# Need Recommendations on Fruits and Veggies!



## Kava3 (Jan 28, 2009)

One of the older women that I care for has a 7 year old who is massively overweight. He's already had joint problems and surgery. Vet says that unless he drops down to a healthy size he'll probably die from complications from his weight by 8 or 9. I am responsible for feeding him now and need recommendations on fresh fruits and veggies that I can use to suppliment some of his kibble as I will be cutting his rations in half. I know that there are some things that dogs can't have, but would like as much input as possible as to what you feed your dogs as far as fresh produce. Thanks so much for any input.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

Well last night I made up my mix. I do an organ/fruit/veggie mix.

I took a bag of broccoli, collard greens, squash, baby carrots, raspberries, 5 eggs with shell, chicken livers, pkg of cottage cheese, put all thru a food processor, then mixed them all together in a big bowl. I did put some on Diesel's kibble last night as she was still hungry, then Duchess wanted some, they were licking the bowls 5 min after they were empty!

Bag sizes are like the 12-16 oz packages in the frozen section of the grocery store. Reg size cottage cheese, and the large eggs. You can use basically whatever is in season and what's available. As he already has joint issues, I would avoid ground crops like potatoes, etc. I poured some into disposable metal muffin tins to freeze individual servings, and the rest got put into the meals this morning.


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## allieg (Nov 4, 2008)

Basically stay away from onions,grapes,raisin.Broccoli & cauliflower will make them gassy.Be careful though lots of sugars in fruit and most veggies so that can be as bad as kibble.Can you gradually decrease the food so it isn't an instant shock to the dog?


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

just to clarify, onions grapes raisins, toxic. some dogs broccoli/cauliflower can give them gas.


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## Kava3 (Jan 28, 2009)

I plan on gradually reducing the kibble. They allow him to mock-free feed he gets 4-5 cups of kibble right now. He should be at about 70 pounds and is at 96. She want's to keep him on purina weight loss food but will let me suppliment it. She won't let me take him for walks or play with him for more than 10 minutes, so he gets almost no exercise at all. I feel bad for the poor guy and want to give him whatever I can to make his life a little happier and healthier.


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## BlackPuppy (Mar 29, 2007)

I use green beans, right out of the can.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

will she stop the mock free junk? or mock free feed 2-3 cups instead? based on age, no exercise, should prob. only be getting 2, 2 1/2 cups not 4-5


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

Would the owner be receptive to changing kibble if the price was comparable?

My female is 7 1/2 and 70 lbs. She's thin now but she was a bit tubby at 87lbs a few years ago. 

She gets exercised but she only eats 2 3/4 cup of kibble every day. I have her on Fromm duck & sweet potato, which she really likes. We switch this up with Fromm chicken a la veg sometimes when she seems bored with the duck.

When she was dieting, I used to supplement her kibble with raw baby carrots. The nice thing about baby carrots is it takes them a while to crunch them up.


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## Kava3 (Jan 28, 2009)

I am taking over his feeding as of this friday. So he will be getting 2.5-3 cups a day, half when I come in and half before I leave. With the fresh stuff mixed in. I will reduce it again after a while to about 2 cups a day. She likes to give him treats and things though also so if I can get some fresh fruit, small pieces of chicken or something for her to give him instead of the generic resemblance of milk bone then all the better for the dog. It's partly to get the dog on a better track and partially to retrain the owner. Thank you for all the responses. Please keep them coming!!


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

Some like apples, slices are good, just make sure the seeds are gone! 3 of my girls love tomato slices!


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## Kava3 (Jan 28, 2009)

She is adamant about his kibble. She is 85 years old and is pretty set in her ways. Love her to death, but stubborn to the hilt. Barney(the dog) loves fresh stuff so I figure if I can cut him to a 70%kibble to 30% fresh stuff it should help. Does that sound about right as far as ratios?


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## Amaruq (Aug 29, 2001)

Green beans work good as a low (no?) calorie filler.


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## Kava3 (Jan 28, 2009)

Wanted to thank Angela for the recipe. That was great! Thanks everyone for their input. Any grocery lists would be welcome too.


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## Brightelf (Sep 5, 2001)

I wouldn't add ANY fruits and veggies right now. This is an older dog struggling under a massive load of weight. The cheap food is also making him gassy enough, and considering the level of corn in this food, his poops must be huge. He's already pretty burdened at this point. I would not add something new to prevent him from feeling hungry. I would just decrease the food gradually. Not sure if your plan was to puree the produce? If you want to give an occasional treat of mashed or pureed veggie or fruit in tiny amounts, fine.. but I would not start adding chunks of fresh fruits and veggies and let the dog's body try to deal with foods that he cannot breakdown. I am so glad that he has you looking out for him!


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

Mine was for puree via food processor and then only about 1/4 c at that


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## allieg (Nov 4, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: Angela_Wjust to clarify, onions grapes raisins, toxic. some dogs broccoli/cauliflower can give them gas.


Am I totally wrong on this?? I've heard the gas thing on the broccoli/cauliflower,my dogs turned there nose to these 2 things.I love them.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

mine eat broccoli in their veggie mix, some it gives gas, others it doesn't. Guess depends on the dogs. I think this is what you are asking about? If it's the toxic part, I wanted to clarify that only the first 3 items were toxic, not the last 2 as you just said stay away from the first 3, I wanted to clarify as to why


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## allieg (Nov 4, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: Angela_Wmine eat broccoli in their veggie mix, some it gives gas, others it doesn't. Guess depends on the dogs. I think this is what you are asking about? If it's the toxic part, I wanted to clarify that only the first 3 items were toxic, not the last 2 as you just said stay away from the first 3, I wanted to clarify as to why


Just checking.Now that I look at it I should have clarified why to stay away.I am going to try your glop recipe,maybe all mashed and mixed with other stuff they'll like it.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

told dh it was like doggie drugs at the house last night. kept licking the empty bowls. Did it again last night. The monster crew of 9 got their first intro of veggie mix this morning, (got introduced to chicken liver late last wk). Poof gone. I try to keep mine mostly veggies, with maybe 1 bag of fruit (or fresh apples, cored, and processor) to keep fruits at 10% or less of the mix.


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## Lauri & The Gang (Jun 28, 2001)

Celery and low sodium canned green beans are good "fresh" filler foods.


I would not cut down his food that much all at once. Just like you don't feed a starved dog huge amounts, you should remove huge amounts from a fat dog.

I'd do 1/2 cup at a time.

If you can only exercise him for 10 minutes I'd make those 10 minutes really count. Some short games of fetch, building up distance as he loses the weight.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

The "gas" does depend on the dog. Mine all LOVE Broccoli and none of them get gas from it.


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

> Originally Posted By: BrightelfI wouldn't add ANY fruits and veggies right now. This is an older dog struggling under a massive load of weight. The cheap food is also making him gassy enough, and considering the level of corn in this food, his poops must be huge. He's already pretty burdened at this point. I would not add something new to prevent him from feeling hungry. I would just decrease the food gradually. Not sure if your plan was to puree the produce? If you want to give an occasional treat of mashed or pureed veggie or fruit in tiny amounts, fine.. but I would not start adding chunks of fresh fruits and veggies and let the dog's body try to deal with foods that he cannot breakdown. I am so glad that he has you looking out for him!


I tend to agree with Patti. There is NO no-calorie food, besides water. Decreasing the food gradually will decrease his appetite. If he's always eaten Purina-style food (and nothing else) he may not be able to tolerate much in the way of fresh vegetable & fruits. You'll have to start slow. 

Many fruits and veggies are high in fructose (sugar) and starches. I don't know that this is exactly what he needs. What I'd like to see him get, ideally, is lean meats. I would boil chicken or ground turkey; then drain off all of the broth and rinse the meat, because it has fat in it. I'd cube or shred the chicken. Then I'd add some of the meat to the kibble. Nice LEAN protein. 

This MAY be the more expensive way to go. But it may not be. I get ground turkey for approx $2.20 per lb and boneless skinless chicken breast for around $2.79/lb. Up here, most veggies and fruits are often in the $1.99-2.99 per lb price range too. (I know they tend to be cheaper in CA, but I don't know how much cheaper because a lot of the stuff that's grown up here falls into that $2-3 range as well.). 

We're learning that dogs lose weight faster when they're on high protein/low carb diets. If we're feeding him meat, we can cut back his kibble intake more because he's getting more of what he needs. Veggies are great as supplements, but overall, they'll never be a substitute for actual food. Meat IS food for dogs.


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## Kava3 (Jan 28, 2009)

I will cut him back slower then. I did forget to mention that he also gets 1-2 cans of Pedigree wet food too. I was hoping mix in yogurt or something with a veggie puree first to replace the canned stuff. and then as I reduce the kibble to introduce the whole veggies and fruit a little later and eliminate the in between canned food all together. He doesn't seem to have a problem with gas. He's a real sweety. I was thinking fruits and veggies because the only time he begs is when I bring fresh produce. So he's use to it a little as I try to share my fruit and stuff when I take some.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

4-5 cups of kibble and 1-2 cans of moist?? holy cow. poor guy.


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## Kayos and Havoc (Oct 17, 2002)

Ditto Laurie! 

Years ago my old girl was getting portly and my vet suggested low sodium green beans and slowly reduce kibble. He did not even recommend reduced calorie or light food. 

The problem with reducing the amount of food will be hunger. Old BArney will get hungry and his owner may increase the number of treats she is giving him becasue he is hungry. Filling him up with the green beans will help him feel full and maybe his person will not give him other stuff to fill him up.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

sliced apples
sliced pears
broccholi
string beans
potato
yams or sweet potato

the above is what i feed. i'm sure there's much more you can feed.
are you feeding a preminum kibble or can? how much are you feeding? is the dog getting any exercise?

for a vitamin supplment we mix:
nutritional yeast
flax meal
bone meal or ground egg shells
turmeric
garlic powder


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## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

Raw green beans could be a nice snack too...


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## Kava3 (Jan 28, 2009)

I made up a mix of boiled chicken and a little mashed potatoes today to help with the protein end of it. Hoping to use that instead of the canned stuff or at least as a mix in to reduce it. And as far as the cost of chicken or turkey, I'll buy that myself. I already do for Kaio, so I'll just make a little extra.


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## angelaw (Dec 14, 2001)

Ok, I would not feed him:
* potatoes (not sweet potatoes)
* tomatoes
* eggplant
* sweet and hot peppers (including paprika, cayenne pepper and Tabasco sauce)
* ground cherries
* tomatillos and tamarillos
* garden huckleberry and naranjillas
* pepinos and pimentos

all are members of the nightshade family and can aggravate arthritis. Oranges can also aggravate.


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## Kava3 (Jan 28, 2009)

Okay so here's my grocery list so far: Carrots, bananas, apple (I'll make sure they're sliced and no seeds), he likes blueberries, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, chicken or turkey, cottage cheese. And if I got my things right. More lean meat, and about 5-10% veggie. And SLOWLY. Sound about right? or any comments on the groceries?


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## 3K9Mom (Jun 12, 2006)

I'd stay away from sweet potatoes (or feed them very minimally). I like them for MY dogs. But a cup of cubed sweet potato has almost the same amount of carbs as a slice of wheat bread and more calories. 

The cottage cheese has to be non-fat and used sparingly. Bananas and carrots are also high in carbs, so watch those. And Angela's "don't feed" list is priceless, given the pup's age. 

Green beans are good. Blueberries are high in sugar, but if you slice them into small pieces (and you can freeze them), make good treats. At his age, the punch of their antioxidants will be helpful. 

The most important thing, as Kathy implied, is keeping his owner with the program. So the more we can get and keep her involved with simple tasks (cleaning and chopping produce, boiling meat --even if she's just there watching you do it), the more ownership she'll take, the less she'll give in when he's STARVING, or at least, acts like it. 

Like most projects, we have to work with the dog, but ultimately, the challenge is training the owner.









Good luck to you. And







for taking on this challenge.


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## Kava3 (Jan 28, 2009)

Just wanted to thank everyone for their help, it's been a little while and Barney is doing great with the modifications to his diiet, even though for now they are slight. I have gotten the owner to cut out the moist food completely and give one spoonful of nonfat cottage cheese instead. So far so good. I have reduced his kibble a little bit and what a difference so far! He went to the vet yesterday and has already lost a couple pounds, he's down to 86 so everything is going in the right direction. He's getting the raw green beans as treats and occassionally a dried banana slice or a frozen blueberry. He thinks he is in heaven. We have started on small walks around the block, which is very small, about a 3 minute walk at a slow pace. But wanted to let everyone know how things are going. Thanks again everyone.


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## Rhena (Jan 30, 2009)

You're totally awesome for taking on this project. It's totally above and beyond the call of duty!


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