Can horses eat avocado? -Revealing the toxic nature of avocado!

When you look at this article’s title, you will be confused because this is about a popular fruit in the world, but about its toxic nature, and it is an edible fruit for horses. The answer for the above-raised question, “can horse eat avocado” can be summarized with one word, “No.” Most of the mammals cannot have avocado, including horses. So, this nutritious fruit is no longer a superfood for animals, according to many types of research. Here, we will investigate that avocados are bad for horses as those researches highlight their scientific reasons. 

Avocado is a superfood! -But can horses eat avocado?

However, first of all, identification of avocado is essential. Persea Americana is another name for this buttery fruit, and it originated in Mexico. Thus the fruit belongs to the South Americans, and later it was distributed all over the country. Now the fruit has a vast commercial value due to its nutritious nature and variety in usage. It is a bright green, kind of odd-shaped fruit with a large pit and thick skin. As we all know, it has so many health benefits. It contains many vitamins and minerals such as potassium, folate, vitamin B6, vitamin C, and Vitamin E.

If you love to read more details about avocado, click here.

What are the easy-to-observe reactions of horses after having avocado?

In the introductory section, we directly answered the question, do horses have avocado. The horses cannot eat them, and we should not allow them too. However, if they eat them by accident, how do we identify t? You can find several symptoms in horses after having this poisonous fruit including,

• Inability to stand up after they lay down
• general weaknesses
• loss of appetite
• swelling around the mouth 
• Swelling of the tongue and face 
• difficulty in eating
• shortness of breath
• fluid around the heart
• colic nature
• Neurologic dysfunction
• Irregular heartbeat

The main reason to have such symptoms is that avocado contains Persin, a substance derived from fatty acids. Thus this substance may cause severe health issues in the animal when they have the fruit. However, you may wonder which part of the avocado tree is toxic for horses, is only the fruit poisonous for the animal, and can horse eat avocado leaves. Actually, as the experts reveal, most of the parts of an avocado tree are toxic for horses. Thus they cannot even have avocado leaves as well, since the leaves also contain Persin.

To know more details about the histopathological changes caused by the animal after having avocado leaves, you can refer here.

The research basically focused on the toxicity of rabbits. However, this can be applicable to the horses as well. Thus it is safe not to feed horses with avocado leaves. Accordingly, you already have the answer to your main question that is avocados bad for horses. Every part of an avocado, including fruit, leaves, stem, bark, etc., is not appropriate for horses to eat since it contains highly toxic substances that can harm the animal’s health conditions. When this Persin enters the horses’ body in a large quantity, it is very difficult to save the animal’s life, though it is under medical treatment. 

Treatment of avocado toxicity in horses

Although we try to safeguard our horses from having avocado, if mistakenly they have eaten them, we should have a better understanding to treat them. Actually, the horses’ body changes are obvious, as those previously discussed symptoms can be seen clearly. For further clarification, you can do a medical examination with the support of your veterinarian. They will do some physical examination and some tests to identify that the extent of the toxicity. Unfortunately, they still have not known an antidote to cure the victimized animal. However, medical examinations can help your horse to flush the poison out of its internal system.

However, prevention is the best option. Thus do not keep avocado trees close to your horses. In any case, if the horse has eaten a part of the avocado, you should keep the horse calm until the veterinarian comes to examine it. With the proper treatment, the absorption can be reduced. Most horses become into normal condition when the poison does not thoroughly run inside the body.  

You can find more detail on the avocado, its toxicity, and other significant details by visiting the MSD Veterinary Manual.

In conclusion, horses cannot have avocado as it contains a highly toxic substance called Persin. Accidentally, if they have it, it will be life-threatening, and you may see many severe symptoms like colic, irregular heartbeat, respiratory distress, neurologic dysfunction, oedema, etc. Thus prevention is the best action to protect them from eating an avocado.