Keeping your dog safe and happy means always being on guard for possible dangers. This definitely includes what your fur baby is eating. Not only do you need to take special care to make sure they are getting the right food, but you will also need to make sure they do not ingest foods that could be dangerous. There is a lot of confusion when it comes to tropical foods such as longan. Can your dog eat longan?
Longan is not technically considered toxic to your dog, but there are some precautions you should keep in mind. Let’s learn more about feeding longan to your dog.
What is Longan?
For starters, you need to know exactly what longan is. Even if you do not normally buy this fruit yourself, it is good to recognize it and know what it is just in case your dog gets it out of the trash or gets it from someone else.
Longan is a fruit that is normally grown in China. It is considered a tropical fruit of Asia. Some people have compared longan to lychee. This fruit has a hard shell which covers white flesh, similar to a coconut. The white flesh of the longan fruit has a sweet flavor that some people also describe as musky.
In the middle of the longan fruit is a hard pit. This is the seed of the plant.
Should My Dog Eat Longan?
There is not a definitive answer on whether or not a dog should eat this tropical fruit, because there has not been enough research conducted on how the fruit can affect dogs. In fact, there also hasn’t been much research concerning how the fruit affects humans either. This fruit would therefore fall into a grey area. We do know that longan is not toxic to dogs in the way some fruits are. In Asia, especially, people do feed longan to their dogs, however, you should know that currently there is no veterinarian-backed research concerning how this fruit affects dogs long term.
If you are very careful about what you feed your dog, you may want to stick with foods that your veterinarian has approved.
Some pet owners allow their dogs to eat lots of different types of food as long as those foods have not been determined to be toxic to dogs. You need to talk with your vet to get a full list of foods that are considered toxic to dogs. This information is crucial to your dog’s long term health. A list of toxic foods should be clearly posted in your home for your family and anyone who will watch your dog for you.
If you are the type of pet owner that is comfortable with allowing your dog to eat different types of non-toxic foods, then you might consider feeding your dog longan.
If you do decide to feed your dog this tropical fruit, here are some guidelines for proper feeding.
The shell of the longan is not edible. The shell is very hard and if broken down into little pieces could be a choking hazard to your dog. Dogs will often attempt to swallow large pieces of something whole rather than chewing it smaller. This is why you need to help protect your dog from choking by keeping hard items away.
In addition to a choking hazard, the shell could also disrupt normal bowel function by creating a blockage.
You will also want to remove the seed from the fruit as well. Many seeds contain chemicals that can be poisonous and even fatal. There is no research indicating that longan seeds are necessarily poisonous, but you should not take this risk. These large, hard seeds also pose a choking risk for your dog as well.
Many fruits when unripe can prove to be toxic to dogs. Always check the ripeness of a fruit before feeding.
Too much of a good thing is too much, so you should always keep foods for your dog in moderate amounts. Even your dog’s regular food should not be fed in excess. When feeding your dog longan, be sure to give it in small amounts. Longan does contain a lot of vitamin C. Dogs happen to produce their own vitamin C and so do not need large doses from other sources. A dog can get sick if they ingest too much vitamin C.
Longan is also high in sugar content, so you do not want to feed your dog large amounts of this fruit. Too much sugar is bad for your pet’s health and weight.
Are There Benefits To Eating Longan?
You might be wondering if there is even a good reason to be feeding my pet longan. Again, very little research has been done on this fruit for either dogs or humans. Here are some anecdotal benefits of eating longan.
- The vitamin C in longan is believed to help build the immune system.
- Vitamin C also helps the skin as well as other nutrients which slow the signs of aging.
- Longan has a high iron content which may be useful in combatting anemia.
- This fruit is believed to help with blood circulation. Better blood flow can help to cut down on the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Please note, these benefits have only been connected with human consumption at this point.
Conclusion
If you are considering feeding longan to your dog, please consider that there is no evidence to confirm feeding your dog this fruit is necessarily helpful. There is also no evidence to prove that the fruit is toxic or harmful to dogs either. If you are unsure, you can always talk with your vet to get more in-depth information concerning what your dog should and should not eat.