How can I get my dog to eat fruits and veggies?

Playing the devil's advocate, this may be true, but surely you acknowledge that the balence that is right for a dog is different than what is right for a person, so comparing them would be useless.


Without a doubt to = humans to K9 completely would not be true....But check the teeth, and intestine structure of a K9, it is not no way, no how a complete carnivore, it is more based around a omnivore, the scientific fact of this can not be challenged. Just like humans are never meant to veggies or meat only, dogs are never meant to be meat or veggie only.

You first want to check what fruits & veggies are safe for your dogs even before you even consider giving them any..
 
Have you tried mixing it in with their food, or put peanut better on the fruit or veggie. It's depends what they get, some don't like it & some eat it like a treat depends on the dog etc
 
 

http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/~ALRF/giintro.htm

Herbivores need to maintain continuous fermentation and absorption in those parts of the GI tract where cellulose-containing materials can be broken down. Functional differences between species can be related to the rates at which digesta pass through the different parts of the tract. Efficient digestion (particularly microbial digestion) and absorption depend on an adequately slow movement of digesta through the tract; movement of digesta through the large intestine in a non-ruminant herbivore, such as the horse, is much slower than in a carnivore, such as the dog.

Carnivores obtain most of their food by eating other animals, and their digestion relies largely on enzymes rather than micro-organisms. Microbial digestion of cellulose occurs in the colon of the dog, but to such a small extent that the colon can be removed and the dog can survive perfectly well.

Omnivores feed on both plants and animals, but their digestion is mainly enzymatic - like that of the carnivores. The pig is usually considered to be an omnivore, but under domestication is mainly herbivorous; in addition to its enzymatic digestion, a good deal of microbial breakdown of plant material occurs in the large intestine of the pig, and also, to a lesser extent, in its stomach.

The small intestine of all mammals digests soluble carbohydrate, fat and protein, but cannot digest cellulose. The dog on a normal diet depends almost entirely on its small intestine for its nutrition. The small intestine of the horse would not be capable of digestive activity similar to that in the dog, even if the horse were fed with a dog's diet. The omnivorous pig can adapt to either a carnivorous or a herbivorous diet.

Without a doubt to = humans to K9 completely would not be true....But check the teeth, and intestine structure of a K9, it is not no way, no how a complete carnivore, it is more based around a omnivore, the scientific fact of this can not be challenged. Just like humans are never meant to veggies or meat only, dogs are never meant to be meat or veggie only.

I do just fine on a "veggie" only diet. Most people who try it do fine. People are wayyy over on the herbivorous side of ominvores, and dogs are on the omnivorous side of carnivores. Dogs don't *really* need vegetables, and we don't *really* need meat.

Of course, that's in an ideal world, where all of the meat and vegetables are raised free from genetic modification, pesticides, antibiotics, and steroids.

It is strange how, at least in the US, people tend to eat 1/2 to 2/3 meat and only 1/3 to 1/2 fruit, vegetables, and grains. Everything I've read has stated that it should be more like 1/5-1/6 meat, 4/5-5/6 of the other stuff. Then again I'm looking at it from a man's perspective, and might be seeing more of the gendered expectations in eating habits.

ORIGINAL: ron2
The documentary that I saw called "Global Wolf" did, in fact, show a wolf eating something like a wild berry off of a bush.

i believe this was the same show i saw it on.

Here we go round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush... [&:]

Dogs are in the order Carnivora in the animal kingdom. They are carnivores. Whether they are strict carnivores is debatable, however, it's safe to say that they are carnivorous opportunistic feeders (scavengers). Yes, they will eat the plant-based digestive contents of their prey, but note that 1) this is a comparatively tiny portion of the overall meal and 2) this plant matter is already digested. For similar reasons some carnivores will also eat the feces of herbivores.

[linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore[/link]

If you want to make a comparison with human diets, take dairy. Yes dairy can be an important part of our diets, but overall it's a small portion of the total, and we can certainly do without it if we are getting the nutrients it provides (calcium, vits A&D) in other foods. Just because veggies are included in nearly all dog foods does not necessarily mean it's a staple of canine diet... if that were true we'd have to conclude that humans have some biological mandate for high fructose corn syrup!

if that were true we'd have to conclude that humans have some biological mandate for high fructose corn syrup!

Oh, but I DO have a biological mandate for chocolate. Its a proven scientific fact. [sm=biggrin.gif]

"At present, there is an academic discussion as to whether domestic dogs are [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnivores]omnivores[/link] or [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivores]carnivores[/link]. The classification in the Order [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivora]Carnivora[/link] does not necessarily mean that a dog's diet must be restricted to [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat]meat[/link]. Unlike an obligate carnivore, such as a [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat]cat[/link], a dog is not dependent on meat protein in order to fulfill its dietary requirements. Dogs are able to healthily digest a variety of foods including [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable]vegetables[/link] and [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cereal]grains[/link], and in fact can consume a large proportion of these in their diet. Wild canines not only eat available plants to obtain [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_amino_acid]essential amino acids[/link], but may also obtain nutrients from vegetable matter from the stomach contents of their [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbivorous]herbivorous[/link] prey. Domestic dogs can survive healthily on a reasonable and carefully designed [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian]vegetarian[/link] diet, particularly if [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_%28food%29]eggs[/link] and [linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milk]milk[/link] products are included."

"In the wild, these diets are typically pursued in the absence of available meat."

source-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog

Looks like the "omnivore-carnivore" debate is starting again. There is some evidence that domestic dogs are more omnivorous than the gray wolves they descended from; the coronoid process , which is the part of the lower jaw where muscles are attached has a posterior curve in dogs which is a characteristic shared by omnivores such as bears and raccoons;  wolves have a differently shaped coronoid process. There is archaeological evidence that dogs have been domesticated much longer than the fifteen thousand years that was previously thought; it now appears that they began thier association with man at least one hundred thousand years ago. The change of the coronoid process in thier lower jaw was most likely a result of adapting to the diet dogs were fed by humans.

They eat veggies, they may even enjoy veggies, but they don't digest veggies unless they are prepared by us, or previously digested by their prey. No doubt they can gain nutrients from them, but not if they aren't able to digest them.

Her whole life, my dog loved raw carrots and raw tomatos and any fruits. When she turn 9 or so, she started vomiting any raw veggies up.  So now I cook any veggies and puree them and she holds them down.
 
She just started her special diet by Monica Segal.  It is raw buffalo and buckwheat.  Monica is the expert.

ORIGINAL: sooner

They eat veggies, they may even enjoy veggies, but they don't digest veggies unless they are prepared by us, or previously digested by their prey. No doubt they can gain nutrients from them, but not if they aren't able to digest them.

do you have proof to back that up? i was merely quoting something i read. not making any statement as to whether or not i believed it.  []

My post #48 as written by Dr A.L.R. Findlay, Director of Studies in Medical and Veterinary Sciences, Physiological Laboratory, University of Cambridge.

fair enough .... i missed it the first time. []