The avocado is a special sort of ingredient. It is extremely high in fat, modest in fiber and potassium. That it tastes good on toast or chips as guacamole is without doubt. There are several pet food companies that feature the inclusion of avocado in their products, while at the other extreme the ASPCA lists it as an ingredient that should not be in a pet’s diet. So, whether it is beneficial or detrimental to pets is up for debate. To address this, we will sort through what we know (and speculate about what we don’t know).
The avocado is from a flowering tree, the Persea americana, which originates in Mexico. Archeological evidence points to the Aztecs in tropical America, who cultivated this fruit as far back as the 8th century B.C. The avocado is pear shaped, contains a single large seed and has a rough green-brown to black-green exterior skin. It is classified as a berry rather than a drupe. The fruit has been described in other cultures as a “butter pear” or “alligator pear” owing to its unique flesh and dark, rough, irregular skin.
