Fruits and vegetables work hand and hand to provide nutrients to your dogs’ system. But be careful in feeding your dogs with varied kinds of vegetables. Like in fruits, some of this may cause undesirable reaction to their system. Be able to identify what vegetables are right and not right for your dogs.
Feeding Vegetables to your dogs
Vegetable as well as fruit is some of the primary ingredients in raw feeding or diet. But just like in giving other foods to your Huskies and other dogs, you should note several factors that may affect their safety and good health condition. Knowing the kinds of vegetables that will greatly support their nutritional needs is vital. You should also determine the feeding dosage or amount that is good for them. Aside from that, it will be best for you to know how to effectively feed your dogs with it.
Guide on feeding vegetables to your dogs
Feeding your dogs with little dose of vegetable each meal will not be enough attaining the needed level of nutrients each day. But giving them more than the dosage of vegetable or amount that is required, it will also have bad effects in their body. So be able to maintain balance.
Noting the food ratio
If you are presently giving raw diet to your Huskies, you should be knowledgeable on the food ratio in order to create nutritional balance. The advisable food ratio would be 50/25/25, which means that meat should be 50%, 25% for bone and also 25% for vegetable. In daily basis, your dogs shouldn’t ingested vegetables that are more than the advisable percentage.
Remember to feed vegetable and protein food separately
Whether you are feeding your dogs with kibble foods or with raw foods, you should always bear in mind to feed your dogs with fruits or vegetables separately from any protein source. This may cause less nutritional absorption. It is favorable for you to feed your dogs with vegetables and fruits at the beginning of the day. This will limit or avoid interaction between vegetable, fruits and protein.
When introducing new food …
When you introduced unfamiliar yet beneficial food for your dogs, be sure to do it slowly. Don’t feed it to them with great amount in an instant. If their system is new to particular vegetable, it will be processed slowly. This can cause loose stools, nausea and others. Be able to feed them in a slow yet sure manner. After ingesting the food, observe if food reaction will happen.
Vegetables – Making it easy to digest
Chop vegetable for easy nutrient absorption. A reliable doctor has suggested to chopped vegetable into fine cut or pulp in order for nutrient to be absorbed easily. Furthermore, it is better to steam vegetable very lightly before serving it to your dogs. It is more advisable than feeding them vegetable that is entirely raw.
Other ways on serving vegetables to your dogs
When it is both steamed and chopped, absorption of nutrients will be into its maximum level. But aside from steaming vegetables, you can also try varied alternative ways on how to serve it. You can serve it purred and cooked, roasted or baked through oven, lightly steamed and dehydrated.
The green teafy vegetable for your dogs
Like what’s formerly mentioned, in order to create food balance, vegetable contribution on dogs’ diet shouldn’t be above 25%. Half of this percentage should be from vegetables’ green leaves such as beet tops, parsley, dandelion leaves, lettuces, kale and more. Another half should be sweet vegetable medley, which are great source of carbohydrates. These vegetables may include green beans, yams, peas and others.
Your dogs may not have strange feeling on eating leafy vegetables because it may be somewhat the same with those edible leaves in the wild. The nutritional content that leafy vegetables have include the following:
- Anti-oxidants
- Vast vitamins
- Beneficial minerals
- Great pH balancing power
- Fiber
Vegetable Smoothie for Disguise!
Like kids and even adult people, vegetable is often a neglected option. That is why wise mothers and concerned people make vegetable appealing through varied ways. You can do the same to your picky dogs. Some of them may really not like vegetable. Well, you can serve vegetable smoothie as a disguise and enticing way of serving vegetables to them.
Making smoothie- Green leafy veggie
What You Need:
- Handful of chopped vegetables (you can choose any leafy vegetable that are good for your dogs)
- Chicken broth
- Or 1 cup 2% Greek yogurt (plain)
How to Prepare:
- Get a handful of your chosen chopped green leafy veggie and place it in your blender.
- Add the chicken broth to create liquid smoothie.
- You can also chose to add Greek yogurt to the leafy veggie and have a thicker smoothie treat for your dogs. With the addition of yogurt, you are also adding beneficial nutritional content to their food.
- Serve your dogs with ¼ up to ½ cup of it.
What are vegetables that are safe for your dogs?
Here are the advisable vegetables that you can feed to your dogs.
- Leafy vegetables including lettuce, its red or green leaf, romaine, cilantro, parsley, wheat grass, spinach, dandelion, beet greens, kale and radicchio.
These leafy veggies are great source of Vitamins such as vitamin K and C. Your dogs will also have beneficial minerals.
- Squash And Pumpkin
These are rich in vitamins and minerals including Vitamin C, A and E, potassium, fiber, beta carotene and iron. For pumpkin, the advisable portion is about two to three tablespoon while for squash, three to four inches of squash slices is enough.
- Cucumber – rich in vitamin K.
- Asparagus
This is rich in vitamins that include Vitamin B1, A, B2, E, K and C. Fiber, folate, iron, copper, manganese as well as potassium can also be found in this vegetable.
- Green Beans
This contains vitamin C, K and A, fiber and manganese.
- Peas
This contributes lots of Vitamins like Vitamin C, K, A, B1, B3, B6 and B2. Furthermore, this also contains folate, fiber, phosphorous, iron, magnesium, copper, potassium, and zinc.
- Zucchini
This is a great source of vitamins, which includes vitamin K, A and C. Beta-carotene, potassium, calcium and folate can be found in this veggie.
Vegetables that should be fed minimally
- Broccoli
You should control feeding this to your dogs. Some of its nutritional contribution includes Vitamin A, K and C. It also has choline and folate.
- Brussels Sprouts
This contains vitamins like B1, K, C, B and A, folate, potassium, manganese and fiber.
- Cauliflower
This is a good source of choline and folate. Vitamin C, K and B6 can also be found here.
All the above vegetables have great nutritional impact to your dogs. But feeding these nutrition rich vegetables should be minimal. The reason is being link to hypothyroidism because cruciferous family, in which the broccoli and others belong, is believed to increase this condition.
- Carrots
Carrots are also great source of varied beneficial Vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin K, C and A, potassium and fiber. But despite of its nutritional greatness, feeding it to your dogs should be carefully monitored and give with limit. It should not be fed frequently. This is because your dogs may have difficulty in digesting it. Aside from that, the sugar content of carrot is a bit high.
- Potatoes
This is a great source of several minerals and Vitamins including vitamin B and C, manganese, fiber and potassium. When potatoes are cooked, it gives varied nutritional benefits to your dogs.
But potato belongs to the Nightshade Family, which means that the safety of this vegetable to your dogs is not guaranteed. Vegetables on Nightshade Family include tomato, potato, bell peppers and eggplant.
- Tomatoes
The leaves or stalks of green tomatoes can be toxic to your dogs. So it is beneficial to avoid these types of foods.
- Corn
Typically, this is an allergen. Aside from that, your dogs can have difficulty in digesting such foods. This may cause no harm when ingested by your dogs. But due to its poor nutritional contribution, it is still not an advisable vegetable for your dogs.
What vegetables should be Avoided
While there are vegetables that are truly advisable to your dogs, there are also other vegetables that are really not good for them. Some of these are the following:
- Wild Mushroom
Several wild mushrooms are toxic and contains poison. Be properly guided. You will not wish to feed poisonous mushroom for your dogs.
- Rhubarb Leaves
This is somewhat not advisable to your dogs since it has oxalic acid in its leaves. This may affect the kidney as well as imbalance of magnesium and calcium within your dogs’ system. The soluble oxalate can be the cause of varied inconsistencies in your dogs’ bodies. Specifically, the toxicity that it has can cause kidney failure and decrease of calcium in blood level.
- Garlic , Onions And Chives
These food ingredients contain n-proplyl disulfide, which is a toxic compound. When your dogs, especially your Huskies have ingested great amount of this compound, there will be oxidative damage to their red blood cells. Constant intake of these vegetables is one cause of severe anemia and even death. So always be careful and observant on what they are eating. If unnoticeably, your dogs have eaten great amount of these food, it can be lethal and can cause their death.
- Green Tomatoes, Its Leaves And Stalk
Be vigilant when you have this vegetable in your garden because this can be poisonous to your Huskies.
Vegetables are very essential for your dogs’ health. But it is important for you to remember that not all of it can be good or suitable for your dogs’ system.
