I am trying to find a vegetarian dog food for my Alaskan Malamute. He doesn’t appear to like Natural Balance?
Michelle asked:
Cost is an issue seeing that he is 120 lbs. Non-vegetarian food IS NOT an option. Any recommendations?
Okay I didn’t think I NEEDED to add this BUT dogs are NOT carnivores!!!!!!! They are omnivores. Reseach shows that dogs live longer, are heathier and have fewerallergies on a vegetarian diet.
Sydney
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Cost is an issue seeing that he is 120 lbs. Non-vegetarian food IS NOT an option. Any recommendations?
Okay I didn’t think I NEEDED to add this BUT dogs are NOT carnivores!!!!!!! They are omnivores. Reseach shows that dogs live longer, are heathier and have fewerallergies on a vegetarian diet.
Sydney
August 3rd, 2010 at 6:35 am
Jason
i use exclusive protein for my dog. it contains no meat but provides the dog with all the proteins etc… in needs.
August 5th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Emily
It depends where you are. I assume you are in the US, so you might have to mail order it.
Try V-Dog -
Also Vegan Cats sell dog food -
Several brands including Ami from Italy -
In the UK people can try a range of brands from
I hope that is helpful
August 8th, 2010 at 11:17 am
Ian
Why in the world would you want to make a naturally carnivorous animal into a vegetarian?
August 11th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Bryan
Find a Malamute rescue and give your dog to them. Dogs need to eat meat or some form of meat in a dry or wet dog food.
Feeding a carnivore vegetables is cruel.
August 15th, 2010 at 12:56 am
Gabriella
Can you please leave your dog alone? You have every right to choose your diet so he should too.
If you absolutely have to deprive him, then I would ask your local pet store for advice on the best food. Theyll be able to suggest a food to you based on others experiences.
August 16th, 2010 at 1:55 am
Liam
dogs are not vegetarians
August 19th, 2010 at 2:17 am
Aubrey
Why the hell would you punish your dog for your own self righteousness? Dogs are CARNIVORES you dumbass.
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:28 am
Hailey
Dogs are natural omnivores, not carnivores like some people seem to think. With the right nutrients vegan dog food is absolutely fine. I bet most people don’t even have any idea whats in their carnivore dog food anyway.
This is what I feed my dog and she has more energy that most other dogs I’ve seen!
My pup:
August 22nd, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Evelyn
I would have to agree with some of these other posters. I’m a vegetarian but I do believe that dogs are supposed to be carnivores. It is just the way they are. You shouldn’t have a dog if you can’t accept that.
August 23rd, 2010 at 11:19 am
Nathaniel
He doesn’t like it because he’s a dog and he wants meat (some would argue NEEDS meat). Don’t try to foist your moral values on an innocent animal. Either feed him appropriately or give him to someone who will. Sheesh. What you’re doing is animal cruelty and you should be ashamed of yourself.
August 24th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Audrey
I think the best thing to do would be to consult with a vet who is friendly to vegetarian dogs. If you happen to live in or near LA, Dr. Armaiti May is very good; here is her web page: My half brother takes his very healthy vegetarian dog (Chihuahua) to her.
My concern would be the large size of your dog, because some large muscular dogs may not be as suited for a vegetarian diet. I know a lot of people who feed vegetarian kibble and supplement with real meat, could that be an option? You could find local farms or even hunters so you wouldn’t have to support factory farming or feed your dog hormones and pesticides.
PS: Dogs are omnivores, not carnivores, but you probably know this already.
August 25th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Brianna
I’m afraid that I can’t help you on finding a brand of vegetarian dog food, but I completely disagree with what most people are saying.
As long as they are fed correctly, there is *nothing* wrong with having a vegetarian dog. Dog’s are omnivores, *not* carnivores. I have heard that in some cases some vegetarian dogs have actually lived longer.
However, if he is used to meat, perhaps he’ll like like it more if he’s given it gradually, along with meat at first. Like most animals, a dog’s diet should be changed slowly.
As long as they are given the correct food, along with added nutrients or whatever they need (may already be enough in the food, or may need to be added), vegetarian dogs are just as healthy as non-vegetarian dogs.
Unfortunately, Yahoo Answers may not be the best place for this. I have had trouble getting useful answers about vegetarian things on here in the past, and people don’t tend to look into things before answering.
You could try asking on a website where you’ll get answers from vets, or perhaps a vegetarian/vegan forum?
Hopefully you’ll get some good answers either way.
You could also try typing ‘vegetarian dog food’ followed by your country (USA, UK ect) into Google to come up with brand names.
Malamute’s are some of the most beautiful dogs in the world.
I hope you can find something that he’ll like.
~Ignition
August 27th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Samantha
I’m a vegan.
And you’re dead wrong.
No matter how many exclamation points you put at the end of a sentence, they don’t take something that’s false and make it true. Please cite your research that states dogs live longer on vegetarian diets. I’m pretty up on the latest in veterinary research, and I have yet to hear of a prolonged study on this topic at all. Why? because it hasn’t happened, quite frankly.
Dogs are Opportunistic Carnivores (aka non-obligate carnivores). They ARE carnivores. They *can* eat other things short term (thus the non-obligate), but fundamentally need meat for their long term health. Period.
I say this as a vegetarian of over 25 years, a vegan more recently, and an animal handler, dog trainer and rescuer for over 20 years.
I would seriously rethink what you are trying to force on your dog.
If you are against factory farming (which I TOTALLY get), you could look into a home prepared diet so that you can know who you are getting your ingredients from and support sustainable farming practices at the same time. I home prepare a meat based diet for my own dog, and a whole prey diet for my two cats.
I have seen dogs and cats on long term vegetarian diets…and they were some of the most lethargic and unhealthy pets I have ever seen (outside of the pets I’ve seen with extreme chronic illnesses, of course). While I’ve certainly seen sicker animals than those who were fed a vegetarian diet, the veggie animals were second only to those animals with long term chronic conditions in terms of poor overall health.
I can’t encourage you enough to rethink this.