Apple is one of the genuinely easy ones, and it is the most-searched food in this series. The flesh is fine. The only real decision is what you do with the core, and the usual reason given for removing it turns out to be less well established than you would think - though the advice itself still holds, for a different reason.
- Yes, the flesh. Apple isn't toxic to dogs or cats and appears on neither species' list of toxic food ingredients.
- Cut the core out - and the reason we would give is choking and obstruction, not poison. More on that below.
- Slice it. WSAVA asks that any treat be an appropriate size and shape to reduce choking risk, and a whole apple fails that for most dogs.
- It still counts. Treats, apple included, stay under 10% of the day's calories.
- Cats: not toxic, and not interesting to them. There's no nutritional reason to offer it.
Why apple is an easy yes
There is no toxic principle here to write about. Apple does not appear on the WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee's list of toxic food ingredients for dogs or for cats - a list that does name chocolate, macadamia nuts, the onion family, grapes and raisins, xylitol, alcohol and caffeine. Apple is simply not in that category of question.
What it is, is a treat. WSAVA's definition is worth keeping in mind because it is broader than most people's: a treat is anything given in addition to a complete and balanced diet, including the food you hide a tablet in. The rule that follows is that treats should always make up less than 10% of daily calorie intake, and should never replace a meal.
Apple is low-calorie as treats go, which is most of why it is a good one. As a worked example - our arithmetic on a stated assumption, not a WSAVA figure - a moderately active 10 kg dog eating around 600 kcal a day has roughly 60 kcal to spend on treats. A medium apple is in the region of 95 kcal, so half an apple sits comfortably inside that where an ounce of cheddar (120 kcal) would blow straight through it.
Take the core out. We would do it on mechanical grounds. An apple core is fibrous, awkwardly shaped and exactly the sort of thing a dog swallows in one piece. WSAVA's guidance is that any treat should be an appropriate size and shape to reduce the risk of choking, and its own list of what can go wrong with the wrong treat runs to obstruction and, at worst, death. That is reason enough on its own.
On the cyanide question, we are going to be straight with you. The claim that apple pips are dangerous to dogs because they contain cyanide is repeated almost everywhere. We went looking for veterinary backing and could not find it stated that way. The MSD Veterinary Manual's table of cyanogenic plants of veterinary importance lists Prunus species - apricot, peach, cherry, nectarine, almond - which are stone fruits. Apple is not in that table. MSD does note in general terms that "plant seeds and leaves typically have higher cyanogenic potential, whereas the fleshy parts of fruits generally have low levels", but we could not find a published toxic dose for apple seeds in a dog.
So: remove the core, because a core is a choking and obstruction risk and there is no reason to feed it. But if your dog has crunched through a few pips in a stolen apple, the honest position is that we cannot point you at a veterinary source saying that dose matters, and panic is not the proportionate response. If you're worried about the amount, ring your vet and say how much.
How to actually give it
- Wash it. Same reason you would for yourself - pesticide residue sits on the skin.
- Slice it, don't lob it. Pieces sized for your dog, not a whole fruit for a Labrador to inhale.
- Skin on is fine, and it is where a good share of the fibre is. Some dogs find a lot of skin harder to digest, so start small.
- Plain only. Apple sauce is usually sweetened, and some sugar-free versions contain xylitol, which is a genuine emergency for a dog. Apple pie, crumble and toffee apples are not apple.
- Frozen slices work well in hot weather and make the same portion last longer.
Which dogs should go carefully
Apple is naturally high in sugar for a vegetable-drawer treat, which matters for some dogs more than others. WSAVA's position is the one to work from: if a dog has a medical condition, dietary sensitivities, or is on a veterinary-prescribed diet, conventional treats may not be appropriate at all. In practice that means checking first if your dog is diabetic, overweight, on a calorie- or carbohydrate-controlled diet, or on a prescribed therapeutic food.
Too much apple at once can also cause digestive upset - loose stool or wind - in a dog unused to it. That is more likely to come from the sudden addition of a large amount of fibre and carbohydrate than from anything harmful, and it usually settles. Contact your vet if vomiting or diarrhoea is severe, persistent, bloody, or accompanied by lethargy or abdominal pain.
Can cats eat apple?
Not toxic, and mostly not wanted. Cats do not perceive sweetness the way we do - the gene for one half of the mammalian sweet-taste receptor is an unexpressed pseudogene in cats, so that receptor never forms - which is why the fruit bowl holds so little interest for them.
The calorie maths is also much tighter than for a dog. WSAVA publishes a daily treat allowance for cats by bodyweight, and for a 4 kg cat it is 22 kcal for the whole day. A small piece of apple flesh occasionally is not a safety concern, but there is no nutritional argument for it, and the core should be nowhere near a cat for the same mechanical reasons it should be nowhere near a dog.
Not sure about something else your pet got into?
Check any food instantly in the Supernormal app's food safety checker - or try the Pet Food Safety Checker for the foods we've covered so far.
Related guides: Pet Food Safety Checker · Can Dogs Eat Carrots? · Can Dogs Eat Blueberries? · Can Dogs Eat Grapes or Raisins?