Technically, yes. Dogs are omnivorous. They're not solely carnivores like cats that are obligate carnivores. They tend to be omnivorous and more on the scavenging side. They do hunt, but they're great opportunists. So they can live off a vegetarian or vegan diet. It is easy to cause imbalances in your dog while attempting this diet because it's hard to offer balanced nutrition, so a professional would have to do that. Palatability for those diets may, in my opinion, be the best for the dog. They prefer to have something with a bit of meat in it as an omnivorous preference. They like meat. You will seldom see them grab a stick of celery and run off with it.

There will be vomiting, diarrhea, their appetite will start waning, and refusal to eat the food will occur. An easy sign is when you know your dog has been eating food and suddenly they don't want to anymore. Try a new bag of food and see what happens, as long as your dog is acting fine and not showing any other signs.

Elimination diets are used to diagnose and treat food allergic disease or food intolerance. What that means is we eliminate everything that the dog is currently eating or has eaten and offer what's called a hydrolyzed protein diet, which is food that has been modified at a low molecular weight so the dog's immune system won't pick up the microscopic food particles. Either that or what's called a novel protein and a novel carbohydrate diet like rabbit and pea or duck and potato will be recommended. There's a bunch of them out there. You feed that and only that for one to three months. If the dog's signs, which include vomiting and diarrhea intermittently as well as skin itching, go away, it helps us to form a diagnosis such as a food allergy or food intolerance. We can then refeed items to see which ones trigger the response again. The only way to diagnose food allergies is with an elimination diet trial. There are no accurate blood tests.

It's hard for owners, but they have to stick with that food and nothing else. I'll give a list of certain treat-type items that are acceptable in food trials and won't cause an immune response, but you have to be very diligent. Everybody in the household has to be on board with the plan because if you feed for a month and then somebody offers them a hamburger, you have to start over. So that's important. Once we get the signs under control, those diets are meant for long-term feeding as well. Most owners don't want to re-introduce foods that cause signs again.

It can. Usually, you'll see intestinal upset because the microbes in their intestines don't like quick change. They need time to adapt to new food substrates and levels of carbohydrates. Gradual mixing of foods over 7 to 14 days is recommended. There are a few instances where we'll recommend going straight to other food because of health reasons.

You're usually going to see weight loss, a dull hair coat, vomiting and diarrhea, and failure to thrive. We will investigate all aspects of the pet's health with blood work, but their food may be incriminated.

There are lists of things they shouldn't eat. In general, grapes, raisins, macadamia nuts, and chocolate should be avoided. Never feed them anything that has sweeteners in it, like diabetic peanut butter, as it contains xylitol. Those are some household things you don’t want to feed your dog.

Treats need to constitute less than 10% of the diet, and they should just be of good quality. The main dog food has to be nutritionally balanced. I would say if your dog is eating nothing but treats, the ingredients are very important.

Make sure it meets all the AFCO requirements, which are the government requirements found on the back of the bag. When the food contains meat and meat by-products, it is an indication of a good diet. Like people's food, the ingredient at the top of the list is the main ingredient. This goes for canned food as well.

If you have a senior dog, your nutritional needs may differ from when you have a puppy. The sporting or the hunting dogs may do better on a diet different from maintenance nutrition meant for dogs that aren't as active. It depends on the breed, but we generally start recommending senior dog food from 7 to 9 years of age and puppy food from 8 to 14 months.

There are breed-specific dog foods out there. For instance, the sporting mixes tend to have higher protein content for the high-energy dogs. Will your dog thrive on a non-sporting mix? Yes, sure. But they may do better on the high-protein food. Some toy breed foods have smaller kibbles because little dogs like to crunch the little kibbles or pieces of food. Your large breed foods are formulated for the nutritional needs of large, big-boned dogs, particularly puppies. It optimizes their growth levels to prevent problems later in life. Do all breeds need breed-specific food? No. I recommend feeding for the life stage, but there are foods formulated for specific breeds which focus on palatability and kibble size. Kibble shapes may differ depending on the preference of certain breeds. Labradors, for instance, may chew and crunch their food more given it has a certain kibble size and shape. So that's why they are breed-specific.