How does £5,000 for 5 days’ work sound? Pretty good? Well, if you think so then look no further as we may have the job for you.

Here at OMNI we don’t use unwanted animal by-products and left overs that most dog food brands use. We aim to smash the rules out of the park with tasty, plant-based ingredients that humans would not only eat but would enjoy. Think sweet potatoes, lentils, brown rice, pumpkin, blueberries, peas and cranberries - all of those sound pretty darn good, right?!

We believe in our food so much that we’re going to put our money where our mouth is and are looking for someone to eat dog food - and nothing else - for 5 days and want to pay them £5,000 to do so.

And trust us when we say we’d even eat OMNI food ourselves. We’re sure many other dog food producers wouldn’t!

In a society with a lack of education around diets for dogs, we understand there is a pre-existing and negative misconception about feeding your dog a plant-based diet. We hope that by hiring someone to change their diet, we can communicate that, where plant-based dog food is concerned - it’s good enough for humans so why not our dogs?

For the role to be successful we will ask the taste tester to record their experience of the temporary diet change, monitoring how they feel when carrying out the challenge - such as energy levels, comfort and bowel movements. We will provide a questionnaire for our new hire to fill in.

In return for the diet change and their work, we will pay the successful candidate £5,000 for the 5-day job role and will provide all food expenses, plus the taste tester will have access to a registered dietician throughout.

We will also complete optional health tests on the candidate before, during and after the experiment to ensure they are maintaining good health but also to monitor how the diet is affecting them.

A selection of plant-based dog food will be provided to ensure the candidate has a varied meal plan, all using a variety of current and as yet unreleased OMNI dog food and ingredients.

Job applications close on 31st May as we hope to hire someone early June. So, if you fancy making some money while helping us to prove to the world that our food is tasty and premium enough for humans as well as dogs, please apply here:

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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