Solo Vegetal review: why I feed this to my dog

Trying to find the right food for my dog, Coco, has been a bit of a marathon over the years because of her gut issues, and I have documented many of our trials and tribulations on these pages. However, having now moved her on to Solo Vegetal dry dog food, I think we may have caught a glimpse of the finishing line. And although it hasn’t been entirely straightforward, I hope that our experience will help other pet parents facing similar challenges with their dog’s tummy or skin sensitivities. So if any of this sounds familiar, have a read of this Solo Vegetal review to find out how it’s helping Coco.

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What is Solo Vegetal?

It is a palatable, nutritionally complete, vegetable-based dog food that can be fed on its own, or as part of a vegan or meat-based diet. Containing none of the allergens like animal proteins, grains and soy that commonly cause gut and skin sensitivities, it’s hypoallergenic and frequently used in elimination diets, or as a permanent dietary solution for dogs with inflammatory bowel disorders and skin allergies. Available as a wet or dry food, it is owned by Nextmune who distribute Solo Vegetal directly to veterinary professionals, and indirectly to the consumer.

Our experience with Solo Vegetal

The improvement in Coco’s health was evident very quickly after changing her over to this dry food, and it’s a joy seeing her want to eat again. Here I will explain the positive changes that I’ve seen in her, and talk about why, after a bit of a hiccup, it was a relatively easy transition too.

How it helped my dog’s gut

Since moving Coco over to Solo Vegetal, the improvements in her gut health have been extraordinary and the distressing symptoms she has had for years have almost completely gone. Because it’s hypoallergenic and free from all the ingredients that typically affect dogs like grains, soy, and animal proteins, it’s suitable for most dogs with sensitivities or inflammatory bowel conditions like Coco’s.

She had been in a long and repetitive cycle of eating, then going off her food for days, always accompanied by distressing physical signs including constant ‘air-licking’ (night and day), stretching out her abdomen, groaning, random diarrhoea and vomiting, trembling, and tumultuous tummy noises. And having consistently followed my vet’s advice, I really felt I had tried everything and wasn’t sure what to do next. Then, by chance, I spoke to Dr Arielle Griffiths – a vegan vet – who suggested trying Coco on Solo Vegetal dry food.

And I am so glad I did – as I’m sure Coco is! The improvements were noticeable within days once she had fully transitioned onto the food: the air-licking disappeared, she eats regularly (although still occasionally misses breakfast), she doesn’t groan when she stretches, there’s been no vomiting at all, and her poos are consistently normal. This is such a huge change and an improvement to her quality of life. And it has changed my life too because I no longer worry that what I’m feeding her is causing her distress!

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How it stopped her scratching

Another regular feature of Coco’s life was itching, and although not as bad as some dogs I have seen, it could still be distressing for her. And it seemed like it was an itch that she could never quite get rid of, occurring most frequently after she had eaten when she would rub her head and back furiously along furniture and into the carpet, and then sit and chew her paws. But all this has calmed down too since transitioning her onto the Solo Vegetal and I can only assume that the same sensitivities that were irritating her gut were also irritating her skin. Again, the fact that this food avoids common allergens and is hypoallergenic is likely to be having that positive effect. Bonus!

How I moved Coco onto Solo Vegetal

This food is clearly tasty because Coco really enjoys eating it, never leaves any, and regularly prowls around the storage tin I keep it in! However, moving her over to it wasn’t immediately straightforward.

I had started to introduce it slowly as part of her normal diet, gradually increasing it over about 10 days and taking my time because of her gut problems. But I noticed that she was swallowing the Solo Vegetal biscuits whole, and then as I increased the volume, she started to ignore them altogether. The biscuits are not big – about 1cm – but they are a bit larger than she is used to and so realising that this might be the problem, I started to soak them first for a few minutes in a very small amount of warm oat milk (you could also use water).

It’s worth noting at this point that she is a small dog, with a small mouth and importantly, not many teeth having had a lot of them extracted earlier this year, so I think it made these biscuits a bit of a challenge when they were dry. Anyway, this quick pre-soak has completely solved the problem and she now chews them up very happily! Dogs endowed with more teeth probably wouldn’t experience the same issue, and even if your dog does swallow them whole, it actually doesn’t matter!

It made my dog smell better

Prior to starting her on Solo Vegetal, Coco didn’t smell great, her breath was bad and her poos were best avoided! All of this has changed significantly since moving her on to this food and whilst I wouldn’t say that her poo now smells fabulous, it has lost that awful, gut-wrenching odour that dog poo can have. Dare I say that the texture is firmer too, she is no longer experiencing any anal gland issues, and, well…she just smells better overall. She is the type of dog who loves lots of close up attention and cuddles (and yes, sleeps on my bed at night) so all of that is much less of a challenge now!

Being vegan, hypoallergenic, and full of great ingredients and fibre, Solo Vegetal is formulated to be a nourishing but gentle food that doesn’t irritate a sensitive dog’s digestive system and certainly seems to have greatly reduced Coco’s gut inflammation which was my priority. But it seems to have had the added bonus of making her smell better too!

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Our verdict on this Solo Vegetal review

Feeding Coco with Solo Vegetal dry food has been a dream because she clearly finds it very tasty, and importantly, it’s also keeping her fit, healthy, and full of fun! And being nutritionally complete, I don’t have to supplement it with anything else which is great because it certainly seems that animal proteins and soy cause her significant problems. But just in case you are concerned about feeding your dog a vegan diet, the British Veterinary Association has confirmed that it supports any diet that is nutritionally complete, whatever its basis. You can see the BVA policy on this here.

However, Solo Vegetal can also be used as part of a mixed diet if you want to. Perhaps you want to add to your usual choice of wet food, or maybe you feed your dog meat but want to introduce more vegetables and fibre into their diet (although can I just extol the many benefits of a vegan diet for both humans and dogs for a moment?!)

As with my dog though, this carefully made food is particularly useful if you or your vet suspect your dog has any sensitivities – including animal proteins, soy or grains – because it avoids all those common allergens and uses hydrolysed vegetable proteins too, making it hypoallergenic. That doesn’t mean your dog will turn their nose up at it though; it comes in biscuit form so its texture will be very familiar to your dog – Coco finds it very palatable, and she can be difficult to please!

But whatever your reason for considering this food, our experience of it means that I would happily recommend it to any pet parent. For me, having previously exhausted all the standard elimination diet choices, I had despaired of ever finding a solution to Coco’s chronic gut issues, so finding Solo Vegetal has been truly life-changing – for both of us!

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Thank you to Just Be Kind Dog Food for providing us with a bag of food to trial for this Solo Vegetal review. As always, this review reflects my honest thoughts and opinions on the product (and in this case, Coco’s too) and the positive changes to my dog’s health because of it are genuine.

How much does it cost?

This very much depends on where you decide to buy it and a 5kg bag ranges anywhere between £39.50 up to £49. When compared to hypoallergenic dog foods from other brands, it is competitively priced and feeding amounts are all broadly similar across brands too, so they are likely to last similar amounts of time. If you buy from Just Be Kind Dog Food using the link above or below with the discount code, you can get 10% off your first purchase. You can make further savings too if you subscribe.

Where can I buy Solo Vegetal?

Whilst it’s not widely available in physical retail outlets yet, you can buy it easily online and increasingly you may find stock in veterinary practices. However, for the best value deal, I always use the Just be Kind Dog Food online store and have provided a link below with a 10% discount for your first purchase too. This seller consistently has it in stock which is important. I have been incredibly frustrated in the past when online stores say they stock something, and then never seem to have it available but I have never found that to be the case here.

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