Opinion: Can dogs get by on a vegan diet? Los Angeles should try to find out

To the editor: Karen Dawn’s piece on not feeding dogs meat or animal-based products is an excellent article featuring the pros of a plant-based diet for dogs. (“Dogs can get by just fine on a vegetarian diet,” Opinion, Dec. 27)

My dogs have always been on a vegan diet, and they have all thrived, healthy and strong, well into old age. I hope the Los Angeles Animal Services Board will approve a proposal to switch the dogs in city shelters to plant-based food.

This change in diet for dogs in Los Angeles would increase the chance that more cities and shelters will follow this progressive move. It’s good for the dogs and it’s good for our planet.

Laura Frisk, Encinitas

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To the editor: Dawn is free to deprive herself of the sensory pleasures of a more varied diet by practicing veganism. But until my dogs turn down a piece of steak in favor of a chunk of sweet potato, I’m keeping them on a diet that includes meat products.

And while her dog Paula Pitbull may have lived to be 17 on a vegan diet, did she enjoy it? Or would she gladly have given up a couple of those years for the occasional cheeseburger?

Carolyn Gill, Redlands

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