My dog has a sensitive stomach. Are lettuce & blueberries safe treats?

I'm sorry to hear of your concerns with Snowball. Inflammatory bowel disease can be a frustrating problem to deal with. The only way to definitively diagnose it is via intestinal biopsies. Food trials with hypoallergenic diets can be helpful in cases of inflammatory bowel disease, but do not always solve the overall problem. Sometimes a course of steroids, supplementation a certain vitamins and even antibiotics are needed to get things back on track. Given that it sounds like Snowball has a sensitive stomach, I would not recommend feeding lettuce as it is difficult to digest. Oftentimes feeding a low-fat, easily digested diet can be helpful. If the diarrhea continues I would recommend having Snowball seen by your veterinarian. There are certain blood tests that can be beneficial to determine if any additional vitamins are needed and they can help you to develop a plan for further diagnostics or management of symptoms in a long term.

Hello there! I'm sorry to hear about Ziggy's bout of diarrhea. Bits of apple used as training treats is usually fine for dogs, but an entire apple could potentially cause diarrhea as it is high in fiber and water. If he enjoys bits of carrot, then that is probably a fine treat for training. Green beans, bits of turkey hot dog, and small pieces of commercial dog treats are great for training as well. The key is that the training reward is small enough to be eaten in one bite. If they spend more than 1 or 2 seconds chewing and swallowing the treat, it's too big. You want your dog's focus to be on you during training time, so keep the treat small enough that his attention is not taken from you for more than a second a so. When giving treats for non-training times, they can be larger, but since they generally eat a bunch of treats during training, keeping them tiny can prevent an upset stomach. I hope that Ziggy remains healthy and that your training goes well! :)

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! The Science diet sensitive skin and stomach is quite good. I really like all the Nylabone products. I find that dogs really like them and they are fairly inexpensive. They also seem to help with cleaning the teeth a bit. Have a good day!

Tomatoes are fine to feed dogs, but the tomatoes have to be ripe. Never feed a green tomato, as they have higher amounts of tomatine, which is harmful to dogs in large amounts. Lettuce is fine as well, but make sure there is no onion on it. Onion is toxic to dogs. I have linked websites that includes foods dogs can never eat: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/people-foods-avoid-feeding-your-pets http://www.akc.org/content/health/articles/fruits-vegetables-dogs-can-and-cant-eat/

It really depends on why you're given them. If Bella is on a well balanced quality dog food AND an ideal weight, she should be getting about 700 calories a day and no more than 10% (70 calories) should be coming from treats. So the cup amount would depend on the food (70 calories = 3/4 cup blueberries or pumpkin puree, or a little over a cup of cubed apples). On the other hand, if you're not giving her mostly dog food, I'd recommend using this website to build a balanced diet and order a supplement. https://secure.balanceit.com/recipegenerator_ver4/index.php?rotator=EZ

Hello. It sounds like this may be the fix Snowball needed to control her symptoms. As long as she does well on this food, do not try to change & be very careful with treats, scraps, etc. We do not truly know the reason why some dogs develop a food sensitivity, but as long as it is controlled, we consider this a successful fix. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Yes, both of these foods are safe for dogs - there's no reason that you couldn't give them every day, in small amounts as a treat. Just make sure that you're not using a sugar-free brand of peanut butter, as some of these contain xylitol which is toxic for dogs. Most "regular" peanut butter brands are fine :)