veggies and fruits

[Shalista]

I want to feed Bax some fruits and veggies just for general health. unfortunately he's having none of it. the only fruit he'll eat is apples. everything else he'll either ignore, or just gum a bit before spitting out. carrots he treats like a chew toy, gnaws on em for a bit and leaves pieces everywhere.

Any advice for upping my dogs fruit/veggie intake in a way he'll eat... but not with a ton of like wheat and flour fillers

[Ari_RR]

I would try mixing with kefir or non-fat unflavored yogurt...

[JudyN]

What do you feed him normally? The jury is still out (IMO) on whether dogs do benefit from fruit & veg, and if he's having a good quality, complete kibble fruit & veg could actually unbalance his diet. Dogs have a limited ability to digest raw fruit & veg too - certainly if I feed Jasper bits of carrot they come out so unchanged I could rinse them off and feed them again

Raw feeders who feed veg usually recommend either pureeing fruit & veg very thoroughly or cooking it lightly, to break down the cell walls and make it easier to digest. If you do this you might be able to mix it in with his normal food.

[Shalista]

Technically the food im feeding him should be sufficient but i figured a little extra nutrition couldn't hurt. I feed him alot of chews and treats during the day to and if i could substitute with lower cal options like carrots that would have been helpful to.

[Nettle]

The value of raw fruit/veg feeding is mainly as roughage to sweep through the gut, and slightly for those nutrients that are released by light cooking or breaking down while raw into small pieces by liquidising (dogs can't digest cellulose). They are necessary in that dogs that have access to grass and other useful plants to eat will eat freely of them when they need them (most animals are very good at self-medicating, though some will eat what ISN'T good for them and so we have to be aware). Cooked veg in processed food won't do this job, but raw veg. will. However if the dog doesn't want to eat raw veg, it's no big deal, and not a huge amount of health is lost.

Chewing up veg and making a glorious mess is just as good for the dog as it will access some nutrients and create a lot of occupation. Not so good for the human who has to clear up! You might like to cut him some slack over this. We often do things for our dogs that cause us extra work, but those things are so good for our dogs that from time to time we can be nice about it.

Go easy on carrots as they are high in sugar. Vegetables that grow above the ground are the best ones.

I find with my own dogs that when they have plenty of veggies they don't eat grass much, but if their meals have been light on veg. then they eat more grass and herbs.

Shalista, you could liquidise or lightly cook the vegetables and add a little gravy if your Mom doesn't mind you doing things in the kitchen. Not packet gravy which is full of salt and chemicals, but juice from meat cooking (meat fat is fine) or from simmering some bones after you've had a chicken or similar. Don't feed the bones though because they will be cooked and so not good for dogs.

My dogs are chomping through some raw cauliflower as I write!

[Shalista]

hahahah yeah i let Bax make his fair share of messes =) I didnt mind the carrots being a mess id just hoped he'd actually eat them