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In a hurry? Scroll down to find the recipe cards for my Bone Broth and Veggie Mix to pin for later. And CLICK HERE to read about the health benefits of fermenting vegetables for dogs.
We found a new holistic vet, and I took Rodrigo and Sydney in for a wellness check. Rodrigo walked away with a clean bill of health. He has inflammation in his joints, but that was expected and being treated with Canine System Saver, Bonnie & Clyde fish oil, and a raw diet.
Sydney, on the other hand, has an under-active thyroid, which has contributed to the difficulty in helping her lose weight*. Our veterinarian gave me a crash course in hypothyroidism (which Sydney doesn't have) and made several recommendations. As a result, I've made the following changes to his diet.
- Life Line Ocean Kelp (which is great for thyroid health)
- Add more vegetables to Sydney's meals.
I was adding an all-natural vegetable supplement to Sydney's diet; a tablespoonful a day. However, her vet says that this isn't enough. Our vet wanted me to make 1/3 of Sydney's meal vegetables (the serving suggestion on the supplement is significantly less). I increased the amount of supplement to Sydney's meals, but this meant that I went through several containers a week which was outside my budget.
Following my vet's recommendations, I realized that I needed to make a vegetable mixture myself.
Vegetables I'm Adding to Our Dog's Meals
The following list is from a print out that our veterinarian gave to me. When we were going over the vegetables, our vet checked off which ones I should focus on for Sydney's diet, with a few notes. I'll be building a container garden this spring with the following vegetables:
Beets and Green Tops: Beets are a natural detoxifying agent, high in copper, manganese, and potassium. May color urine and feces. Choose dark red bulbs with dark, bright green tops. Process, blend, or grate bulbs and tips together. Serve no more than once a week.
Kimberly's Note: At this time, I do not add beets; while I understand the health benefits, I think it's too much sugar and I prefer the carrots.
Carrots and Green Tops: Carrots are high in fiber, beta-carotene, potassium, and vitamin “C”. They are naturally sweet, and most dogs and cats adore them. Include bits of the green tops when processing.
Kimberly's Note: I do add carrots and green tops, however, I do this every other month. It's no longer a steady part of my veggie mix.
Greens: Greens are high in vitamin “A” and “C” and fiber. Choose from a variety including kale, collards, Swiss Chard, endive, parsley and dandelion greens. Select small, bright green leaves; avoid wilt.
Kimberly's Note: Our vet recommended that I focus on kale and Swiss Chard for Sydney
Pumpkin: Pumpkin is high in fiber, vitamins “A” and “B”, calcium, copper, magnesium, potassium, and zinc. Process or blend with or without the rind. Pumpkin, like most squashes, retains most of its nutrients even after baking or steaming.
Kimberly's Note: I only add pumpkin to my dogs' meals on occasion to help with diarrhea or constipation. This hasn't been a concern for a while and I prefer Olewo carrots to treat diarrhea.
Squash: Summer or winter, squash is very high in nutrients, and most animals love it. For summer varieties, such as zucchini, choose bright, shiny, firm skins with stems intact. Peel winter squash (Acorn, Danish, Hubbard, etc..) rinds before processing.
Kimberly's Note: I do add squash along with zucchini.
Sweet Potatoes: Sweet potatoes are high in vitamin “A”. They are beneficial for lung ailments and have lung cancer-fighting potential. Choose firm, brightly colored potatoes. Process with skin intact.
Kimberly's Note: I do not feed sweet potatoes to my dogs.
Salad Veggies: This includes lettuce, cucumbers, spinach, and garlic. Lettuce has little food value; better to choose from more nutritious greens. Raw garlic should be fed in small amounts. Use spinach sparingly-it's oxalic acid content reduces iron absorption.
Kimberly's Note: I feed spinach, but I haven't tried cucumbers yet.
Fruits I'm Adding to Our Dogs' Meals
The below fruits were recommended by our vet from the same document as noted above.
Apples: Apples are packed with vitamin “C” and pectin. Pectin is a powerful detoxifier, reducing the risk of heart disease. Because it slows the absorption of sugars, it is beneficial to animals with diabetes. With the exception of avocados (don't give to birds), apples are the only fruit that may be mixed with vegetables. Apples are best when in season. Leave skin intact.
Kimberly's Note: I don't understand the rule not to mix fruit, other than apples, with vegetables. Instead, I only add fruit when they're in season.
Bananas: Bananas are rich in potassium and magnesium. They are soothing to the gastrointestinal tract and, for this reason, are beneficial for diarrhea and irritable bowel syndrome. Because bananas absorb pesticides more easily than most fruits, choose organic bananas if possible. They are ripe when speckled brown.
Berries: Berries are rich in vitamins “A” and “C”, potassium and fiber. Check your pet's stool to make sure they can assimilate berries. When choosing strawberries try to buy organic. Like bananas, strawberries are often contaminated with insecticide sprays.
DIY Vegetable Blend for Our Dogs
With four dogs, I could no longer afford the all natural vegetable supplement, I attempted to make a vegetable mix using the notes from my veterinarian and recipes from other raw feeders.
In my first attempt, I added the following vegetables, roots, and supplements. Please keep in mind that I'm not a nutritionist.
DIY Vegetable Mix for Dogs (ingredients optional):
- one bunch of organic spinach or collard greens
- one bunch of organic kale
- one bunch of organic parsley
- one bunch of organic celery
- one bunch of organic carrots with greens
- one organic apple
- 5 organic zucchini
- 1-2″ of ginger (purchased a root and cut an inch or two off)
- 1 whole lemon, with peel
- 3-4 tablespoons of local raw honey (or 2-3 tablespoons of bee pollen)
- 1/4 cup of Flora4
- 1/4 cup of green lipped mussel
- 1 tablespoon of ground kelp
- 2-3 cups of bone broth (made with turmeric)
Sydney loves it. She's been eating her food with more vigor since I started adding the above mixture, which J named Jenga-Juice for Dogs, to her food. Next time, I'll be adding blueberries to the mix.
Click Here to see a video of my girl in action.
What You'll Need to Create Supplement
I used the following tools to mix up 10 pounds:
- knife (CLICK HERE to learn more about the knives I use)
- cutting board
- 8 quarter mixing bowl (I started with the blue bowl in the image above, it wasn't big enough)
- Nutri-Bullet (or blender)
- wire whisk
- 2-cup Rubbermaid containers
It takes about 30-45 minutes to chop, blend, and mix everything. I then pour it into the Rubbermaid containers or ice cube trays and freeze. Super easy.
Creating Bone Broth
I store several containers of bone broth in the freezer. I order my bones through our local raw food co-op and store them in a dedicated freezer.
Cost and Storage of My Veggie Mix for Dogs
COST: It costs less than $25 to pick up all of the ingredients for my natural vegetable supplement and I was able to make enough to last almost a month. Instead of spending $100 a month, I'm spending $25 a month, which is well within my budget. At the moment, only Sydney is getting the vegetable blend. I will be creating a larger batch later this month and adding it to all of our dogs' food.
STORAGE: The supplement is ladled into 2-cup capacity Rubbermaid containers; each container holds 1-pound of supplement. I store the supplement in the freezer until needed.
DISCLAIMER: My recipe is similar to several recipes available online that have been created by raw feeders. The ingredients I used are a blend of information from our holistic veterinarian, my friends Tina B and Nikki R, and a raw feeder I follow named Kayak S.
Have More Questions About My Veggie Mix?
You're not alone! I received several questions which inspired a blog post to clarify my veggie mix to readers.
CLICK HERE to read the most common questions about my veggie mix.
Alternative Recipe for My Vegetable Mix
- Spinach
- Parsley (2 bunches)
- Collard greens
- Kale
- Celery
- Zucchini (2 large)
- Broccoli
- Oysters (2 cans)
- Garlic (5 cloves) – Yes, it is safe
- Cremini mushrooms (20)
- Bone broth (4 cups)
- Golden paste (1 cup)
- Green lipped mussel powder (1 cup)
- Kelp (6 tbsp)
*2018 update: Sydney's blood work revealed that her thyroid is healthy; however, I haven't changed her diet and supplements beyond reducing the amount she eats.
And CLICK HERE to read about the health benefits of fermenting vegetables for dogs.
Absolutely, Dennis. Lighting steamed is great and I bet your dog loves it because the heat brings out more odors of the food. Lucky dog!
I feed lightly steamed and chopped vegetables. Is that ok or should they be blended.
Hi Douglas, this blog post doesn’t recommend adding tomatoes, eggplant, or potatoes to a dog’s diet. I did write it a while ago so I may be missing something. Can you clarify where you see that I’m suggesting these things so that I may correct that? I don’t add these three foods to my dogs’ diet and I’d had to mislead anyone.
I’m a clinical nutritionist (human) and recommend avoiding Lectins and nightshade vegetables for a healthy human gut biome. Some of those are included above and I do not purport to understand canine digestion but are these foods a concern for a dog?
Hi Ally…
When it comes to my veggie mix, there isn’t a recommended dosage; I mix it into my dogs’ food when doing meal prep for several days. I add about a pound per every 8-quart bowl of raw dog food. I don’t feed my dogs THK products so I can’t speak to how balanced the food is for dogs. The only way to truly know if your dog is getting everything she needs is to either send the food in to a lab to have it tested or to do a nutrient test for your dog. I did the ParsleyPet Nutritional Blueprint test and all of my dogs tested great: https://www.keepthetailwagging.com/parsleypet
How do I know how much I should be feeding my dog per day? She is 10 months and about 44 lbs.
Also, I currently feed my pup honest kitchen chicken and usually add in chicken breast or eggs, fish oil and coconut oil, and probiotics. Is this truly that much healthier, is my pup not getting everything she needs from HK? She is a paradise fire rescue so she spent almost a month out there inhaling all that bad air before she was found. I worry about the long term effects of all those carcinigens and want to make sure I am nourishing her body well.
Hi Kyle…
I don’t add the vegetable mix to each meal, instead, I mix it into big batches of raw when doing meal prep. I make vegetables about 5% of my dogs’ diet. You can add as much or as little as you’d like depending on how much of your dog’s diet you want to be vegetables.
How much do you give of your diy vegetable mix? And how long will it last? Green juju looks great but I’m wanting possibly cheaper option and no bone broth
Today, I ferment vegetables for my dogs and don’t add lemon, but when I was making my first few batches of veggie mix, I added lemon because I was told that it’s good for dogs with arthritis.
Hi Kimberly,
I was wondering why you suggest adding 1 whole lemon (rind included?) to the veggie mix? Is this for a health benefit, or perhaps to help preserve it?
I’m new to raw feeding, and all the information I’ve been getting recently can be so overwhelming!
Thank you so much!
Hi Kimberly. Thanks so much. I never know what are good sources and I’m new to the wazzuor co op just a couple of months.
Hi Amy – I order bones when the lamb order and emu orders come up.
Hi Kimberly.
Can you tell me which brand you go with on the co op for the bones you use for your bone brother
Just cook them in a minimal amount of water and the nutrients are in the water. Then include that water as part of the veggie mix. Your ideas re: fermenting, which I haven’t read yet, probably do the same thing – that is, that canines and felines simply canNOT digest raw fruits & veggies (see above comment). No matter how many how many comments here are saying ‘oh, my missy loves raw …’ that’s irrelevant. Kids love candy – I love snickers bars… that does not mean they are good nutritionally.
No cooking does not destroy the nutrients for dogs need – it destroys it for what people need. People’s mouth’s and their saliva and longer digestive tract mean that we process our nutrients from raw veggies thru our saliva and longer digestive tract. Canines do NOT have masticating teeth nor the type of saliva we (or ruminants or veggie-eating rabbits have similar digestive ‘mouth-juices’ as humans) have — they canNOT digest raw veggies; they must be cooked at least some just like the contents of a rabbit’s or a deer’s stomach.
I’ve found vegetables to be a low calorie food overall, therefore, I don’t count them in the calorie count. However, you can find calorie amounts through a Google search or by visiting the USDA site and going through their food database.
I feed my guys on a calorie-based diet. How many calories would 2-3 “human” tablespoons actually be? Trying to get a good conversion for a 9lb toy dog. Maybe just 1 tablespoon on top of her regular meal? Or should I remove some of her main meal to ensure we’re Not going over in calories?
Yes, I do. I have heard the same thing about meat and vegetables, however, I think that while freezing does decrease the nutritional value, I don’t think it does it so much that it takes away their benefits.
I heard that the nutritional content in veggies gets lower with the amount of days in the frig or even the freezer. So if you freeze your veggie concoction for a month, do you think it has any nutritional value left?
I add two or three larger spoonfuls to their raw meals (not the regular spoon, but the slightly bigger one).
How much of the diet % is veggie mix in your raw?
It stays in the fridge for a week; I usually use it for less than that because I have four dogs.
How long does the mix stay fresh refrigerated?
I wonder if it reduces the life of a crockpot so I’ve been paying attention to the interior to make sure it isn’t flaking away. With Christmas coming, I’ve added a new crockpot and pressure cooker to my wish list 🙂
I really like the interior of the pressure cookers; it’s not ceramic. I’m hoping to find the same thing in my next crockpot.
Better safe than sorry.
I have read and researched that if you use things like tomatoes or apple cidar vinegar in your crockpot, it leaches things from the crockpot so I have always avoided cooking things like this in my crockpot. Any ideas or your own experience?
Thanks …
Was the vet handout also where you saw hard to digest veggies? Or is that a problem you picked up on observing yours? Have you ever read anywhere not to use nuts? Not macadamia 😉
I’ve never added nuts to my mix.
The note not to mix fruits with vegetables comes from the document that my veterinarian gave to me – it’s not something that I follow.
I make my own vegetable/fruit which is no where near perfect or balanced I just buy different veggies every week and try to mix it up so he gets different colors. First time reading about hard to digest peppers and tomotoes… My Brody is a fan and would eat them without me obliterating them… so?? curious?? I recently began adding nuts. I used pistachio last week and am on to almonds this week. Very high it seems in V E and manganese which seems hard to get those into his diet. Anyone else try the nuts? I vitamix all of it together so it is obliterated. I mix it in with his egg and offal and he laps it up. Kimberly you said not to mix fruits and veggies?? I’m curious about that. I use low glycemic fruits like the berries… the banana has me curious?? I may try that, but what reason for the not mixing part? Thanks
Thanks for sharing. For beets, its says only to give them sparingly. Do you know why not to give them all the time?
I do feed raw and have several posts and pages that discuss raw feeding. I make my own raw because it’s more affordable that way. I’m feeding four dogs and can’t afford premade for that many mouths.
What else do you feed your dogs besides the bone broth and vegetable mix? Did you also feed them a raw meat diet? Do you make that too? I have a golden that I’m just started feeding raw in the last few months, he has a very sensitive stomach. I’m doing freeze dried dehydrated lamb, along with fresh ground lamb, but that also is getting very expensive. I am very intrigued by your vegetable recipe.
Certainly; you may print it for personal use.
I would like permission to copy and use the vegetable and fruit lists you included here and the recipe for making a homemade veggie supplement.
Cool. I will join. “The Chocolate Gang” thanks you for all your great ideas and thoughts and links to the products. Not sure how I found you in the first place, but I have never come across a blog with so many ideas I want to use and I was in the pet industry for many years.
Wazzuor services Oregon and Washington. It’s about $30-$35/year to join and it’s saved me buckets. I buy 99% of my pet stuff (toys, food, treats, supplements, etc) through our co-op. You can find them here: http://www.wazzuor.com
You won’t be able to see products and prices unless you join. The only tough part for me was getting used to the ordering schedule. It’s not like Amazon where you can order whatever, whenever. You have to wait for the order to come up.
We are in Portland. Just how local is your local raw co-op?
I used to breed parrots. They ate a lot of fruits and vegetables. The parrots used to “train” the dogs by giving them a command (come, sit or stay) and then giving them a reward for complying. All of our dogs thought of fruits and veggies as treats and it’s been passed on from the older dogs to the younger dogs. Of course, this meant the birds only got grapes or macadamia nuts under strict supervision.
Hi, I order green lipped mussels through my local raw food co-op. You can also order them online at Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/2bkWzTa
Where do you find the green lipped mussel?
I just added blueberries to my last mix and the dogs loved it. I was worried that the change would turn them off. So far, I’ve only tried apples and blueberries. I’m researching the benefits of other fruit to add more variety.
I need to start making this for Uno, as he’s gotten older, I found out that he no longer does best on prey model raw and gets gurgly stomach in the middle of the night which results in him waking me up and wanting to go outside and eat grass. Do you add any berries like blueberries or cranberries to your mixes?
It is great, Cathy! I’m always excited about seeing how well our dogs are doing. This week, Rodrigo had something in his diet that didn’t agree with his system. I could tell by his behavior and his poop. I made a change and he was back to normal the next day. I love how simple it is to help him.
I have been feeding raw for 15 years. I grind whole chickens and make a mince. In the past, my veggie mix included green beans, zucchini, blueberries, sweet potatoes, and some chard. I am now rethinking and reformulating to mostly all greens..with no sweet potatoes( high glycemic and carbs), and keeping the zucchini amount low. We just our 15 yr. old Jack Russell to sleep in Dec. she had itchy paws as a puppy,and she is what got me into raw. We kept her atopy under control with diet. We just adopted a 8 yr.old JRT with ear infections,raw red belly and genital area. I am now rotating proteins(adding beef, turkey and buffalo)…After 3 weeks on my diet…ears are clean, belly is almost completely healed. Oh, the power of food! Ain’t it great!
About 2-3 tablespoons (the big spoon humans eat soup with, not the measuring spoon). I made my third batch this weekend, adding the turmeric to the bone broth (10 minutes before it was finished cooking). That made a big difference. On the last batch, I added a 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar.
How much do you feed a day for the jenga juice?
Great questions. I was feeding Olewo beets daily and didn’t notice anything terrible about it. I think there’s got to be something about the source and how they’re processed that makes it okay. Plus they’re dehydrated so we’re not giving as much as we would be if we were adding fresh beets. But I’m not 100% certain.
Now, I only add beets a few days a week to our dogs’ meals. It took some time to figure out what worked for each dog. I still feed them Olewo carrots too.
Poppy loves fruit and veggies. I used to do an assortment, but switched to just the Olewo Carrots and Olewo beets to supplement her commercial raw patty. I’m thinking I really need to take Poppy to a veterinary nutritionist. Are you not feeding the Olewo products anymore? Poppy’s stool has been great since I switched to the carrots and beets. With chunks of steamed veggies (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower etc.) it was a bit soft. You mentioned beets should only be fed once a week? Does that mean the Olewo beets shouldn’t be fed daily?
my baby girl loves beets! I always give her some when I am eating them but she doesn’t eat them regularly.
I didn’t realize that apples were beneficial for dogs with diabetes either. So many new things to learn.
No, cooking destroys the nutrients in the food, so everything is fed raw; I just blend it up and mix in cold bone broth if I have any on hand.
we are a big fan of baby carrots!
Are you cooking the veggies? I cook in the crock pot with some water for 10 hours, then blend up with the self made veggie broth. I was told something about cooking made it easier for the dogs to absorb the nutrients? I also add in carrots. They seem to help Sunshine’s belly issues.
I didn’t realize apples were beneficial to dogs with diabetes…very interesting. I give my four boys a bite of fruit almost every morning because I usually have some sort of fruit for breakfast myself.
I’ve usually avoided fruit in any quantity because of Chance’s diabetes…I may have to rethink that and whip up some pureed apple bites for my boys.
Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
I do add fruits and veggies to my dog’s diet some that I add are carrots, pumpkin, butternut squash, green beans, blueberries, bananas, and apples.
My dogs love bananas, apples and pumpkin. Otherwise it is a pain to get them to eat produce.
Beets definitely discolor stool…speaking from personal experience…
I got email with your reply to my comment but I don’t see my comment. I tried some spinach, Brussel sprouts – green stuffs. It smelled way too strong even for me.
I am in awe of the time you dedicate to making these healthy concoctions for your dogs! Ruby loves almost all veggies, Boca thinks it is so obvious they are good for her (meaning, not that tasty).
Do you remember what you put in it to get a strong smell? Mine puree just smells like veggies; not strong at all.
Raw puree? I tried that but it has such a strong smell, none of the dogs wanted to have anything to do with it.
We have tried adding broccoli and spinach
Our kids love fruit, no issues there but MAN, they know when those veggies are snuck in!
My Boykin Spaniels love most veggies. We need to try this!
Less than an hour 🙂
How long does it take you to create a batch of the supplement?