Is this for real?
Thought I also read awhile back about Ellen coming out with a vegan food- Don't quote me
on that I could be wrong.

http://thevegantruth.blogspot.ca/2013/01/dogs-that-eat-vegan-directory.html

I once had a vegetarian dog in my class.  It was an absolute nightmare - totally distracted by everyone else's hotdog sausages and ham! 

Poor dog that is so cruel ! I would have quite happily slipped him a few sausages !

I once had a vegetarian dog in my class.  It was an absolute nightmare - totally distracted by everyone else's hotdog sausages and ham!

I have a vegan dog due to an allergy to animal protein! He has been on a vegan diet for 5 years now (he is 8 years old) and is a picture of health! He is a saluki, worked beautifully in class (competitive obedience!) and is very healthy. Yes, he would like to eat other dogs treats... but so do all my other dogs that are on a normal meat based diet! He is in fact no-where near as greedy as say my spaniels (who are by the way fed raw). There are plenty of great vegan treats available these days and for training, things like vegan sausage etc are great... I know many non-vegan dogs that love vegan sausages for example! I can honestly say, that apart from recreational bones, my vegan dog doesn't miss out on anything and he is just as healthy and fit as any of my other dogs.

Although I wouldn't fee a dog on a vegan or vegetarian diet out of choice, I can honestly say that it is perfectly possible to have a healthy and fit (and well behaved) dog on a vegan diet!

I would have quite happily slipped him a few sausages !

If you don't know why a dog is on a certain diet, that could be quite a dangerous thing to do or at least have unpleasant consequences.

These days, my saluki is a bit more resistent to the odd piece of normal kibble for example, as his immune system is much stronger now due to not being challenged all the time by the wrong foods. However, when he was younger, just one kibble would make him feel itchy and dandruffy and/or could make him very ill behaved and stressed (bad behaviour was one of his allergy symptoms). So please don't go feeding other people's dogs just because you think they are on an inappropriate diet... Some people might not like the diet you feed your dogs (rightly or wrongly) and you wouldn't be best pleased either if someone fed your dog something you avoid yourself - especially if it then results in vet bills or major problems for that dog and owner!

The dog in my class was on a vegetarian diet because his owner was a vegetarian - not for his own health.

My comment was meant in jest :-)

I understand lurchergirls need for feedin her dog vegan :) but as for feeding a dog vegan because your are veggie imo is wrong. Good job theyu didn't have a cat or at least hope they didn't couldn't safely feed a cat veggie

I agree that dogs are not vegetarian by nature and I wouldn't feed a dog this way by choice. But at the same time, I know from my own experience that it is perfectly possible to feed a dog a vegetarian/vegan diet safely with great results, so personally I don't have a problem with people wanting to feed their dog that way! All that counts for me is that a dog is fit and healthy on whatever diet they are fed... and as that is possible (if done correctly! It's not as easy as to just feed a veggie food from a bag, supplements will be necessary!) on a vegetarian/vegan diet, I have no problem with it.

Lurcher Girl have you tried doing it the other way around, i.e. only raw meat? Just curious as I used to work for a vet who specialised in allergies in dogs, she put them all onto a vegetarian diet. Sure it worked -although in the case of my own dogs, neither of them lived as long as they should have done and nowhere near as long as their littermates. Next time (years and years later) I got a dog with allergies I tried feeding raw instead as it would be  more natural, and it certainly did the trick. I wish I could go back in time and check how the other two would have done had I tried raw meat instead.

Tried it all... some intentionally, some unintentionally (in other words, when he knicked stuff like meat cooked and raw LOL). Any kind of animal protein - cooked or raw - causes dandruff and dull coat, though these days fortunately not behaviour problems anymore like it did when he was younger! I think he may also be sensitive to wheat, as there is only one vegetarian food (Benevo) that he is doing fine on and it's the only wheat free one. He also gets the Missing Link food supplement and coconut oil.

PS. The oldest dog ever (and possibly the currently oldest dog in the world too) were/are fed on a vegan diet. ;-)

PPS. I also have another dog with multiple allergies (in fact, he is allergic to almost everything including most meats) and he is on a raw diet, but even raw he can only handle certain types of meat, though he is ok with veg and fruit (but is also sensitive to rice and cereals in general). Complicated dogs I have... though luckily I also have a couple of "normal" ones that can eat everything and anything. LOL