What Makes Halo Garden of Eden so healthy?
- Halo uses a holistic diet, made with whole ingredients creating complete and balanced nutrition for your dog.
- All the fruits and vegetables in the Garden of Eden Recipe are non-GMO.
- No fillers! Forget the rice, and add in healthy items like peas and chickpeas.
- You won’t find any artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, rice, corn, soy, or wheat gluten.
Will a dog eat without meat?
I tried out the Garden of Vegan food first. Being as I’m always honest with you all, I will say at first I sniffed, and wondered, “What the heck is this?” After some encouraging words from my mom, I dug in and really enjoyed the food.
Bailie as you probably know, will eat just about anything. Of course, she got into the bag Mom left on the floor while she went to grab the camera. Obviously, the smell was enticing as she stuck her head right into the bag, and started chowing down!
What about the true test of a vegan diet? Yes, our favorite food snob, who is pickier than any other dog on the planet, actually dug right in, and munched down her portion without any hesitation!
Remember, The Proof is in the Poop®!
My mom has a thing for picking up our poop. We are only allowed to poop on our walks, not in the yard, and she always picks it up. She knows that if we process foods in our bodies, we will have less and better poops. Actually, we found out when we met with Halo,that with the vegan diet for dogs, there may be more poop, but nice ones. It was totally true too. The Proof is in the Poop.
We had no issues switching over to the Garden of Vegan food, starting by mixing it with our other food for a few days. All in all, we went vegan for two weeks. Since we don’t really need to eat vegan, we will be switching to another Halo food with meat protein, but for any dogs who might be interested in a vegan diet, we highly recommend Garden of Vegan by Halo. It put a smile on my face. Halo also offers vegan wet food, and treats.
I think that would make a good food for the mama, so she hasn’t to search in the stores, it’s all inside what she needs … I do veggies too, even salad, but I love meat ;O)))
We are all meat lovers too, but it is a good option for some dogs who can’t eat meat.
I also thought that a vegan diet was not good for dogs. There’s so much conflicting information out there, it’s very difficult to choose a food! Luke would probably like it too, he does love his veggies, but we don’t really have any reason to feed vegan. It’s great there’s a healthy option out there for those that do.
Mom didn’t know dogs could be vegan which is why she had to have us try this food and see if we would even eat it. Cats cannot go vegan, very important to keep straight. We don’t need a vegan diet, but we did fine with it for the two weeks.
I’d like to read about the veterinarians who support this diet, as I know none that will. Dogs are carnivores, just like us.
Haha of course I love the can cover! Have a great day.
Funny, we think of you when we see it too, LOL!
I can see how that would be good for allergy dogs. These two like lettuce stalks, and sweet potato, but I’ve never tried anything else.
We are not big veggie fans here, but we loved the food. Mom likes us to have meat, so we are going back to their meat varieties, but it was fun to try.
Another thing to put on the list for Arty to try!! Great review Emma!!
xoxo,
Jakey, Arty & Rosy
Arty sounds like the official testing pup of your pack. Mom is still amazed we all ate it just fine, even the food snob.
That was a fun review but I’ve seen some articles about doggies getting sick on just vegan meals.
Our personal feeling is dogs should have some meat, but there are so many dogs who have such bad allergies to almost all meats these days, this might be a good option.
one of the longest living dogs was a long term vegan (when I read the story, she/he was 27 years old), so it is not a problem that dogs are fed a vegan diet.
My boys love their veggies but I feel they are better with a meat protein added to their food. It would be helpful to those suffering from certain allergies though.
I think those dogs with allergies could really get their system in order with this vegan diet, but we do enjoy our meat.
Hari OM
My angel Jade loved to eat my dal and barley and veges – but being vegtarian, I also take eggs and dairy and she did too – though she also had her meat. If this food had been available when she was around, i would certainly have given her some! hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx
Interesting. I think there are some people and some dogs who would really like to feed this to their furry ones.
I also thought that dogs should always eat meat, since they are carnivores. I think it’s okay to give them vegan food when dogs have multiple allergies as long as they have all the nutrients they need. But if an owner is vegan and wants to feed their dog for selfish reasons, it’s not okay. Dogs are still animals and we should not intervene too much in animal’s nature.
We feel the way you do. The good thing is the food is well balanced and dogs get nutrients they need which is better than a self made vegan diet that may lack in nutrients. For dogs with allergy issues, it is ideal!
Well, personally this is something new to me at least, I mean never try it yet to the dog as a diet eating plan. But the dogs usually will eat anything that human gives it to them even any vegetables, but usually, as a treat or just a snack to try, not a full day to day eating plan. Maybe a certain nutrient from a regular meat being put into that vegan dog food, so basically the dog can just eat that every day even the people call it a vegan diet. Thanks again for this interesting article.
I didn’t know there is a vegan dog food, and vegan diet for that matter. Although i use to give carrots to my dogs for them to bite around and supposedly clean their teeth