Last Updated on March 8, 2023 by Woody Pet

Can Dogs Eat Pepper?

Since time immemorial, bell peppers have been present in the diets and meals of human civilization even up until modern times. They are not only beneficial in adding flavor and aroma to your meals, but they are also jam-packed with vitamins, minerals, and all sorts of nutritional goodies. Because of this, they are a good component to include in your cooking. 

Could all the good things about pepper, from its taste and its nutritional benefits, applicably be the same for your pet dog?

Can dogs eat peppers? 

If peppers are good enough for us, they’re good enough for our pets as well!

As to how and why it is so, we will further discuss all the benefits of pepper, as well as the limitations regarding the types of pepper you must feed your pet because there isn’t just only one type of pepper out there.

Are Bell Peppers Good? – Let’s Find Out!

Rest assured; bell peppers are the best kind of peppers to feed your dog. Provided that the peppers are cut up into smaller, bite-sized bits for a smaller breed of dogs, they are not only safe due to their relatively small, compact size and soft, tender characteristics which are easily broken by a mere nibble, they also pose almost no choking hazard due to their smooth texture, which when swallowed will go down your dog’s esophagus with no issues whatsoever.

Bell peppers are the pepper variety that contains the least amount of spice, so you would not have to worry about seeing your pet dog gasping and running amuck searching for water once it has eaten some bell peppers.

If you are health-conscious, the best kind of bell pepper is the red-colored one. Red bell peppers contain the most nutrients and vitamins as opposed to their differently-colored cousins. 

Bell peppers contain lots of Vitamin C, with a single piece having up to 169% of the RDI. Other vitamins and minerals that bell peppers have are Vitamin K1, Vitamin E, Vitamin A, Folate, and Potassium.

But do not prevent yourself from feeding your dog green and yellow bell peppers despite them not having as many vitamins and nutrients in comparison to their red cousin, they are still good for your dog nonetheless.

A good way to introduce bell peppers to your dog’s diet is to cut them up into tiny bits and sprinkle them on top of your dog’s usual meal, most preferably dinner. 

This way, your dog would be able to familiarize itself with the taste of bell pepper and hopefully develop a liking towards it.

How About Hot Peppers? 

Peppers come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and levels of spiciness. Peppers are the sole population of what is literally a metric that is used to measure how spicy certain chili pepper is, which is called a Scoville Scale.

Speaking of chili peppers, such as Jalapeños, Serranos, and all sorts of chili peppers are incredibly spicy. This difference in spice levels arises because all peppers belong to the same genus of Capsicum, and have varying quantities of capsaicin present in each type of spice. 

Capsaicin is an organic compound and an active chemical of chili peppers, which is the prime ingredient that is associated with the “spicy” flavor. 

Considered to be an irritant for all mammals, Capsaicin has the capability to produce and bring forth a hot, burning sensation on any tissue that it comes into contact with, including skin, eyes, and lips. 

The more capsaicin per square inch is present in a single piece of pepper, the stronger the irritation it would give out and the more potent the hot, burning sensation.

It needs no further explanation as to how bad of an idea it is to feed chili peppers to your dog. Not only is it adversely risky for them, given that they only have 1700 taste buds as opposed to us humans having 9000, but they also are less discriminatory taste-wise and are susceptible to the consequences of eating certain kinds of spicy food because they are oblivious to the spicy taste than we are.

This may lead to your dog happily gorging spicy chili peppers in great concentrations, notwithstanding the effects that these chili peppers have in high doses. 

They can lead to upset stomachs, hemorrhoids (which is actually a differently-named issue that is usually referred to as an anal gland problem), burns in the mouth, nose and eyes and other adverse effects.

Can My Dog Eat Banana Peppers? The Answer Below Might Educate You

Banana peppers are a different variety of peppers out there and are not as spicy compared to their chili pepper relatives. They also have more or less the same number of vitamins, probably a bit less in comparison to bell peppers. Despite all these limitations, it is still a good idea to introduce this healthy type of pepper to your dog’s diet. 

What makes banana peppers appealing though is their already small, bite-size. You can already feed one to your dog without having to slice it up into smaller bits. 

Banana peppers are good for healthy treats, rewarding good behavior with a piece of pepper full of vitamins and minerals.

In closing, it is worth mentioning again the topic at hand, which is if dogs can eat pepper.

Having been introduced and informed in the various nuances as to what kinds of peppers to feed your dog and knowing the differences that certain types of peppers have from one another, this is in hope that your approach to this aspect should be done so responsibly as a dog owner.

Peppers are a healthy choice to feed your dog. Bell peppers and banana peppers are the healthiest and most convenient choices available.

Chili peppers are definitely a no-go. They not only have little to no nutritional value, but the high dosage of capsaicin that is present in them does not bode well for your dog’s senses, due to them having the capabilities of irritation in the eyes, nose, and mouth, not to mention the negative effects that it has in your dog’s digestive system.