Vegetables?

[Mooch]

Hiya all

I was just wondering if any of you RAW feeders give Veggies as well?
Which ones do you give?

I was wondering if things like cucumber, pumpkin, celery, broccoli and cauliflower was ok to feed uncooked and mushed up in the blender?

Also does anyone add brewed yeast or seaweed (kelp) powder to their raw diets?

Cheers

[Momto2GSDs]

Hi Mooch!
Everyone feeds raw differently.
I personally add ground veggies to our dogs diet (about 10%). The finer you grind them the better digestion absorption will be. Berries are great too, lots of anti-oxidants! Use veg that is low in calories and low starch. Starchy ones like acorn and butternut squash (should be cooked for digestion), carrots, peas, pumpkin (should be cooked for digestion) and sweet potatoes (should be cooked for digestion) should be kept low. Don't feed veg from Brassica family every day or it could interfere with iodine uptake. These are veg like broccoli, kale, cabbages, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, broccoli/raab, bok choy, etc. But these are ok a couple days per week. The more color the better! Sweet peppers and Asparagus are my females favorite! I always have to throw her some when grinding! Different color peppers have different nutrients (ex: red has more "A" than green) so use them all. Green beans need to be blanched or steamed to digest. Cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce greens, celery are all great for them!
Hope this helps!

[lhczth]

Nope, not needed, though my guys like some stuff as treats on occasion. They will beg for frozen berries, pieces of apple, sweet potatoes, and will eat some other cooked veggies if I have some left over.

Be careful of brewer's yeast as it can cause alleriges in some dogs as can kelp.

[Gilly1331]

Yep my guys love all sorts of fruits and veggies. When we do off leash hiking we use fruits and veggies as treats for recall and other commands.

[Verivus]

No, I do not unless I happen to be eating something and I decide to share. Veggies are not needed in a raw diet. Dogs cannot process vegetables unless you break it down for them.

[Mooch]

Originally Posted by Momto2GSDs

Hi Mooch!
Everyone feeds raw differently.
I personally add ground veggies to our dogs diet (about 10%). The finer you grind them the better digestion absorption will be. Berries are great too, lots of anti-oxidants! Use veg that is low in calories and low starch. Starchy ones like acorn and butternut squash (should be cooked for digestion), carrots, peas, pumpkin (should be cooked for digestion) and sweet potatoes (should be cooked for digestion) should be kept low. Don't feed veg from Brassica family every day or it could interfere with iodine uptake. These are veg like broccoli, kale, cabbages, collards, broccoli, cauliflower, broccoli/raab, bok choy, etc. But these are ok a couple days per week. The more color the better! Sweet peppers and Asparagus are my females favorite! I always have to throw her some when grinding! Different color peppers have different nutrients (ex: red has more "A" than green) so use them all. Green beans need to be blanched or steamed to digest. Cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce greens, celery are all great for them!
Hope this helps!

Hi
Thats great, that's exactly the kind of info I was after
I'd never have thought they could eat peppers or asparagus (haha maybe because I don't like them)

It's so confusing with Veggies, the book I read (give your dog a bone by Dr Ian Billinghurst) mentioned that they are rather important to feed and that dogs enjoy them. To me it makes sense that they should have some vegetables. It just seems that most people don't bother with them.

Thanks for your help everyone I'll def try them on fruit too, my female seems to like strawberries

[MichaelE]

Originally Posted by Verivus

No, I do not unless I happen to be eating something and I decide to share. Veggies are not needed in a raw diet. Dogs cannot process vegetables unless you break it down for them.

That's what I rather thought.

[Mooch]

Hm the book I read suggests putting all the veggies in a blender and pulverising them.
The idea seems to be to get it to a similar constancy of what a deers stomach content would be.
The only thing I see thats different is that if the dogs did eat a deer for example - yes it would have "vegetable" matter in its stomach but it'd be partially digested.
No way can you re create that in a blender LOL

[Gilly1331]

You can boil then mash or blend them. We just feed them regular. Unless we have left overs and toss them in their bowls.

[lhczth]

Wolves do not eat the stomach content of a deer. The stomach is filled with acid. They will pull out the stomachs, flip out the contents and eat the stomach itself (that is why many of us feed tripe). If they eat small game like mice or rabbits they will eat the whole animal, but even if they ate a deer's stomach content it would not be filled with most veggies that we eat. It will have grains, berries, grasses and other leaves if found in populated areas and other types of trees, pines, leaves, pine cones, etc in more wild areas.

Myths About Raw: Do wolves eat stomach contents of prey?

For a better understanding of what wolves eat in the wild read the research done by L David Meech.

Sharing our fruit and veggies with our dogs won't hurt them (well, most of them), but they are not a needed part of their diet.

Billinghurst was a good beginning for many people and he had catchy titles that got people to at least consider raw feeding. Unfortunately some of his ideas were based on inaccurate information.

Lauri also talks about this on her raw feeding pages:

Raw Feeding