Hi Maria. Yes, another example of scare stories ranking and sharing the best. I can’t imagine how many leaves a dog would have to eat before they reach a toxic dose, but I’ve certainly never heard of it. As I say in my article on safe plants for pets, any plant is toxic if enough is eaten, but there aren’t many animals that do. As an aside, many vets routinely recommended feeding the branches of fruit trees to rabbits for gnawing without problems.

Great article. This answered my questions. Sounds like a lot of people need to read more carefully and trust the advice of someone who has studied and researched the subject matter carefully. The author is a vet who has several years of experience, training and advanced levels of education yet simpletons question his material.

Thanks so much for the insight. We have tons of apple trees and my 80lb dog loves them. When in season he will go eat 3 or 4 a day. He never has had any ill afects but it has always had me thinking if it was safe? He is 8 and has been doing this since he was a pup. He loves his apples And pears .

Hi, Eileen. Have a look at the article and you might get a surprise! I’m certainly not advocating dogs to eat windfall apples, which will cause gastrointestinal upset due to the spoiled nature of the fruit. But I hope you will see that the seeds pose no practical risk.

Hi John. I think it’s quite sufficient just to remain vigilant, but blood work is always great, especially to help settle any doubts.