# Fruit and vegetables for carnivore dogs.



## cdwoodcox (Jul 4, 2015)

I keep hearing that dogs are carnivores and would never eat plant based foods in the wild, so why in the world would you feed them fruit or vegetables. 
But what I don't understand then, is why do I have to keep my garden and orchard fenced off from my german shepherds? They love nothing more than to steal tomatoes, sweet peppers, apples, peaches, or pears. They absolutely love them. So that has me thinking that while yes, dogs are carnivores they are also opportunistic eaters and have no qualms about eating fruits and vegetables. Anyway I was just wondering what the pros thought. Do you add fruit or vegetables to your dogs diet?


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## Dunkirk (May 7, 2015)

I would like to know how to teach my dog to enjoy fruit and vegetables. I have to hide them in his food. I never had a problem with my human kids eating fruit and veges. He's just different, I guess.


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## Aly (May 26, 2011)

cdwoodcox said:


> But what I don't understand then, is why do I have to keep my garden and orchard fenced off from my german shepherds?


Because, as you say, dogs are opportunistic little buggers! > I garden too and, over the years, 4-legged thieves have made off with tomatoes, figs, peppers (one was something of a specialist; the hotter the pepper, the better he liked it), tomatoes (cherry tomatoes preferred as they are easier to snatch and run, I suspect), assorted herbs, beets and broccoli. Inside, they are regularly given apples, bananas, carrots, green beans, parsley, sweet potatoes and pumpkin; usually as toppers on their meals or as treats. Gunner, the pepper specialist, loved oven roasted brussels sprouts too. SMH

Aly


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

My female loves fruit. Both mine like it, but my female is on another level - Like drooling for it. I give it a lot - bananas, blueberries and other berries and melons. She loves apples, mango, pineapple and pears as well. They like veggies too. I don't give a lot at once, but they get some every day.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I do think they benefit from some fruit and veg in their meals. But I think they just like the taste. Jax was my great tomato theif and would eat anything except bananas. Seger spits out anything thst isn't meat.


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## Kazel (Nov 29, 2016)

Well kind of gruesome but I'll put it like this. In the wild carnivores eat the internal organs of the prey animals. What are those organs full off? Digested and partially digested plant based things. Good meat and good source of nutrients. So yes they definitely eat them in the wild just not grazing on them like herbivores or omnivores do.

-And side note dogs are kind of opportunistic and just like to munch in things. They're also not having to fend for themselves so they can mess around and eat other things that may not necessarily keep them alive if that's all they were eating. Although a stray dog will probably eat anything just because it's hungry and needs anything it can get.


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## cdwoodcox (Jul 4, 2015)

Aly I wouldn't mind if mine took a couple cherry tomatoes. Mine look for the best canning tomatoes and that is what they eat. So fence goes up and they get nothing. Except when my wife or kid forget to close the gate to the garden. They seem to have a sixth sense about these things. By the time I walk out they each already have a tomato half gone.


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## Slamdunc (Dec 6, 2007)

I feed raw and have done so for the past 12 years. Two of my dogs have never had dry dog food or kibble in their life. My patrol dog was older when I got him and from day one he was put on a raw diet. I do make a green smoothy and I add it to my dogs food several times a week. It usually contains pureed kale, spinach, apples, oranges, bananas, lemon. From what I understand dogs do not digest the cellulose in plant cell walls or fruits well unless they are pureed. I do feed tripe and organ meat as well. I think there are a lot of nutrients in fruits and vegetables that dogs can benefit from. 

All of my dogs will eagerly eat bananas, apples and oranges. That is often what they get as a treat or a snack. 

Also, keep in mind that dogs do not have taste buds like we do. They go more by smell than taste.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Deja loves all kinds of fruits. I had hoped she would learn to pick her own blackberries but no, she points them out so she won't hurt her nose.


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## Aly (May 26, 2011)

@cdwoodcox,

Whatever made you think they only take "a couple" of cherry tomatoes? I caught one trying to drag the (now unpotted) plant behind the house...



Aly


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Aly said:


> @cdwoodcox,
> 
> Whatever made you think they only take "a couple" of cherry tomatoes? I caught one trying to drag the (now unpotted) plant behind the house...
> 
> ...


:rofl:


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## Shane'sDad (Jul 22, 2010)

Kazel said:


> Well kind of gruesome but I'll put it like this. In the wild carnivores eat the internal organs of the prey animals. What are those organs full off? Digested and partially digested plant based things. Good meat and good source of nutrients. So yes they definitely eat them in the wild just not grazing on them like herbivores or omnivores do.
> 
> -And side note dogs are kind of opportunistic and just like to munch in things. They're also not having to fend for themselves so they can mess around and eat other things that may not necessarily keep them alive if that's all they were eating. Although a stray dog will probably eat anything just because it's hungry and needs anything it can get.


Bingo... right on point IMO--- It's often been said you don't see a wolf standing in a corn field eating a ear of corn---true---but they do eat the stomach of a prey animal who did eat the ear of corn.


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## cdwoodcox (Jul 4, 2015)

Aly said:


> @cdwoodcox,
> 
> Whatever made you think they only take "a couple" of cherry tomatoes? I caught one trying to drag the (now unpotted) plant behind the house...
> 
> ...


Lol. At least mine left the roots below ground.


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## WIBackpacker (Jan 9, 2014)

There are plants that I can't grow in my own yard because my dogs eat them, and an even longer list of plants that I don't design into my dog-owning client's projects... 

Not because they're poisonous (that's a separate list) but because dogs seem to find certain plants irresistible.  

Lots of ornamental grasses (feather reed grasses, avalanche grasses, some sedges, etc), hyssop, catmint, bee balm, some others - lots of things in the mint family. Quince, when it fruits - the dogs chomp right past the thorns (!) and eat them raw. Cucumbers and cherry tomatoes seem to be particular favorites. And forget even trying to grow wheatgrass within canine (or feline) reach. Asparagus ferns (after the vegetable shoots are past their prime).

I get lots of feedback from clients about what their pets graze on (or scarf down to the ground). Interesting stuff.... dogs definitely do seek out certain plants.


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