In 2013, a group of researchers compared the dog genome (all the genes in the DNA) to the wolf and found that the differences between the two mainly fell into two categories – genes that were responsible for behavior traits (i.e. This argument is also “ignoring and disregarding” some very important scientific evidence that goes against the point being made. Yes, dogs definitely descended from wolves, but that doesn’t mean that a wolf and a dog have the same nutritional needs, so using numbers like this to justify a certain type of diet is misleading – an incorrect assumption on the part of the comment author.
To put the info above in perspective, humans share about 96-99% of their DNA with chimpanzees (whole genome, not just mitochondrial DNA). Well, I’m both part of a university and I have a veterinary degree (as well as a Master’s degree in nutrition), and here’s what I understand to be the truth:
Let’s look at one of the other arguments: Fruits and veggies and grains do not have high enough amounts of cellulose to cause issues with digestion for dogs.Īnimals that do eat foods like leaves and hay, such as horses, goats, cows, and the giant panda, have bacteria and other microscopic creatures in their intestines that do have the enzyme and these tiny little “friends” are the ones that actually break down the cellulose in their diet, freeing up nutrients for the animal. This is why people and dogs can’t digest plants high in cellulose like hay. The second assertion in this comment, that a carnivore’s pancreas does not secrete the enzyme cellulase to break down cellulose (a type of fiber found in the cell wall of plants), is misleading for two reasons – the first is that dogs are more omnivores than carnivores (more on this below) and the second issue is that NO mammals – carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore – make the enzyme cellulase. There is no evidence that feeding a higher carbohydrate diet damages the pancreas in any way. The digestibility of most plants that are a common part of human diets is quite high in dogs, not all that different from what it is in people.
Most dogs’ pancreases work very well at this task and dogs do a very good job breaking down starch from plants. The pancreas’ job, among other things, is to produce the digestive enzymes that dogs need to digest their food. Let’s take a look at some of the comments from those who attacked the owner for feeding a vegan diet (based on the article above) and do some fact-checking: While vegan diets (or home-prepared diets in general) can cause numerous health issues if not designed by someone with considerable dog nutrition expertise, many of the arguments used against this owner are half-truths or myths. The comments in the anti-vegan dog camp included a number of assertions that dog biology is not compatible with a vegan diet while others argued that dogs can live healthy lives without any animal-derived ingredients. The story has been shared tens of thousands of times with thousands of comments added from those who supported or more commonly criticized the owner for feeding an inappropriate diet.
Recently a story has been circulated around social media about a dog owner who posted a picture on Tumblr showing how “excited” her dog was to eat her home-made gourmet *vegan* meal.
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