It’s no secret that many dogs like to enjoy human food from time to time and with the exception of certain types of food, there’s also nothing wrong with this. Not only do dogs often really appreciate the taste of human food, but it also provides them with important vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients if you pick the right foods. However, how do you know which foods you can and can’t feed your dog? For example, what about fruit? Especially during the warm summer months, it can be really refreshing to give your dog pieces of fruit. One specific type of fruit that raises a lot of questions is watermelon. While many people agree that it’s perfectly fine to feed your dog watermelon every once in a while, there seems to be a bit more uncertainty when it comes to the watermelon rind. So, can dogs eat watermelon rind? Keep reading to find out!
Can You Give Watermelon Rind To Your Dog?
Well, the short answer to this question has to be no, dogs can’t feed on watermelon rind. While a watermelon rind doesn’t contain any toxic substances that could harm your dog’s health, there are still some reasons why it’s not the best idea to feed it to your dog, as will be explained later on.
Now, just because feeding your dog the rind of a watermelon isn’t a great idea, that doesn’t mean that watermelons, in general, are a total no-go. It’s actually quite the opposite!
Concretely, watermelon consists out of water for about 92%. Consequently, this makes pieces of watermelon the perfect snack for your dog when it’s hot outside. You can be guaranteed that this will provide your dog with a remarkably refreshing feeling, so you really can’t go wrong with this back.
Furthermore, not only is watermelon extremely refreshing, but it’s also a really healthy snack to feed your dog. That is to say, watermelon contains barely any calories and contains many important vitamins such as vitamins A, B, and C. Besides that, it’s also rich in crucial minerals such as potassium.
Because of this combination of essential nutrients, watermelon can be really beneficial when it comes to your dog’s health, so that’s definitely something to keep in the back of your mind!
Of course, as is the case with any type of food, don’t go overboard with feeding watermelon to your dog. You need to do so within reason and remember that it’s not recommended in the slightest to give watermelon to your dog in the form of a full meal, rather than a snack. Otherwise, you risk it not being entirely healthy anymore for your dog, so that would positively be a shame!
Additionally, it’s doesn’t matter how great of a snack watermelon truly is, you still need to make sure that you only give your dog the pulp. You absolutely can'( feed your dog the rinds of the watermelon because of four important reasons that will be explained next.
Why Can’t You Give Watermelon Rind To Your Dog?
In order to get a better understanding of why it’s not a good idea to give watermelon rind to your dog, it’s necessary to go deeper into the reasons behind this.
1.Hard To Digest
First and foremost, it’s so that the rind of a watermelon is rather difficult to digest and break down for dogs. Concretely, the rind is very hard and tough, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that most dogs show struggles with digesting it.
So, while eating the rind of a watermelon is something that’s encouraged when it comes to humans due to several health benefits, it absolutely shouldn’t be encouraged when it comes to dogs.
As a side-note, this also applies when it comes to the seeds of a watermelon. While these are not exactly toxic to feed to your dog, they are extremely difficult to digest so it’s likewise far from a good idea to give watermelon seeds to your dogs.
2.Risk Of Intestinal Problems
Moreover and partly because watermelon rind is so difficult to digest for dogs, feeding this to your dog could also facilitate other health problems. For example, if you were to give watermelon rind to your dog on a regular basis, this could lead to a number of intestinal and digestive problems.
To be more concrete, it could give your dog serious constipation or diarrhea, but that’s definitely not all. It could also lead to stomach issues, leaving your dog feeling sick for yours, or maybe even days in some cases. Finally, it could also give rise to bowel obstruction and/or stomach obstruction and that’s something to avoid at all costs, evidently.
Of course, the extent of these problems depends heavily on how much watermelon rind your dog has consumed.
3.Risk Of Choking
While this risk isn’t actually that probable, it’s still something to take into account. That is to say, feeding big pieces of watermelon rind to your dog could lead to your dog choking, in extreme circumstances, especially if you have a small dog. Concretely, the rind could get lodged in your dog’s throat, so that’s unmistakably something to watch out for!
4.Pesticides
Lastly, as is the case with many types of fruit that grow out in the open, there’s always the risk of pesticides. To make this less abstract, watermelons often get sprayed with different kinds of pesticides to avoid plagues of certain insects, bugs, and other parasites.
While this is a good thing, for sure, it also has an important side-effect. Namely, pesticides aren’t meant to be consumed, either by humans and by dogs. Otherwise, this could give rise to tons of impractical health issues, not to mention that this would be very upsetting to your dog’s stomach.
So, since chances are that watermelon rinds are covered in pesticides, it’s better to be safe than sorry and to just avoid it altogether. Your dog’s stomach will be grateful to you for it!
Conclusion
All in all, can dogs eat watermelon rind? it’s not an absolute disaster if your dog were to consume a small piece of watermelon rind, by accident. However, you do need to make sure that this doesn’t happen all too often to avoid certain health issues and other problems, as explained above. To conclude, it’s better to avoid watermelon rinds altogether when it comes to your dog to keep unnecessary problems from arising, so please bear this in mind!