Can Great Danes Eat Bananas?

Dog food can get pretty expensive from time to time, especially when it comes to larger dogs. When feeding your dog new or alternative foods, it is important to consider what the food contains and how it will affect your pup!

Bananas are great snacks for Great Danes. They are high in potassium, vitamin C, vitamin B6, fiber, and magnesium, all of which promote good health in Great Danes. However, they also contain a lot of sugar, and therefore should be fed in moderation.

Bananas contain several great vitamins and contribute a handful of health benefits to both humans and dogs! It is important to pay attention to what you feed your best friend. Here is a deeper look on how bananas could affect your Great Dane!

Health Benefits

Bananas are healthy snacks for almost anyone, even your Great Dane! Veterinarians often recommend bananas as a healthy alternative to other snacks.

This is because a lot of the dog treats out there are salty and fatty, which make them less-than-great to give to your pup all of the time.

Bananas, unlike these other snacks, have nutrients that often are missing from their diets. These are

• Vitamin C
• Vitamin B6
• Fiber
• Magnesium
• Potassium

Potassium

Most people, when they think of what bananas contain, think of potassium!

Potassium is found in many foods, and has a lot of health advantages for you and your Dane!

• Potassium is a nutrient required to keep a healthy functioning kidney, heart, and liver.
• Potassium will help boost the brain function of your Great Dane, ultimately helping him/her learn commands and manners more easily!
• Great Danes need to exercise and grow, and potassium helps promote muscle growth and strength!
• It also helps break down fats and carbohydrates, so your dog can digest and absorb nutrients better after meals.
• Potassium helps keep your Great Dane’s teeth and bones strong and healthy.

The average banana contains 422 mg of potassium, loading up your dog with these needed benefits.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is also known as ascorbic acid. Vitamin C is also an essential nutrient for many living things. Here’s exactly what this vitamin does for your dog:

• Since Vitamin C promotes tissue repair, it will help your Great Dane recover from injuries or illnesses faster!
• Vitamin C also helps reduce the risk of certain diseases such as Cancer, tooth, or gum disease.
• Vitamin C helps enhance white blood cell function, therefore helping increase the function of the immune system!
• Vitamin C is also a natural antioxidant!

Many dogs who lack Vitamin C experience physical and emotional distress.

The health benefits of Vitamin C are good for everyone, and can be found in numerous different foods such as kiwi, strawberries, pineapples, and papaya!

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 is an extremely healthy nutrient for dogs, and is also found in many different foods such as fish, meat, eggs, or green foods!

Vitamin B6 provides many benefits to your Great Dane’s health such as:

• Increasing red blood cell production which promotes higher brain functionality.
• Vitamin B6 also helps to stabilize blood sugar levels and thyroid issues. This means it is great for Great Danes with diabetes or insulin resistance issues!
• B6 plays an important role in creating proteins, neurotransmitters, and hormones in Great Danes!

Deficiency in Vitamin B6 has been linked to heart disease so giving a banana to your Great Dane can help prevent future issues.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E provides a lot of healthy advantages to dogs and people!

Some of these things include:

• Vitamin E the circulation of blood, which is extremely important to the cardiovascular health of Great Danes, who are often at risk for numerous heart problems.
• Vitamin E, like Vitamin C, is also a natural antioxidant, which helps inhibit oxidization, helping boost the immune system and protect from infection!
• This nutrient will help your Great Dane grow a strong and healthy fur coat, which is extremely important for show dogs and champions.
• Great Danes’ eyes often have health issues. Vitamin E helps avoid health problems in the eyes such as cataracts.

Unfortunately, a lack of Vitamin E can be directly correlated to fertility issues so if you plan to breed your dog, a banana can help your Great Dane in that matter.

Vitamin E is important! It can also be found in broccoli, tomatoes, peanut butter, and mangos!

Fiber

• Fiber can help your Great Dane’s weight, constipation, diabetes, and diarrhea.
• Found in other foods such as apples, brown rice, vegetables, and pumpkin.
• It is an essential nutrient when it comes to supporting a Great Dane’s digestive system.

Bananas contain a plethora of important nutrients that benefit the life and overall wellness of your Great Dane. Although, too much of anything can cause problems! Too much fiber can cause your dog to become constipated, so be sure to feed your pup a moderate diet.

It is important for your dog’s overall health to provide a variety of foods that contain different nutrients.

Magnesium

One of the last nutrients found in bananas is Magnesium. Aside from potassium, magnesium is the most common mineral found in a Great Dane’s body.

This may seem like a nutrient that you wouldn’t want your dog to have a lot of, but this is not the case.

Dogs need magnesium! Deficiencies in Magnesium can cause:

• Muscle weakness and muscle pain
• Heart problems
• Trouble walking

If not from bananas, be sure to include magnesium somewhere in your Great Dane’s diet.

Unfortunately, Great Danes can be at risk for hip or joint issues, heart problems, and muscle growth due to their size. As you can imagine, Magnesium is important to their diet!

What You Should Watch Out for…

I don’t know about you, but when I was growing up, I loved water. Most kids love soda or juice, but I just loved water. Once, I decided to drink a whole water bottle at once. As you could imagine, I got sick.

My mother helped me feel better and taught me that water is good for you, but too much of anything can be bad for you.

This applies to dogs as well. Too much banana is well… too much!

Bananas are wonderful snacks for Great Danes, but should always be fed in moderation. Bananas contain a lot of sugar, which can cause numerous health problems for your Great Dane.

Excessive amounts of banana can also cause constipation and some other digestion problems issues in Great Danes.

Obviously, different size dogs can eat different amounts of Banana. Great Danes are very large dogs and can be given one banana every day if that is what you want to do.

There is more than one way that you can give you Great Dane a banana. He or she can eat it plain, just like humans do. Try mixing things up by putting a smashed banana in your dogs food. He or she will love it!

There are also a few different snacks you can make at home using a banana that your dog will love!

Banana Treats

Who in their right mind doesn’t like peanut butter and banana? I know I do, and your Great Dane will too!

One simple snack you can make is just a piece of banana with some peanut butter on it, and your pup will be happy!

Warning: Not all peanut butter is good for dogs. Make sure the peanut butter does not include the ingredient xylitol.

Although if you’re feeling like spoiling your dog, don’t be afraid to get creative.

Take peanut butter and some pieces of banana, drizzle some honey over it, and throw it in the freezer! Once it’s frozen, pop this delicious treat into a kong, and your Great Dane will be happy for hours!

Coconut oil doesn’t sound like a normal snack for your dog, but I’m sure he/she will love it after this!

Rub coconut oil over a piece of banana and leave it in the fridge for a while. You can put this mixture in with your Great Dane’s food, or even mix it with some peanut butter!

Get creative.

Bonus: Bananas are great treats to hide medication in if your dog requires any.