Can Dogs Eat Celery?

When creating a meal plan for your dogs, choosing ingredients that give them optimal health benefits is crucial. Not every item that makes it onto your plate is okay for your dog.

Spot Pet Insurance can help you ensure you’re making the right choices for your pet. If you’re thinking of introducing your dog to new vegetables such as celery, read on to find out the benefits and potential risks.

Can your dogs eat celery?

Yes, your dogs can eat celery. Although dogs are carnivores and need to get most of their nutrients from meat, they can process vegetables to unlock the nutrients within.

Nevertheless, celery shouldn’t form the largest portion of your dog’s meal. You can add celery and other vegetables as a side to your dog’s bowl, but they shouldn’t replace proteins and healthy fat. Whether you have a pit bull or a corgi, your pup needs more protein to keep them looking healthy.

Is celery good for dogs?

Celery is generally good for dogs. It contains lots of water and vitamins, and this nutrient-dense vegetable is also low in calories.

You can find celery in any grocery store closest to you. It’s also relatively affordable, so including it in your dog’s diet won’t hurt your pocket.

It offers lots of health benefits for humans and dogs alike. Therefore, buying celery can serve two purposes — nourishing you and your dog.

What are the benefits of celery for your dog?

Moderate amounts of celery can help boost your dog’s health in some of the following ways:

Hydration

Staying hydrated is just as important for dogs as it is for humans. Drinking water isn’t the only way to ensure your dog gets enough fluids — you can give them foods that contain lots of water too.

Celery is about 95% water, which can help hydrate your dog to keep their body balanced. Water helps your dog eliminate toxins from their body.

This veggie also helps your dog get a fresh breath. It’s crunchy, so it stimulates saliva production. That saliva helps clean your dog’s teeth and reduces how much bacteria that accumulates in their mouth, which can contribute to fresher breath overall.

Low calories

You can add celery to your dog’s meal plan without worrying about increasing their calorie intake significantly. It lacks fat and cholesterol too. Celery can help fill your dog without significantly raising calorie intake.

Vitamin A

Celery provides your dog with a supply of vitamin A. This supports their immune system, reproductive health, bones, muscles, and skin, as well as helping to maintain your dog’s eye health.

Vitamin K

If your dog happens to get injured while playing, vitamin K can help their blood clot so that they don’t lose too much blood. It also helps strengthen your dog’s bones.

Vitamin B

Your dog can get B vitamins such as thiamine and folate from celery. These vitamins work as coenzymes that help your dog break down food. They also help your dog release the energy stored in food.

Minerals

Celery provides minerals such as:

In the right amounts, these nutrients help keep your dog’s body balanced.

Antioxidants

Celery provides your dog with antioxidants such as vitamin E that help them fight off oxidative damage. Studies show that oxidative stress may be responsible for several chronic health conditions in dogs.

Fiber

Your dog may be unable to digest the fiber in celery, but it’s important for their gut health overall. Fiber-rich foods like celery help your dog’s digestive system work without trouble. It helps them to have bowel movements without strain and keeps them regular.

The fiber in celery also helps your dog feel full. That makes it a great snack if they’re on a low-calorie diet, but you just can’t resist those pleading eyes.

What are the risks of giving celery to your dog?

Celery may offer dogs some health benefits, but it’s not right for every dog. Before you start giving your dogs celery, note the following potential risks.

High sodium

A single celery stalk contains up to 35mg of sodium. While that’s a lot for humans, we have to be extra careful when considering how much sodium our furry friends eat. For example, eating too many celery stalks might put stress on your dog’s kidneys or affect your dog’s blood pressure.

Choking hazard

Celery chunks can be tough to chew. If you have a small dog or your dog gobbles food too quickly, they might choke on this vegetable.

Cutting celery into small sizes will make it easier for your dog to eat and help reduce their chances of choking.

Frequent urination

You may find that your dog needs to urinate more frequently after eating lots of celery. That’s because it’s a diuretic, so you should only feed celery to your dog in moderation.

Celery also contains calcium. Excess calcium over a prolonged period might lead to kidney stones and other potential health conditions down the line, so be aware of your pup’s calcium levels before feeding them too much of this crunchy treat.

GIT trouble

Eating too much celery can upset your dog’s stomach, potentially leading to symptoms like diarrhea, gas, or vomiting.

Pesticides

Commercially available celery stalks and leaves may contain pesticides, considering it’s on the list of foods that commonly contain pesticides.

One way to avoid exposing your dog to such chemicals is by buying organic celery, which has stricter regulations regarding what kind of pesticides can be used. Regardless of what kind of celery you purchase, ensure that you clean them first. Wash your celery thoroughly before preparing them for your dogs.

How to prepare celery for your dog

Your dogs can enjoy celery as part of a meal or a snack, and they can eat it both raw and cooked.

Here are some other tips you should note when preparing celery for your dog:

Wash the celery thoroughly

Cleaning celery is an essential first step in its preparation. This step is crucial because celery can build up toxins from the environment, such as fertilizers and pesticides.

Chop the celery

Cutting celery into smaller pieces makes it easier to digest. It’s also less likely to cause your dog to choke. You should also cut off any browned bits.

Cook the celery

This step isn’t compulsory because dogs can eat raw celery. However, if you have a dog who’s struggling with raw celery, try cooking it first. Cooked celery is easier to chew and digest.

Don’t add salt

Resist the urge to add extra salt when cooking celery for your pup. While you may want to make your dog’s celery dish tasty, there’s no need to add salt. It already contains lots of sodium, which doesn’t agree with dogs.

Serve with other foods, if you’d like

You can serve your dog celery as part of a complete meal. It goes well with other fruits and vegetables such as blueberries, cucumbers, and carrots.

Your dogs can eat celery alone as a snack too. You could also add some xylitol-free peanut butter on celery to create a fun snack for your fur baby.

How much celery can your dog eat?

Some dogs love celery, while others are indifferent about it. However, just because celery is your dog’s favorite vegetable doesn’t mean you should make it their main meal.

Dogs don’t need to eat too many vegetables, since they can get most of their necessary nutrition from meat. Generally, vegetables shouldn’t make up more than 25% of your dog’s diet, so keep that in mind when serving celery to your furry friend.

If you’re worried about adding celery to your dog’s diet, speak to your vet.

Conclusion

Giving your dog the right food helps ensure that they stay healthy, and celery can be a good addition to your pup’s diet. It provides lots of valuable nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamin B, antioxidants, and minerals.

Celery contains lots of water that hydrates your dog and eliminates toxins. However, eating too many any celery has its downsides. Your dog can get adverse effects such as tummy problems, nausea, frequent urination, and vomiting.

When giving your dogs celery, keep it moderate. They need more proteins and healthy fat than vegetables. Your dogs can enjoy celery as part of the main meal or snack. It’s safe for dogs, whether raw or cooked. Spot Pet Insurance can help answer your questions about keeping your dogs healthy.

What Other Vegetables Can Dogs Eat?

Though our canine companions cannot enjoy every food we can, several veggies are safe for dogs and humans. We have compiled a list of all vegetables that dogs can eat for you! Dogs can eat various veggies you might have on hand, such as sweet potatoes, cabbage, eggplant, radishes, carrots, beets, corn, peas, potatoes, ginger, squash, pumpkins, zucchini, and so many more! All vegetables offer different nutritional values and benefits, so it’s always a good idea to introduce your dog to different vegetable types.