Dogs are omnivores and have no nutritional requirement for meat. Compared to their wolf ancestors, dogs have many more genes for digestion of carbohydrates, having evolved alongside humankind over the past 30,000 years.

There are literally thousands of dogs in the world today living on a plant-based diet, and commercially produced plant-based dog food has been in production for many years. The production of plant-based dog food continues to grow, while costs become increasingly competitive.

In addition to commercial plant-based dog food, there are many people who make plant based food for their dogs in the comfort of their own home. Commercially produced food will often be more nutritionally balanced and healthy on account of the considerable testing, development, and supplementation, that goes into the product.

Although many people can, and do, make their dogs plant-based food at home, people interested in this route should always do their research beforehand and verify their results through regular visits to their veterinarian.

When it comes to dog food, cheaper isn't always better. And in fact, often times cost savings for cheap food is can be erased by health issues for your dog down the line.

The cheapest food on the market today is cheap for a reason, it is of extremely poor quality.

When plant-based dog food entered the market, the prices were understandably higher than the mass-produced, low-quality food.

Plant-based dog food has always been on par with the price of other mid to high quality dog foods.

What's more, as production volume increases, prices continue to come down.

If plant based food companies are able to provide Los Angeles shelter dogs with their substantially higher-quality product, at the same price, the cost will likely become even less due to the increased production.

It's no surprise that there is some opposition to "vegan dogs". People were opposed to ending slavery and to women obtaining the vote. For the same reasons: because "it's always been this way," because "there's money on the other side," because "we haven't studied it enough," and because "there is opposition."

Changing habits, even bad ones, can be uncomfortable, but is vitally important to protect dogs, other animals, and the future of life on this planet.

Opponents of this proposal claim that dogs are carnivores, and can't obtain the nutrients they need from plant-based sources, but they are not correct.

The fact is that dogs are omnivores, and have been living off of human diets for the past 30,000 years.

Dogs thrive on plant-based diets, and all their needs can be met with plant-based diets.

These facts are all supported by research published in reputable scientific journals (visit our information section for more details).

Some people in opposition to this initiative are claiming that plant-based dog foods will lead to an increase of diarrhea in shelter dogs.

Regarding the claim that plant-based food will increase the risk of diarrhea.

(1) The increased fiber of plant-based food is more likely to result in larger, bulkier stools, but not necessarily diarrhea.

(2) A bulky stool is a healthy stool which helps eliminate toxins.

(3) Switching from high fat Canidae (the current food dogs at Los Angeles shelters are fed) to low fat V-dog or Halo (two proposed brands of plant based food to replaceme Canidae) makes diarrhea less likely than if switching the other way around.

(4) A gradual transition to the new food, which we strongly support, will minimize the potential for diarrhea for dogs currently in shelters *.

* Note: when dogs first enter the shelter, if the previous diet is unknown, naturally there is no way to transition gradually, regardless of the food used by the shelter.