The Kale 🥬 Incident: The Night I Ran Out of Pumpkin!

If you google “are vegetables good for dogs”, at first glance you get a resounding “yes”, just stay away from onions, garlic, and raw potatoes. There are many suggestions of veggies that are safe in moderation and considered “healthy” for dogs. Our vet has recommended feeding sweet potatoes with their meals for fibre and extra benefits. So it came as a complete surprise when I fed them kale and didn’t hear the end of it for four days. A long weekend I’ll never forget and they’ll never forgive me for. Vomiting, diarrhoea, gurgling upset stomachs, intolerance of their regular super-diet recommended by our breeder.

They could hold nothing down.

It took me a while to hunt out the culprit. I thought perhaps the chicken was off or one of the “super-food” additives I had given them that day had brought us undone at meal time. I took them off the chicken and threw away my 2 litres of hydration chicken broth and the veggie mix that was cooked in the chicken broth. We returned to goat and rice, which settled their tummies after the said three days.

I researched each ingredient in their diet and found nothing that, on google at least, stood out. It wasn’t until I talked to the vet about the extra kale I had put in their food that night – being out of pumpkin I doubled up – when he revealed, from his secret database of wisdom, that kale can upset their stomach. He terrifyingly went on to say that it can interfere with red blood cell formation or something like that, when I began to panic. “Just monitor them for a while and bring em in if it keeps going”, was the advice.

Since when did kale lead to so much chaos and panic? Google had given me a big green tick ✅ on kale!

🥬 When Kale Attacks: The Hidden Dangers of Green Veggies for Dogs

Green vegetables. They’re the poster child of healthy human diets – crunchy, leafy, packed with nutrients, and smugly sitting at the top of every “superfood” list. But when it comes to our four-legged friends, greens aren’t always the gift they seem, it seems!

So, what was the deal with the kale?

It turns out kale, and some other leafy greens, contain compounds called oxalates and isothiocyanates. Oxalates can contribute to kidney and bladder stones in dogs, and isothiocyanates can irritate the stomach and gastrointestinal tract. In plain English: they can upset your dog’s tummy, big time. Some dogs handle a little nibble just fine – but others, like mine, clearly get the short end of the stick.

Other green veggies I apparently need to be careful with:

Spinach: Also high in oxalates.
Broccoli: Safe in small amounts, but too much can lead to gas (and trust me, no one wants that in a Frenchie household).
Leeks: A big no, no – These are toxic to dogs full stop.

Whenever I have a diet emergency, I ask myself, what would have been the diet of my furry delights if they were in the wild. Apart from the fact that Audrey could possibly not survive without her 10am fresh made porridge ritual, I enjoy reading about the evolution of dogs.

In the wild, wolves, who are said to be the ancestors of our dogs, weren’t exactly hanging out in the kale patch. They were carnivores first and foremost – hunters of prey like deer, rabbits, or elk. But there was a twist: when wolves ate their prey, they didn’t just eat the meat. They often ate the stomach contents too, which could include partially digested grasses, seeds, berries, and the occasional green thing. So, while wolves weren’t deliberately foraging for broccoli, they weren’t said to be 100% meat eaters either. They would have consumed incidental vegetables and fruits.

🐺 Dogs vs. Wolves: The Digestive Upgrade

Fast forward thousands of years of domestication, and dogs have evolved alongside us. Scientists have actually found that dogs have more genes for digesting starches and carbohydrates than wolves. When humans started farming, early dogs got sneakily good at digesting starch from scraps. Studies show dogs evolved multiple extra copies of the AMY2B gene – used to make pancreatic amylase, which breaks down starch – many more than wolves have (Live Science Uppsala University). This helped them thrive on scraps like grains and vegetables – the ancient dumpster divers!

Translation: dogs are better at handling grains, veggies, and cheeky bites of mac and cheese. There is agreement that their digestive system is still primarily geared for meat and fat and that they don’t have the same enzymes humans do to break down fibrous veggies as humans do. I eat predominantly plant based foods and it isn’t my first preference to be ripping the flesh off hand slaughtered chicken legs from our halal butcher! But I don’t subject my two to my food choices, and with teeth like Koji, he was clearly primed for a diet other than mine.

So where do vegetables fit in then? 🥕

I like to feed veggies, I feel good about it, and my vet recommends it. Just because dogs are primarily meat eaters doesn’t seem to mean all green foods are off the table. Green beans, zucchini, cucumber, and peas are said to usually be safe options – lightly cooked or raw, and in moderation. Lower risk and still give that satisfying crunch.

Dogs still have shorter digestive tracts than true omnivores, so they can’t extract nutrients from plant matter as efficiently as humans can. It appears from research that their diet should still be primarily meat-based, with vegetables as supplements rather than the main component.

The benefits of the Veg? ✅

Vegetables are said to be beneficial for dogs in several ways:

Nutritional benefits: Many vegetables provide vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that support immune function and overall health. For example, carrots offer beta-carotene, sweet potatoes provide fibre and vitamins, and green beans are low-calorie sources of nutrients.

Digestive health: The fibre in vegetables can aid digestion and help maintain healthy gut bacteria, though we are advised that dogs need much less fibre than humans do.

Weight management: Low-calorie vegetables can be useful treats for overweight dogs or as healthy snack alternatives.

At Healthy Canine Kitchen, my motto is: if it makes my dogs sick, it’s out! Because cooking for our pups isn’t about chasing human “superfoods”—it’s about finding the foods that actually work for them. And honestly, I’d rather have happy, healthy bulldog bellies than keep up with the super-greens craze. So, next time I am tempted to share my green smoothie with my dogs, I just hand over a green bean instead. Less drama. Less clean-up.

🌱 The Takeaway

Dogs don’t need vegetables the way humans do — their nutrition is still best built around good-quality protein and fat. But some vegetables, used as an “add-on,” can be great for fibre, vitamins, and variety. It’s all about the right veg, the right amount, and the right preparation. From my reading, 10% of their diet seems a recurring recommendation.

So while wolves may never have been caught nibbling kale salads, our modern couch-wolves can enjoy veggies — as long as I am smart about it.

So here’s what I’ve learned:

Dogs aren’t veggie-free — but they didn’t exactly graze the produce aisle either.
We’ve co-evolved to handle scraps — but their digestive systems? Still primarily meat-first, veggie-adjunct.
Stick with safe, gentle root veggies or greens like green beans, but handle those power-greens like kale with caution. Vegetables like onions, garlic, and grapes are toxic to dogs, so not all human-safe vegetables are appropriate for them.

Full-Flavour, Vet-Safe Veggie Guide for Dogs

Vegetables	Why They Rock
Pumpkin / Sweet Potato	High fibre, eases both diarrhoea and constipation
Carrots	Crunchy, vitamin-rich, good for teeth and eyes
Green Beans, Zucchini, Peas	Low calorie, nutrient-dense, great as light snacks
Cucumber, Butternut Squash	Hydrating, gentle, and refreshing options

And that’s another blog post! I have also added a recipe ‘Mum’s Compulsory Veggie Mix’ to accompany this post. But what are your thoughts? Have you had issues or successes with using vegetables in your dog’s diet? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Thank you for your time,

Sarah J

Co-Founder Koji & me, Your curated online dog products store