Monday, June 20, 2011

My dog's vegetarian diet

My dog has been vegetarian for about a year and a half. It took a little research to find these supplements and recipes so that I could be confident that she's getting the nutrition she needs. In the past she's eaten Wellness and Natural Balance kibble, both of which I think are good brands. But she was prone to ear infections and some kind of gunk that would build up in her ears if I didn't keep cleaning them with salicylic acid. She hated having her ears cleaned and would have to be baited with treats and tackled. She'd wake us up a few times a night shaking her head and making her ears go flappity flap flap. So the vet said to try a simple diet to see if she had a food allergy. I did, and the flapping and irritation ceased. Her ears became naturally clean somehow.  She was on a chicken and/or fish and eggs diet before she went veg. She still gets duck and chicken eggs, plus the insects she catches (I can't stop her). I found that whether her diet is vegetarian or not, as long as it's simple and homemade she is healthy. She always had a nice coat, lots of energy and ideal weight, but the ear thing seems to be associated with any brand of commercial food.


Her current diet consists of recipes combining Vegepet supplements with a selection of these ingredients:

-Quinoa
-Brown rice
-Millet
-Flax seeds, ground
-A green vegetable like spinach, kale, green beans or broccoli
-Garbanzo beans
-Lentils
-Oats or whole grains not listed above
-Nuts, ground
-Olive or canola oil (or coconut oil when I can afford it)
-Chicken or duck eggs if she's lucky

Now I don't have to put on plastic gloves, prepare meat that nobody else in the house eats, and disinfect everything the raw meat touched. I can go back to my regular habit of leaving the kitchen dirty. It's not hard to prepare and pretty cheap, especially since these are all things the whole family eats and we buy them in bulk.

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