Should Dogs Be Fed Fruits & Veggies In Addition To Their Diet?
Many dog owners enjoy feeding their pets human foods like raw vegetables, lettuce, broccoli, carrots, apples, and any other type of fruits or vegetables. The question however, is are these types of foods good or bad for dogs?
Fruits and vegetables for dogs are unnecessary if you are feeding a complete and balanced diet, which most are nowadays. In fact, anything you add to a balanced diet is really just throwing it out of balance and thus lowering your dog's plane of nutrition. While dogs need the vitamins and nutrients in those healthy foods, they have a different system of digestion.
Think back to the wild. The free-roaming dog eats game - the whole beast: muscle, hair, intestines, organs, brains, and toenails. Inside those intestines is the food consumed by that other critter: vegetation. This vital source of nutrition is partially digested already, which is exactly the way the canine digestive system needs it to be. High-quality, complete, and balanced dog foods supply these nutrients in a digestible form. The bottom line is that you can give fruits and veggies to your dog, but they'll do her little if any good.