Toxic Fruits & Vegetables for Dogs
A few fruits and vegetables, though theyre good for humans, can be toxic for your pet. Avoid giving your dog any of these:
How to Add Vegetables To Raw Dog Food
You can either make your own raw dog food with vegetables, or you can buy pre-made raw dog food with vegetables. I’ll point out several brands that offer raw dog food with vegetables here in a sec.
Either way, dogs don’t have the enzyme that’s responsible for breaking down plant cell walls. That’s why we need to offer them plant matter either puréed or lightly steamed.
Essentially “predigested”, the way a wolf would eat them inside their prey’s stomach!
That way, they’re able to properly digest it and absorb all of its nutrients.
I added a list of raw dog food brands that sell raw meals with plant matter below.
If you make your own raw dog food, you can either purée or steam your own veggies and fruit.
For example:
Give vegetable sprouts a few days to grow their first leaves and feed them then!
They’re known as micro greens in that stage, which is when they’re jam packed with nutrients. For example, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
That said, they can make a great addition to your pup’s raw meals. They’re ready to be harvested/fed when they’re about 2-3 inches tall.
Full disclosure, I haven’t fed them yet but have read about them. I’m usually too busy (read: lazy!) to grow any plants, but maybe I’ll dabble with that next time I’m at my parents’.
They’re both big into gardening, so they’ll probably think it’s a fun project for their grand dog
Now, according to Dogs Naturally Magazine, the following vegetables can be sprouted for dogs:
You’ll want to harvest the microgreen version without the root and then purée them as you would “adult” vegetables for ultimate digestibility.
For example, fruits like:
Tip: Grab a few bags of frozen berries (no sugar added) at your local grocery store when they’re on sale and keep them in your freezer for raw meal prep time.
Examples of herbs you can add are:
Examples of nuts and seeds you can add are:
Click for a complete list of nuts and seeds for dogs that are safe to feed. You’ll also learn how to properly prepare the nuts and seeds before feeding them – that’s super important!
Pureeing steamed broccoli, brussels sprouts, and shiitake mushrooms for my homemade raw dog food
Grapes, raisins, and currants
Even a few of these fruits can cause severe kidney damage in your pooch. Keep the grapes far away.
How I Feed Veggies To My Raw Fed Corgi
Years ago, Sydney was overweight; no matter what I tried, she wasnt losing weight. We tested her thyroid twice and finally settled on adjusting her diet. Her veterinarian, at the time, suggested replacing a couple of ounces of food with a vegetable blend and gave me a list of vegetables to puree that included: