Fruits Dogs Can Eat
We are happy that you are considering giving your dog some sweet treats.
To help you with choosing the right fruits we are going to give you a list of fruits dogs can eat safely.
But before we get into the fruits, we want to tell you everything you need to know before giving fruits to your dog.
We are also going to look at the avocado myth and and tell you if it is safe to give avocado to your dog.
And at last, as a bonus material we will tell you about the salmonella myth. But more on that later.
What Do Dogs Need To Thrive Well?
Dogs can get all the nutrients and energy they need from proteins and fats.
So feeding your dog meat alone would give them a perfectly healthy and happy life as long as you don’t overfeed them.
Dogs can also use carbs for energy. Their digestive system has enzymes that are suitable for digesting starches and sugars.
Feeding your dog rice, potatoes, vegetables, or fruit is not necessary or going to improve your dog’s health.
It is probably more likely to affect your dog’s health negatively if it gets too little protein and too much sugar and starch.
Do Dogs Lack Vitamins In Their Diet?
You might find many articles on the internet claiming that vitamins from fruits and vegetables will improve your dog’s health.
Unfortunately, there is little research showing that increased intake of vitamins through fruits or vegetables will benefit your dog’s health.
But having said that, occasionally giving your dog a small piece of fruit as a treat, shouldn’t harm your dog.
We put together a table with fruits that are safe and your dog might like.
We show you the sugar content so that you realize how much sugar there is in each type of fruit.
A teaspoon of sugar is around 4g.
Please read the notes on which part of the fruit you should remove before offering to your dog.
Remember this list of fruits dogs can eat safely only applies to fresh fruit, NEVER feed your dog with dried fruits, they are extremely high in sugar.
List Of Fruits Dogs Can Eat Safely
| Fruit | Sugar in 100g (3.5oz) | Notes |
| Apples | 10g | Remove seeds |
| Avocados | 1g | Remove skin and pit. See this research for confirmation that avocado is safe for your dog. |
| Bananas | 12g | Remove skin |
| Blueberries | 10g | |
| Cantaloupe | 8g | Remove seeds and rind |
| Cherries | 8g | Remove pits |
| Mangos | 14g | Remove pit |
| Peaches | 8g | Remove pit |
| Pears | 10g | Remove seeds |
| Pineapples | 10g | Remove core and skin |
| Raspberries | 4g | |
| Strawberries | 5g | |
| Watermelon | 6g | Remove seeds and rind |
The Avocado Myth
Are Avocados Safe For My Dog?
Many articles state avocados not to be safe for your dog. Having one of the lowest sugar amounts of all fruits, Avocados do have a lot of healthy fats and are so easily digestible for your dog.
The reason why avocados are listed as not safe is that the skin and pit contain some toxins. These are persin, hydrocyanic acid, and cyanogenic glycosides. Cyanogenic glycosides can produce toxic hydrogen cyanide.
But honestly, who would think of feeding an avocado unpeeled and unpitted to either yourself or your dog?
The Research Showing Avocados Are Safe For Dogs
Procter and Gamble financed a study that shows that avocados are safe for dogs.
They fed a defatted, water‐soluble extract of flesh, skin, and pit of Lula avocados (Persea Americana) to adult Beagles over a six months period.
The results showed that feeding a diet with up to 1.1% avocado extract was well‐tolerated by adult dogs and resulted in no adverse health effects.
BONUS: The Salmonella Myth
You have probably heard or read something like this:
“Dogs shouldn’t eat raw fish or meat because of the risk of parasites such as salmonella, e-coli.”
But the fact is that dogs have a much robuster digestive system than we and there are not many paraites and bacterias that have a chance in there.
We found this great article from Bridger Animal Nutrition and we think it describes it quite well why you don’t need to worry too much about your dogs gut. Here are two short quotes to give you the taste:
“..the dog’s gut can reach below pH1.0, equivalent to car battery acid, a level it can remain at for 5 hours”
And later in the same article:
“..this acidic environment is inhospitable to all but the most specialized of microbiology, protecting healthy scavenging dogs from common meat-borne pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli. “
We’d recommend you to read the full article as it gives great insights into how dog’s digestive system works and how different it is from ours.
Summary
As much as we think fruit should be a significant part of a human diet, we question the need for feeding much fruit to your pets.
Feeding fruit to your dog should be only an occasional treat and in small quantities.
We showed you the list of fruits dogs can eat safely.
Keep in mind though the fact that most fruits have high sugar content and are so in big quantities not what is best for your dog.
Consider that 1 apple has 2.5 teaspoons of sugar in it! Would you spread that much sugar over your dog’s kibble?
Fruits are not cheap and a good chunk of cheap meat cut probably doesn’t cost much more than the fruits.
Your dog would thank you if you bought fresh chicken thighs with skin on rather than apple or banana.
When the weather is hot a cold bowl of water is equally refreshing for a dog as a watermelon or a frozen pineapple.
If you really love your dog you should feed him/her more often with real meat, raw and cooked.
You can’t really go wrong there if you apply some common sense. If you eat it raw, your dog can as well!
