I was reading Cesar’s Way (I don’t care for some of his training practices, but I love his magazine) and came across an article sharing 10 superfoods for dogs and I’m all about keeping my furbabies with us as long as we can! This is what I learned…
photo: Soggydan
1. Salmon
2. Mackerel
3. Herring
4. Halibut
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Great for the brain and joint stiffness. If your dog has arthritis (2 of ours do), then fish oil will help improve mobility. We give our dogs fish oil mixed in with their kibble a few times a week. We don’t do it daily, because it’s too much and gives the dogs the runs.
photo: woodleywonderworks
5. Eggs
6. Liver
Vitamin E
Best delivered through quality dog food or the actual food (the eggs and liver) than via supplements. I don’t give our dogs vitamins (outside of our veterinarian’s recommendation), because I worry about them receiving higher levels of the vitamin that they need, which can lead to a host of other issues.
Vitamin E is an antioxidant, great for immune health, and some skin issues.
photo: USDAgov
7. Broccoli
8. Blueberries
9. Sweet Potatoes
Anti Inflamatories
My first thought was these are GREAT when our dogs have sore, tender muscles after a long walk or rigorous play session. What I learned as that these are GREAT at fighting off the onset of inflammatory bowel disease in dogs. If you’re like me, then you’re now saying “Inflammatory Bowel whatttt???”
“Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a disorder in which one or more sections of the gastrointestinal tract have become invaded with inflammatory cells. Over time, this inflammation causes the intestine to become less efficient at absorbing nutrients from digested food and weight loss, vomiting or diarrhea often result. Early signs are often subtle which allows IBD to go undiagnosed for months to years until the dog begins to develop more serious symptoms.” ~ Halo Pets
photo: Tambako the Jaguar
10. Pumpkin
Beta Carotene
Not only is this another great antioxidant, but it also helps with diarrhea (Rodrigo) and constipation. We give it to our dogs raw as a treat, but it spoils crazy fast so we don’t stock up on it like we do carrots, which were missing from the list. FYI – carrots are also great for digestion and diarrhea (Rodrigo).
Check out this great book for cooking for our dogs: Feed Your Best Friend Better: Easy, Nutritious Meals and Treats for Dogs
Do you feed any of these superfoods to your dog? Supplement or the actual food?
February 15, 2013 at 10:33 am
Kimberly, this looks like the list of super foods for ME! I guess that makes sense that the foods that are good for me are good for the doggies too. Love all of them except the liver maybe…but I bet SlimDoggy would love them all.
(dofollow)
SlimDoggy recently published..Calorie Requirements For Your Dog
Twitter: MySlimDoggy
February 15, 2013 at 3:54 pm
I know, right?
Twitter: thefurmom
February 15, 2013 at 11:14 am
We use pumpkin all the time
We use it to make pumpkin dog biscuits — and it just so happens to be the most popular treat in the house!
(dofollow)
DoggieBuddy recently published..Stray Red Dog: A Dog Memoir by Ian Duncan Part II
Twitter: DoggieBuddy
February 15, 2013 at 3:54 pm
I’m such a fan; the other day Rigo had an upset tummy, pumpkin helped him out. He loves it.
Twitter: thefurmom
February 15, 2013 at 12:36 pm
The only thing Oz doesn’t eat on this list is broccoli. Won’t touch the “green trees” as my husband calls them. I never knew about pumpkin but Oz eats carrots…so that should be close enough. Great, informative post.
(dofollow)
Gina (Oz’s mom)
Oz the Terrier recently published..My Friday Finds for 2/15/2013
February 15, 2013 at 3:54 pm
I’m going to see if my dogs will eat broccoli this weekend; that should be an interesting video
Twitter: thefurmom
February 15, 2013 at 4:31 pm
Slimdoggy has eaten not only raw broccoli, but raw brussel sprouts! Yuck!
Twitter: MySlimDoggy
February 15, 2013 at 4:36 pm
Raw, yuck. Steamed with olive oil and Worcestershire sauce – yummmm. I’m hungry right now.
Twitter: thefurmom
February 15, 2013 at 1:16 pm
My pooches are waiting for our afternoon walk so I quickly just comment on the fish:
Dogs need omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. They are important for the metabolism of the eicosanoids, and may have an affect as anti-inflammatory. A lack will be shown by dry, rough hair, loose of hair, increase of earwax, inflamed skin, etc.
Fish is healthy and dogs love to eat fish. However, the highest content of omega-3 fatty acids will be found in linseed oil (54200 mg/100 g), the highest content of omega-6 fatty acids will be found in safflower oil (75100 mg/100 g). Salmon offers 355 mg & 430 mg/100 g), Mackerel 250 mg & 170 mg/100 g, Herring 210 mg & 400 mg/100 g, Halibut only 25 mg & 18 mg/100 g.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Twitter: caninehealthcen
February 15, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Thanks so much! This is great information!!!
Twitter: thefurmom
February 15, 2013 at 7:45 pm
We also went with the carrots quite often…just don’t have pumpkin around that often unless specifically using it for a recipe.
(dofollow)
Marcie recently published..Family Friday – People Edition
Twitter: pawsiton
February 16, 2013 at 2:33 pm
We never have pumpkin, but pick it up at the store or pet store (our pet store has organic pumpkin in the can – ha ha ha – I never saw it before). Carrots are a must have in our house and we’re almost out so we’ll be making a trip to Costco (they didn’t have any last weekend).
Twitter: thefurmom
February 15, 2013 at 10:38 pm
I think fish are a bit of a dilemma. Fish have awesome nutrition, but depending on where they come from, they can also contain all kinds of contaminants, including heavy metals. In the ideal world, fish is one of the awesomest foods to feed. In our world, one has to be extremely cautious with them.
So I give a bit of fish and for fish oil I use pharmaceutic grade.
Eggs are awesome, I wish I could include those. But Jasmine is allergic to chicken eggs. Would love to see if some other kind of eggs are available and affordable. Duck, ostridge … still working on that.
Liver is also great. Good for balancing amino acids and great for–guess-liver. Interestingly, the organ has what the organ needs. So to support liver, you’d feed liver, to support heart, you’d feed heart and so on.
Lots of vitamins. I like to cook organ meats very minimally, just to warm them up, really.
Yes, vitamin E is awesome, and yes, best from whole food sources. We mainly use wheat germ oil to supplement vitamin E for Jasmine.
Brocolli is good, blueberries are fantastic.
Jasmine does not tolerate sweet potatoes, but they are a very good ingredient otherwise. Same with pumpkin–Jasmine’s system doesn’t like “orange” vetegables; would like to figure out why, one of these days.
Other superfoods Jasmine gets are cabbage, brussel sprouts, wheat grass. Beet root. Other organ meats as we can get them.
(dofollow)
Jana Rade recently published..Veterinary Highlights: CURE For Type 1 Diabetes In Dogs?
Twitter: DawgBlogger
February 16, 2013 at 2:32 pm
I love it when you comment, because you always add so much more! I recently read that about fish; I was researching to see if that was a viable food option if I decided to cook for our dogs and learned about the metal levels. I guess they soak up everything humans toss in the ocean too.
Eggs don’t sit too well with our dogs and since two are allergic to chicken, it’s off their diet too. I haven’t considered another bird, because we only see chicken eggs at the store, but it’s something to consider.
I cook the organ meat to medium, but you’re saying that I can just warm it up? I’ll try that this weekend.
Thanks for stopping by; I’m curious about the orange veggies too.
Twitter: thefurmom
February 16, 2013 at 6:46 am
thanks for this post! I never thought of giving Dakota fish but might have to give salmon a try.
(dofollow)
I have given him red pepper (not the hot pepper)…green beans, he loves apples (yes I know about the seeds)……this is a great reference list…thanks!
caren gittleman recently published..To MY “Queen of Hearts” Happy Valentine’s Day!
Twitter: dakotasheltie
February 16, 2013 at 2:28 pm
The dogs love salmon; we just have to cook it up well and then I mix it into their food. They usually get it in the summer when we’re grilling. We’ll make some for all of us
Twitter: thefurmom
February 16, 2013 at 7:24 am
Great list Kimberly! I am so bummed right now that we have to keep Leroy away from fish as I know it is so important for him. I’m hoping we’ll eventually find out that he can it in small amounts!
February 16, 2013 at 2:27 pm
I remember reading that about the fish on your site. So tell me, does it include all fish – fish oil, fish, salmon kibble? I’m guessing that it does. We thought originally that Rodrigo was just allergic to chicken kibble, but we can feed him chicken anything – a bite is fine, but he has an itchy reaction with a meal so we just don’t bother. I hope you figure out what’s causing the ear infections.
Twitter: thefurmom
February 17, 2013 at 8:03 am
Yes. The dermatologist said for now we need to stay away from anything fish, even fish oil which is so hard because that is what I have always used to help maintain their coats. We’ll stay away from it for a few months and see what happens.
February 16, 2013 at 8:41 am
Interesting list…we are out of luck on the 4 fish and the liver…mom can’t handle that stuff and won’t even have it in the kitchen but the other items we already get on occasion. Thanks for sharing!
(dofollow)
emma recently published..Happy Valentines Day 2013 | GBGV
Twitter: mygbgvlife
February 16, 2013 at 2:26 pm
Ahhhh, your mom is missing out. I love love love liver. Probably one of 5 people. My boyfriend hates it so that’s why I only cook it for the dogs. It doesn’t seem fair to cook up and enjoy liver and onions while my boyfriend fends for himself, but sometimes I’m tempted. LOL
Thanks for stopping by!
Twitter: thefurmom
February 16, 2013 at 9:36 am
My dogs love sweet potatoes, another food I would add that my dogs like are cranberries, it prevents bladder infections which is why I started giving some to my dog Molly
(dofollow)
katie mitchell recently published..Decadent Doggie Natural Jerky Review
February 16, 2013 at 2:25 pm
Thanks for sharing, Katie – do you buy the cranberries fresh or give them dried cranberries? I’ve always wondered if the process of drying them made them lose their nutritional value.
Twitter: thefurmom
February 16, 2013 at 1:34 pm
Titan gets a fish oil capsule daily. He used to play with it but then found out he gets to take a pill just like Momma and Daddy. So, I tell him, “Time to take your pill.” and he eats it up. This is a fabulous list that I think I might want to start feeding my boy more of. Thanks for sharing!
(dofollow)
Bren recently published..Wordless Wednesday
Twitter: PibblesNMe
February 16, 2013 at 2:24 pm
My pleasure. We give our dogs fish oil too. I’m testing out amounts – something that gives them what they need without any side effects (the poo). LOL
Twitter: thefurmom
February 16, 2013 at 4:12 pm
I make treats with dried cranberries because they had some biscuits with dried cranberries and I found out they love them, I also sometimes open a capsule with cranberry powder and sprinkle it on top of their food and mix it in(I also do this with my 1 cats food that is prone to getting UTI;s I actually had thought about buying fresh cranberries and dehydrating them in my dehyrater, havent tried it yet but next time I see them on sale I will try it I will also find out of tehy like fresh cranberries
(dofollow)
katie mitchell recently published..Decadent Doggie Natural Jerky Review
February 16, 2013 at 6:23 pm
I like the idea of the cranberry powder; I’ll have to check that out. Thanks for the tip, Katie
Twitter: thefurmom
February 19, 2013 at 5:55 am
Yep! That’a pretty good list. One of our favorite snacks that makes the boys work is mashed pumpkin or sweet potato layered with kibble and frozen in a Kong. They drool over these babies!
Twitter: AllThingsDog
February 19, 2013 at 9:47 am
I love your layered idea. I’ll have to try that one, Carrie!
Twitter: thefurmom
February 21, 2013 at 9:08 am
I’ve been giving my dog eggs and liver once in a while. Never did try fish though. I’ll definitely give that a try. The pumpkin is the one I’m gonna try right away though. I have that in the house for some pies, but it didn’t cross my mind that he might like it as well. Thanks!
(dofollow)
Alex recently published..Feeding Your Dog Natural Foods
February 21, 2013 at 10:24 am
Isn’t it great, Alex. I buy 2 cans of pumpking on each grocery shopping trip. It’s 100% pumpkin and great for our dog. They love it!
Twitter: thefurmom