g’s ability to chew. As a result, your canine may swallow it, resulting in a choking hazard. Therefore, ensure to cook the stalks and feed them in smaller pieces.
- Upset Tummy:
Consuming raw asparagus can upset your canine’s digestive system. Hence, it has to be cooked to reap the nutritional benefits. However, as asparagus is rich in fiber, you have to feed it sparingly to your dog to avoid gassiness and diarrhea.
Additionally, asparagus is often cooked in oil or butter and maybe loaded with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and cheese that can make your dog sick.
- The Asparagus Fern and seed pods
The asparagus fern comes from the asparagus plant. When these plants flower, they produce small red berries. Both these parts of the plant are said to be toxic to both plants and human beings. If consumed, they may cause the following symptoms in dogs:
- Stomach pain
- Unpleasant Urine and changed stool color
Asparagus contains asparagusic acid, which breaks down to sulphur containing by-products once it is digested. These sulphur by-products evaporate almost instantly the moment your dog pees, giving it an unpleasant smell. Additionally, your dog’s stools may also turn green as a result of eating asparagus.
How Much Asparagus to Feed Your Dogs?
In general, vets recommend incorporating up to 10% raw vegetables to your dog’s diet. To start with, you may begin adding smaller pieces to your canine’s diet and wait to see how she responds to it. Then, a generalized rule for respective dogs will be as given below:
|Breed size||Daily Amount to feed|
|Small Dogs||1-2 tsp|
|Medium Dogs||2-3 tsp|
|Large Dogs||1-2 Tbsp|
However, do remember that asparagus has to be fed sparingly to prevent your dog from developing any digestive issues due to its high-fiber content.
How to serve asparagus to dogs?
There are different ways to serve asparagus to your dogs as an occasional treat. But before feeding them in any form, you need to carry out the below-mentioned steps to ensure better digestibility. They include:
Remove the fibrous end of the stalk
Make the asparagus chewable and digestible by following any one of the following processes:
- Sautéing in a healthy fat
The above processes help break down the cell wall to get the nutrients into your dog.
Add small pieces to their food.
Alternatively, these small pieces can be used as toppings over your dog’s daily meal or can be hidden between their puzzles and toys.
- Cook asparagus as homemade treats in a low oven or dehydrator. However, avoid dressing the vegetable with salt, pepper, oil, butter, cheese, garlic or onions.
- Another way to feed asparagus to your dogs is to cook the bite-sized pieces of asparagus and other vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes in bone broth.
- Cook rice in chicken broth. Once done, add chopped asparagus and cook for another 10 minutes to get some tasty dog risotto.
Other Asparagus Recipes for Dogs:
- Sweet Potato Casserole:
- ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 2 large carrots
- 1 apple
- 1 can low-sodium drained and rinsed kidney beans
- 2 tbsp coconut oil
- Preheat your oven to 350.
- Scatter some coconut flakes over a parchment-lined sheet
- Bake them to a toasty brown for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Wash, peel, roughly chop and steam the vegetables until soft.
- Cool the veggies and keep them aside.
- Rinse kidney beans to remove excess sodium.
- Combine the beans and veggies in a food processor.
- Drizzle some coconut oil and add the spices to the combination
- Garnish with the toasted coconut and serve.
- Chicken Pot Pie Bites
- 1 cup cooked and finely diced turkey or chicken
- 2 ½ cups flour (AP flour, Wheat, or Oat flour will all work well)
- ½ low or no-sodium chicken broth
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup frozen mixed peas and carrots or leftover plain veggies diced
- Preheat the oven to 350 ºF (175 ºC).
- Combine the flour, meat, and spices in a bowl.
- Add the broth and mix thoroughly.
- Now add eggs and mix for the dough to hold together.
- Fold in the veggies without mashing them.
- Divide this dough into halves and roll out.
- Cut out using a cookie cutt