Banana

Bananas are a safe fruit for dogs. They bring potassium, fibre, biotin, copper and a range of vitamins while staying low in cholesterol and sodium. They are also soft, which makes them one of the easier treats for a senior dog with worn teeth, and they freeze and smear well, so they work as a Kong filler or a frozen summer treat. The catch is sugar. Bananas are sugary enough that they belong in the treat column rather than as a daily topper. Portion looks like this: one or two small slices for a small dog, up to about half a banana for a large dog, and occasionally rather than every day. Push past that and you get constipation in some dogs and diarrhoea in others, plus steady weight gain if the habit sticks. Bananas are not a good choice for a diabetic dog; ask your veterinarian first. The peel comes off. It is not toxic, but it is fibrous and barely digestible, and a swallowed peel can ball up and obstruct the gut. Dogs get peels off counters and out of open trash cans more often than owners expect, so bin them where the dog cannot reach. Processed banana is a different question. Banana chips from the snack aisle are usually fried and sugar-coated. Banana bread and banana muffins routinely carry walnuts, chocolate chips or raisins, and raisins and chocolate are genuinely toxic to dogs. Peanut butter and banana is a classic pairing, but check the peanut butter label for xylitol, which US manufacturers may print as birch sugar; that combination is the single most common way a harmless banana treat turns into a poisoning call. If your dog swallowed a peel, or ate banana bread containing raisins, chocolate or nuts, or ate anything with xylitol or birch sugar on the label, call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 right away, even without symptoms. Repeated vomiting, lethargy, abdominal pain or no stool after a swallowed peel points to an obstruction. Do not induce vomiting at home.