Sugars
It goes without saying that you should not give your dog any refined or isolated sugar. No white flour, pasta or white rice. Cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruit contain enough natural sugars to cover your dog’s sugar requirements.
Naturally, dogs are not fed sugars other than the natural sources contained in food. Let’s not get them used to eating sugars, even whole sugars.
Sugar makes poor-quality or tasteless foods palatable, and is found in just about every industrial dog food, from teeth-cleaning bones to cookies and other treats, and of course in cans and kibbles.
Vitamins
For some vitamins, such as vitamin A, they cannot be found in their fully synthesized form in a plant-based diet. Therefore, it is important to provide it through supplements added daily to your dog’s food.
Minerals
Dogs need a sufficient and balanced supply of calcium and phosphorus. By complementing a plant-based diet with a mineral supplement for dogs, and by following age-and weight-related recommendations, you can be sure that your dog won’t lack anything.
If you want to know more about those recommendations, you can find them all by subscribing now and reading our ebook: “My Vegan Dog”.
Our ebook covers all aspects of a healthy plant-based diet for dogs so that you can make the best choices and, above all, avoid missing out on any crucial supplements.
Foods To Avoid
Here is a list of food you should avoid giving to your dog:
- Salt
- Pepper
- Chili
- Chocolate
- Onion
- Avocado (although only the skin is toxic)
- Garlic
Xylitol sugar, which can be found as a sweetener in human food, should also be avoided for dogs, because depending on the quantity ingested, it can cause a massive release of insulin, which can lead to hypoglycemia with coma.
Apart from these examples, we’d say that if you don’t eat a healthy diet, don’t give your dog your leftovers.
Refined foods with hydrogenated oils, flavor enhancers, colorings, additives, fried foods and bakery products are no better for your dog than they are for you.
Also, don’t give your dog food that’s just come out of the fridge or freezer.
Finally, out-of-date foods are often added to the dog’s bowl, on the pretext that dogs eat everything, but this is not healthy for them.
Adapting the diet
Every dog is different, so the rations we recommend according to size and weight are only guidelines. Depending on your dog’s age or metabolism, they may need to be increased or decreased.
You’ll know if your dog is eating enough by his behavior and overall health.
A good diet should be sufficient in both quantity and quality, and the dog should be satisfied and not try to eat as if he were short of food. Nor should he pounce on his bowl as if he were starving. His behavior towards his food will tell you a lot about his satisfaction.
His weight should be sufficient (ribs should not be visible), but his muscles should be well-developed (obviously, the dog has to work hard to develop them). He must have good resistance to effort, insofar as his breed allows. His coat should be full, beautiful, and glossy. His eyes should be lively and, in general, he should be alert and happy.
Adapting food portions and their composition is, therefore, the key to a successful vegan diet.