DELRAY BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--National Dog Day, August 26, is the perfect time to reassess your dog’s diet, says globally renowned vegan canine nutritionist Diana Laverdure-Dunetz, MS, founder of Plant-Powered Dog. She urges people to replace all or part of the animal ingredients their dogs consume with dog-safe plant-based foods. Laverdure-Dunetz, author of The Plant-Powered Dog: Unleash the healing powers of a whole-food plant-based diet to help your canine companion enjoy a healthier, longer life says that as consumers become more aware of improving their own health and wellness with plants, they should do the same for their canine companions.
“Chronic inflammatory illnesses in dogs such as cancer, diabetes, osteoarthritis and food intolerances are skyrocketing, and we need to ask whether there is a link to the popularity of high meat diets over the past few decades,” says Laverdure-Dunetz. “Bioaccumulated toxins in animal ingredients can create serious health issues in animals and people. The lower down the food chain we eat, the fewer toxins we consume.”
Laverdure-Dunetz also dispels myths that dogs are carnivores who need animal protein. “As I discuss in The Plant-Powered Dog, modern companion dogs are not wolves. They have evolved alongside humans for tens of thousands of years and are nutritional omnivores well suited to digesting and absorbing plant-based nutrients, including protein. The key, as with any type of diet, is to ensure the nutrition is well-balanced for the individual.”
For those who aren’t ready to go all in on a vegan diet for their dogs, Laverdure-Dunetz recommends a flexitarian approach. “If you consume a flexitarian diet, try doing the same for your dog,” she says. “By incorporating natural, functional plant-based ingredients and superfoods into your dog’s meals, you’ll improve their health as well as help save farm animals and the environment.”
“There’s no doubt that the trend of plant-based diets for dogs is here to stay. I call it ‘modern nutrition for modern dogs,’” says Laverdure-Dunetz.
About Diana Laverdure-Dunetz, MS
Diana Laverdure-Dunetz, MS, holds a Master of Animal Science degree and has formulated fresh-food diets for dogs around the world for more than a decade. In 2018, she switched her meat-based formulation practice to plant-based and founded Plant-Powered Dog. Her book, The Plant-Powered Dog, was released in January, 2023 by Dogwise Publishing.
