Are pureed green beans or other veggies necessary for my dog's diet?

Hi and thanks for posting! I would feed 1/4 cup of plain frozen green beans or cleaned raw green beans in his food twice a day. No need to crush the beans. I give green beans to my dogs every day and they go wild for them! I hope this helps and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Dogs should eat twice a day. It helps prevent bloat in dogs when they have two meals a day of equal size rather than one big meal. While dogs can eat plant material, they are carnivorous. This is show in the design of their teeth. They have sharp, blade like molars that are designed for slicing food rather than grinding it. Herbivores, like cows, have molars that are flatter and are made to grind up the plant material. In addition, their digestive system is designed to digest protein and fat, and due to that, they have trouble digesting produce. Produce should therefore be pureed to help them fully digest it. I recommend pureeing the green beans, which may help your dog digest them better.

If you feed a high quality complete dog food for medium sized dogs, you do not need to supplement her food as it has everything your dog needs. You do not need to purree steamed vegetables. Dogs do not need extra veggies or fruit when they have a good quality complete food. They will digest what the body can use, and eliminate extra fiber and whatever ingredient the body cannot digest. As dogs are not herbivores, they do not have the capability of completely digesting vegetables and fruit, even if you steam and purree them.

Yes those are good. Never give grapes or raisins as they can cause kidney damage and death. Onions aren’t good or large amounts of garlic. I feed plain canned pumpkin which fills them up and increases the fiber in the diet to keep them regular. In addition please feed a good quality dog food so she gets the nutrients she needs. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Lucy.

Green beans are normally a very safe and healthy option to add some extra "bulk" to the diet without significantly increasing calories - so as long as Chloe is otherwise healthy and isn't on any kind of special diet for medical reasons, it should be fine to add some to her diet to see if this helps her feel more full :)

Dogs are omnivores and require an appropriate balance of nutrients as a part of a healthy diet. Most dogs do well with twice daily feedings. Typically, I recommend commercially prepared foods, such as Science Diet, Royal Canin, and Purina ProPlan. However, many people prefer preparing their dog's food at home. Balanceit.com is a website out of UC-Davis that has a wide variety of recipes for home cooked diets with appropriate vitamin and mineral supplementation. I am not aware of any appropriately balanced vegan diets for dogs, but a vegetarian diet is certainly possible. Common fruits and vegetables that Pelu could consume include green beans, peas, carrots, beans, and apples. I don't understand your question about "dollops" of fruits and vegetables. Simply follow any home cooked recipe closely and be sure to supplement so that Pelu does not experience any mineral deficiencies.

You may want to add some kibble (dry complete dog food) to make up the remaining 60-70% of her ration. I do not think mashing up the vegetables will make a difference. Pate canned food has the same digestibility as any other good quality food. 10 to 15% extras in form of treats is ok provided you only feed 85 to 90% of dog food, ie , your total should be 100% of her daily ration . You can give her boiled carrots/ carrot pieces or green beans as treats.