Your pet’s health should always be your number one priority. As a responsible pet owner, you should be the one who’ll manage everything that goes into their mouth from day one.
Ideally, you should only feed your pet nutritious food, such as fruits and vegetables. However, take note that not every single one of those is safe for your pet to consume as some can actually be detrimental to their health.
Here’s a list of healthy fruits and vegetables your pet can eat:
1. Avocado
People usually consider avocados as dangerous for pets to consume. While that can be partly true, there are only specific parts they should avoid, as this post explains.
If you’re going to feed your pet with some avocadoes, avoid giving them the avocado pit, skin, and leaves. While those parts seemingly look harmless, they’re actually toxic, which can put your pet’s life at risk.
Avocadoes can be great pets treat or an addition to their diet. However, no matter how great the health benefits they can provide for your pet, you should avoid serving them in large amounts as too much can always be unhealthy, especially for your pet.
In addition, it’ll be helpful if you could give your pet fresh avocadoes as store-bought guacamole could have additives, such as onions and spices, which can be toxic for your pet to consume. With fresh avocadoes, on the one hand, you can ensure that they’re entirely safe for your pet to devour on.
2. Carrot
Carrots are one of the essential vegetables that you can easily purchase from grocery stores. What’s more, they’re great stuff to feed your pets, too!
For cats, you need to steam them to make them more chewable. However, for dogs, you don’t need to cook them as the firmness can help with their oral health, allowing them to have a stronger set of teeth.
Feeding your pet carrots is a good choice as they’re low-calorie and low-fat treats, which you won’t feel too guilty about if you accidentally provide them too much. Along with this, carrots are also high in vitamin A, which can help improve their vision and immune system.
3. Banana
Another common fruit that you can easily purchase is banana. You can guarantee that your pet would enjoy consuming bananas as they’re sweet to taste due to their high sugar content. With that, you need to limit how much you give your pet. Also, you should only treat bananas as treats, and not a part of their meal.
Bananas can provide plenty of health benefits for your pet as they’re high in potassium, responsible for allowing their muscles and nerves to function properly. Bananas are also rich in vitamin C and copper, which their body needs to maintain healthy bones, nerves, and blood vessels. These can also help form red blood cells in your pet’s body.
4. Apple
Apple is another healthy fruit snack favored by a lot of pet owners. However, while apples can be tasty and can provide added health benefits to your pet’s teeth, you should be careful and avoid giving them seeds as they can pose a choking hazard. Along with this, they’re also a toxic component to your pet.
Apples aren’t only delicious, but they can also allow your pet to obtain various types of nutrients that their body needs. They’re high in vitamins A and C, which are responsible for giving your pet a clearer vision, along with repairing body tissues, especially if they’re frequently sickly.
One of the best nutritional values your pet could get from apples is their high fiber content, which can help with their digestive system. However, you should refrain from giving them too many apples as doing so may cause constipation, which can bring them so much discomfort.
5. Pumpkin
If you’d like to give your pet a nutritious vegetable that’ll go well with any meal, you can never go wrong with pumpkin. A pumpkin has a light taste that your pet wouldn’t find surprising or overpowering. It’s important to note that some pets don’t like intense flavors in their meals as they prefer to have them bland and neutral. Having said that, feeding them pumpkin would always be a great idea.
A pumpkin contains plenty of good health benefits for your pet. They’re rich in vitamins, fiber, potassium, beta-carotene, zinc, magnesium, and calcium. Now wouldn’t you like your pet to get these benefits in a single serving? Along with the health benefits a pumpkin provides, it’s also a low-calorie food, which is great for those pets who are trying to lose weight.
When serving your pet some pumpkin, you should avoid giving them a pumpkin pie filling as it usually has added sugar and spices, which can be toxic to your pet. To ensure safety and the best results, you should serve one at home, where you cut the pumpkin open yourself.
6. Broccoli
Broccoli is a good source of fiber and vitamin C, as well as low in fat. However, even if it contains excellent health benefits for your pet, you should limit their broccoli intake and must only be served in small quantities as it can upset their stomach.
When your pet consumes too much broccoli, it could lead to diarrhea that might put them at risk of dehydration, which can be, sometimes, fatal. Ideally, you should serve broccoli in small pieces, without the stems, for easy chewing.
Conclusion
As you want the best for your pet, it’s only normal that you want to feed them fruits and vegetables as they’re high in vitamins and minerals that your pet would surely benefit from. However, not every fruit and vegetable is safe for them to consume. You need to find out the specific danger factor for your pet so you can avoid offering them the wrong foods, which can put their life at risk.
While you’re looking after your pet’s health, it’ll be great if you could adorn your place with pet-friendly décor so both you and your pet would have a great time hanging out in your living environment.
