Whether your canine grabbed a crunchy stalk off the counter or you’re looking for a healthy treat, it is essential to double-check the safety information of all food your dog eats. Not everything healthy for us is necessarily healthy for our canines. Things we can eat perfectly fine can be dangerous for our dogs.
Below, we’ll dive into whether or not celery is safe for your dog to eat and in what amounts. While celery is not toxic for dogs, we’ll also take a look at whether or not celery is necessarily healthy for dogs.
Is it okay for dogs to eat celery?
Yes. Celery is not poisonous or otherwise dangerous for your dog to it. It is not going to cause any harmful side effects or make your dog sick.
If your dog snatched a piece of celery off the counter, you have nothing to worry about.
However, just because celery isn’t bad for dogs doesn’t necessarily mean it is good either.
Is celery good for dogs?
Celery can be a healthy snack for your canine under some circumstances. Celery is mostly just water, which makes it a great low-calorie treat, especially when compared to other options. If you have the choice between celery or doggie cookies, choose the celery.
With that said, your dog cannot live off of celery alone – just like we couldn’t. Your dog needs a well-balanced diet, which is usually going to take the form of commercial dog food. If you’re cooking your pet’s food, then celery can be a substantial part of your pet’s diet as long as you include plenty of other ingredients as well.
Besides water, celery is also somewhat high in carbohydrates. Our dogs evolved to live off of mostly protein and fat, so eating extra carbohydrates is not necessary. Still, they do only contain a few carbohydrates overall. As long as you aren’t feeding your dog whole bushels of celery, you should be fine.
In fact, celery can be a good treat choice for dogs that are overweight and obese. Celery doesn’t have much in it. Therefore, it can fill your dog up without actually putting any more calories into their diet. Many dog treats are full of excess carbohydrates and calories, so celery can be an excellent alternative to these commercial options.
Celery may also promote a few different benefits.
Benefits of Feeding Your Dog Celery
Celery in a dog’s diet has not been heavily studied. Many of the studies out there on celery involve humans, not dogs. However, at least some of these benefits likely transfer over to our furry friends as well.
- Antioxidants
Celery is pretty high in antioxidants. These are important for all animals can help protect cells from oxidative damage.
Our dogs could use some extra antioxidants just like use, and celery is a good source for them.
- Hydration
A lot of celery is just water. If you need to help your dog stay hydrated for whatever reason, feeding them celery can increase their overall water intake. Proper hydration is vital for a variety of bodily functions, including managing blood pressure, body temperature, and brain function.
Still, celery isn’t that hydrating. It would always be better to have your dog drink some water instead. Plus, dogs that aren’t getting enough water probably aren’t in the mood to eat either.
- Low in Sugar
Celery contains very, very little sugar. Surprisingly, many commercial dog treats are relatively high in sugar. Sugar is not necessary for our dogs and can introduce empty calories into their diet.
Celery provides an alternative treat that contains very little sugar. Because of this, many pet owners may decide to use it over their usual dog treats.
How Much Celery is Too Much?
As we said previously, your dog cannot live off of celery alone, even if it is decently healthy. Our dogs were bred to get most of their calories from protein and fat, not carbohydrates.
How much celery your particular dog can have depends a lot on their specific breed, size, and tolerance. Smaller dogs will be able to eat less celery. One stalk for a Great Dane is nothing but can be a whole meal for a Shih Tzu.
Furthermore, puppies need less celery than adults. Puppies are growing rapidly and need all of their calories to matter. You don’t want them filling up on celery instead of eating their nutritionally-complete food. However, adult dogs might need to eat more celery because it is filling without being calorie-dense. Pet obesity is a massive problem around the world. Helping your pup lose a few pounds by introducing celery into their diet may be a good thing if they’re overweight.
Some dogs react differently to celery than others. Most dogs will stomach celery just fine. However, others may get a bad stomach ache after eating it. Just like humans can sometimes not tolerate certain foods, dogs may experience gastrointestinal upset when given foods that don’t jive with their digestion.
These dogs should eat far less celery than those that can tolerate the veggie.
What to do if your dog eats celery
Nothing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with your dog eating celery. If they grab some off the counter or manage to dig some out of the trash, you likely don’t have anything to worry about.
Depending on how much they ate, they may experience a slight upset stomach and get a bit gassy. However, these are about as serious as their symptoms will get.
The only real danger of your dog eating celery is that large pieces may block their airway. This usually occurs when the dog is trying to gulp the food (like when you’re trying to get it away from them). Just keep an eye on your dog to ensure that they’re breathing and moving around okay after they’ve sneakily eaten celery.
Yes, Your Dog Can Eat Celery
There is nothing wrong with your dog eating a snack of celery from time to time. Celery does have a few health benefits, though many of these benefits are minor at best. It is not toxic for dogs in the least and usually won’t make them sick either.
If you plan on using celery as treats, chop it up into bite-sized pieces. This makes the stalk last longer and prevents larger pieces from getting stuck in your pet’s airway.
Featured Image Credit: pasja1000, Pixabay
