8 Fall Foods Safe for Your Dog or Cat

With the cool weather, festive activities, and holiday celebrations, we all love indulging in the wonderful things that fall brings with it, including tasty treats! But these sweet treats and savory feasts aren’t just for us. There are a variety of fall foods that are safe and even healthy to share with the four-legged members of your family. Your pet is sure to be thankful as you celebrate the season together!

Healthy Fall Foods You Can Share with Your Pet

With the help of sites like 24petwatch, Pet Poison Helpline, and Cedarcide, we’ve compiled this helpful list of safe and unsafe foods for your pets. As you’re carving your pumpkins, heading to the apple orchard, or preparing Thanksgiving dinner, here are some healthy pet-safe foods that will have your dog or cat asking for seconds!

Pumpkin

As a staple of the fall season, pumpkin is safe for your dogs and cats to enjoy too! Full of fiber and low in calories, unsweetened pumpkin is a great, guilt-free snack. Pumpkin is even suggested for pets year-round to relieve constipation and help with diarrhea. Additionally, as you’re carving your pumpkins, set aside the seeds to toast in the oven as a treat for later, but be sure to leave these unseasoned!

While fresh pumpkin is the best, canned pumpkin works too! However, don’t share any of your delicious pumpkin pie with your pooches or felines, as pumpkin pie filling contains added sugars and spices that aren’t good for them.

Sweet Potato

Like pumpkin, sweet potatoes are a fall staple with numerous health benefits for your pup. While they help digestion, sweet potatoes are also packed with vitamins and minerals that help prevent disease and infection, including vitamin A which promotes healthy skin, coat, and eyes.

Meanwhile, though cooked sweet potatoes are safe for cats, raw ones aren’t, and even the cooked don’t make a particularly great snack for them. So it might be best to avoid this one for the kitties.

Turkey

Turkey is a savory addition to any Thanksgiving spread, and it’s great for your pets! Rich in nutrients and protein, turkey is a pet-safe delicacy that will surely make any furry friend drool.

Nonetheless, caution should be used when slipping your dog or cat some turkey under the table. Never give your them turkey bones to chew on as these can easily splinter and cause internal bleeding. Only feed them white meat from the turkey and avoid fat, dark meat, and skin, as these fattier parts can cause upset stomachs and acute pancreatitis.

Apples

As you stroll through the orchard this fall don’t forget to bring a few apples home for the furry members of your family! Just as they’re good for you, apples are an ideal healthy snack, especially for dogs or cats looking to trim their waistline. Whether you offer them as a treat or add them to your pet’s diet, apples are a low-calorie treat packed with antioxidants and vitamins that can aid in digestive and degenerative conditions. Apples can also help keep your pets’ teeth clean and breath smelling fresh.

It should be noted, however, be sure to wash your apples thoroughly and remove the core and seeds before feeding them to your pets as these portions contain cyanide. Also, remember to keep grandma’s famous apple pie and candied apples to yourself. Apple pie filling and caramel contain sugar and other additives that aren’t healthy for pets.

Cranberries

While some pets may be turned off by their tart flavor, cranberries are an antioxidant-packed treat that’s safe for your cats and dogs. Fresh, cooked, or dried cranberries are great for improving your pet’s urinary health.

Avoid cranberry sauces, juice, or sweetened cranberries often found around the holidays, though, as these are high in sugar and may contain other ingredients unsafe for your pets.

Green Beans

While you’re preparing your famous green bean casserole, don’t hesitate to drop a few off the counter! Fresh or sodium-free canned green beans are a great source of protein for cats and dogs. They also contain vitamins and iron that support the immune system and promote overall blood health.

Only toss your pet a green bean before you’ve mixed them into your casserole. The additional ingredients are unhealthy for your pets, so green beans should be given as a treat on their own.

Peanut Butter

Who are we kidding? Peanut butter is a delicious treat any time of the year! Packed with fiber and protein, peanut butter is the perfect treat for your four-legged friends and can even be used to disguise those pesky pills they so consciously avoid in their food bowl.

Just choose a peanut butter that does not contain xylitol, which is harmful to pets, and be sure that they don’t get into any peanut butter Halloween candy. Also, for cats it’s best to limit portions to small bits to avoid any possibility of choking due to the peanut butter’s stickiness.

Carrots

If it’s time to reap the harvest of your home garden, add a few carrots to your pet’s plate! Raw or unseasoned cooked carrots are a nutritious, low-calorie snack that supports your pet’s vision and heart. Crunching on raw carrots is great for your pet’s teeth and gums, but just be sure to cut them into bite-sized pieces.

Dangerous Fall Foods for Your Pet

While there are many tasty fall treats you can share with your pets, there are a few that you should definitely steer clear of when it comes to your furry friends. These common fall foods are dangerous to cats and dogs:

• Chocolate and Halloween candy – Chocolate and many candies contain toxic substances that can be fatal to dogs. After a successful night of trick-or-treating, be sure to keep your hard-earned candy out of reach of pets and check your lawn for stray pieces left behind.
• Onions and garlic – Due to toxicity, onions and garlic should never be given to dogs. So before you prep your pooch’s plate, make sure it doesn’t contain onions or garlic in any form!
• Spicy or fatty foods – Spicy or fatty foods can cause digestive problems and other health issues. Feed your pet unseasoned foods and avoid giving them the fatty parts of your main dish.

Even as we stare at the big tempting bowl of Halloween candy, remember, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Always be sure to feed new foods to your pet in moderation to avoid stomach upset, especially when trying them out for the first time.

Pet Palace Is Here to Help This Holiday Season

If you’re reluctantly leaving your pets behind to go out of town for the holidays, contact Pet Palace today because we’ll treat your pets like the kings and queens they are!

Interested in making sure your furry friends are looking their best when guests come over? Check out our cat and dog grooming services. And for more tips and tricks for caring (and spoiling) your pets, check out the Pet Palace blog.

Categories: Cats, Dogs, Pet Safety