Can dogs eat oranges? 7 Great Benefits & 5 Crucial Side Effects of Orange

This post was most recently updated on July 25th, 2023

Overview

Orange belongs to the Rutaceae family and is also considered as citrus fruits. And yes, orange can be fed to dogs as it has much more nutrients and provide the most beneficial Vitamins out there, especially vitamin C. Also, it carries a low amount of calories and fats.

As we all know, orange is considered as hesperidium type fruits and there are much more benefits of oranges to dogs at it belongs to a citrus family. Here are the complete elaborations on the benefits of oranges that are more likely to be related to dogs:

Helps In Better Heart Health

These days, many people are dying due to heart disease because of lacking knowledge about the proper foods. But, in the case of dogs, the owner needs to take care of them. Many dogs may be suffering from heart disease, but if we properly take care of them, we may reduce the risk of heart disease.

Orange is a hesperidium type fruit and hesperidin in orange have the capability to fight with heart disease. In addition to that, orange is an organic fruit and organic fruits mostly play a role in thinning the blood.

So, to reduce the risk of heart disease, by thinning the blood would be the great benefits of orange to dogs.

Prevents Kidney Stone

The food we take these days are highly contaminated and we can found the small particles of stone on our food. Likewise, there also contains the smallest particles of stones on pet foods. Even in the water, we can found some parts of sands there. This will surely cause stone on our dogs. Orange is a citrate fruit and there obviously contains potassium citrate in it. This will reduce the risk of a kidney stone on dogs.

Prevents Anemia

Dogs may react abnormal due to lacking RBC and haemoglobin on their body. To reduce the risk of anemia, we can take great advantage of orange.

Orange won’t increase the level of haemoglobin on the blood of dogs, but they are an excellent source of citric and ascorbic acids. These acids will increase the level of absorption of iron and helps to prevent the anemia.

Helps to maintain blood pressure

Orange does not contain sodium but contains 181mg of Potassium in a 100gm of orange. So, intaking fruits that have potassium, but no sodium will help to maintain blood pressure. If your dog is suffering from blood pressure, then adding orange on their meal could be a great idea to maintain their blood pressure.

Prevents skin damage

Dogs look very cool on their hair. And to maintain these, it is very necessary to maintain their skin healthy as well.

As we have already mentioned, orange is an excellent source of Vitamin C. Vitamin C plays a vital role in preventing the damage of the skin.

Helps in alkalizing the body

As the nature of orange is acidic, before it gets digested, it secrets the several alkaline minerals withing dogs’ digestive system. Those acids play a role in digesting other foods, too.

Make eyes healthy

Orange is also an excellent source of carotenoid which contains Vitamin A on it. And we all know that Vitamin A always helps in our vision by helping mucus membranes to be healthy in eyes. Sometimes, dogs go to play outside during the night time, so we really need to take care of their eyes. By adding orange on their meal, we can somehow make their eyes healthy and helps to get prevented from night blindness.

It’s obvious that no one fruits have only the benefits, but also have it’s an inferior part. Let’s dive into them.

Diabetes problem

There would be a logical point if we say that oranges are not a great fruit to a dog who is suffering from diabetes. This is because each of 100gm of an orange contains enough amount of sugar(9gm) and carbohydrates(12gm).

Each 100gm of orange contains 9gm of sugar which means there present nearly about 1/10 times of sugar to its total weight of 100gm.

The high amount of vitamin C along with a high sugar level present in orange will eventually affect the blood values leading dogs to serious health problems. Not to worry about the young dogs as most of the report says that there is a high chance of having diabetes to only older dogs.

Constipation or Diarrhea may occur

100gm of orange contains about 2.4gm of fiber. Fiber is a nutrient which absorbs the most amount of water presents in our body.

For the normal metabolism of dogs, we need to maintain the right amount of water in their body which sometimes turn into a bad schedule.

That means, dogs either may have a lower amount of water than required or may have an excessive amount of water to maintain metabolism.

So, if we fail to maintain the water in their body, the fibre-containing orange may harm the metabolism of dogs resulting in constipation or diarrhoea.

Acidic elements in oranges can decay teeth faster

There contains a high amount of citric acid and vitamin C on citrus fruits like orange. It’s okay to have the amount of Vitamin C present in orange, but the citric acid won’t be in favour on dog’s teeth because citric acid eventually causes teeth erosion. And if untreated well, it will also harm the nerve portion of the tooth.

In the case of human being, citric acid won’t affect much our teeth because we do regularly brush our teeth, but in case of dogs, they don’t brush their teeth. That’s why the citric acid will remain longer on their teeth and gums which will ultimately decay their teeth faster.

Overfeeding oranges may call shortness of breath to dogs

Even the healthier foods will turn into poisonous ones if we consume a lot more than required. As consuming enough amount of citric acid leads to asthma or shortness of breath, this will also harm dogs if we overfeed them.

So, to overcome the shortness of breath, we don’t need to provide them enough source of citric acid.

Increase in weight

Who doesn’t want their pets to look cute and fit? Also, we can’t resist ourselves to love the dog which is a chubby one.

100gm of orange contains about 12gm of carbohydrates. So, if we keep feeding oranges to dogs, it may surely increase the weight of dogs.

That will make them look fatty one and no-one would like that, right? That’s why in these type of cases, overfeeding oranges to pets like dogs may be a bad idea for their looks.

We don’t have to forget that animals also need to be a healthier one. So that, during feeding oranges to dogs we need to take care of the following points for their better health.

• Before taking orange in a hand, make sure your hands are well washed.
• Clean and wash the range, too because it may contains dirt and germs in the skin of orange.
• Before feeding orange to dogs, make sure you already have checked the diabetes level and pressure of dogs.
• Remove the skin of orange smoothly. Don’t loose enough fiber in the peel of the orange.
• After fulfilling above points, you can feed the orange to your dogs.

No, they can’t. It’s not because they are toxic to dogs, it’s because orange peels usually contain about 136 milligrams of vitamin C and have a lot of nutritional elements( Copper, Magnesium, Calcium, Folate, Fiber, Vitamins, etc.) in a comparatively higher amount than the flesh of an orange. In addition to that, the dog can’t digest the peels of orange which may later result in the diarrhoea, vomiting, and disturbance in the metabolism.

And if we let them eat the peels of orange, there will be the overdose of elements in their body and they will react abnormally than before.

So, for the better condition or health of dogs, we need to provide the flesh of orange to dogs instead of the orange peels.

• Make sure your hands are well washed.
• Remove the skins of oranges and keep in a clean & tidy bowl.
• Separate every part of oranges.
• Feed them directly into their mouth one by one.

Why don’t dogs like oranges?

Dogs don’t like citrus fruits like orange. This is because dogs are not fond of citrus and acidic foods. Oranges are rich in Vitamin C and citric acid that’s why dogs don’t want to eat them.

How much orange is good for dogs?

It is recommended that 25% of the total orange needs to be given to the younger dogs while on the other hand 33%-35% of total orange is recommended to the older one.

When do oranges are bad for dogs?

Oranges would be bad for dogs if we overfeed them because it may hinder the metabolism system of their body and may be severe in no time.

Can dogs eat mandarin oranges when sick?

It does matter according to the disease they are suffering from. If the dog is suffering from general fever or headache, it would be okay to feed them, but if they are suffering from diabetes or blood pressure then the high amount of nutrients present on oranges may cause a serious issue.