When you think about feeding your dog certain human foods from fruits and vegetables, did you ever ask yourself the question “can dogs eat beets?” this may not be the first thing that comes to mind. You might tend to think about other more common foods such as pineapple or broccoli, just to name a couple.
But, sometimes you may be preparing a salad with a certain recipe that requires you to make use of some beet and your dog’s hanging around you while you’re preparing everything, or you may even be a beet lover yourself and may think about sharing some beet with Fido as a treat.
Health Benefits Of Beets
In all cases, beets are known to be extremely healthy for you and I, and if you’re a beet lover like I am, you’ll attest to that first hand, especially when it comes to lowering bad cholesterol levels!
And, as with everything that gets touted as the “next best thing” in the health community (which is the same case when it comes to peas), we soon enough start asking ourselves whether or not the same health benefits apply to our dogs the same way they apply to us.
So, can the same be said for our petss? Beets are very healthy for you and I to eat, but can dogs have beets? Are beets good for dogs? Are beets safe for dogs?
We’ll be answering all these questions and much more in this article, so stick around and read along!
Can Dogs Eat Beets?
YES! Dogs can eat beets safely in moderation. Dogs eating beets occasionally can be a healthy addition of minerals and vitamins such as vitamin C, fiber, folate, manganese, and potassium to your dogs diet. The ASPCA has specifically stated that beets are in no way, shape or form toxic to dogs.
Guidelines To Beets For Dogs
You can go ahead and feed your canine a few bits and pieces of beets now and then, after you properly wash them and choose to either serve them to your dog in their raw form or have them cooked.
Feeding your dog raw vegetables isn’t always a good idea – while feeding them raw beets is fine in this specific case, feeding your dog raw eggplants, for example, is a terrible idea.
Just make sure you never feed your pup any pickled or canned beets, as those are just loaded with high amounts of sodium that should never make their way inside your dog’s system, unless you want them to suffer from serious health problems and possible die because of sodium toxicity, which I’m sure you don’t want.
We always advocate against dogs eating canned food made for humans (which is apparent in this article about dogs eating beans), since it almost always contains very high levels of sodium, as well as preservatives and additives that do a whole lot of harm for your pet.
However, and as you’ll be reading about in the next section below, you should really think about whether or not there’s any solid reason for you to be going out of your way to feed your dog beets.
Are Beets Good For Dogs?
The fact of the matter is, even though you can safely feed your dog some beets every now and then perfectly fine, there’s really no need to go out of your way and do so.
Beets may be very beneficial to you and I, but our furry friends’ bodies and digestive systems don’t function the same way ours do, which means that they don’t benefit from beets the same way we do.
At first, it may seem like you’re doing your dog a huge favor by feeding them something as healthy as beets, but it’s really not worth your time to go out of your way to properly prepare beets and serve them to your canine so they can eat.
Not that beets will actually harm your animal’s health, that’s not the case at all, it’s just that you’re going to be focusing so much time and energy into something that will barely benefit your dog.
You’re much better off focusing on the main principles your dog’s diet should revolve around, and that’s high quality dog food that gives them all the protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins and minerals that they really need each day.
If you feel like spicing things up a bit in your dog’s diet, you can feel free to vary the recipes of dog food that you buy for them, but make sure to stick to the same food brand to avoid possible negative reactions from their system. (As they say, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it).
But both ways you shouldn’t really feel the need to vary things in your dog’s diet, because they aren’t like you and I and they don’t mind eating the same food on a daily basis.
You and I might mind eating chicken for each and every day for the rest of our lives, but your canine won’t mind eating the same dog food every day for the rest of their life.
That’s part of the differences in nature between dogs and humans.
So, going out of your way to feed your dog beets really won’t do any good for your dog in terms of health benefits.
However, feel free to do so anyway in moderate amounts if you’re looking to spice things up a bit and offer Fido a new treat they haven’t had before, or if you’re preparing some food and following a recipe that makes use of beets and Fido is right there begging you for some so they can try it out.
Other than that, the cornerstone of your dog’s diet should be meat, meat and then some meat.
Not some vegetable or fruit, just meat. This is what dogs were meant to eat, and this is what they’ve been eating all along, so why try to change that now after all these years.
Beets And Dog Food Companies
If you were to study the ingredients list of many dog food formulas and recipes out there available on the market today, some of which are best sellers, you’re going to find a few that have beets included as a prominent ingredient.
Many dog food manufacturers try to play a mind game with consumers where they know that the average consumer knows for a fact that beets are a very healthy food, and hope that the inclusion of beets in their product will make you think that it’s of very high quality for your dog as well.
We’ve talked about this in previous dog food product review articles, such as in this review article about 4health dog food, as 4health do make significant use of beets in their products.
In reality, ingredients such as beets add no significant nutritional value to any dog food product, and are only there to serve as a marketing gimmick in order to have you believe that a certain product is of very high quality.
All this while the manufacturing company is saving up on a whole lot of costs because they were able to use something as inexpensive as beets, and didn’t have to use other expensive products that actually benefit your dog nutritionally.
Beets And Iron Deficiency
Because beets are packed with very high amounts of iron, beets and beetroot juice are very often recommended for people that suffer from iron deficiency to eat and drink.
And, just like everything that gets recommended for us humans, you’ll soon enough find an identical recommendation about it for our dogs, which is true in this case as many people also tend to recommend that canines which suffer from iron deficiency should also be eating beets in order to increase the iron levels in their blood.
We would just like to point out that this is a very bad recommendation, as are any other similar recommendations that are made out of “logical thinking” and not coming from qualified veterinarians.
The only time you should ever listen to a dietary recommendation for your dog, whether it’s because of an illness they’re suffering from or just to improve their overall health, should be when you consult with your veterinarian about it.
If it’s coming from an unqualified individual who doesn’t have the necessary professional experience to give such advice, take it with a grain of salt.
Iron deficiency is most certainly not treated by dogs only resorting to eating beets, they need a proper diet, medication and supplements to solve this problem.
Learn more about iron deficiency, or anemia, and how it affects your furry friend: