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Holiday Pet Tips

What People Foods Can I Feed My Pet?

The following article is courtesy of our partner, Banfield Pet Hospital. Used with permission.

High-quality pet foods are the best thing to feed dogs and cats. They do not require variety in their diet the way people do, but sometimes that cute little face is too hard to resist. If you have a pet with special medical needs, please check with your veterinarian before feeding any people food.

The No. 1 rule for people food is: If you wouldn't eat it, don't feed it to your pet. This includes raw meat, fat or grease from cooked meat and questionably fresh or spoiled food.

Things you can feed in small quantities:

Veggies: Cooked fresh is best, but if you are using canned veggies, find cans with no or low salt. Stay away from gas producers like cabbage and limit dark leafy greens and broccoli. A great choice is green beans; most dogs love them. Green beans are loaded with vitamins, low in fat/calories and available in cans year round. Small amounts of raw carrot is another well-liked veggie.
Fruit: Fresh fruit is best, but do not serve grapes or raisins. Apples are great since they are healthy, available year-round and reasonably priced.
Cooked grains like rice and barley: Leave out the butter and salt. Watch the quantity as grains are relatively high in calories.
Lean cooked fresh meat: Don't serve lunchmeats since they have a lot of salt and other additives. Good choices are chicken and turkey without the skin.

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