Click ii Why Dogs Eat Grass and get instant information about your pet's craving  for live food but think pesticides and fertilizers when you turn them out to graze on that lovely lawn you work so hard to maintain.  Your dog’s immune system, overall health and reproduction cycles will improve when given fresh, wholesome, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables. 

What about grain?  Did you ever see a wolf, fox, or bear grazing in a corn or wheat field?  I’ve said this many times but it “bears” repeating.   The first thing dog's first cousin seeks after his long winter sleep is fruits and veggies.  That's right, in spring bears go about the serious business of cleaning out their systems and replenishing nutrients, not with meat, but with vegetation!  All wild carnivores dig up roots, eat herbs and grasses, and pluck berries.

• Strawberries probably contain up to 65 different pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides, one of which may be methyl bromide which causes neurological damage.  Organically grown strawberries have much more flavor, important to you though less so for your dog.  He savors food through the scent glands.

• Bell Pepper plants are sprayed up to six times, plus fields are sprayed with methyl bromide before planting to “sterilize” the soil.  Cook or sauté them for the dog stew.

• Spinach is typically infected with aphids and mildew which require so much spraying that over 50% of conventionally grown spinach contain highly toxic pesticides.  Although extremely high in calcium, go a little easy on this, as with turnip greens and collards but kale is worth the washing.

• Cherries are wonderful treats.  Birds and insects love them too!  They are also prone to fungus and viruses, i.e. lots of spraying. Best to shop for organic cherries of all varieties.  Yummy!

• Peaches are not as easy to grow as you might think.  In fact, they are sprayed weekly from early spring through the last picking in late summer.  Fresh from Georgia and South Carolina orchards, peeled...

• Nectarines, like all stone centered fruits, are sprayed continuously and because they are expensive even when canned, it’s better to buy fresh organic.  Skip the sugar in canned.

• Grapes are often imported from Chile.  They are fumigated with methyl bromide to kill bugs and fungi before entering the country. Wash thoroughly, then toss them to your bait-catching dog.  Prick the skin so the scent is stronger.  Roll them across the floor for puppies.

• Raspberries are the product of synthetic fertilizers used to grow bigger berries in addition to an array of pesticides to kill bugs and fungicides to prevent mildew in the crevices.  Skip them completely.

• Apples get something called apple scab disease, plus fungus.  They are sprayed constantly! But trust me, even on first offering, dogs love McIntosh, Pink Lady, even Gala!!!  Buy organic and peel them.

• Pears are sprayed almost as much and with a wider mix of over 50 chemicals because they are soft skinned and highly attractive to insects including fruit flies. Pears are not as attractive to dogs.

• Celery takes in a lot of ground-water which includes toxins already there.  Celery tests particularly high in pesticides, several of which are known to be carcinogenic. Use only in home cooked “dog stew” because, well, only primates and humans eat it raw.

• Potatoes.  Like Ireland, America loves them.  Before planting, fields are sterilized with fumigant which also kills friendly microbes that till the soil in a healthy way.  Then the eyes get sprayed with insecticide to protect the tender green shoots that emerge.  Next they get a general herbicide to kill weeds, then synthetic fertilizers every week to insure rapid growth and quick harvest and an assortment of insecticides and fungicides as they grow.  Best advice when you consider how much we love this dietary staple, buy organic! I included potatoes because you love them and I wanted you to be aware of how they are grown.  They are okay but not a vital part of a fresh food diet for dogs or cats.

Organically grown foods are safest but some conventionally grown products are not as risky as the above list.  It’s a matter of economics; pesticides don't work as well on some things so are used less often or in diluted strengths.

Use all of the above but the safest fresh foods in the order in which your pet will relish them are: garlic, carrots, pineapple, peas, asparagus, bananas, broccoli and cabbage.

NOTE: Roadside stands may be a source of locally grown produce but you should know that a lot of “veggie stand” produce comes off the same truck that delivers to your grocery store chain!

by Barbara Andrews courtesy of ShowSight Magazine 0904

http://www.thedogplace.org/Nutrition/Grass-Fruit-Veggies_Andrews.asp #10121111