Content
- Legumes in dog food
- How to include legumes in the dog's diet
- Legumes are not the most important food for the dog
You might want to give your dog a natural and homemade diet or that you want to supplement the nutrients you receive with the pet food with another type of food, which is an excellent idea, as more and more nutrition-expert veterinarians claim that a dog cannot eat only dry food.
Although it is appropriate to plan a homemade and natural diet for dogs, it is a very common mistake to extrapolate the same diet that we follow for our pet. while it is true that both anatomically and physiologically we have some similarities, the digestive systems of both species also have very important differences.
If you're planning changes to your friend's food, you may have already wondered, Can dogs eat pulses? In this article by PeritoAnimal we give you the answer and remove all your doubts about this topic.
Legumes in dog food
Legumes are actually the seeds that plants belonging to the legume family contain, such as chickpeas, lentils, soybeans or peas.
It is an exceptional food as it confers proteins along with carbohydrates of complex absorption, that is, rich in fiber. But, can our dog benefit from these same properties? The answer is yes.
Let's see below how legumes help maintain the health of our dogs:
- Maintenance of important structures: by providing a good amount of protein, legumes help the dog to keep strong structures as important as muscles, tendons, ligaments, skin and hair. These nutrients are also necessary for the immune system and cell repair.
- intestinal transit regulated: the inclusion of legumes in the dog's diet will help to increase the volume of feces, keeping the intestinal transit regulated and preventing the obstruction of the anal glands. The fiber that legumes provide also acts as food for the beneficial bacteria that are naturally found in the dog's intestines.
- Lots of energy with few calories: Legumes provide energy in the form of proteins and complex carbohydrates, but their caloric value is very moderate, being especially useful for treating overweight puppies without them noticing a drastic change in their diet.
How to include legumes in the dog's diet
It is preferable to use soy or chickpeas and obviously these must be well cooked, acquiring the consistency that makes the legumes suitable for human consumption.
If your puppy has not tried these foods before, it is essential that you gradually include them in your diet, as a sudden change could lead to rejection or gastrointestinal discomfort.
Legumes can be mixed in the same meal with meat, but we should not mix it with conventional feed, since natural foods and feed have different digestion rates and this can interfere with the proper functioning of the dog's digestive system.
The ideal is to bet on occasional homemade recipes or following a daily homemade diet, which should be supervised by the veterinarian.
Legumes are not the most important food for the dog
Legumes are an excellent food for your puppy, but be careful when interpreting this information as a dog's diet should be based primarily on animal proteins, in fact, these must provide more than 50% of the caloric content received through the food.
If the dog's digestive system is prepared for the assimilation of carbohydrates, this is due to its long domestication process, since for example the wolf or foxes that live in the wild do not digest this type of food well. For this it is important that if we decide to use the legumes to feed our furry friend, we do so in the proper proportion.
