I've been wondering for a while, and surely someone on this site knows a lot about dogs.. The question is..Can dogs eat fruit? Or will it make them sick?

Thanks in advance...

~..Josh.

 

They can have a little taste, but I definitely wouldn't overdo it.

 

WHY..... would it make them fruity?




When i lived in Hawaii there were huge avacados on also just as huge trees. The majority of the trees were wild and the fruit would fall to the ground.

Dogs would george on them and once they became avacado dogs they became fat.. HUGE...

 

mine loves bananas

Just don't feed him chocolate or onions. Although mine has also eaten a ton of chocolate, little bastard ate a whole box of 150 homemade wedding chocolates plastic baggies and all, and it was only a couple weeks before our wedding. He is a chocolate lab though, so maybe that makes him immune to it

 

Alot of fruit has high sugar content. Sugar is not good for dogs. Especially chocolate.

 

Ours doesnt really go after fruit that much...
He really likes bread products though
I always feed him the ends off the loaf of bread when I've eaten the rest of the loaf.
I tear them to pieces then toss em down, he jumps up ever so slightly...its the funnist thing

 

Chocolate is stimulant and as a general rule you should avoid letting your dog have it if possible. As little as 41mg per pound can produce toxicity. That's actually more chocolate than it sounds. It would take 2-3 chocolate bars to produce serious toxicity in a 10 pound dog. Fortunately that amount of chocolate would most likely induce vomiting so the stimulant wouldn't be absorbed.

Fruits. . .Small amounts of fruits and vegetables are not generally harmful to your dog however they really don't need them. Contrary to popular belief, frequent changes in your dogs diet can cause digestive disorders and encourage finicky eating. As already stated you should avoid onions although I've never found a dog that showed any interest in them. Also grapes and raisins.

Ingestion of grapes or raisins has resulted in development of renal failure in some dogs. Renal failure is the condition where the kidneys fail to function properly. Estimated amounts of grapes before serious injury occurs - 32 gm per kg of body weight. Raisins 11-30 g/kg. This is serious, if your dog develops renal failure it will most likely die and if it doesn't the symptoms are severe enough it will require euthanasia.

 

So, I have this chocolate lab - he's about 19 months old now, his name's Dexter,
Exhibit A, Dexter:


When dexter was about 7 months old, my older brother got married, and even though their were tons of people at the wedding, for some silly reason more people at the brides cake than the grooms, the brides cake was what I would call traditional, i think 5 layer white cake with white icing, the grooms cake was 4 layers and it was chocolate, with chocolate icing, and pieces of chocolate all over it - mmmmm mmm, well after the reception and what not, there was a ton of grooms cake left, so - me and my father decided to procure some to take back to our house, we got a few of those styrofoam dinner containers (okay, 4 of them), and filled them to the brim, they could barely close, and took them home. As soon as I got home, I hopped on the motorcycle and went and grabbed up my girlfriend, went and saw a movie etc. etc., came back to my place and decided to eat some cake, took one of the boxes up to my room with some plates, ate a piece a piece (that sounds funny) and I took her home. While I was gone, my dad lets dexter run loose in the house, he comes upstairs - finds the full box of chocolate cake (i'd say easily 4-5lbs of cake), and ate the whole thing. I find out what happened when I get home, and am worried sick my dog is going to die. I watch him all night, he sleeps in the bed with me, everything - nothing happens... kind of. Not to sound gross but for the next 4-5 days he had the absolute most explosive diarhea, I know that sounds horrible, but it was hilarious - we called the vet that morning and told him what was going on and he said he'd be fine, just give him lots of water, so we did. Anyway, it was hilarious, and that's what your little story reminded me of, sorry it's so long!

ALSO - that picture was snapped randomly in our back yard, not in a pen or anything, but that dog is so hyper he runs in circles 24/7 (maybe related to the chocolate incident?), he's absolutely destroyed every bit of grass in the back yard, which is pretty big! oh well.

 

I have a book on dog nutrition and health. It says fruits are good for dogs.

Favorites include apple, banana, peaches, plums, and berries. Feed fruits in moderation as too much can cause loose stools.

Over a week or two, aim for your dog's diet to consist of about 1/2 meat and dairy, 1/4 veggies and fruits, 1/4 grain.

 

If you look at the contents, most of the dog food blends have apples and oranges in them. When i sit outside and eat an orange, Maggie, the Rat terrier you see in my sig, has to have a wedge. She goes crazy till i give her one. She loves oranges, but a couple of wedges a week are all I let her have. She will also eat the peeling, just not as fast.

 

I posed this EXACT question to our vet when talking about nutrition and such... granted I have a full-blooded mutt but, I'm sure it's fairly universal across the canine genere...

According to him, it's fine in moderation but, you don't want to feed them on a high frequency. Like WMR mentioned, changes in eating habits and materials can, indeed, pose a significant change in digestion and the systems associated with digestion. He cautioned me on bananas because of the very high levels of potassium and the adverse heart effects that it could cause...

-RP-

 

I wouldn't ask a vet any more than I would ask a GP about a nutrition plan for myself. They probably sepnt 2 hours on dog nutrition in their entire veterinary education.


I would more likely listen to the specialists in canine nutrition. As BlueJay mentioned, look at the contents of packaged dog foods. Many have these compounds in them.

Besides, canines are not carnivores. They are scavengers. Omnivores. They can eat fruit and veggies.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys and Gals. I wasn't thinkin of feeding my dog an entire serving of fruit, but we eat a lot of Louisiana Strawberries(nature's candy), and my dog goes nuts until I give her one. Similar to what BlueJay said about his dog and oranges.

 

It's not the sugar that's bad for them, it's the chocolate itself. If an animal eats too much chocolate, they could die. It might not appear to be affecting them, but the chocolate actually builds up in their system and they O.D. on it. Fruit, and vegetables, in moderation is good for animals.
My Dad's dog used to pick the cherries and spit out the pits. He would also pick apples. One thing wierd though, he wouldn't eat any fruit from the ground, it had to be "personally, or dogally" picked from the tree or shrub.
So remember. NO CHOCOLATE for animals, not even the tiniest piece.

 

I trust this one a little more than most considering that he breeds and consistantly has top performing labs -- and takes a month off from his practice each year to show and compete.

I know what you mean J but, this one is, shall we say, a cut above the normal.

RP