 The Short Answer is:
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The leaves of cauliflower are edible to dogs. As a source of vitamins and minerals dark green vegetables are very healthy. |
In this research you will know the answer to the query “Can Dogs Eat Cauliflower Leaves?“.
Even though it may seem shocking intonnes of food are wasted each day in America.
Approximately one pound per person.
Thats what makes me think about waste when I see numbers like that.
Cauliflower leaves are often fed to my dogs.
One reason is that I hate waste (and my wife would not eat them) but another is that as a green leaf I figure there must be a lot of goodness in them.
However I am not familiar with the details.
What do you think? Lets find out shall we?
Can dogs eat cauliflower leaves?
The leaves of cauliflower are edible to dogs.
As a source of vitamins and minerals dark green vegetables are very healthy.
Although cauliflower leaves are not dark green they are green and so must contain some nutrients.
Where do these vitamins and minerals come from?
The nutrition in cauliflower leaves
Almost all foods can be found with nutritional information these days.
This site is useful to me.
However cauliflower leaves stumped me.
These leaves have been analyzed by some scientists in India so I am able to use their data.
In addition I considered comparing the nutrition of cauliflower leaves with the vegetable itself to make more sense of the data.
You have probably tossed a cauliflower floret into your dogs food bowl at some point or another havenot you?
Who gives our dog a bigger boost?
The following data pertains to a 100g serving
| Cauliflower | Cauliflower Leaves | ||
| Calories | 25 | Calories | 60 |
| Protein | 1.9g | Protein | 5.9g |
| Fat | .3g | Fat | 1.3g |
| Carbohydrate | 5g | Carbohydrate | 7.6g |
| Fibre | 2g | Fibre | 2g |
| Iron | 42mg | Iron | 41 mg |
| Beta Carotene | 0 mg | Beta Carotene | 49.5 mg |
| Water | 92g | Water | 80g |
| Calcium | 22 mg | Calcium | 626 mg |
| Phosphorous | 44 mg | Phosphorous | 107 mg |
Comparing the two charts it is clear that cauliflower leaves have a higher mineral and vitamin content than the vegetable itself.
It is a win/win situation for both you and your dog since you’re giving them a bigger boost of vitamins and minerals by feeding them the leaves rather than the vegetable.
In addition to saving on waste you have more cauliflower to share with the rest of the family.
As a matter of right we should all be eating the leaves but good luck trying to get your family to agree.
In terms of individual nutrients it isnot even close.
By a country mile the leaves win.
We should break this down a bit more.
Protein
The protein content of cauliflower leaves is triple that of cauliflower.
A dogs body needs protein in every cell. Healthy growth and development depend on it.
Carbohydrates
There are 150% more carbohydrates in cauliflower leaves than in cauliflower itself.
A dogs body depends on them for energy and fuel to survive and thrive.
It is true that too many carbohydrates can be bad for you but there is no risk of your dog gorge themselves on carbohydrates when they eat vegetables!
Calcium
This one is a biggie.
There is thirty times more calcium in the leaves than in the main vegetables.
What is the importance of calcium? Strong teeth and bones.
Phosphorous
Its a bit complicated to explain this mineral even though the leaves provide a richer source of it.
In fact more than twice as much.
In your dogs body phosphorus is almost like a building block since it helps to maintain strong bones.
Cauliflower and its leaves both contain a few minerals in equal measure.
Fiber and iron fall into this category.
Raw vs cooked cauliflower leaves
As we now know without a doubt that we should be supplementing our dogs diet with cauliflower leaves should we feed our dogs raw or cooked cauliflower leaves?
Its hard to decide what the right answer is here.
Adding them to your dogs diet is the most important thing so do not worry about how they are prepared.
I chop the leaves up into 1 cm squares after they have been washed then mix a couple of tablespoons with their food.
According to the size of your dog and how familiar your dog is with the leaves the portion size should be adjusted.
Start with a small portion of cauliflower leaves if your dog has never eaten them before.
They are Golden Retrievers and they eat cauliflower leaves once or twice a week.
You can simply wash the leaves chop them into small chunks and steam them for a few minutes if you are uncomfortable with giving them raw leaves.
What should I feed my dog every day in terms of cauliflower leaves?
You should always start small and build up the amount of new food you give to your dog.
It is my opinion that you should only add a maximum of 10% of your dogs daily food intake to something like cauliflower leaves.
I feed my dogs about 500g of food per day so the maximum amount of cauliflower leaves that I would add to their bowls would be 50g (or five tablespoons).
If you will more like a garnish!
Would I feed them cauliflower leaves everyday?
The answer is no I wouldnot. Even though cauliflower leaves are an excellent source of nutrients they provide the same set of vitamins and minerals over and over again.
My dogs would benefit from varying the vitamins and minerals they receive.
My method for doing this is to add a variety of vegetables to their diet.
In my next section I will show you one way I accomplish this.
Vegetable leaves and stems that are also nutritional
Another favourite waste vegetable product that makes its way into my dogs food bowl is broccoli stems.
On the surface it seems madness that more of us do not eat the stalk ourselves.
We know that vegetables are more nutritious when they are darker.
As a result broccoli stalks are superfoods.
You can see the full breakdown here but for the main headlines look to your right.
The stalks of broccoli are a great source of vitamin C vitamin B6 manganese and an acid called pantothenic acid.
It is quite large chunks that my dogs like to eat.
Both the flavor and the texture make them “go mad.”.
Potato peelings that are sweet
Peelings from sweet potatoes also make a regular appearance in my dogs bowl.
We would cook our sweet potatoes with the skins on if we were left to our own devices.
Unfortunately my wife prefers hers peeled which is my loss but my dogs’ gain!
You can label me a cheapskates if you wish but vegetable skins usually have a lot of nutrients in them.
The skins of sweet potatoes are a good source of fibre and antioxidants.
Conclusion
As you read this research you will have realized that cauliflower leaves make an excellent addition to your dogs diet.
It is quite surprising that the leaves of cauliflower provide as much nutrition as the cauliflower itself.
It seems to me that they are rich in calcium iron and phosphorus in particular.
Hopefully I have also managed to show you that many parts of vegetables we throw away or compost are very nutrient-rich so there is no reason why you should not feed them to your dog as well.
If you want to read more about dog food tips read here: Dog Food Tips and Tricks.
