Veggies...When Can These Be Started?

[clovermeg]

When can you start feeding a puppy raw veggies? How often and how much? Is there a book or link you can recommend that references this?

Thanks!

Meg

[poketmouse]

You can feed veggies any time you want, but dogs don't have the digestive enzymes required to digest whole vegetables, so what in comes out pretty much unchanged. If you puree the vegetables the dogs can better digest them. Depending on what kind of food you are feeding I don't know that raw veggies do much to "supplement" the diet.

[shawneo]

In my opinion there is no need to feed your dogs vegies. Im not an expert but the stuff I have read says that. Meat and a little grain fiber is about all their stomachs are made for...

[dogforever]

You can feed your dog veg. anytime :). No harm!

[King Pup]

You can feed veggies any time you want, but dogs don't have the digestive enzymes required to digest whole vegetables, so what in comes out pretty much unchanged. If you puree the vegetables the dogs can better digest them. Depending on what kind of food you are feeding I don't know that raw veggies do much to "supplement" the diet.

I would have thought that raw vegetables contain their own enzymes and thus are almost self-digesting.

[DebbieDD]

I have 5 dogs and I feed them vegetables all of the time. They make great treats for training. Regular dog treats are full of sugar and can cause weight gain.

My dogs love cucumbers, carrots, and tomatoes. They also like apples, peaches, and pears. There's not too many things that they don't like.

I only give them a few bites at one time so they don't get an upset stomach and I have had no problems. I've been feeding veggies and fruit to my dogs for years.

I avoid grapes and onions because I heard that too many of these can be toxic to dogs.

[King Pup]

Yep, grapes are definitely toxic to dogs....

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=48&entry_id=29223

"Though it isn't completely clear to scientists just what makes grapes and raisins poisonous for both cats and dogs, even a relatively small amount can cause damage to the kidneys."

As are onions:

"Sulfoxides and disulfides contained in garlic and onions can damage red blood cells and lead to anemia in pets. (Onions are considered more problematic than garlic; pets can typically tolerate garlic in very small quantities.)"

[DebbieDD]

Thanks KingPup for verifying this!!

Have you ever heard of anything about tomatoes and dogs? All of my dogs eat the small tomatoes. I give them each a couple of small tomatoes each day and I have never had any problems.

Just wondering.

[Nancy]

Here's a video of a vet discussing top 10 dangerous foods

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=5584465

and a good reference article http://www.peteducation.com:80/article.cfm?cls=0&cat=1772&articleid=1030