Can Dogs Eat Blueberries? To Eat or Not to Eat?!

Blueberries For Dogs

Animal and plant products are a perfect combination to ensure your dog consumes a proper diet. But, of course, fruits are of the essence in this diet. So questions like, “can dogs eat blueberries?” could be on your mind. 

You may be having a lot of blueberries around, or maybe the taste of the fruit tempts you to feed some to your dog. Well, before you do that, you’ve got to learn more about dogs and blueberries.

Let’s dive deeper!

Wet Fresh Blueberries

Can Dogs Eat Blueberries?

Yes, your dog can eat blueberries. Dogs eat blueberries because the fruit is tasty. However, you need to know that this fruit contains a lot of health benefits to your dog just the same way as to humans.

The fruit is packed with many vitamins, natural minerals, and other beneficial nutrients. Many people ask themselves whether dogs can eat berries. Well, this section already answers that question. 

Blueberries act as a superfood for dogs. The term superfood refers to the kind of foods that contain a lot of health benefits to the consumer. In this case, the consumer is your dog. 

Are Blueberries Good for Dogs?

Yes, blueberries are very good for dogs in that they have a lot of positive benefits for them in terms of health. 

Dogs can eat blueberries to get vitamin C and natural fiber. Blueberries are also low in calories preventing your dog from acquiring infections and diseases from consuming high-calorie foods. 

The fiber found in blueberries assists in the natural digestion of foods that your dog takes. The fiber also prevents diarrhea and constipation in your dog. The fiber also reduces the obesity of your dog by controlling its weight.  

The fruit also contains other suitable components like phytochemicals, which occur naturally in plants. All these components come to have very positive results for your dog, just like they usually do for humans. 

For example, phytochemicals usually can fight chronic infections and diseases such as cancer in humans. Therefore, when your dogs eat blueberries, you can imagine the health benefit that they would get.

The antioxidants found in blueberries have a lot of health benefits as well. These benefits apply to both humans and animals, so it is a plus to your dog. 

Blueberries usually contain antioxidants. These antioxidants prevent molecular and cellular damage in dogs. The antioxidants generally achieve these results by helping in fighting free radicals that are typically responsible for the molecular and cellular damage in animals and humans.

Older dogs can eat blueberries for antioxidants. They reduce the brain aging effect. Being cholesterol-free and having less fat, the fruit will leave your dog with a natural body structure. Read our article and find out if dogs can eat apples.

dog sniffs berries

Other beneficial components found in blueberries include:

  • Polyphenols
  • Manganese
  • Potassium
  • Vitamin K

Polyphenols

Even though it is not widely known, the polyphenol rules when it comes to antioxidants. This component is only available in vegetables and fruits, and thus blueberries boast of containing a higher number of them. 

Their primary purpose is usually eradicating excessive amounts of free radicals. However, dogs are more open to harmful toxins than humans. Therefore polyphenols play an important role here. 

Manganese

Manganese aids a lot in producing energy in both humans and animals, including dogs. This component is micromineral, and it comes to be beneficial during metabolism. 

Manganese is also essential in maintaining proper health in cartilage and bones. In other words, manganese is necessary for animal joint health. Therefore, manganese is vital for elderly dogs. 

Potassium

Humans and animals, including dogs, must have a specific balance of fluids in the body. This balance aids in making sure that there is proper muscle growth and normal body function. 

Potassium has more positive health benefits. These benefits include:

  • Increase in blood flow
  • Rise in metabolism
  • Increase in motor skills
  •  High bone density
  • Regular heartbeats

Vitamin K 

Generally, the primary purpose of vitamin K is to aid in blood clotting. Therefore, this component is essential in both humans and dogs. In addition, having a lot of this vitamin in the blood means your dog will not lose a lot of blood in case of an accident. 

This vitamin also teams up with calcium to promote strong bones and teeth in your dog. Therefore, an elderly dog can benefit from this vitamin in that, despite its age, it would be healthy with strong physic. 

Can Puppies Eat Blueberries?

Puppies can eat blueberries. The puppies also need the same health benefits that older dogs get. Therefore, blueberries prove to be suitable for puppies. 

However, you should not give your puppies large quantities of blueberries as you can give to larger dogs. The nutritional components found in blueberries may become too much for puppies and overwhelm them. 

This is an occasional treat. Bigger dogs can tolerate more blueberries, so you can gradually increase the share of blueberries you give your puppy as it grows. 

Safely Feeding Your Dog Blueberries

Before feeding blueberries to your dog, the first factor you should always consider is the size of your dog. If you wish to be more sure about that factor, you can visit a veterinarian. He will check your dog and determine for you the number of blueberries that you can feed it. 

The blueberry acts as a treat to your dog. But, can dogs eat blueberries every day?

According to animal nutritionists, on a perfect animal diet, treats should not make up more than 10% of the total calories in one day. Of course, that factor applies to all kinds of goodies, including those with fewer calories. 

That fact explains that your dog can eat blueberries every day as long as you maintain the right amount on every occasion. Then, after getting recommendations from the veterinarian, you can freely feed your dog the blueberries in the correct amount. 

Dogs can eat blueberries at any given time and in any place. Therefore, you may choose to freeze them or keep them warm. However, most dogs love eating them while frozen, especially during hot weather. 

Freezing blueberries for your dog is also good because it changes the texture of the fruit. This factor helps in keeping your dog cooler. 

You might also ask yourself whether and how small dogs can eat blueberries? There are other ways that you may choose to feed blueberries to your dog. You may present this treat to your dog as:

  • Smoothies
  • Mashed

Smoothies

To make a perfect blueberry smoothie for your dog, blend plain yogurt with blueberries simultaneously. Then, add water to improve the texture of the concoction. You can also add other friendly fruits to improve the taste. 

Mashed

Add blueberries to your dog’s food and pound them together to make one yummy meal. Then, you can add a tiny amount of water to make the dry food smooth. The final product will be irresistible to any dog. 

Are All Berries Safe For Dogs?

No, not all berries are safe for dogs. However, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries are among the only berries for dogs that are not capable of posing certain health risks. 

Several other berries are highly dangerous to dogs due to their harmful chemicals. Some of these toxic berries include:

  • Juniper berries
  • Poke berries
  • Holly berries
  • Mistletoe berries
  • Bane berries
poke berries

Final Thoughts

Are blueberries bad for dogs? Can dogs eat blueberries safely? How many blueberries can dogs eat? Are blueberries good for dogs? These might be your main questions. However, they prove very beneficial to dogs. For your dog to have all the necessities for a healthy animal, blueberries should be at the top of the list. 

This article gives you all the necessary knowledge for the proper feeding of blueberries to your dog. Remember to keep in mind the size of your dog and its relation to the number of blueberries it consumes. 

Dogs and blueberries have an excellent relationship. Reading the notes and having the knowledge above will lead to a healthy dog all the way. 

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