Can Dogs Have Celery?
It’s no secret that dogs are able to have a number of human foods, but is celery safe for a dog to have? Dogs are typically more often than not fans of vegetables, especially carrots, but can dogs eat celery without having an internal complication?
If a dog is fed a balanced, complete diet, they don’t really need to have vegetables and fruits. Although, they do make for tasty snacks, especially if a dog is having issues with obesity and needs a proper solution.
The Big Question – Can I Give My Dog Celery?
Celery is, in fact, safe for dogs to consume. It’s classified as a treat that can help dogs to lose weight and replace their usual treats and cookies for something much better for their health.
Although, in certain instances, celery can pose a risk to our canine friends, so they must be prepared properly to ensure that nothing bad happens in the process of them eating any.
Preparing Celery for a Dog
No, you simply cannot break off a stalk and give it your dog just like that. Celery must be cut up into chewable, digestable, small pieces to ensure that they don’t become a choking hazard.
You will also need to remove the leaves from the celery stalk completely before you give it to your dog. While there is much debate about whether or not celery leaves are safe for dogs to consume, it’s better that you avoid giving them to your dog altogether.
If you want to be sure, you could also speak to your dog’s veterinarian about whether or not the leaves from a celery stalk are safe enough to give to your dog to eat.
You should also beware of the stringy pieces that arise when you are cutting it. To be safe, pull or cut them all off to ensure that there are no bathroom struggles later on after consuming. These pieces can and may get stuck if there are too many of them in the pieces of celery that you give to your dog.
The Benefits of Giving Your Dog Celery
Celery, interestingly enough, boosts your dog’s immune system to make it stronger and hardier. Celery is also rich in many of the necessary vitamins that they need, including A, B, and even C.
Celery also has sodium, iron, phosphorus, calcium, and potassium, which are all minerals found in fibrous vegetables that are great for your dog to have. The juice helps to ease arthritic pain in the joints in dogs, so it’s a perfect treat to give to senior dogs who have joint pain, arthritic pain, or any type of joint pain in general.
It also contains phthalides, which helps to lower the blood pressure, and can even retain all of the nutrients found in this vegetable after it has been thoroughly cooked.
What’s more, and probably the best benefit of all, it’s a natural diuretic. This means that it can help to flush out harmful toxins in the kidneys and stimulate proper urine production to keep your dog in top shape!
The Importance of Moderation
While celery is a great snack for dogs, as you’ve just found out, moderation is definitely key in this place.
Celery encourages urination and the cleansing of the kidneys, so a lot of what is in there is going to be flushed out quite quickly. Oddly enough, celery will make your dog urinate a lot more than he or she normally would.
This is where moderation being the key comes into play. Feeding your dog too much celery will cause quite a bit, almost endless, urination. Therefore, to avoid the possible issue of too much urination, only feed your dog celery in strict moderation.
Too much celery in a dog’s diet can also cause an upset stomach and, unfortunately, persistent diarrhea, so be cautious. Only a couple of pieces per day is the right amount of celery you should be giving to your dog.
The Most Important Rule With Fruits and Vegetables
Though your dog may love to have fruits and vegetables as tasty snacks and treats on a daily basis, remember that their diet is very specific.
A dog’s diet should consist of approximately 90% quality dog food, raw food, half cooked or fully cooked food. Dogs do not need vegetables and fruits like we do, so do not supplement their diet with them.
Final Thoughts
The answer to the big question – yes, dogs can definitely eat celery, but as long as it’s in moderation that is watched by a very close eye. Remember that feeding a dog too much celery can cause some serious problems, including diarrhea and constant urination.
At the end of the day, celery is a great treat for dogs of all shapes, health, and sizes to have, so giving them a few pieces is definitely okay!
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