THE SCIENCE
behind plant-based canine nutrition
Our purpose at The Vegan Dog Coach is to educate dogs' parents and canine health professionals worldwide with the most recent, cutting-edge, peer-reviewed scientific research and data on the safety and health benefits of a plant-based diet for dogs and cats.
At The Vegan Dog Coach, our mission is to make cutting-edge research on canine nutrition and a plant-based diet accessible to everyone dog parent. We are scientists and canine nutritionists, not veterinarians, and we read about the latest scientific discoveries made by amazing teams of researchers around the world on a regular basis, and we summarise them into simple tips that you can apply to your dog's life if you want to improve their health and give them
a better chance of enjoying more years by your side. They're all mentioned below.
Canine nutritionists, veterinarians, canine nutrition coaches, and animal shelter personnel can employ our material in their practices to ensure that their dog patients and clients receive the most up-to-date scientific information about their nutrition. If that is the case, please feel free to utilise any of the material we publish; it is both free and public.
Why a plant-based diet for dogs ?
1.
If your dog, or patient have allergies, environmental or foods, hypersensitivity of specific foods, atopic dermatitis which affect 141.3 millions of dogs worldwide, sensitive skin manifestations ( rash, dry spots, redness, itchiness, constant licking and excessive scratching ), chronic ears infection or stomach sensitivity. A plant-based diet is the most hypoallergenic type of diet for dogs, as it doesn't contain any animals protein,
2.
In case of chronic immune-related health conditions , including cancer, diabetes, IBD, canine enteropathy and gastritis.
which are globally recognize as an inflammatory-causing factors. *
A single meal of meat, dairy, and eggs triggers an inflammatory reaction inside the body within hours of ingestion.
3.
Today, an estimated 200 million domesticated dogs living in households will develop cancer during their lifetime, with over 6 million new cancer diagnoses in dogs each year - the epidemic of cancer incidences in the canine population is out of control and a major source of concern for both veterinarians and pet owners.
If you want to reduce the risk of cancer in your dog or the number of cancer diagnoses in your practice as a veterinarian, science has shown that a plant-based approach can significantly reduce the incidence of multiple types of cancer, including colon, prostate, breast, and digestive system cancer*.
A study found that eating fresh veggies as little as three times a week reduced the incidence of cancer by 69-88%*.
* science available at the bottom of this page.
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Mugford, R.A., The influence of nutrition on canine behaviour. J Small Anim Pract, 1987. 28(11): p. 1046-1055. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1748-5827.1987.tb01328.x
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Chapagain, D., et al., Cognitive Aging in Dogs. Gerontology, 2018. 64(2): p. 165-171. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29065419/
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Giampieri, F., Special Issue "Phytochemicals in Health and Disease". Nutrients, 2018.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266085571_The_role_of_phytochemicals_as_micronutrients_in_health_and_disease
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Spencer, S., et al., Food for thought: how nutrition impacts cognition and emotion. NJP J Sci Food, 2017. 1(7): p. 1-8. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31304249/
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Winiarska-Mieczan, A., et al., The Role of Dietary Antioxidants in the Pathogenesis of Neurodegenerative Diseases and Their Impact on Cerebral Oxidoreductive Balance. Nutrients, 2020. 12(435): p. 1-32. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7071337/
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Chapagain, D., et al., Cognitive Aging in Dogs. Gerontology, 2018. 64(2): p. 165-171. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29065419/
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Cotman, C.W., et al., Brain aging in the canine: a diet enriched in antioxidants reduces cognitive dysfunction. Neurobiol Aging, 2002. 23(5): p. 809-18. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12392784/
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Raghavan, M., et al., Evaluation of the effect of dietary vegetable consumption on reducing risk of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder in Scottish Terriers. JAVMA, 2005. 227(1): p. 94-100. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16013542/
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Schmidt, K., et al., Prebiotic intake reduces the waking cortisol response and alters emotional bias in healthy volunteers. Psychopharmacology, 2014. 232. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25449699/
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Junhyung Kim, Jae-Uk An, Woohyun Kim, Soomin Lee & Seongbeom Cho, Differences in the gut microbiota of dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) fed a natural diet or a commercial feed revealed Volume 9, article number 68, (2017) https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13099-017-0218-5
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Wu T, Seaver P, Lemus H, Hollenbach K, Wang E, Pierce JP. Associations between dietary acid load and biomarkers of inflammation and hyperglycemia in breast cancer survivors. Nutrients. 2019;11(8):1913. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6723571/
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Sina Naghshi 1 2, Omid Sadeghi 3, Walter C Willett 4 5, Ahmad Esmaillzadeh 6 7 8 Dietary intake of total, animal, and plant proteins and risk of all cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32699048/
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Nutrients. 2023 Jul; 15(13): 2842. Beneficial Effects of Plant-Based Diets on Skin Health and Inflammatory Skin Diseases Published online 2023 Jun 22. doi: 10.3390/nu15132842 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10343921/
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Cell. 2014 Mar 27; 157(1): 121–141. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.03.011 Role of the Microbiota in Immunity and inflammation https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4056765/
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Miranda, M., et al., Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor: A Key Molecule for Memory in the Healthy and the Pathological Brain. Frontiers in cellular neuroscience, 2019. 13(363): p. 1-25. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6692714/
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Sechi, S., et al., An Antioxidant Dietary Supplement Improves Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Levels in Serum of Aged Dogs: Preliminary Results. J Vet Med, 2015. 2015: p. 1-9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26464952/
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Sechi, S., et al., An Antioxidant Dietary Supplement Improves Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Levels in Serum of Aged Dogs: Preliminary Results. J Vet Med, 2015. 2015: p. 1-9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26464952/
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Fahnestock, M., et al., BDNF increases with behavioral enrichment and an antioxidant diet in the aged dog. Neurobiology of aging, 2012. 33(3): p. 546-554.https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20447733/
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Sechi, S., et al., Oxidative stress and food supplementation with antioxidants in therapy dogs. Canadian journal of veterinary research = Revue canadienne de recherche veterinaire, 2017. 81(3): p. 206-216. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5508397/
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Di Cerbo, A., et al., Effects in dogs with behavioral disorders of a commercial nutraceutical diet on stress and neuroendocrine parameters. Vet Rec, 2016. 180: p. 1-7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27885066/
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Gentzel, J.B., Does contemporary canine diet cause cancer?; A review. Vet World, 2013. 6(9): p. 632-639. https://www.veterinaryworld.org/Vol.6/Sept-2013/10.pdf
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Mondo, E., et al., Role of gut microbiota in dog and cat's health and diseases. Open Vet J, 2019. 9(3): p. 253-258. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6794400/
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Jirayu Tanprasertsuk, Devon E. Tate, Justin Shmalberg DVM DACVN DACVSMR Roles of plant-based ingredients and phytonutrients in canine nutrition and health 08 September 2021 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpn.13626
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Wisnu Adi Wicaksono Article: 2258565 The edible plant microbiome: evidence for the occurrence of fruit and vegetable bacteria in the human gut 23 Sep 2023 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19490976.2023.2258565
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Luis Pedro Coelho, Jens Roat Kultima, Paul Igor Costea Similarity of the dog and human gut microbiomes in gene content and response to diet Microbiome volume 6, Article number: 72 (2018) https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-018-0450-3
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PLoS One. 2019; 14(4): e0214551. The inflammatory potential of diet in determining cancer risk; A prospective investigation of two dietary pattern scores April 12 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6461253/
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PMID: 35719615, PMCID: PMC9204183, DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.892153 The Relationship Between Plant-Based Diet and Risk of Digestive System Cancers: A Meta-Analysis Based on 3,059,009 Subjects : Yujie Zhao 2022 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35719615/
When following veterinarian advise or claims, use caution.
A majority of veterinarians have commercial paid partnerships with certain pet food products; thus, exercise cautious as their advise may not be neutral. Furthermore, canine nutrition is not included in most veterinarian studies, unless the veterinarian in question chooses to pursue further training in canine nutrition. For unbiased advice on your dog's diet, we recommend to consult a canine nutritionist who is not linked with any pet food company. Such canine nutritionists might be discovered online or in the region you live in.
Remember to exercise common sense, and search for accurate information when it comes to your dog's health and diet.
Not all scientific evidence is equal, objective, or trustworthy. At Vegan Dog Coach, we carefully choose unbiased research and publish scientific findings that are not sponsored by pet food manufacturers. The research and published data utilized in our website and instructional materials are the most recent, rigorous science that is free of conflicts of interest.