Can Dogs Eat Papaya?

When it comes to exotic fruits, the community of dog owners is often weary of feeding them to their dogs because of high acidity levels and fears of negative consequences, which is documented in hundreds of articles and studies across the web by now.

So, is this true for papaya? Can dogs eat papaya? Or are papaya bad for dogs?

Can Dogs Eat Papaya?

YES, dogs can eat Papaya! Papaya isn’t at all toxic to dogs, so this issue shouldn’t be something that stops you from feeding your dog papaya every now and then.

Papaya is not only beneficial to us humans, it’s also beneficial and a good-to-go fruit for dogs to eat.

Papaya is even a very common ingredient in dog food nowadays, especially when it comes to pet food companies that manufacture dog food for older (senior) dogs, since papaya can greatly help these older dogs with the digestive problems they more commonly face when compared to younger aged dogs.

Assuming that your dog is not allergic to papaya and you remain in the moderation zone when feeding your dog this fruit (or else you’re going to give your dog constipation), you’re good to go!

How Can Dogs Eat Papaya?

Preparing The Papaya For Your Dog

First of all, and as is the case with every single fruit out there that you want to feed your dog, the seeds have to be removed from it before you serve it to Fido because they are toxic to dogs and can lead to intestinal blockage.

You also want to remove the papaya peel before feeding some to your dog, just to be on the safe side and make sure you give them one less chance of choking on something.

Besides choking on the papaya peel, it’s fairly difficult for the digestive systems of dogs to properly process it, so there’s no need for any of that.

So, after you ensure that you’re done removing all the seeds from the papaya, you can cut it into smaller pieces and give a couple to your dog to eat.

It’s best that you don’t give your dog large chunks of papaya to eat, as that increases the chance of them choking.

Fresh Papaya VS Dehydrated Papaya

You have the option of feeding your dog fresh papaya or dehydrated papaya, and you should always go with the fresh papaya.

Why? You and I might really like to eat dehydrated papaya and find it really tasty, but dehydrated papaya have much less water content in them than fresh papaya, and a whole lot more concentrated sugar levels as well, both of which negatively affect your dog’s well-being.

As if feeding dogs something as high in sugar as dehydrated papaya wasn’t bad enough, we’ve heard about a couple of cases where dog owners that had diabetic dogs at home fed them some dehydrated papaya!

Luckily, these incidents weren’t fatal at the time and the dogs got immediate medical care and attention right away, but that’s just something for everyone reading this to think about – always do your due diligence before feeding your dog anything.

You may not exactly know it at the time, but something you may be thinking about feeding your dog can potentially kill them!

Soft Papayas VS Hard Papayas For Dogs

Besides feeding your dog only fresh papaya, try to search for soft papayas instead of hard ones.

The softer the papaya, the more rich it is in antioxidants and the more beneficial it is for your dog’s health.

Also, softer papayas are tastier than papayas that are more on the green side of color.

Papaya Supplement Tabs For Dogs

Last but not least, and this is somewhat of a viable option for dog owners that want their dogs to get the health benefits from papaya fruit but don’t actually want their dogs to physically eat it, you have the option of giving your dog papaya enzyme supplements, the same way you and I could take Omega-3 essential fatty acid supplement pills instead of actually getting the Omega-3 from eating fish.

However, and besides the fact that taking the health benefits from the whole source itself is almost always better than taking them from some pill, this is taking things much more further than they need to be taken.

There’s no strong reason for you and I to think about taking papaya supplement tablets ourselves unless there’s a clear medical reason for us to do so, so why would we ever think about giving our dogs papaya supplement tabs?

Dogs that are fed high quality dog food will be meeting all their dietary requirements and more, so don’t worry about supplementation in your dog’s diet unless told to do so by your veterinarian.

Either way, if you’re adamant about giving your dog papaya supplement tablets for whatever reason, talk to your veterinarian about it first to make sure that the dosage you’re giving your pooch is safe to stick with.

Why Is Papaya Good For Dogs?

Before getting into the nitty-gritty about what health benefits papaya has in store for Fido, you should know that in order for your dog to get as much of these benefits as possible, try to feed them ripe papaya instead of green papaya.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s talk about why papaya is good for dogs.

Papaya is good for dogs to eat because:

  • It’s rich in fiber, and many dog owners report that giving their constipated dog some papaya to eat works wonders all the time
  • It minimizes the possibility of annoying occurrences like bloating, excessive gas and indigestion happening
  • It fights intestinal parasites and worms
  • Is packed with vitamins A, C, E and K
  • It’s an excellent source of magnesium, potassium, iron and calcium
  • It promotes heart health and helps in fighting cardiovascular disease
  • It promotes bone health and bone growth, which makes it an excellent fruit to feed young puppies (although if you’re going to feed your small puppy papaya, or any other fruit for that matter, you have to be extra careful about the quantity you feed them, as you don’t want to over-feed here)
  • It enhances your dog’s body process of breaking down and properly digesting the proteins they consume from their diet (assuming you’re providing them with a diet made up of high quality dog food .. you are doing that, aren’t you? I hope so!). This process happens due to the presence of an enzyme called papain, which is very often used as a meat softener because of its ability to rapidly break down proteins in food.
  • It improves the condition of your dog’s skin and coat
  • It has plenty of anti-inflammatory properties that dogs benefit from, especially senior dogs that suffer from the likes of arthritis
  • Is a very healthy, low-calorie snack that’s very easy to prepare when you’re out of ideas of snacks to give your dog

1 COMMENT

  1. hello, i have a puppy shes a hound will be a year in january, i servely need some training for her in multiple ways ive done training before and she was perfect, now shes acting out again as her mommy ( me ) am not home as much as i used to be cause i work fulltime, she isnt home alone all the time tho my father or friends are there with her, i need prices for training if possible & would like to hear from you.Thank you GraceSincerly Brittany & Bailey..:)

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