Please Note: Our products and services are not a replacement for the expert care and advice provided by your veterinarian. Any dietary or healthcare changes should be made under their guidance, especially in the case of existing underlying health conditions.

Welcome to our new, evergreen blog series where every week or two, we add new Q/A topics that have not been answered in our FAQS or may have been addressed in one of our many blogs. We want to make it simple and easy for customers and curious people to find the answers they are looking for!

Question

Hi Virchew!

"Do you recommend feeding Virchew 50% and another diet 50%?"

Thanks for your reply.

Kind regards,
H. A. 

Answer

Thank you for your question! It's an important one.

We cannot possibly state this strongly enough. Once you’ve completed the transition we highly recommend that you only feed Virchew to your pooch. Or please choose another diet. Combining it with a meat-based diet such as kibble, raw diet or other home-cooked foods will cause a different result.

After several years of experience and research, Virchew has been developed in consultation with a team of Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionists and contains nutrient-dense, high-quality plant-based protein, whole fats, and healthy carbohydrates and the right balance of fiber. If you mix other foods, or supplements, or too many treats, it could possibly skew the positive results that Virchew may bring or cause digestive upset, etc.

If you do not choose Virchew for your dog's daily diet, we recommend you choose a diet that has been properly balanced with supplementation, approved by a Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionist and it is a reputable brand.

If you still want to feed Virchew for 50% of your dog's diet, this is not an easy task to ensure a complete and balanced diet. Therefore we highly recommend you have your veterinarian go through each diet to ensure your dog is getting the proper amount of nutrients.

We hope that answers your question!

Question

Hi Virchew,

Do you recommend supplementing Virchew with an L-carnitine and taurine supplement? Any brands you can recommend?

Thanks!

Kind regards,

Richard

 

Answer 

Hi Richard,

Thank you for your question. As you can imagine, we've done our homework with our Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionists to ensure that Virchew is a complete and balanced food for dogs, especially on the topic of amino acids and important derivatives/compounds. Unfortunately, nutritional misinformation for humans and dogs can go viral. It's so important to find the factual answers to these kinds of questions before making any changes to our dog's diet. So again, thank you for asking us!

Taurine: This amino acid is included in Virchew's vegan custom supplement in more than adequate amounts. Therefore, unless prescribed by a veterinarian, there would be no need to add more to your dog's diet.

L-carnitine: This is a deriviative of the amino acid, lysine. Using lysine and methionine (essential amino acids), your dog’s liver, brain and kidneys work to produce L-carnitine. Since we have added more than adequate amounts of lysine and methionine to our custom supplement, there is no need to add additional L-carnitine to your dog's diet. This amino acid is usually needed in higher amounts in cats or in some cases for dogs as recommended by a veterinarian.

In summary, there is no reason to supplement our Virchew diet with additional amino acids or derivatives such as taurine or L-carnitine unless specifically prescribed by your veterinarian.

Let us know if you have any other questions, Richard, and thank you for trusting Virchew for your dog's diet and happy life!

 

Have more questions? Hungry for more answers?

https://virchew.com/blogs/news/protein-protein-everywhere

https://virchew.com/blogs/news/research-amp-reasons-plant-based-food-for-dogs

https://virchew.com/blogs/news/vegan-dogs-the-one-question