Can dogs eat lima beans? When you’re a kid, lima beans are the “spokesbean” for dinner table misery, but as an adult, many of us put them in everything! But are they safe for our dogs to eat?
The short answer is yes, lima beans are a safe legume for your dog. You’ll want to keep serving sizes small and stick to fresh lima beans, but otherwise, they make a fantastic and nutritious addition to your dog’s diet. In fact, many high-quality dog foods incorporate them.
As a general rule, though, run additions to your dog’s diet by your veterinarian in advance for the real facts. In the meantime, here’s what you should know about why lima beans are great for our pups.
How Are Lima Beans Good for Dogs?
Lima beans are a legume, and legumes are highly recommended for both human and canine diets. Humans should eat around half a cup, at minimum, per week. And that amount may be right for many dogs, as well. For the most part, they benefit from legumes just as much as we do.
Legumes like lima beans provide our bodies, as well as dog bodies, with significant amounts of protein, folate, iron, potassium, manganese, and dietary fiber.
Dietary fiber is an essential part of a dog’s diet. It helps tremendously with regulating gut health and keeping toxins at bay. This combined with protein, which builds and maintains muscle, as well as energy, keeps the greater picture of your dog’s health happy and fit.
And, of course, for all of that to run smoothly, great blood circulation is important. This is where the iron content of lima beans does its magic.
Basically, lima beans are a one-stop-shop for vital nutrients your dog needs.
How Can I Safely Give Lima Beans to My Dog?
For the most part, serving lima beans to our dogs is pretty straightforward, but there are some best practices to employ and things to avoid.
Moderation, of course, is important. Allowing your dog to have a varied diet, much like we enjoy, is important for their overall well-being and nutrient balance. If you’re going to supplement dog food with human food, make sure you’re keeping things balanced.
Also, you want to make sure you’re using fresh lima beans. Canned lima beans, or any kind of pre-packaged lima beans, tend to come loaded with all kinds of added preservatives. Buying fresh lima beans, which need to be cooked, is the best option.
To serve, simply buy the beans fresh, soak them in water overnight, and then boil or cook them. From there, you can feed your dog lima beans right out of your hand, or you can incorporate them into dog food or treats.
If you like to do meal-prep for your dog, doing a big batch to use all week is easy. You can even put some aside for your own weekly meals.
Are lima beans part of your dog’s diet? Does your dog enjoy the taste? Let us know in the comments below.
