Can Dogs Eat Dragon Fruit? - [Risks, Facts & More]

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Whether you call it Pitahaya or dragon fruit, this Fruit is many people’s favorite, thanks to its sweet taste. This Fruit is grown on a cactus and is common in Southeast Asia and North, Central, and South America.

While dragon fruit is safe and healthy for humans, like many dog lovers, you may ask: “Is dragon fruit good for my furry friend?” Of course, the last thing you want is to feed your canine friend something harmful, so it’s best to get the facts before adding dragon fruit to your dog’s diet.

Can Dragon Fruit Hurt Dogs?

No, the dragon fruit plant is safe to eat and even has a lot of health benefits for your canine friends. Add that to the fact that this tropical Fruit is naturally sweet. It won’t spike your dog’s blood sugar levels, but you’ll have the perfect tasty treat for your dog’s stomach.

So, can dogs eat dragon fruit? Absolutely! Most dogs eat dragon fruit and don’t experience any side effects. So, your dog can safely eat dragon fruit as long as you aren’t feeding them too much.

But if you’ve decided to feed your dog any of the different types of dragon fruit (yellow dragon fruit, red dragon fruit, purple dragon fruit, or pink dragon fruit), you can rest assured that you’re doing your furry friend a huge favor.

Types of Dragon Fruit

There are different types of dragon fruits, so you shouldn’t be too startled to find that this exotic Fruit comes in different colors. But which dragon fruit can dogs eat? Let’s go over the types:

Pink Dragon Fruit

Pink dragon fruits have bright pink skin and white flesh. You can mostly find these new and exotic fruits in tropical and subtropical regions, such as Vietnam, Ecuador, and some parts of Central America like Nicaragua. Pink dragon fruits are great for your dog’s immune system and are safe to consume.

Purple Dragon Fruit

Like pink dragon fruits, purple dragon fruit is also excellent dragon fruit for dogs. It comes with purple skin and white flesh. In addition, this type of dragon fruit is packed with the antioxidant betalain, beta carotene, vitamin C, and several other vitamins that nurture your dog’s body and eyes.

Red Dragon Fruit

Yes, dogs can eat red dragon fruit, as this type of exotic Fruit is non-toxic and doesn’t contain too much sugar. In addition, red dragon fruit is high in potassium, vitamin C, fiber, and other minerals that are great for your canine friends. You can find red dragon fruit in many parts of Central America.

Yellow Dragon Fruit

If you want a healthy treat that’s packed with vitamin C for your dog, you should incorporate yellow dragon fruit into your dog’s diet. Yellow dragon fruit is mainly found in South America and is perfectly safe.

Moreover, yellow dragon fruit has white flesh with black seeds and is covered with yellow skin. Of all the types of dragon fruit, have your dog eat yellow dragon fruit if you want to give them the highest concentrations of vitamin C. It’s also an excellent way of complementing your dog’s own vitamin C.

Is Dragon Fruit Skin Poisonous to Dogs?

Can dogs eat dragon fruit skin? You might have heard that your dog shouldn’t eat dragon fruit skin, but this isn’t necessarily because it is unsafe or toxic but because it can be difficult to chew for your dog. Like every part of the dragon fruit, the skin also contains some beneficial nutrients.

Even if your dog can chew the dragon fruit skin, it isn’t as tasty as the Fruit itself, and your dog may not enjoy the taste. As such, experts suggest cutting the Fruit in half and scooping out the flesh before serving it to your dog. As long as the leathery skin of the dragon fruit is out of the way, your dog should have no problem enjoying this tasty treat.

Can Dragon Fruit Be Poisonous?

No. Dragon fruit isn’t poisonous, which is why many dog owners often feed their dog’s dragon fruit. Dragon fruit is a powerhouse of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals perfect for your dog regardless of age, breed, or sex. Most dogs eat dragon fruit not only as a cold and refreshing snack but as a healthy addition to their diet.

However, in some rare cases, overeating dragon fruit can lead to specific side effects, such as:

Depilation

Consuming dragon fruit’s skin has been found to cause depilation in dogs. Apart from this, the natural sugar this Fruit contains can cause diarrhea or an upset stomach for your dog. In addition, in some rare cases, it can cause endocrine disorder.

Teeth Problems

Generally, too much sugar isn’t good for your dog’s teeth, and the same applies to eating dragon fruit. While the Fruit contains natural sugar, too much of it can damage your dog’s teeth, leading to toothache or even tooth decay.

Obesity

Yes, you read that right. Your dogs are prone to being overweight, especially if their diet contains a lot of sugar. Too much dragon fruit can spike your dog’s sugar levels, which can promote obesity. In turn, obesity leads to several health problems, such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension, osteoarthritis, heart diseases, and so on.

Some Health Benefits of Dragon Fruit

If your dog eats dragon fruit occasionally, it’ll:

Boost Cognitive Functions

Dragon fruit, especially the yellow type, contains vitamin C, which is excellent for strengthening your dog’s immune system. Even though dogs can generate their own vitamin c, adding some extra vitamin C to their diet isn’t a bad idea. Getting enough vitamin C from their diet can help boost cognitive function and reduce inflammation.

Help Maintain a Healthy Weight

Can dogs eat dragon fruit without gaining weight? Yes, dragon fruit is one of the best low-calorie fruit options to feed your dog. This is perfect if you want your dogs to maintain a healthy weight while getting all the vitamins and nutrients they need to stay strong and healthy.

Dragon fruit for dogs reduces the chances of obesity, as every 3.5 ounces of dragon fruit contains just 60 calories.

Boost Iron Levels

Your dog needs a good amount of iron to move oxygen through the body and generate energy. Eating dragon fruit is an excellent way of boosting your dog’s iron levels, as dragon fruit contains enough iron.

Regulate Blood Sugar Level

You should feed pink dragon fruit to your dog, especially if you’re looking to regulate its blood sugar levels and reduce cholesterol. This is because dragon fruit is high in fiber with tons of health benefits, including normalizing bowel movements for your dog.

Slow Down Aging

You should let your dogs eat pink dragon fruit, purple dragon fruit, or any other type of dragon fruit as these are rich in antioxidants that eliminate free radicals that may cause damages to the cells. These antioxidants also help slow down aging and improve the look of your dog’s skin and fur. So, if you have older dogs, you should feed them dragon fruit from time to time.

Kill Disease-Causing Viruses

Eating dragon fruit also boosts the growth of the probiotics lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. To illustrate, it contains prebiotics, which support the healthy bacteria known as probiotics. Therefore, the more prebiotics your dogs have in their body, the better the balance of good and bad bacteria in their system will be.

In turn, these good bacteria help eliminate disease-causing viruses and bacteria and help your dogs digest food faster.

Strengthen Immunity

If you want your dog’s immune system to get stronger, you should serve dragon fruit to your furry friend. With high vitamin C concentrations, dragon fruit helps strengthen immunity.

Related Contents

What Fruit Cannot Be Eaten by Dogs?

Is dragon fruit good? Is dragon fruit safe? Is dragon fruit bad for my dog? Is dragon fruit poisonous? Which dragon fruit can’t my dog eat?

Many dog owners often have many questions about feeding dragon fruit to their dogs, but they often overlook some other fruits that may threaten their dogs. These are some of the fruits you shouldn’t feed to your dog and why:

Avocado

Avocados are packed with persin, a toxin that isn’t harmful to humans but can cause diarrhea or vomiting in dogs. The highest concentration of persin can be found on the outside of the Fruit, but this doesn’t mean the fleshy inside of the Fruit is any good for dogs either. Therefore, it’s best to steer clear of avocados for your dogs.

Cherries

Cherries can cause cyanide poisoning in dogs due to their high amount of cyanide. In addition, it hinders the movement of oxygen through the body, meaning that your dog’s blood cells won’t get enough oxygen. This can lead to fatigue, difficulty breathing, dilated pupils, and red gums.

Grapes

It would be best never to feed your dogs grapes or raisins as these can cause acute sudden kidney failure. In addition, grapes are some of the most dangerous fruits for dogs due to the number of toxins they contain that aren’t harmful to humans but can cause problems for dogs. If your dog accidentally eats a grape, you should seek medical assistance as soon as possible.

Tomatoes

While ripened tomatoes are harmless to dogs, the unripened ones can be toxic, especially when consumed in large quantities. Green tomatoes contain solanine, a poisonous substance that’s very harmful to dogs. The best thing to do is avoid adding tomatoes to your dog’s meal to be safe.

Can Dogs Have Dragon Fruit Seeds?

Can dogs eat dragon fruit seeds? Yes. Dogs can eat dragon fruit seeds because they’re soft, relatively small, and harmless. However, it would be best not to allow your dogs to eat seeds from other fruits or vegetables, as they can harm them.

How to Know If My Dog Likes Dragon Fruit?

Now that you know dogs can eat dragon fruit, you’re probably wondering if your dog likes (or will like) it or not. While dragon fruit can enhance your dog’s health, you need to know if your pooch is a fan of the Fruit or not before you feed dragon fruit to it. Also, note that not all dogs like eating pitaya, and if your dog is one of them, you have to respect your pet’s taste buds.

You should also note that there’s the chance that your dog may be allergic to dragon fruit. Therefore, pay attention to your dog after feeding it dragon fruit, especially for the first time. Symptoms of an allergic reaction to the Fruit include vomiting, hives, and tongue swelling.

However, your dog’s chance to react negatively to eating this Fruit is very low, as allergic reactions are more common in humans than dogs. If you’re introducing this Fruit to your dog, it’s essential to ease your dog slowly into the process. You shouldn’t give your dog too much dragon fruit at once, so it’s best to look out for some signs that’ll indicate that your dog loves this Fruit.

Here are some of these signs:

Staring at you or the dragon fruit
Whining whenever there’s dragon fruit around
Tail wagging
Ears raised
Licking lips
Drooling
Giving you the whale eye
Consistently pawing at your leg

Final Thoughts

Dragon fruit is one of nature’s delicious gifts to humans and animals. So, if your dogs eat pitaya, you can rest assured that this non-toxic and healthy Fruit will do them a lot of good. In addition, the same Fruit is packed with numerous nutrients, minerals, and antioxidants, including Omega-3 fatty acids, all of which are excellent for keeping your dogs happy and healthy.

While dragon fruit is perfectly safe, avoid giving your dogs too much of it. Otherwise, this can also have some side effects, such as changing the color of their pee, obesity, tooth problems, an endocrine disorder, depilation, stomach issues, and allergic reactions.

But, overall, the side effects aren’t severe and often wear off when the Fruit is out of their systems. So, if you’ve been debating whether you should add dragon fruit to your dog’s diet, please do.

Can Dogs Eat Dragon Fruit: Get the Facts!