Fruit and vegetables make excellent low-calorie treats, and they are the easiest way to give a dog on a diet something substantial. A few are dangerous, and several are fine except for one part.
Everything here assumes the ten percent rule: treats and extras stay under ten percent of daily calories.
Safe vegetables
Carrot. Raw or cooked. Excellent training treat, satisfying to chew, and very low calorie. Cut into sticks rather than coins for large dogs to reduce choking risk. Frozen carrot sticks are good for teething puppies.
Green beans. Plain, fresh, frozen or tinned without salt. The vet’s standard recommendation for bulking out a weight-loss diet.
Broccoli. In small amounts. Contains isothiocyanates which can irritate the gut in quantity, so keep it to a few small florets. The stalks are a choking risk in large pieces.
Cauliflower. Small amounts, cooked. Causes wind in some dogs.
Courgette. Raw or cooked, very low calorie.
Cucumber. Mostly water, excellent in hot weather.
Celery. Crunchy and low calorie. Cut into short pieces — the strings can be a problem in long lengths.
Peas. Fine in moderation. Avoid tinned peas with added salt.
Pumpkin. Plain tinned pumpkin, not pie filling. Useful fibre for both loose and firm stool. One of the most genuinely useful foods on this list.
Butternut squash. Cooked, plain.
Sweet potato. Cooked, plain, no skin. Higher in calories than most vegetables.
Potato. Cooked only. Never raw, and never green or sprouted — solanine is toxic.
Spinach and kale. Small amounts. Both contain oxalates, so avoid in dogs with a history of calcium oxalate bladder stones or kidney disease.
Brussels sprouts. Safe, and famously productive of wind.
Lettuce. Harmless, minimal nutritional value.
Bell peppers. Deseeded, no stalk.
Safe fruits
Blueberries. Easy to portion, antioxidant-rich, most dogs love them frozen.
Strawberries. In moderation, hulled.
Raspberries and blackberries. Small amounts.
Apple. Flesh only. Remove the core and pips — apple seeds contain cyanogenic compounds, and the core is a choking and obstruction risk.
Pear. Flesh only, no core or pips.
Banana. A couple of slices. High in sugar.
Watermelon. Flesh only, no seeds or rind. Excellent frozen in summer.
Melon — cantaloupe, honeydew. Flesh only.
Mango. Flesh only, stone removed — mango stones cause obstructions.
Peach, plum, nectarine, apricot, cherry. Flesh is fine; the stones must be removed. They are a choking and obstruction risk and contain cyanogenic compounds. Given how small the flesh benefit is, many owners simply skip these.
Pineapple. Fresh, small pieces, no skin or core.
Orange and other citrus. Small amounts of flesh are safe but acidic and often disliked. Not worth the effort.
Coconut flesh. Small amounts. High in fat.
Never feed
Grapes, raisins, sultanas, currants. Cause acute kidney failure in some dogs. The toxic dose is unpredictable — some dogs eat a handful with no effect, others die from the same amount — so any ingestion is treated as an emergency. This includes Christmas cake, mince pies, fruit scones, hot cross buns and trail mix.
Onion, garlic, leeks, chives, shallots. Damage red blood cells, cumulatively, and cooking does not remove the risk. Hidden in stocks, gravies, curries, pizza and baby food.
Avocado. The flesh is not a major toxicity risk for dogs, but the stone causes obstructions and the fat content is high. Not worth offering.
Mushrooms, other than plain shop-bought ones. Wild mushrooms include species that are lethal, and identification is not a job for a dog owner in a field.
Rhubarb leaves. High in oxalates.
Tomato plants — leaves and stems, and green unripe tomatoes. Ripe tomato flesh is fine.
Raw potato, and anything green or sprouted.
Macadamia nuts, and nuts generally — high fat, choking risk, and some are toxic.
Portions, realistically
For a 10kg dog with a 50 kcal treat allowance:
- Roughly half a medium carrot
- A generous handful of green beans
- About 10 blueberries
- Two thin slices of banana
- A few cubes of watermelon
Vegetables are forgiving on calories. Fruit is sugary and adds up faster than it looks.
Preparation
- Wash everything, particularly if not organic
- Remove stones, cores, pips, seeds, skins and stalks
- Cut to a safe size for your dog. Large hard chunks are a choking hazard
- Cook starchy vegetables, which are poorly digested raw
- Introduce one at a time, in a small amount, so you know which one caused a reaction
Where they earn their place
Weight loss. Replacing part of a meal with green beans or courgette gives a dog a full bowl for almost no calories. This is the single most useful application.
Training treats. Carrot and cucumber for easy exercises, saving the high-value food for hard ones.
Enrichment. Frozen carrot, frozen watermelon, vegetables in a puzzle feeder.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you — it helps keep this site free. We only recommend products we would use with our own dogs.
LickiMat Wobble Slow Feeder Lick Mat
Plain tinned pumpkin or mashed banana spread on a lick mat and frozen turns a few calories of fruit into twenty minutes of occupation.
Fibre, where pumpkin or psyllium is recommended for digestive or anal gland problems.
What they do not do
Vegetables are not a substitute for a complete and balanced diet, and adding large quantities to a formulated food dilutes the nutrient balance.
Keep them under ten percent, subtract them from the meal, and treat them as what they are: a cheap, healthy way to give your dog something to chew that will not make them fat.
If your dog eats something on the dangerous list, ring your vet immediately with their weight, what was eaten, how much, and when. Do not wait for symptoms — with grapes and raisins in particular, the window for effective treatment closes before signs appear.
