New study reports diet choice has no impact on dog owners perceptions of their pet’s health
New study reports diet choice has no impact on dog owners perceptions of their pet’s health
A new study from the University of Liverpool has found that owners' feeding choice for their pet (be it vegan, raw, traditional meat based) does not influence their perception of dietary health effects.
Using data from a previous study, researchers used further analytic techniques, including machine learning, to re-assess certain data points. The original study surveyed several indicators of health, over a 1 year time frame, and analysed the incidence of 22 common canine health disorders. The findings, published in the reputable scientific journal, PloS One, showed that overall, dogs fed on a vegan diet were ‘as healthy’, and in some cases ‘more healthy’ than dogs fed on a conventional meat-based diet.
After re-analysing some of the data points of the original study, researchers found that factors other than diet choice were the most impactful on owner perception of health. This included factors such as dog age, veterinary visits, received medication, owner age, breed size, and owner education.
From this it can be concluded that the health indicators monitored by the owners feeding a range of diets were not necessarily obscured by their own dietary bias, as some critics had asserted. It also shows that the owners feeding unconventional diets like vegan diets, did not have any bias to choose more positive health outcomes versus owners feeding conventional diets.
Read the new study here: Variables associated with owner perceptions of the health of their dog: Further analysis of data from a large international survey. Barrett-Jolley R, German AJ (2024) Variables associated with owner perceptions of the health of their dog: Further analysis of data from a large international survey. PLOS ONE 19(5): e0280173. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280173
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