Ask a group of keen raw feeders about fruits and vegetables, and you’re likely to start something towards a riot.
The issue is controversial, and this is partly because we simply don’t have the proper, peer reviewed scientific data to say “yes or no”. We don’t at present have a clear gold standard diet for dogs, despite what some of the big processed food manufacturers might like us to believe.
There are strong arguments for and against fruit and vegetables. Take Tom Lonsdale’s Raw Meaty Bones and Ian Billinghurst’s Give Your Dog a Bone as examples, the authors are the godfathers of raw feeding. We certainly know that processed food is detrimental to ourselves, so why would it NOT be to our dogs?
I am no scientist, and take a very simple common sense approach, which has been expanded over the years from work by my great friends and mentors Nick Thompson and Isla Fishburn as well as many, many others.
I have learned what dogs absolutely mustn’t have and what can cause problems in certain dogs. I have learned to offer choice wherever possible. This isn’t always possible for practical reasons of time and space, or advisable as you need to be certain that your dog’s diet is balanced over time. The safest way to do this until you are very knowledgeable and confident is to feed a selection of PFMA approved prepared meals with differing protein sources.
I follow the wise, practical and simple approach advised by Nick Thompson of having one third of my dog’s diet (over time, not at each meal) include a variety of seasonal green leafy vegetables, seasonal fruits (especially berries – which my dogs mostly pick themselves in the autumn in the form of blackberries), nuts, seeds and herbs. (The other two thirds being muscle meat, and raw meaty bones – offal is included in the final third).
Why do I feel so strongly about this?
Well, firstly, all the dogs I have lived with as an adult have frequently helped themselves to vegetables in the kitchen ! I have a broccoli thief and an asparagus fiend at present (my third dog hasn’t developed the habit of theft, she waits to be offered or steals from the boys!). They particularly enjoy kale; sometimes spinach is acceptable, sometimes not; cabbage of all varieties is rarely safe. For reasons of self preservation, I keep my veg out of reach, but offer a selection to the dogs.
Secondly, my dogs do have more controversial items such as squash, beetroot, carrots or parsnips – these are controversial as they are more starchy, and therefore not strictly required, but I take the simplistic view that I don’t “need” chocolate, and yet I enjoy it from time to time, and it has useful nutrients (if you choose the right sort!). There is a lot of truth in the saying “variety is the spice of life” and if I am preparing something my dogs are interested in (and it’s safe for them), then they get some.
I am confident that my dogs have all the micronutrients they require because they have complete meals from Cotswold RAW several times a week and a wide range of other food items. On less busy days, they have meaty bones and/or the chance to choose from a few fruits and vegetables, and a selection of herbs and other nutritional substances. They are great fans of certain grasses (I’m trying hard to spot exactly which, so I can plant the right ones in the garden!) and will forage for seasonal herbs themselves on walks (cleavers are a great favourite, less so with me as it’s a pain removing the seeds from dangly ears) and they adore hay cobs designed for horses ! They only have ones made from unsprayed meadow hay, with no fillers, just to be clear.
I absolutely agree that dogs are carnivores (I may not be a scientist, but that is very obvious looking at their skulls) but my own dogs, and those of so many other people have convinced me that it would not be right not to offer them the chance of fruits and vegetables and the variety of nutrients, textures and approaches to eating that they require. If a dog didn’t want them? That’s fine, I wouldn’t worry.
My evidence that I’m doing the right thing?
I lost my beautiful Glas a blue merle working sheepdog at just short of 17 years, and my present three are all mercifully fit and well at 13 this month, 13 next month, and older than 14 with the exception of some arthritic change as they were all working dogs in their prime.
Sadly, I see much younger dogs with multiple problems (and don’t get me started on their teeth) in my work as an RVN and whilst I realise that my evidence is not scientifically acceptable, I have had enough dogs in my life to see a difference. My first dog, Tess, had the misfortune to be with me as a newly qualified Veterinary Nurse, and was put to sleep aged 9 riddled with invisible cancer in her abdomen. That started my questioning of what I was being taught was the best food and I still beg her forgiveness for my ignorance.
I certainly make mistakes (whole brazil nuts being a memorable example, let’s politely say that dogs don’t chew them, and so they emerge much the same as they go in !!) and I’m sure that I will change things as I learn more.
But I will also remember one of my proudest moments being when I showed Nick Thompson my dogs’ food diary at a formal consultation, and he commented that he could usually drive a coach and horses thorough food diaries, but mine was exemplary!
Morag