Apple Seeds -- Reposting, sorry!

*** Sorry for this reposting.  I needed to fix a typo but didn't fix it the right way! 

Thank you to Taryn and Frankie who spoke up about apple seeds being toxic to dogs.

A few years ago I read a warning about apple seeds which contain very small amounts of a cyanide-like compound, being toxic but I didn't take the warning to heart because I had grown up with Gilligan the Cockerpoo who ate all my family's apple cores (along with table scraps every night!) and who didn't give up the ghost until the ripe old age of 17.  And, then there was the man I worked with for several years who ate an apple every day -- the WHOLE apple; EVERYTHING except the stem; EVERYTHING -- who is now retired, but still going strong at 66.   And, the two Golden Retrievers Glenn and I raised who ate our apple cores.  Anabelle lived 15 years until we put her down when she was too blind, deaf and crippled from hip displasia to go on.  Belle died of cancer at 8 years old.  (I have NO idea why we named one dog Belle, then the next one Anabelle.  At least we didn't name her Belle The Second.) 

ASPCA's website lists several foods that are toxic to dogs, but apple seeds aren't one of them.  The site also gives us this timely reassurance that poinsettias are not anywhere near as toxic as urban legends would have us believe.

Snopes website gives some insight (if it is to be believed) into why my apple-core-and-seed eating friend is still among the living and why our dogs have not been poisoned.  While apple seeds do, in fact, contain amygdalin, a sugar and cyanide compound that turns into hydrogen cyanide when metabolized, the amounts are very, very, small.  It appears that extremely large quantities would be needed to poison a person.  Of course, dogs are smaller and so could be poisoned by smaller amounts, but it still appears the amounts would have to be far, far more than what half an apple core a day would produce. 

Still, I very much appreciate Taryn and Frankie for speaking up!  We all love our dogs like family (and sometimes more than family!) and I'm thankful to anyone who gives me information to help me keep my two girls healthy.

Based on my research and experience, I'm not going to ask Glenn to stop sharing his apple cores, but just in case, I think I'll ask him to pick out the seeds first!   Maybe if we save enough of them we can feed them to the gophers!