Can Dogs Eat Beyond Meat?

If you’re following a vegetarian or vegan diet, you’ll no doubt have heard of or even incorporated “meatless-meat” like Beyond Meat into your meals. While tucking into a meaty-tasting veg patty, you may’ve seen your pup look at you with pleading eyes and wondered: “can dogs eat Beyond Meat?” And beyond that, “is a plant based diet for dogs okay?”

While cutting down on meat products in your diet or opting for an exclusively plant-based diet may provide you with health benefits, this isn’t necessarily true for your pet. Fake meat or “meatless meat” was designed with humans in mind, not pups! So let’s find out if they can eat it … or not.

Meatless meat for dogs: yay or nay?

It’s not recommended that dogs eat “meatless meat”. The biggest concern is that many fake meat products contain garlic and onion for flavour, both of which is toxic to dogs.

Why? These each contain thiosulphate, something that can cause potentially fatal haemolytic anaemia. Check out our must-avoid consumables list containing these and other things that can poison your pet.

The American Kennel Club notes that it takes a full medium-sized onion and/or about 2-10 garlic cloves to cause toxic effects in a 20kg dog. A single portion of fake meat will rarely have enough garlic and onion in it to affect your dog. Nevertheless, it’s better to avoid it altogether.

Also remember that these products are more likely to include onion and garlic powder, which is more potent than the the fresh ingredient.

Other ingredients in meatless meat may not be toxic to your dog, but isn’t good for their health. This includes saturated fat and sodium.

So, can dogs eat Beyond Meat?

The best rule of thumb when it comes to anything you want to feed your dog is to check the label. Here’s a list of ingredients found in a tub of Beyond Meat ground beef:

As you can see, there’s no onion or garlic in this particular product. This means it won’t be toxic to your dog. Nevertheless, it contains a high amount of saturated fat and salt. Though a small piece of Beyond Meat here and there won’t be harmful, it’s not an ideal food for them.

There are plenty of other tasty and healthy treats made specifically for dogs that you can spoil them with instead. Or, even better, check out these treat alternatives from our “spoil your dog this Christmas” article that will work all year round.

So now we know whether dogs can eat Beyond Meat. But what about a vegetarian or 100% plant based diet for dogs? Could it be beneficial for pups to eat solely plant-based foods?

How about a plant based diet for dogs?

Like us, dogs are omnivorous by nature – which means they can eat both meat and plants. And like us, they theoretically can survive on a meat-only or plant-only diet… But is it the best nutritional option for them?

Unfortunately, we don’t have a definite answer to that. The best we can say is that it all depends. The British Veterinary Association, for instance, doesn’t recommend giving a dog a vegetarian or a vegan diet. It says it’s “much easier to get the balance of essential nutrients wrong than to get it right”.

There have even been cases of pet owners being charged for their dogs becoming severely malnourished and underweight after feeding them vegan diets. Read about this here.

Are dogs on a plant based diet healthier?

Other sources, like this peer-reviewed analysis of 2,500 pets, found vegan dogs visit the vet less often and require fewer medications. This interview with a vet is particularly interesting:

The American Kennel Club notes that though dogs prefer meat, a vegan or vegetarian diet is possible with the right supplements. However they also state that “most veterinarians strongly advise against feeding a vegan diet to a puppy and suggest that you schedule more frequent wellness exams, including blood work, for dogs on vegan diets”.

It seems you can successfully feed a vegetarian or 100% plant based diet to dogs. However, this involves carefully monitoring nutritional intake and wellness, and including dietary supplements.

Be wary of the ingredients

But again, the BVA cautions that “vegan pet diets may have synthetic supplements and nutrients added to them, but there isn’t a robust body of evidence to support that they are safe long-term for feeding our pets yet, as these ingredients may not be bioavailable to the animals.”

It’s best to do plenty of research and speak to your vet before starting your pet on any diet.

Protect your pup, meat eater or not

So, now we know whether dogs can eat Beyond Meat. We also shared info on how to give them the right food that helps support their health.

But you should also know that even the healthiest pets aren’t immune to accidents or unexpected vet visits. And it’s no secret that the cost of unplanned vet bills can escalate quickly. If your pet must go in for a non-routine vet visit, surgery or some other treatment, you want to be able to pay for it without stressing about finances.

Are you looking for cost-effective dog insurance plans in New Zealand to help cover vet bills? Insurance that gets the nod from pet owners with Canstar’s 2022 Most Satisfied Customers – Pet Insurance Award? PD Insurance could very well have a solution for you from our three plans. We don’t have lock-in contracts on our month-to-month plans so why not try us out…