Fruit Obsession

[lilmssquirrel]

Dexter seems to be unaturally obsessed with fruit.  All our previous dogs (labs and retrievers) have liked the odd bit of fruit here and there but with Dexter it's an ongoing obsession.

When he was a puppy and confined to the kitchen when we were out of the house one day, he ate two thirds of a pineapple, skin and all -- luckily no ill effects -- but now, the first crunch of an apple, the snap of a banana top or removing strawberries and raspberries from the fridge and he's glued to my side like he's not been fed in weeks.  Even more obsessive than if I'm cooking chicken or cutting cheese. 


He'll then join either me or my hubby on the sofa with his nose practically in our mouths until he gets fed something.  The only way to keep him away is to shut him out of the room.

When he visits one of our relatives, his first call is not to go mark his territory in her back garden but to search for windfallers underneath her caravan and normally devour one or two before anyone can catch up with him.  He'll also steal apples from the fruit bowl on the coffee table -- but only if they're left in the bag because he drags the bag out into the back garden and scoffs the lot.

And woe betide anyone leaving apple cores in the waste paper basket...

Is there any problem with him indulging in so much fruit?

[djangonut]

I once had a water spaniel, born in January,  that ate his way through all the fruit - apples, pears, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries in the garden.  Then he started on the vegetables - sprouts, cabbages, etc. etc.  In October, when nothing in the garden was green,  he collapsed!

He had a vitamin C deficiency.  Vitamin C tablets from the chemist sorted him,  and he lost his deficiency in his second year.

John

[mezzamo]

Romey has an obsession with apples and when out on walks he seems to smell a discarded apple core a mile off and will then run off away from us in case we try to take it off him. We were away earlier in the year there were a lot of apple trees in the garden & Romey proceeded to scoff as many apples as possible each time he was in the garden..It didn't seem to do him any harm although he did have rather large poos that week which were slightly softer then usual.  I don't know if this would cause a problem if it had gone on for longer then a week though but I'm sure someone has a better idea about that and would be interested to know myself.

[Nicola]

Mine love apple and banana, Tilly in particular prefers a piece of apple to most other things. The 'problems' so to speak with fruit are that it's quite high in sugar and as with people too much of it can cause an upset stomach. In moderation though I don't see them getting an apple or a piece of banana or whatever to be an issue. Grapes are obviously a no no though. If he likes fruit so much you could also try him with vegetables, raw carrots make quite a good chew toy as they can crunch on them for quite a while.

[lilmssquirrel]

Carrots...now there's an idea!

I'll give that one a go tonight as rawhide chews just end up buried in my plant pots...at least if he buries the carrots it might make me look like a gardener

[Claire83]

Roxy loves fruit...especially banana's and apples.....she also luuurves carrots too!

[Worthy]

  Kasper is the same he loves any veg and fruit, in particular water melon, carrot and apples.

[Cob-Web]

He had a vitamin C deficiency.  Vitamin C tablets from the chemist sorted him,  and he lost his deficiency in his second year.

I'm glad to hear he recovered John - for healthy dogs, vitamin C isn't a necessary part of their diet as they can manufacture their own, but obviously your dog knew what he needed to keep him healthy 

My two like munching on cabbage and spring green leaves - woe betide me if I give the small furries their greens and not share them with the dogs    Apple and carrot goes down well - but I limit both cos of the sugar, and neither of them like bananas 

[djangonut]

All our lot love banana.  But last year 11 year old Jennie was very poorly.  Her gums and eyes were yellow,  and the vet thought she may have had liver cancer.  She asked for banana when it was going,  but then spat it out.  She couldn't bring herself to eat it.

Our wonderful vet cured her,  but we only knew she was really better when she wolfed her banana again!

John

[Dunton4]

I had a Welsh Springer Spaniel years ago whose absolute favourite thing to eat was a segment of orange!  She would sit in front of anyone eating one and literally drool until she got her segment  . 

Tilly would sell her granny for a mushroom  .  She also loves the ends of courgettes (she'd probably like the whole courgette, but she only gets the ends  ).  I had some pak choi in my organic veggie box the other day and she lurved crunching on that too.  But above all things is her love for mushrooms  (she only has one occasionally though as I love them too  )

Sue and Tilly

[lilmssquirrel]

What lovely stories...I now see why everyone says this forum is addictive

I bought some carrots at Tescos at lunchtime...offered one to the pooch when I got in...he looked at me as if I was barking mad, took it, hid it under the sofa and five minutes later all that was left was about three crumbs of carrots...if carrots make crumbs!  Far cheaper than dentastix

[Karma]

Honey adores peppers and the flesh of squash.... 

[Ian B]

Misty will pick & eat blackberries from the bramble when we are out walking.
She will sniff out the sweetest ones then you hear a gentle 'schlurp!' and a blackberry has disappeared.

[mac]

fuse is apple and carrot mad he sits glued to my leg when sunday lunch is in prep for carrots.  apples he loves and he has taken to stealing hazel nuts from the nut bowl going under the table and cracking them scoffing the nuts and leaving the shell.   i found nut shells in the house and blamed my OH for the mess.  i was amazed when i saw fuse select the hazel nut and eat it.

[lopey99]

cassie will do anything for a piece of yellow pepper, she'll spend ages licking it and then the next minute i'll look and she'll have scoffed it - either that or theres a big stash of licked peppers somewhere in our house