In my quest to find simple, healthy, pup-approved treats to stuff in the Kongs, I’m taste testing various fruit & veggie combinations.
As you can see, today’s combo consisted of half a banana, a handful of blueberries, a drizzle of local honey and some plain yogurt.
There was enough of the mixture to fill both the Squirrel and Kong Extreme with extra leftover for an individual pupsicle cup!
Yes, that is frost on the squirrel and Kong – we keep them in the freezer now. So now any time we open the freezer, the dogs come tearing into the kitchen and expect a yummy treat. Talk about Pavlovian Response…
In case you want to experiment with some recipe for your own dog, here is a list of fruits, veggies, and condiments that are safe and dog-approved.
Fruits: Apples (as long as you remove the seeds), blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, pears, mangoes, and watermelons.
Veggies: Carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, pumpkin, green beans, broccoli, parsley, most leafy vegetables, and zucchini.
Condiments: plain yogurt, peanut butter, cottage cheese or honey. Mashed up lentils will work as well to bind the fruits or veggies together.
Test your own recipe and let me know what combo YOUR dog prefers!
** Please keep in mind that, as with any treats, you should only feed them to your dogs in moderation! If you haven’t been feeding fruits and veggies to your dog, then please introduce it slowly to your pooches’ diet. **
8 comments
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September 12, 2011 at 8:54 AM
Anita
This is great! I was actually randomly thinking yesterday “can dogs eat blueberries?”. I also freeze my kongs and have been stuffing them with apples and canned pumpkin (good source of fiber). I will for sure try these recipes!
September 12, 2011 at 9:05 AM
Crystal K.
We love to feed our dogs fruits and veggies from our garden. Our foster dog especially loves melons — he even goes into the garden and grazes on the melon leaves.
September 12, 2011 at 10:38 AM
Kate
Great list! We’ve been getting lazy and have just been using peanut butter, but we really need to get back to using some healthier options.
September 12, 2011 at 11:39 AM
Kirsten
Puts to shame my peanut butter and dry dog food pupsicles! I want to get more fruits into my mutts’ diets–this is a great idea!
September 12, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Alex Hurowitz
We feed our Pit (not the one we are fostering) a RAW diet. There is alot of bag and forth on fruits and veggies needed in their diets. Most RAW advocates will tell you they do not need fruits and veggies and they are strictly meat eaters. I believe this to an extent. However, I will certainly give both our dogs a couple blueberries, raspberries a piece of an apple everynow and then. My only advise is people need to be careful with how much fruit is given to their dogs due to the sugar content in fruits. It can certainly cause things like diabetes etc (I even confirmed this with my sister who is a vet and is anti raw).
September 12, 2011 at 12:54 PM
Aleksandra
Thanks for all the great ideas. I also want to point out that combos that seem gross to us (peanut butter, shredded chicken, and strawberries?) are still delicious to dogs. So if you don’t have enough apple sauce and bananas to fill the kong, it’s fine to mix it with some kibble and toss it in the freezer. Just one of many fabulous things about dogs 🙂
September 12, 2011 at 6:13 PM
Two Pitties in the City
This looks so great! And so timely…we’ve been trying to recreate our gelato in Italy experiences, and while I’ve made good things for us, I never had a recipe for the pooches.
September 13, 2011 at 10:05 AM
rottrover
Hi!! That looks like MY breakfast!!
Anyway, Aleksandra sent me over to co-ordinate the “turtleneck” prize! I’m very excited. I love the idea!!
-Lisa
-my e-mail is on my blog…