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THE VEGAN DOG COACH

Canine Diet Evolution Throughout History

Early farmers influenced the evolution of dog genomes towards vegetarianism, according to scientific research on ancient canines.

This section contains lectures and scientific studies about the surprising evolution of feeding domesticated dogs over time, and the vegetarian, starch-based recurrence.

Shortcut from science studies shared below;

During the Middles Ages, commoner’s dogs would be fed meager diets of bread crusts, bare-bones, potatoes and cabbage.

In common households during the middle ages and through the mid-19th centuries however, little consideration was given to feeding dogs, as a dog’s diet was much like that of its owners, consisting of whatever owners could spare, such as knuckles of bone, cabbage, potatoes, onions and crusts of bread.

"The dog is neither wholly carnivorous nor wholly herbivorous, but of a mixed kind, and can receive nourishment from either flesh or vegetables.

The dogs' diets differed considerably. While nine of them ate plenty of meat and 10 were omnivorous, the rest ate mostly plants ( during Neolithic Ages )

Genomic analysis reveals that dogs and humans walked similar evolutionary paths regarding their diets. (Elizabeth Pennisi, 2023).

In the Roman era (ca. 50 AD) Columella wrote that dogs – there were mainly sheepdogs and guard dogs – can be fed with whey and barley flour, or emmer wheat bread soaked in the liquid of boiled beans.

University of Barcelona, Silvia Albizuri, Aurora Grandal dʼAnglade, Julià Maroto, November 2021

Ancient dogs were fed a vegetarian diet, study finds

In the Neolithic, human communities in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula modified the nutrition of these carnivorous animals by introducing cereals and legumes in their diet.

Researchers have also seen differences between the dogs in Can Roqueta, some had a carnivorous diet and others a strictly vegetarian one, which indicates a diversification of the function of the dog after the Iron Age.

The dogs' diets differed considerably. While nine of them ate plenty of meat and 10 were omnivorous, the rest ate mostly plants .

Read the science

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The Royal Society of Science, 2016, Morgane Ollivier, Anne Tresset

Dogs evolved towards vegetarianism for 7000 years

Early farmers pushed dog genomes toward vegetarianism. Genomic analysis reveals that dogs and humans walked similar evolutionary paths (Elizabeth Pennisi, 2023).

Farming didn't just revolutionize human society—it transformed the genome of our oldest friend, the dog. A new study reveals that by 7000 years ago, our canine companions were eating so much wheat and millet they made extra copies of starch-digesting genes to help them cope. And this adaptation is what allowed them to stay by our sides, even as our world changed.

Dogs have up to 30 copies of a gene—Amy2B—that helps digest starch, whereas wolves typically only have two.

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De Re Rusticaof Columella - 160 BC

In Roman times, domesticated dogs were mostly fed vegetarian diets.

In the Roman era (ca. 50 AD) Columella wrote that dogs – there were mainly sheepdogs and guard dogs – can be fed with whey and barley flour, or emmer wheat bread soaked in the liquid of boiled beans.

What types of food should be served to dogs in the Romans Empire? Columella ( De Re Rustica
of Columella - 160 BC ) recommends barley flour mixed with whey (farina cum sero commode pascit). Bread made with emmer flour mixed with the liquid of boiled beans (farreo vel triticeo pane satiandi sunt, admixto tamen liquore coctae fabae). The bean-liquid should be tepid and not hot."

Over 2,000 years ago early Romans were feeding their farm dogs barley bread soaked in milk or beans liquid. Their war dogs received garlic doses to strengthen them.

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(The Sportsman’s Dictionary, 1785)

Feeding guidelines for domesticated dogs in the 18th century.

"Barley meal, the dross of wheatflour, or both mixed together, with broth or skim’d milk, is very proper food. For change, a small quantity of greaves from which the tallow is pressed by the chandlers, mixed with their flour ; or sheep’s feet well baked or boiled, are a very good diet, and when you indulge them with flesh it should always be boiled. In the season of hunting your dogs, it is proper to feed them in the evening before, and give them nothing in the morning you take them out, except a little milk. If you stop for your own refreshment in the day, you should also refresh your dogs with a little milk and bread.’ A dog should always have plenty of water, and some twitch grass (couch grass – Elymus repens) on every summer morning."

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(The Complete Farrier, and British Sportsman, 1833, p. 428ff)

A dog shouldn't be fed on raw meat - 1833

"The dog is neither wholly carnivorous nor wholly herbivorous, but of a mixed kind, and can receive nourishment from either flesh or vegetables. A mixture of both is therefore his proper food, but of the former he requires a greater portion, and this portion should be always determined by his bodily exertions. […] in some kennels meal and milk are constantly given, and dogs will thrive on this diet during the season they do not hunt’. Wheat meal is the best, while oatmeal and barley meal can occasionally be given when mixed with milk, buttermilk or broth. Potatoes, mixed with milk or buttermilk, are ‘a wholesome food for dogs which are not exercised’. Food can be admixed with ‘greaves, or other fatty matter […] Horse-flesh is a strong, nutritious food for dogs who undergo great exercise’. A dog shouldn’t be fed on raw meat. Dogs near towns can be given ‘tripe, or haunches of sheep’ boiled for half an hour and mixed with French bread raspings […] All kinds of bones, except fish-bones, may be thrown to them at any time’. Vegetables, such as carrots and parsnips, ‘will feed dogs sufficiently well […] Damaged ship-biscuit is often bought for the purpose of food, and it makes a very good one, when soaked in broth or milk.’ After the dog is fed, he ‘should be shut up, to encourage sleep, for digestion is promoted more by sleeping than by waking."

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(Kennel Secrets: How To Breed, Exhibit And Manage Dogs, 1904)

Assessment of diets for domesticated dogs during the Edwardian era.

"Bread cut thin and buttered is suitable for a change and may be given occasionally to all that like it, the slices being broken into small pieces and fed from the hand."

"For the heartiest meal of the day – at about six p.m. – boiled rice should be the principal constituent. Over this should be poured a little gravy, and then should be added about one-third as much finely chopped beef or mutton as there is rice, also a small quantity of vegetables, and all the ingredients be thoroughly mixed."

"For a change, bread, plain crackers, “tea sops,” beef or mutton broth, and scraps from the table if they are free from grease and pungent condiments, as pepper and mustard. […] With only one small dog in a fairly large family the “scraps” from the table, consisting of trimmings and pieces of stale bread softened with a little gravy, a few spoonfuls of vegetables and small bits of meat should be ample and eminently suitable for his support; but if the dog is of a large size and the family small, or there are several dogs belonging to it, this supply would scarcely meet the demand. Did it nearly do so, however, dog cakes might be used to fill the measure, and they could be depended upon for breakfasts, and given alone and unbroken or crushed and softened with milk or broth."

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"Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas Recipes Processes" encyclopedia, by Norman W. Henley and others.

Light meat dog bread feeding in the 20th century.

"Most dog bread is mainly made of flour and the ‘waste portions of meat and tallow, including the skin and fiber, […] imported from South American tallow factories in the form of blocks. […] Wheat flour, containing as little bran as possible, is generally used, oats, rye, or Indian meal being only mixed in to make special varieties, or, as in the case of Indian meal, for cheapness. Rye flour would give a good flavor, but it dries slowly, and the biscuits would have to go through a special process of drying after baking, else they would mold and spoil. Dog bread must be made from good wheat flour, of a medium sort, mixed with 15 or 16 per cent of sweet, dry chopped meat, well baked and dried like pilot bread or crackers. This is the rule for all the standard dog bread on the market. There are admixtures which affect more or less its nutritive value, such as salt, vegetables, chopped bones, or bone meal, phosphate of lime, and other nutritive salts. In preparing the dough and in baking, care must be taken to keep it light and porous."

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