Broccoli is a staple vegetable when it comes to dinner time, and while it’s tempting to share your plate with your fellow furry friend, it’s important to make sure what you’re eating is safe for them as well. So, before sharing your dinner plate with your pup, you may be wondering, is broccoli good for dogs?
In short, yes, dogs can eat broccoli. Broccoli is among the safe foods dogs can eat, and it may even offer some health benefits. Let’s take a deeper look into the benefits of broccoli.
The benefits
Broccoli has a high nutritional value and is packed with loads of vitamins and high fiber. The fiber contents found in broccoli help aid in healthy digestion and weight management, making this a great addition to a dog’s diet that may need to shed some extra pounds. Broccoli is also packed with vitamins C, B, D, E and K, which can help to promote your pup’s overall well-being.
Broccoli is also a vegetable that contains high sources of lutein that supports eye and heart health and other antioxidants that can help act as an anti-inflammatory and help support other digestive issues.
Feeding broccoli to your pup is a wonderful way to soak up the nutritious benefits of veggies in your dog’s diet and incorporate more high-quality human food into your dog food recipes. However, one thing to note is that broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable which has a reputation for causing gas, so don’t be alarmed if the vegetable makes your pooch particularly gassy.
Important to note
Feeding raw broccoli in small quantities to your pup will allow their digestive system to adjust to the vegetable and absorb all of the nutrients without getting a stomach ache. However, if you are not careful, feeding your dog large amounts of broccoli may cause them an upset stomach. Broccoli contains isothiocyanate, which is a naturally occurring compound that can cause mild digestive issues, including stomach upset and gas. Therefore, portion control is important when it comes to this veg. When including new foods like broccoli in your dog’s diet for the first time, it may be helpful to cut it up into small pieces to allow them to digest it and see how they feel after.
Moreover, feeding your dog small pieces of broccoli is also important as it can be a choking hazard if the pieces are left too big, especially for small dogs.
Cooking with broccoli
There are so many ways to incorporate broccoli into your dog’s diet. For example, on our recipe page, we used up-cycled broccoli stems as an addition to one of our recipes, and it made the perfect treat for our pup. By using leftover stems, we were able to make use of the entire vegetable and provide our pup with the nutritious benefits broccoli has to offer. You can check out our recipe here for some inspo.
Another great way to incorporate broccoli into your dog’s diet is by making vegetable soup. We recently made doggy vegetable broth by taking various leftover ends of vegetables, including broccoli stalks (and some florets) and cooking them in a pot with a few dog-friendly seasonings to make for the perfect dog treat. Although this recipe isn’t posted yet (it will be soon!), this can give you another idea of the many ways broccoli can be used in your next recipe.
Not interested in cooking up your own recipe? That’s fine! We got you covered. Our Dog Child Mixed Veggie mix includes all the benefits of broccoli that your dog may need. Did you know broccoli carries the highest amount of vitamin K found in any vegetable? This can help improve bone density and will keep your pup active for longer! By using our meal mix, your pup will be able to see the benefits of including broccoli in their diet in the easiest way possible. It’s so important we take care of our dog’s health just as we do ours, and we want to make it easier than ever for you. You can shop our veggie meal mix here and try it for your pup today!
