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They're a healthy snack that is said to improve eyesight but also turn you orange if you have too many of them - carrots. We know that carrots love them (or at least that's what many mornings of Sunday cartoons as a child taught me), but what about your pup - can dogs eat carrots?
They sure can! In fact, carrots are not only healthy, they're one of the safest snacks for dogs because every part of them is safely edible. Cooked, raw, or what have you - dogs can most definitely have carrots. While they should of course be part of a balanced diet, you can nonetheless feel good about carrots as a snack.
Carrots are absolutely good for dogs. They're affordable and nutritious, and because they're low in calorie you don't have to be especially concerned with overfeeding Fido. That's on top of the fact that most dogs love the crunch they provide, so if you need a training treat, a cut up carrot is the perfect thing. You can also just sprinkle some diced carrots onto your dog's food to give it a little something fresh.
From a nutritional perspective, they have minerals like beta carotene (you may have heard of this as the thing that turns your skin orange if you have too many carrots, but as long as you don't overdo it, it's also good for you and your dog) and potassium, as well as vitamin A and vitamin K.
While carrots are quite nutritious and low in calories, they do have some natural sugar. For that reason, it's important to make carrots a part of a balanced diet for your pup. Veterinarians typically recommend that snacks of any kind make up no more than 10% of your dog's diet, and event though carrots are good, they're still part of that 10%.
For small enough dogs, carrots can also present a choking hazard. You can always cut them into small enough pieces that they don't present a risk or puree them, but supervising your dog while she eats carrots is always best.
Dogs can have carrots, and you can feel great about giving them as a snack. There are lots of ways to feed them - we love freezing large carrots to make them into big chew toys. Alternatively, you can cut up some carrots into small pieces, put them in a Kong with peanut butter and freeze for a nutritious, long-lasting treat.
Dogs can have raw carrots as well as cooked carrots, provided they're not cooked in anything unhealthy. Stay away from the oils and spices - just cook up carrots plain. Steaming or just microwaving is a great way to soften them up a little bit if your dog doesn't have strong teeth.
As good as carrots are, though, if you're wondering whether dogs can have carrot cake, the answer is definitely no. Too much sugar makes that really unhealthy and not appropriate for your pup. But hey, that's okay - you didn't want to share that cake anyway.
