What Vegetables Are Safe For Dogs?

Our pup buddies can eat meat and plants. And you’ve seen so many commercials advertising how they include vegetables, fruits along with meat to ensure their products provide sufficient essential nutrition for your dogs. But what vegetables are safe for your dogs? Or in other words, what vegetables you should add to your dog’s meal is quite vital to know.

Even though dog food products already contain a proper amount of vegetables in your dog's diet, it’s still safe to give them extra veggies as snacks. Some fresh or even canned veggies can bring many health benefits to your dog’s nutrition. Your job is to provide them with the right ones in the right way.

Here are the 13 best vegetables for dogs that are very familiar and easy to find. In fact, some of them can be your favorite veggies as well. Maybe, after this, you and your dog can share a bowl of healthy salad made from good vegetables for both humans and canines.

Brussel sprouts are good but not so fun to eat. Although they contain vitamin C, A, manganese, and fiber, consuming too many of those can lead to flatulence (sad stomach and stinky gas). Hence, you may want to feed them in moderation. 

The other moderation-safe vegetable for your dogs is kale. It has two vital antioxidants, including lutein and zeaxanthin that can prevent dogs from cancer. Kale is also high in calcium, magnesium, potassium, and iron. It’s also loaded with vitamins K, A, and C, which are excellent to support healthy bones, muscle, heart, and immune system.

The portion of kale in your dogs’ diet is significant, especially if your dogs are small breeds. Some other sources may claim that kale is not safe for dogs, and we totally understand that. As long as you don’t feed kale exclusively, but add a proper amount of it instead, you can make full use of the nutritional aspects of this veggie.

Broccoli is not the safest choice for dogs. However, broccoli is high in fiber and Vitamin C; those are essential nutrients for your dog’s health. Hence, they still should be added to the dog’s diet sometimes. Since broccoli also contains isothiocyanates which can cause stomach upset in some dogs, feeding them too much or too often is not recommended.

Well-known as a nutrient-dense vegetable, spinach is high in calcium and folic acid. It contains several valuable vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, K, E, B6, B9, potassium, and magnesium. Digesting a whole fresh leaf of spinach may not excite your dogs. Try to puree or serve with meat or other dog-friendly vegetables to help them enjoy it better.

For some dog parents, it’s pretty apparent that carrots must be on the list. Carrots are one of the favorite veggie treats that your dog can enjoy every day. Carrots are high in fiber and low in calories. It’s also a great source of beta carotene and vitamin A. Their tasty crunchiness makes it more fun to eat and is especially good for your dogs' teeth. No matter how much your dogs love eating carrots, you should remember to use them in moderation.

Another safe vegetable for dogs is green beans. They are high in fiber, low in calories, and a great source of calcium, iron, manganese, and vitamin C, K, B6, and A. Adding plain, unseasoned green beans to your dog’s diet to support their health significantly. Green beans are a fantastic supplement supporting bone health and promoting wound healing if your dog is recovering from injuries.

This crunchy veggie can be another favorite snack that you can add to your dog’s diet. It contains vitamin A, B, C, calcium, potassium, iron, and phosphorus. The preparation for this snack can’t get any simpler: washing and chopping up. Plus, 95% of celery is water, making it an incredible treat for your four-legged friends on a summer day.  

We often add beets to our smoothies or diet because of their benefits to our immune system. Luckily, they are safe for dogs and can bring the same benefits to our dogs’ health. They also support healthy skin and coat thanks to their micronutrients such as vitamin C, fiber, potassium, manganese, and folate. Since it may not be tasty and safe to feed your dogs raw pieces of beet, you can consider mashing or pureeing. Plain, unseasoned veggies are always the healthiest treats for your dogs, so just skip the seasoning.

Another healthy treat that’s an excellent source of vitamin K and low in calories. Just like carrots, cucumbers are one of the most nutritious dog training treats that you can find right in your refrigerator. Just cut them in half to remove the seeds, then wash and chop them up into bite-sized pieces for your dogs to enjoy.

Sweet potatoes are easy to eat and good for your dogs’ digestive health because they are high in fiber. They also contain beneficial vitamins and minerals like vitamin B6 and C. Unlike the above veggies, you shouldn’t feed raw sweet potatoes to your dogs since it may cause belly ache or intestinal upset. Cooked sweet potatoes are great for your dogs and highly recommended. Don’t forget to peel the skin because it can cause a choking hazard if your dogs accidentally consume a large piece.