Foods to Mix in Dog Kibble

While feeding your beloved pooch kibble is convenient, even high-quality kibbles lack variety and fresh, whole-food nutrition. Mixing meat, eggs, and other "real" foods into your dog's meal helps boost your pup's intake of enzymes, vitamins, minerals and nutrients as well as providing some mealtime diversity.

Chop, grate or dice cooked meat to add to your dog's meal. Chicken, turkey, beef and venison are all nutrient-packed options that provide extra protein, essential amino acids and a burst of flavor to your pup's kibble.

Fruits and vegetables pack a nutrient-dense punch and are full of vitamins and minerals. Additionally, the extra fiber helps regulate your pooch's digestion. For overweight dogs, adding mashed, diced or chopped raw fruits and vegetables to meals helps fill them up and satisfy them without adding lots of extra calories. Pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes, apples, green beans, spinach, berries and bananas are all excellent additions. Don't ever feed your dog grapes or raisins as kidney failure could result. Avoid spicy, dangerous or acidic foods like peppers, onions, oranges and tomatoes.

If your pooch suffers from dry, itchy skin, has nails that crack easily or is underweight, adding extra fat to his meal may be the answer. While dogs often struggle to digest dairy-based fats such as butter, other fats such as salmon oil, flax seed oil and coconut oil help boost calories and supply skin- and coat-soothing vitamins and fatty acids.

Crack an egg to add to your pooch's meal every now and again. Eggs, lightly scrambled, are nutrient-packed and wonderful for improving overall health. Meat broth, yogurt, Greek yogurt and cottage cheese are great mix-ins, too, especially if your pup isn't eating as much as he should.