Avocados in dog food can be a source of healthy fats and nutrients. But only very few recipes use avocado pulp, avocado oil or avocado meal as a novel ingredient.
Contents
About Avocado
Avocados are a popular food item for humans, but they are also getting more popular in some dog foods.
Avocado is high in healthy mono- and polyunsaturated fats, making it a good source of dietary fat rich in phytosterols and carotenoids[4].
It also contains fiber, vitamins, and minerals such as vitamin K, folate, vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium.
In general, avocado is considered a healthy food choice. However, avocado is also relatively high in calories.
Avocados in Dog Food
Avocado is becoming more and more popular in dog food.
One reason for this is certainly that people highly value avocado in their own diet. Still, only very few commercial dog foods currently contain some form of avocado.
Avocado in dog foods can be included as avocado pulp, avocado puree, avocado oil, or avocado meal.
Avocado oil is extra rich in fatty acids while avocado meal has some potential as a novel dietary fiber source in dog food[3].
Avocados are sometimes promoted as functional ingredients.
The fat in avocados is often believed to maybe have positive effects on cholesterol levels or cardiovascular health.
But to date, there is no real evidence that avocado in dog food actually improves your pet’s health, mobility, skin, or coat.
Avocado is mainly a nutritious ingredient rich in healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals.
Is Avocado Ok For Dogs?
Is avocado in dog food a safe ingredient?
In the past, there have been concerns about the potential toxicity due to the presence of persin. Unfortunately, there is a lot of conflicting information on the safety of avocados for dogs.
Persin is a natural fungicide present in avocados that is toxic to some animals like birds, rabbits, or horses.
However, past experience and feeding trials with dogs do not support these safety concerns[3,5]. All in all, dogs seem more resistant to persin than other species[6].
Further research is needed to fully understand the effects of avocados on the health of dogs, on long-term consumption, and how much of it can be safely added to dog food.
As with all novelty ingredients, we recommend staying away from recipes that seem to include large amounts of avocado for now.
But otherwise, from what we know, it seems to be absolutely okay or even beneficial to use some avocado in dog food.
Further Reading
[1] Beynen. 2016. Superfruit–positioned dog foods.
[2] Dainton et al. Nutritional and physico-chemical implications of avocado meal as a novel dietary fiber source in an extruded canine diet. Journal of Animal Science. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skac026
[3] Dainton. Avocado meal: A novel dietary fiber source in feline and canine diets. Thesis, University of Illinois. Nutritional Sciences 2018.
[4] Dreher & Davenport. Hass avocado composition and potential health effects. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2013. https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2011.556759
[5] Pet Poison Helpline: Avocado.
[6] Sharon M. Gwaltney-Brant: Avocado Toxicosis in Animals. Merck Veterinary Manual. 2021.