What Pani Eats + The Plant-Powered Dog Food Summit

Hi guys!! Today I’m answering one of the most frequently asked questions I get on my Instagram account…”What do you feed Pani?!” I get several messages everyday with people wanting to know things like: What do I feed her? Is it safe for dogs to eat plant foods? Is she vegan since I’m vegan? How did I make the decision to feed her what I do? And where can you learn more?

So, after countless requests I’m going to answer those questions for you today and let you know about an incredible resource, the Plant-Powered Dog Food Summit (starting online TODAY March 12th!), where you can get all your questions answered by experts in the field of canine nutrition.

To start off, the short answer to everyone’s question is: Yes! Pani does eat a plant-based diet.

But before you jump to any conclusions, I didn’t blindly cut out animal products for her just because I’m vegan. For me part of being vegan, and loving animals as much as I do, is wanting the best for the animal I’ve been entrusted to take care of – so I don’t make any big decisions without doing my research. As you guys know, even regardless of vegan or not, I’m a huge proponent of feeding our dogs real food diets instead of kibble “dog food” diets. So that’s what I did for Pani and all my fosters, I made their food for them because I knew how good that was for their health, but because I didn’t know anything concrete about plant-based, their diets included animal products.

In one of the most meaningful blog posts I’ve written, In Loving Memory of Cody: Six Things I Wish I Knew Before I Got a Dog, I share how switching my family dog Cody to a real food diet added years to his life. The book I had used to change Cody’s diet (he was 10 years old at the time), was Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Cats & Dogs. I have the utmost respect for Dr. Pitcairn and truly credit his book with saving Cody and restoring his health. Cody died happier and healthier at almost 14 than he was at 10.

But since that time and my own education on, and switch to, a plant-based diet, I’d always quietly wondered if a plant-based diet was a healthier option for dogs too. The meat we eat is so detrimental to our health because it’s loaded with toxins, hormones and antibiotics, and the animals the meat comes from are often sickly themselves because they are kept in such poor conditions. Not to mention the fact that we put way too much emphasis on eating protein! And those factors are all true about the meat we feed our dogs too. I’d considered this, but I didn’t know where to turn for answers on that subject and I wasn’t sure if dogs needed meat more than we do. So, I didn’t have her on a plant-based diet because I simply didn’t know if it was the healthiest choice for her…yet.

Around the time I made it official and adopted Pani (she had been my foster dog for about 6 months prior to then), I was struggling to manage some of the health issues related to her paralysis, like UTIs and muscle atrophy. And I was spending way too much money at the vet. I no longer had Dr Pitcairn’s book, but I remembered how helpful it had been, so I ordered a new copy and saw there was a new, fourth edition. I had read the third edition with Cody. The book arrived and I hunkered down to start reading to see if there was any information for managing some of Pani’s issues. When I started reading I absolutely could not believe it when I saw that the newest edition of Dr. Pitcairn’s book not only mentions, but now recommends, a plant-based diet for dogs. It was like an answer to a question I hadn’t even asked out loud yet, from the very person I credit with saving Cody’s life.

I started following the recipes in the book and Pani has never been better! For the first time ever, in conjunction with homeopathy, we were able to clear up her UTIs naturally. Her back side had been scary skinny the whole time I had her, even while on meat and chicken, and within three weeks of changing her to a plant-based diet she put the perfect amount of weight on her hips and hind legs, which was the area most atrophied. I devoured the book and still feel so grateful to have made this switch for Pani because she is doing so, so much better.

Because this way of eating has helped Pani so much, and because when you hear it from the experts it makes so much sense, I’m so excited to tell you guys about the Plant-Powered Dog Food Summit – an online summit where you will get all the in-depth, comprehensive information regarding the healthiest diet for our furry friends from 17 of the absolute leaders in the field of holistic veterinary medicine and canine nutrition (including Dr. Pitcairn!!). The free version of the online summit (which starts today March 12th through March 19th!) will feature two free video interviews with the experts daily, which will remain live for 24 hours after airing. You can also purchase the Premium Summit Package which will give you lifetime access to the videos plus audio and written transcripts of each interview so you can have the information to guide you on your journey with your dog throughout their life. The information that will be shared in the summit will help our dogs live the longest, healthiest lives possible, while making the world a kinder place for all animals.

For Pani I follow the recipes in Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Cats & Dogs, but to give you an idea of what she eats, she always gets a protein, carbohydrate, fruits & veggies, and healthy fats in every meal. For protein some of her favorites are kidney beans, chickpeas, black beans, lentils, and tofu. For carbohydrates I often make her quinoa, barley, squash, sweet potatoes, or oatmeal, etc. For fruits and veggies I often feed her a little bit of broccoli, kale, spinach, green beans, berries, or apples, etc. And for healthy fats I often add a little flax seed, coconut oil or hemp hearts. You can even add seasoning like nutritional yeast, tamari or tahini for a little extra flavor.

Then I add MaryRuth’s Organics Probiotic for Dogs and Compassion Circle’s VegeDog & VegeYeast supplements to her food. She gets some other supplements as well but those are specifically because of her special needs. In the photo below of Pani’s breakfast today, she had a quinoa & buckwheat mix, black beans, zucchini, bok choy, raspberries, nutritional yeast, hemp hearts, the supplements listed above and a little extra water.

But don’t just take my word for it, sign up for the summit and hear from the experts themselves! The Plant-Powered Dog Food Summit is going to give in-depth answers to your guys’ questions about what to feed your furry friends and change of a lot of animal’s lives for the better. 🙂

Xo,

Tedi