{"id":173664,"date":"2010-01-13T07:00:37","date_gmt":"2010-01-13T12:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/askthevet.smartpak.com\/?p=705"},"modified":"2010-01-13T07:00:37","modified_gmt":"2010-01-13T12:00:37","slug":"feeding-dogs-fruits-and-vegetables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/173664","title":{"rendered":"Feeding Dogs Fruits and Vegetables"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>I\u2019ve been hearing more and more about the value of adding fruits and vegetables to my dog\u2019s diet. I know that certain ingredients can be harmful, but I\u2019m not sure what to stay away from, and what\u2019s beneficial. Can you tell me what fruits and veggies are appropriate to add to my dog\u2019s diet, and at what amount? ML, Connecticut<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Dear ML,<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re right on both counts: that fruits and vegetables have health benefits to pets but that not every fruit and vegetable is safe to feed your pet. For example, garlic, onions and grapes have all been shown to be toxic to dogs. On the other hand, vegetables such as carrots, peas and pumpkin are wonderful additions to dry dog food diet as are fruits like apples, blueberries and bananas. Not only are they packed with vitamins and minerals, they also contain fiber, antioxidants and other beneficial agents.<\/p>\n<p>If you wish to introduce fruits and vegetables to your dog, do so gradually and in moderation. Add just one to two new items each week and avoid unbalancing the diet by limiting fruits and veggies to 10 \u2013 20 % of the total diet. Another suggestion is to lightly cook the vegetables, which helps release certain nutrients. Finally, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aspca.org\/pet-care\/poison-control\/\">www.aspca.org\/pet-care\/poison-control\/<\/a> to make sure everything you\u2019re offering to your dog is safe.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.smartpakcanine.com\/\">SmartPak<\/a> is a firm believer in the health benefits of fruits and vegetables to dogs, and has included a wide variety of both in its supplements as well as its food. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smartpakcanine.com\/ProductClass.aspx?productclassid=8036\">SmartCanine Vite <\/a>is a nutritional supplement that contains a tasty blend of fruits and vegetables along with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, essential fatty acids and digestive support. It\u2019s designed to complement heavily processed commercial kibble.<\/p>\n<p>Either way you choose to add fruits and vegetables to your dog\u2019s diet\u2014by home cooking them yourself or through the product mentioned above\u2014you\u2019ll be providing him with a healthier diet that also tastes great!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been hearing more and more about the value of adding fruits and vegetables to my dog\u2019s diet. I know that certain ingredients can be harmful, but I\u2019m not sure what to stay away from, and what\u2019s beneficial. Can you tell me what fruits and veggies are appropriate to add to my dog\u2019s diet, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173664\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}