Feeding Your Dogs with Lettuce: Benefits of this Leafy Veggie?
There have been concerns about the dietary matters our dog is facing, do all types of food allowable for them? What are the benefits of letting them eat table food? How about some veggies, what are good and what are not? In this article, let us try to find out what might occur whenever we feed our dogs with lettuce.
Almost all human foods are pretty dangerous to our furry friends out there, but a few out there can also be beneficial. Let us try to have the first thing on the list – the lettuce. Is lettuce terrible for dogs, or is it safe?
I have listed several topics that can help you ponder whether to continue feeding your dogs with this crunchy veggie or not. Here are some:
- Nutritional Content of lettuce
- Is lettuce good or bad for your dogs?
- Benefits and risks
- Raw against cooked lettuce
- Tips!
Nutritional Contents of Lettuce
Lettuce is an annual plant of the daisy family. This type of veggie is grown as a leaf vegetable, but in other cases for its stems and seeds. Lettuce is only one of the common ingredients in the salad but can also be your pet’s favorite treat. Let us try to look at its nutritional content to decide whether to feed this leafy food or not. It contains 15 grams of calories in every 100 grams. Only .2 percent grams of total fat, 1.4 grams of protein, Vitamin C content is 15%, and 3% calcium. Your daily values of this vegetable may be higher or lower depending on the amount of the calorie your dog only needs. So, make sure to always put a desirable amount into your dog’s daily diet to avoid unavoidable circumstances in the future. It is always best to have something in moderation, most especially that your dog can’t talk, so better give him a bit of what he only needs.
Is lettuce excellent or bad for your dogs?
Indeed, dogs can eat lettuce, and only in moderate portions won’t probably hurt your pet’s stomach. Certainly, this crunchy veggie is one of the healthiest food your dog may take in a day, and this can serve as an alternative treats for your fur-baby.
Lettuce contains lots of minerals and vitamins, which are all necessary to your dog’s well-being, and it is also shallow in calorie content and, of course, a good source of fiber that might help proper digestion to your dog. So, to answer the given question, YES, your dog can eat lettuce – but in moderation as always.
However, other dog owners can’t justify how beneficial it is among dogs, although the fact can’t be denied that it is healthy for them. The challenge only is how adequate it is to sustain your dog’s health in general. The public benefits a dog might have on eating lettuce is also dependable on some existing factors like how this veggie is prepared, are there modern ways of planting this that might also be harmful to your pet. In this case, it can be argued that its benefits are not only limited when it is already eaten, and that is why it might be hard to consider how adequate this is among dogs.
Even though lettuce is suitable for your dogs to eat, as the dog owner, you should also be considerate of your dog’s total well-being. Giving too much of this will give your dog an upset stomach that might lead to skipping meals for a day, vomiting, even diarrhea, so always start with a small amount of feeding before proceeding to a large quantity.
Two Sides of the Coin: good and bad!
If you want a direct answer to why lettuce is good or bad for your dogs, take some seconds to finish reading this portion of this article.
One good thing a dog might have in eating lettuce is that it is a good source of fiber. Fiber, as we all know, is a contributing factor to the proper digestion of food. This can help your dog digest the food he intakes. Also, it contains essential vitamins and nutrients necessary for a growing puppy, and even for those aging ones! Third, it has a low amount of calories and fat, which are then a good part of your dog. Lastly, this can also be used as a healthy treat for your fur baby. But then again, always remember to have it in a small portion, little by little!
I suppose those things mentioned above are pretty clear regarding the benefits a dog can gain in eating lettuce or taking lettuce as part of his daily diet. Next is on the wrong side of feeding your dogs lettuce.
Generally, this lettuce might be tough to digest for some other dog breeds, especially those that are not well-oriented to eating any veggies. However, this is not only the case since some dogs can eventually adapt their eating routine depending on how food is prepared. Second, this might also lead to diarrhea. Since it can’t be digested easily, one possible effect is facing a sudden stomach upset leading to diarrhea in the worst-case scenario. Third, although it has a meager amount of calories and fat, this cannot still substantiate the idea of being healthy to dogs since it has a minimum amount of other minerals and vitamins which your dog might need in more oversized intakes. These are only some of the bad things you might encounter every time feeding your dog with lettuce.
Whatever is the side here, one thing is for sure, always take some extra precautions every time feeding your dog, especially if it is a vegetable. And also, make sure to always contact your vet about whatever things you observe in your dogs. Observe how your dog will react after eating or taking lettuce in his bowl.
What should it be: raw or cooked lettuce?
This topic will also open a debate on how the lettuce will be served to your loved dogs. Will it be raw or cooked? Is there a hairline difference feeding this in two separate ways? Let us try to find out here!
The first thing is that there are so many types of lettuce. Others might be good as raw while others need to be cooked. For our furry friends, Any lettuce can be fed to them provided that this has no other contents that might be toxic to their health. So, always wash them before serving them to your dogs. All of these types of lettuce contain high content of water and fiber.
When it comes to either raw or cooked, you can feed both for your lovely dog. The only thing that you should never forget before serving this is that this should not be mixed with some dressings like salt, pepper, oil, and other things that might cause severe digestive problems to your dogs. Generally, raw or cooked are both okay, but whenever it is paired with something dangerous to your dog’s health, never feed it to them! These dressings may contain many ingredients that can critically harm your dogs. So, avoid this thing to help save your dog in some future incidents that might occur.
If you want to give your dog some portion of lettuce, cut it first into small pieces so it will be easier for it to digest. You can serve them in a crunchy or raw, even cooked just without adding some salt, pepper, other spices that might offer some severe problems.
Tips!
Every time you introduce new food to your dogs, always start with a small amount or portion. This way, they will not be overtaken by excitement looking at their food bowl full of food. Always let them wonder something, especially when it comes to giving them food on their diet. If you want to add lettuce to your dog’s diet, it is a good sign to consider the benefits your dog might get. But as mentioned above, its amount of nutrients are not well sustained to give your dog a full-blown health booster. So, it is your choice to add this to your dog’s daily diet or provide it as a healthy treat whenever necessary.
So long that you have it all in moderation, no need to worry about it. Anyway, your dog’s life is not only confined to eating. Go and take him outside to play along, paired with a proper daily diet. With this, for sure, your dog will live a healthy and worthy life.
