Mixing apples with food?

[CincoandDahlilasgirl]

I've heard that mixing apples with food is a good way to keep ur dog healthy but what is there certain apples I shouldn't use? Should they be cooked or not? I wanted add some to my dogs food but wasn't sure about how the apples should be.

[TDG]

you can add any kind of regular table apples raw or cooked, depending what your dog tolerates better. also, variety is a good thing, so give other fruits and veggies as well. :)

if you feed them raw, you will have to pulp them really well in a blender or juicer tho, since dogs can't break down plant cell walls. so you'd basically be making a raw apple sauce for them.

if you feed them cooked, the best way to preserve nutrients is to either bake the apples or steam them over boiling water in a steaming basket. if they touch the water, nutrients will leech out and be lost unless you feed that water as well.

no matter if you feed apples raw or cooked, please remove the core and seeds. they can cause dogs to throw up and the seeds are not healthy.

if you feed your dogs commercial food (especially kibble) don't overdo it with adding apples (or other fruit and veggies), since the most important thing in a dog's diet is protein and fat. extra fruits and veggies add carbs and fiber, which can interfere with nutrient absorption in the intestines if you give too much.

[imported_Kat]

Just remember no sultanas, raisins or grapes when you are adding fruit. These are lethal to dogs and cause kidney failure!

[CincoandDahlilasgirl]

That shoots that I have to get a blender 1st. What about oranges?

[CincoandDahlilasgirl]

[quote name='gigishiba'][quote name='CincoandDahlilasgirl']That shoots that I have to get a blender 1st. What about oranges?[/quote]

Blenders are cheap. I got one at Wal-Mart for under $20.....I just looked on line and of course, they only show the high end ones...They did show one for $21.

Target.com show a "personal" blender for $14.99 (web only) and regular one for $19.99.

bedbathandbeyond.com had one for $19.99

kmart.com has one for $19.99

biglots.com had nothing I could look up.


But I swear the one I got from Wal-mart was $15-17.....[/quote]

i plan on going to walmart cuz i don't have a credit card (not 18) i wanted to get 1 for my mom for xmas but dad never picked it up...fathers...hehe

[TDG]

be careful with oranges and any other citrus fruit, they are very acidic, not harmful in small amounts, but it can be irritating to the stomach. many dogs don't even like them.

[CincoandDahlilasgirl]

Don't mean to be bugging u guys with questions but what about peanut butter? I've heard different things like some say it's good and some say it's not good for dogs or does it just depend on the dog? I've owned dogs for my whole life only had the internet for about 1 year now.

[TDG]

peanut butter is okay too - in [b]reasonable amounts[/b].

you need to be aware of two things:

1. many popular brands of peanut butter contain a lot of sugar or corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and so on. look at the ingredient list and avoid brands that have a lot of weird stuff added. real peanut butter contains nothing but peanuts and salt. examples for brands you want to [b]avoid[/b] are:

- skippy
(roasted peanuts, sugar, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, salt)

- jif
roasted peanuts, sugar, molasses, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, mono- and diglycerides and salt

2. peanut butter is very high in fat. one tablespoon contains around 90-100 calories. if you know the amount of calories your dog consumes daily from regular food (not counting snacks), you can judge how much is safe to give per day. for an inactive 20 lb dog for example one tablespoon of peanut butter equals about 1/5 of their daily caloric intake and would be way too much.

[CincoandDahlilasgirl]

What bout this PB called Pan or peter pan or something like that?

[TDG]

i don't know all the brands in existence. you need to check the ingredient label. :) if there are a lot of things included that you've never heard of or can't pronounce, chances are it's probably not good. lol

personally i only buy the "real" stuff simply because i feel better eating it and giving it to my dog, and also because i don't want to waste money on products that have a lot of cheap ingredients that aren't healthy.

for anyone who needs a brand suggestion - i buy laura scudder.

[CincoandDahlilasgirl]

Woa I forgot all about this topic lol. Sorry for the long wait on a reply.

[Shannon_C]

[color=darkred]Most dogs seem to enjoy eating fruit, whether it is a few mouthfuls of a piece of fruit that their owner is eating, the skins and cores of such fruit as apples or pears, or many that live near apple, plum or nectarine trees, grapevines or berry canes, seem to almost live on fruit that they pull off the trees themselves.

Fruit is a natural food that dogs in the wild would find and eat so there is nothing wrong with a dog eating fruit, within reason!

Any fruit eaten in excess could upset your dog's stomach and cause diarrhoea, cramps, gas, allergies, or severe gastrointestinal problems - in the same way as it can affect people who eat too much fruit.

For a young, healthy dog, a few "snacks" should be fine as long as your dog still has a normal stool. It can be difficult to stop a dog from over-indulging in windfall fruit that is constantly accessible. Many will enjoy fruit so much that they continue eating it, even though they develop diarrhoea.

If it becomes obvious that your dog is eating far too much fruit, the simple remedy is to keep windfall fruit off the ground or keep your dog away from the fruit trees until his/her stomach returns to normal, then restrict fruit eating to one or two pieces daily.[/color]