October 8, 2024, 11:40 am | Read time: 4 minutes
Racing driver Lewis Hamilton feeds his dog a vegan diet. The Formula 1 star has now revealed this in an interview. Since making the switch, he has seen nothing but benefits for his bulldog Roscoe – both physically and mentally.
Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton has been an avowed vegan for seven years and also feeds his dog a vegan diet, as he has now revealed in People magazine. The purely plant-based diet has had an extremely positive effect on his 12-year-old bulldog, Roscoe. “Roscoe is almost a different dog to when I first got him,” says the 39-year-old Brit.
“He always had health problems and difficulty breathing and walking”
His dog struggled with health problems for a long time, as the racing driver openly reveals. “He always had health problems and difficulty breathing and running. I wanted to find out if there was anything I could do to help him and researched what could improve his health.” He discovered a purely plant-based diet could be helpful provided he ensured the dog got all the nutrients he needed.
As a conscientious dog dad, he is constantly looking for ways to look after Roscoe’s health to improve his quality of life. “His diet is only part of it, but he has so much more energy and doesn’t struggle as much with the health issues he had before,” says Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton is an investor in a vegan food brand
However, that is not the only positive effect he has noticed since changing his dog’s diet, according to Lewis Hamilton. “Even his fur has become softer, which is great because he loves to be stroked!” So it’s a win-win situation for both. But is a purely plant-based diet really a good idea for dogs?
Experts are passionately debating this question. While one camp says that dogs are omnivores and could do without meat, the other camp is concerned that a purely plant-based diet increases the risk of dogs suffering from nutrient deficiencies. However, studies on this issue have so far been rather sparse.
Should dogs be fed a vegan diet?
What can be said, however, is that a vegan diet for dogs is possible under certain conditions. However, interested owners should definitely look into the subject thoroughly in advance and seek advice from a vet. In addition, owners should choose industrially produced complete foods and not mainly feed homemade food.
It is worth noting that although industrially produced, complete vegan food generally provides all the important nutrients, it should be tested in advance so as not to cause any deficiency symptoms in the dog.
“It’s as if he was a puppy again”
The topic of veganism in four-legged friends seems to have impressed the seven-time Formula 1 world champion so much that he has now also become an investor in the plant-based dog food “Bramble.” However, this enthusiasm – to be realistic, of course – could also be used to great effect in advertising. Lewis Hamilton has now posted several pictures on his Instagram channel advertising the brand’s product.
He wrote that his dog loves the food and has more energy. “His coat is shinier and his skin is healthier. It’s like he’s a puppy again. I hope your dogs like it as much as my Roscoe does.”
However, there are also many critical voices under the post. These include some insulting comments such as: “Why don’t you concentrate on racing? I didn’t know you were a vegetarian, I mean a dog vegetarian!!!” wrote one follower, for example.
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“I made fun of vegan diets for dogs very loudly and very vehemently”
“Come on, man! That’s why you’re not winning lately! Because you’re getting involved in things you shouldn’t!” But it’s not quite that simple. Star dog trainer Martin Rütter once explained in a podcast a long time ago: “I made fun of vegan diets for dogs very loudly and very vehemently.”
But if you take a serious look at the topics of “climate” or “factory farming,” you quickly come to the following conclusion: “By keeping a dog myself, I am also supporting the production of factory farming. Because, as a rule, this conventional food comes from factory farming, and this promotes suffering.”1