Are acorns safe?

[irotas]

Manni seems to like eating the little green acorns that fall off the trees. He typically eats the green part and spits out the rest. I try not to let him eat too many, and I've been wondering if they're safe or not. So far they don't seem to have caused any visible problems.

I looked around on the internet but didn't find anything definitive. Anyone know?

[drmom777]

I know in the book My Side of the Mountain, it claims you have to cook acorns before eating, but I don't know if that's because of flavor or toxicity.

[drmom777]

I found a site that claims they can cause severe diarrhea.

http://www.devoschildrens.org/Conten..._n_poisons.pdf

Apparentlhy the toxic agents are tannins, which are also found in tea.

[irotas]

Ah, nice find!

Guess no more acorns for Manni!

[Psyfalcon]

I wouldn't really consider tannins a toxin in the sense we normally think about them. They're the things that make tea tea colored and tropical rivers tea colored (and the Pine Barren rivers tea colored in NJ).

The only accounts I can find are in Cattle, which I assume can eat many more than a dog. Deer, while different from cattle and dogs, eat them by the ton in the fall. It seems that Humans have clear symptoms before anything really dangerous happens.

Originally Posted by http://www.motherearthnews.com/Natural-Health/1997-06-01/Miracles-of-Oak-Elder.aspx

DETRIMENTAL PROPERTIES: Eating large amounts of the raw acorns can lead to toxicity due to the tannic acid. Humans rarely eat toxic amounts of raw acorns because of the extreme bitterness. Anyone with a normal sense of taste would find it nearly impossible to consume large amounts. Those who have persisted in eating raw acorns have nearly always been stopped short of death because of the onset of frequent urination, constipation, abdominal pains, and extreme thirst. Kingsbury, author of Poisonous Plants in the U.S. and Canada (Oxford University Press, 1993) included raw acorns on his list of poisonous plants. He stated that eating large quantities over a long period of time, results in bloody stools and other symptoms.

[lakotasong]

At work last Friday, we rectally removed an acorn from a dog who had been vomiting and having diarrhea for a couple days... X-rays showed nothing else internally, just a lot of gas in the bowels. I would keep my dog away from acorns if they were common around here!

[Barb04]

Don't know, but we have over 50 oak trees and our entire lawn gets full of acorns.

[SummerRiot]

Acorns are toxic

[HoundedByHounds]

Acorns are so toxic deer love to eat them. LOL.

Friend of mine has a Beagle that eats them constantly. He's fine, but FAT...acorns are very very fattening, which is why deer etc like them...they help build up winter stores of fat. She had to limit his access because he wasn't losing weight and it was due to the acorns.

I personally would not freak if my dog ate the occasional acorn.

[SummerRiot]

Acorns can be toxic to dogs hehe

Its a mild toxin.. but non the less a toxin that can cause loose stools and vomitting..

Also if they eat enough - it can cause some expensive surgeries for removal hehe