Can dogs go-go-go with no-no meat?: Evaluating a meat-free diet in performance dogs

Abstract

Theoretically, a dog's nutrient requirements can be met from a properly balanced meat-free diet. There are few commercially available meat-free diets for dogs, and their recent arrival onto the market suggests a new consumer demand for this type of product. However, there is no scientific evidence to demonstrate that a meat-free diet is adequate for exercising dogs. A study by Yamada et al. (1987) which compared the effects of vegetable protein and animal protein diets in dogs during vigorous physical training found a significant decrease in haemoglobin (Hb) and red blood cells (RBC) in dogs fed the vegetable protein diets after 2 weeks while dogs fed the animal protein diet showed no significant change.