Digestibility of vegan diets for dogs - New study update

A new study published in the US this year has looked to assess the amino acid (protein) digestibi...

A new study published in the US this year has looked to assess the amino acid (protein) digestibility and metabolizable energy of two vegan dog foods.

Researchers took two mildly cooked human-grade vegan diets and compared them to a dry chicken kibble diet. They used a standardised method for measuring amino acid digestibility and metabolizable energy of the diets with 12 in each group and 24 in total.

All three diets were confirmed to surpass AAFCO and FEDIAF guidelines for amino acid content prior to ingestion. Results showed that indispensable amino acid digestibility was high for the two vegan diets and similar to that of the control meat based diet. Other studies have shown a potential for the amino acid methionine to have lower digestibility in vegan diets, however this study showed no statistical differences vs the control diet.

It should be noted that the two vegan diets tested used primarily pulses and legumes as protein sources, which often have to be processed/cooked in the correct way and combined with other complementary proteins to be most bioavailable. However other plant-based protein sources like soy, often used in other vegan pet foods, have been shown to be highly digestible, in some cases even having a higher digestibility than a poultry diet when assessed in dogs. 

Total metabolizable energy was good across all diets but was higher in the two vegan diets compared to the control diet.

Overall researchers concluded that “mildly cooked human-grade vegan diets tested in the current study performed well, easily meeting the CP and amino acid needs of dogs according to AAFCO and FEDIAF, having high amino acid digestibility’s, and having high energy contents that exceeded current ME equations and estimates”. 

While rooster protocols used provide standard and comparable figures for these types of analyses, the next step for this study is to compare figures in dogs.

Click here to read the article!

Leah J Roberts and others, Amino acid digestibility and nitrogen-corrected true metabolizable energy of mildly cooked human-grade vegan dog foods using the precision-fed cecectomized and conventional rooster assays, Translational Animal Science, Volume 7, Issue 1, January 2023, txad020

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FAQs

But aren’t dog’s carnivores?

Dogs are in fact nutritional omnivores as demonstrated by a robust scientific study published in the reputable journal Nature (1,2) in which it was shown that they have 30 copies of the AMY2B gene responsible for digesting plant-based foods.

They have also evolved relatively long intestines (21) (almost as long as humans) and relatively flat surfaces on their molars (31, 22) which they use for digesting and chewing a whole range of foods.

The common misconception that dogs are carnivores probably arises from the fact that they are classified in the order Carnivora but so are plenty of other species like bears, skunks, racoons who are omnivores and even the giant panda who thrives on a plant-based diet (20).

Is plant protein digestible to dogs?

Absolutely yes, studies which have looked at how much protein dogs can absorb from plant-based and fungi-based foods like soya and yeast demonstrated over 75% digestibility which is on par with meat-based foods (23, 24, 34, 35 & 25).

Both these protein sources also contain all 10 essential amino acids (36, 37) that dogs need to thrive.

Isn't there too much fibre in plant-based food?

The average amount of fibre in a commercial dog food diet is between 2-4%. omni’s plant-powered recipe has a fibre content of 3% which is on par with meat- based diets.

In our survey with over 200 dog owners, 100% reported that their dog’s stool consistency was either ‘normal’ or ‘perfect’ and there were no reports of any digestive upsets (data on file).

Can I mix omni with other meat-based diets?

We are proud that our recipes are nutritionally complete and so include everything your dog needs to thrive. This means omni can be fed as a sole ration. We also fully support a 'flexitarian approach' like meat free lunches or using omni as a mixer.

Every little helps to bring some of the health and environmental benefits of plant-power to meal times. Mixing omni with meat/fish will help to add variety into your dog’s diet whilst adding in healthy ingredients with a relatively low carbon footprint.

Can plant-based food provide the essential fatty acids dogs need?

All the essential fats and oils that dogs need, including omegas 3 and 6 are found in a variety of both meat and plant-based foods (31, 28).

omni’s recipe is rich in plant-based sources of these nutrients so your dog will get all the essentials they need.

I hear a lot about feeding raw meat, isn’t that better?

Feeding raw meat to dogs has become a very popular trend in recent years, but most vets will warn against this practise. This is because the cooking process is vital to help kill off dangerous bacteria like E coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter (9) that have necessitated several food recalls from the market and caused serious illness and even death in both dogs and their owners (40, 41, & 42).

There are also several worms and parasites that are only killed off when raw meat is cooked. Dogs are dogs, not wolves and thanks to their domestication over thousands of years, thankfully don’t need to hunt to get their grub nor do they need to eat raw meat, it's just not worth the risk.

References

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