Last Updated on March 8, 2023 by Woody Pet
You went to your local fruit store to buy some fruit for the week. As you approached the counter to pay, the owner was bringing along with her a basket heaping fresh, ripe figs.
“Would you like some? My husband recently just harvested them from our fig trees, and I’m afraid we have one too many figs!”
Not wanting to feel ungrateful, you said yes and as she was putting the fruits that you have purchased into your carry-on basket you began to lament the excess figs.
Sure, you’d have some figs for yourself but can you share some of them with your dog?
Can dogs eat figs?
Apparently, yes, dogs can eat figs!
As you ask around your friends over on social media, you begin to wonder more about what the benefits could be health-wise if you were to give your pet dog some figs.
Figs – What Are They Good For? Are figs toxic to dogs?
No, figs are not toxic to dogs. As it turns out, they’re even very beneficial to them!
In terms of nutrition, figs are one of the healthiest and wholesome fruits out there. They are quite dense when it comes to having more vitamins and minerals in one piece of fig fruit over other commonly-known healthy fruits such as bananas.
Figs are also quite underestimated and underrated due to how uncommon they are in the cuisine spotlight. However, this should not dissuade you from preferring to feed some figs to your dog.
How healthy are figs, exactly?
Well, it is best to put numbers into perspective, just to give a glimpse as to how nutritious they really are. One piece of fig weighs around forty grams or so, with an average diameter of about one and a half inches. We will use that relative size and weight as a metric to determine how much nutrients, vitamins, and minerals your dog will most likely receive once it eats one piece of fig fruit.
A piece of fig contains around a third of a gram’s worth of Protein, thirty to thirty-three calories, six and a half grams worth of sugars and fructose, a tenth of a gram’s worth of fat, one and one-fifth of a gram’s worth of Fiber, around half a milligram’s worth of Sodium and around seven to eight grams of carbohydrates.
What these numbers tell us is that a piece of fig is definitely healthy relative to other fruits of similar sizes.
How Do Figs Help In Terms Of My Dog’s Overall Health And Well-being?
Figs bring so much more to the table than what is normally perceived about them. According to research, figs are rich in antioxidants. What antioxidants do is that they strengthen your pet’s immune system by allowing it to withstand and fight diseases that would normally render it weak, were it not for its proper nutrition.
Antioxidants also help in empowering cell functions and longevity, allowing them to resist the onset of cell death by helping against free radicals.
Figs, due to them being rather abundant in Fiber, will also help in your dog’s digestive tract by amplifying your dog’s digestive system in effectively and efficiently absorbing the nutrients from the food that your dog has eaten, as well as keeping the stools within the firm and easy to digest.
Another thing to keep in mind about figs is that they are a good addition to your dog’s usual daily meals. Not only do they enhance the flavor of whatever it is they are eating, figs also help in ensuring that your dog gets its daily dose of vitamins and minerals that it would otherwise not get from the meals it eats on a daily basis by filling in the gaps nutrition-wise.
Figs Sound So Awesome! – Yet There Are Some Things You Need To Be Careful About Them
As good as figs may sound after much deliberation, there are some concerns that others may need to keep track of, especially when you decide to incorporate figs into your dog’s dietary regimen.
One such instance is called “fig burn”.
Figs often secrete an enzyme called ficin which in most cases do not necessarily have any adverse or negative reaction, but if there is a rare instance that your dog might act negatively around eating figs, it is best to avoid feeding your dog figs altogether if it experiences distress and discomfort during or after eating figs.
Symptoms such as irritation or gagging and coughing are clear signs that your dog might be allergic to figs. These allergic reactions are nonfatal and can be mitigated by simply letting your dog drink lots of fluids to drain out the excess figs from its mouth. In an hour or so, your dog should be fine.
If not, and the symptoms still persist, it is then the best time to call your dog’s veterinarian.
The skin of the fig fruit should not be discarded somewhere your dog can get its paws around it, as the skin may serve as a choking hazard, especially for smaller breeds of dogs.
The skin of the fig fruit may contain fiction as well, so all the more reasons why these should be discarded somewhere out of paw’s reach.
In conclusion…
To answer the question, “Can dogs eat figs?”, we have arrived at a consensus that says that yes, dogs can definitely eat figs.
Figs are not toxic to dogs and are in fact good for them.
Figs are not only delicious; they are healthy and nutritious as well. They contain lots of vitamins and minerals such as fiber and antioxidants, the former in keeping your dog’s digestive system up and running while the latter boosting your dog’s immune system and keeping your dog’s cells free from free radicals.
Some dogs might be allergic to figs, so you have to exercise caution when feeding it to your dog.
Signs such as irritability and discomfort after eating are signs of an allergic reaction.
And as with all kinds of food, figs should be given to your dog in moderation.
