So, your dog just ate a couple of cherries that you dropped while making a delicious cherry pie, and now you are worried about whether you should take your pooch to the vet or not.
Well, we are here to solve all that confusion of yours by telling you all about can dogs eat cherries or not. For starters, we advise you to keep your calm as just a couple of cherries can’t harm your furry friend, but this also doesn’t mean that you should offer him a piece of that cherry pie as too many cherries can be dangerous for dogs.
If you want to know more about this, then you have come to the right place as the following article is all about that.
Can dogs eat Cherries?
Well, the short answer to the question in hand is Yes, dogs can eat cherries without suffering from extreme toxicity provided that dogs are only offered a small number of pitted cherries. But you will have to read the long answer to understand better the pros and cons of feeding cherries to dogs so that you can answer questions like “Can dogs eat Cherries?” on your own.
Cons of feeding cherries to dogs
Cherries can be delicious treats for dogs, but we still recommend dog owners keep their pooches away from cherries for a number of reasons described below. After reading about all the cons of feeding cherries to dogs, we guarantee that you will be able to appreciate better our advice of keeping dogs far away from cherries.
Too many calories
Cherries come loaded with sugars, and this makes them extremely high when it comes to caloric intake. All these sugars can make dogs quite prone to being overweight which can even lead to morbid obesity. An overweight dog is exposed to a variety of many life-threatening medical complications, and therefore, dog owners must do their best to keep their dogs away from high sugar sources, which include cherries.
Cherries have a very high sugar to weight ratio making them essentially small, delicious balls of sugars. That’s why consuming large amounts of cherries is not a good idea for dogs. Dogs are carnivorous animals, and therefore they require high amounts of protein for their sustenance.
Dogs benefit from having a diet that is high in proteins and low in carbohydrates and fats. And cherries are exactly the opposite of that as they are loaded with sugars and carbohydrates. This makes cherries a very unhealthy snack for dogs, as eating just a few cherries on regular terms can expose our canine friends to extreme obesity. And obesity is never a good thing, especially for dogs.
Dogs need to stay active and playful, but obesity caused due to too many cherries can become a hurdle in ensuring that your dog gets enough exercise. This acts as a feedback loop as a reduced amount of exercise exposes dogs to even more obesity. Obesity acts as a precursor of many diseases, such as
- Pancreatitis
- Diabetes
- Heart diseases
- Kidney related diseases
- High blood pressure
All this shows how cherries can be dangerous for dogs, and therefore we think that the answer to the frequently asked question “can dogs eat cherries?” is definitely a No.
Allergies
You must know someone who is allergic to cherries and therefore has to avoid cherries at any cost. Now, this might have caused you to wonder whether dogs can be allergic to cherries or not, and the answer to this question is that dogs can be allergic to all kinds of food products, including Cherries.
That’s why dogs should not be fed cherries, as there is a high chance, they can be allergic to cherries. Feeding cherries to an allergic dog can cause a long list of medical issues in him and can make the dog seriously ill. Therefore, we recommend that our readers be fully sure that their dogs are not allergic to cherries before offering them a piece of cherry pie to munch on.
There are many ways to figure out whether your pooch is allergic to cherries or not. The easiest way to do that is to consult your vet about it. Your vet is equipped with all the professional skills and knows most about your dog’s health, and therefore he is the guy who can tell you whether your dog is allergic to cherries or not. Your vet will also be able to devise a balanced, healthy, and nutritious meal plan around cherries if you want to make cherries a permanent part of your dog’s diet.
With that being said, we still don’t think that you should try making cherries a permanent part of your dog’s meal. Actually, scratch that, we don’t even think you should feed cherries to dogs at all as it is better not to risk any allergic reactions in your dogs when there are so many safer fruit options that can act as delicious treats for dogs.
Cherry pits, they sound like trouble.
Cherry pits are another reason why we think that dog owners should avoid feeding cherries to dogs. These pits are supposed to protect the seed present in them, and that’s why nature has made them highly tough and solid. This sounds like perfect news for plants, but the same can’t be said about dogs. Cherry pits can cause all kinds of problems in dogs, and therefore, it’s recommended to keep cherries away from cherries, especially those that are not pitted.
This also answers the frequently asked question of can dogs eat cherry pits as a big No. These cherry pits can cause permanent teeth damage in dogs as they are too tough for dogs to break them without hurting their teeth or gums. This, along with being extremely painful for your pooch, can also mean continuous visits to a specialized vet and long dental treatments, and all this can cause your bank account to shrink a great deal.
These cherry pits can also result in a long list of gastrointestinal complications if they manage to reach your dog’s stomach. They can cause serious blockages in the gastrointestinal tract of your dog and can cause the following complications.
- Gastritis
- Gastroenteritis
- Celiac Diseases
- Crohn’s disease
- Gallstones
- Fecal incontinence
- Lactose intolerance
- Hirschsprung disease
- Abdominal adhesions
- Barrett’s esophagus
- Appendicitis
- Indigestion (dyspepsia)
- Intestinal pseudo-obstruction
- Pancreatitis
- Short bowel syndrome
- Whipple’s disease
- Zollinger-Ellison syndrome
- malabsorption syndromes
- Hepatitis
That’s why we think that the question “Can dogs eat cherry pits?” can only be answered as a No.
Cherries contain cyanide
YES, you read it correctly; cherries carry cyanide. To refresh your memory, cyanide is the same toxic that is capable of killing an adult elephant in a matter of minutes. That’s why we can’t stress the importance of keeping any sources of cyanide far away from dogs. These sources also include cherries, as this fruit has cyanide in it.
The concentration of cyanide differs depending upon the part of the cherry as the stems and pits of cherries are more concentrated with cyanide compared to the flesh and skin of cherries. That’s why cherries are one of those fruits that you should avoid feeding to dogs at any cost, no matter how fond of cherries your dogs are.
Some owners might think that maybe it is safe to feed cherries to dogs if they were to remove their stems and pits. There is some merit to that idea, but there is still no need or reason to risk your dog’s life like that. It’s better to stick with other fruits as nature has given us a long list of completely safe fruits for dogs to consume.
All this information about cyanide being present in cherries also helps us answer questions like Can dogs eat cherries. As you can see, the clear answer to that question is, “No, cherries are not safe for dogs at all.”
We hope that all the above-stated reasons why we think dogs should not be fed cherries are enough to deter all of our readers from feeding their dogs. We have also answered some of the most frequently asked questions down below for further convenience of our readers.
What to do if my dog ends up eating a bunch of cherries?
Dogs are amazing at finding things that are not meant for them, and that’s why your dog is bound to get his paws on a cherry. He is going to eat the whole cherry and try to find even more. Now seeing your dog eating a couple of cherries should not cause you to panic, as a small number of cherries can’t really hurt your dog.
The problem starts when your dog finds a whole basket of cherries and helps himself through all of them. If you found your dog munching on a couple of cherries, then the first thing you should do is to make sure that all the other cherries in your house are far away from your dog’s reach. Once you have hidden away all the remaining cherries, make sure to offer clean and fresh water to your dog. This will help your dog pass away all the harmful substances present in cherries in the form of urine. It would be best if you also looked for any symptoms of cyanide poisoning in your dog.
The chances of your dog suffering from cyanide poisoning just by eating a couple of cherries are very low, but still, it doesn’t hurt to be careful. We recommend that owners should look for the following symptoms of cyanide poisoning.
- Vomiting
- Dehydration
- Constipation
- Difficulty in breathing
- Stomach pain
- Decreased fecal production
- Reduced Appetite
Can dogs eat Maraschino cherries?
Maraschino cherries are the small fruits often present in our drinks and are specially processed to make them sweeter than even normal cherries. Maraschino Cherries are basically red cherries placed in a sugar solution for very long, making them very sweet, perfect for adding flavor in all kinds of alcoholic drinks.
But it’s really not a good idea to be feeding Maraschino cherries to dogs because of their extremely sweet nature. The added sugars present in maraschino cherries can make dogs highly obese very quickly. This obesity can act as the cause of various other serious diseases, and therefore we think that the answer to the question Can dogs eat Maraschino cherries? Is definitely a huge No.
Can dogs eat dried cherries?
Another topic that is connected to the question of can dogs eat cherries is the issue of feeding dried cherries to dogs. Just with all the other questions being answered here, the question of “Can dogs eat dried cherries?” is also responsible for keeping dog owners worried. This is also due to the fact that the internet doesn’t offer much when it comes to answering questions like “can dogs eat dried cherries?”. There is no need to worry anymore as we are here to answer this question.
There is a very simple answer to this question which is a straightforward No. The reason for us being against feeding cherries to dogs is the fact that drying tends to make cherries lose all of their water content. This makes cherries even more saturated with sugars, making them much more dangerous to dogs than normal cherries. That’s why we suggest our valued readers avoid feeding dried cherries to their dogs at every cost.
Can dogs eat Cherry Pies?
Another very common question about the topic at hand is Can dogs eat cherry pies and other such baked products carrying cherries in them. This question can easily be replied as a no, simply because baked products tend to be very high in sugars themselves. Now add the sugary content of cherries in them, and you just got yourself a very sugar-high treat that is enough to make your dog very obese.
Other than this, cherry pies tend to be full of carbohydrates and fats while lacking any proteins, and therefore they don’t prove to be good food options for carnivorous pets such as dogs. That’s why our answer to the question that can dogs eat cherry pies is a big no.