Can Dogs Eat Sloe Berries?

Sloe berries, the small, intensely tart fruit of the blackthorn bush traditionally used to flavour sloe gin, follow a similar pattern to other stone fruits: the flesh itself isn't a major toxin, but the small pit at the centre contains amygdalin, the same cyanide-releasing compound found in cherry, plum, and apricot stones. Because sloe berries are quite small, a dog eating a handful is also swallowing or chewing a number of pits at once, which matters more here than with a single larger stone fruit where one pit is easy to remove or avoid. The intensely astringent, mouth-puckering taste of raw sloes tends to discourage most dogs from eating very many, which naturally limits typical exposure compared to a sweeter, more appealing fruit. A small amount eaten from a hedgerow is unlikely to be a major concern, but a dog that eats a large number of berries with the pits chewed is worth watching for the same signs associated with other stone-fruit cyanide exposure.