Can dogs eat blueberries?

How many blueberries your dog can have

There is no blueberry number, because there is no blueberry problem. None of the sources here give a quantity that harms a dog, and blueberries sit on VCA’s list of foods that are safe and often enjoyed by dogs, not on its list of foods to avoid. The limit is calories.

Where good sources genuinely differ is how big the calorie budget is. The Merck Veterinary Manual puts the total daily amount of treats at under 10% of your dog’s caloric intake, and two VCA articles say the same. The ASPCA says treats should be five percent or less, and a third VCA article agrees with the ASPCA. So the ceiling is either 5% or 10% depending on which authority you read, and even one publisher does not say the same thing twice. Nobody splits the difference for you. The lower figure leaves more room for error if your dog is already carrying extra weight.

VCA’s treat calorie table lists blueberries at 12 kcal, one of the lower figures on it, though the table does not say what serving size that covers. Whatever the serving, blueberries share the allowance with every other treat your dog gets that day rather than sitting outside it.

What the blueberry studies in dogs actually found

Blueberries appear on every superfood list written for dogs. The dog-specific evidence behind that is thinner than the lists suggest, and the two trials below point in different directions.

A 2006 study of sled dogs at the University of Alaska Fairbanks found that blueberry supplementation produced significantly elevated antioxidant status after exercise compared with dogs on a control diet, which the authors read as possible protection against exercise-induced oxidative damage.

A 2025 study in Beagles found less. Eight dogs fed a diet containing 3% whole blueberries for four weeks, then run on a treadmill, showed no reduction in the exercise-induced changes to creatine kinase, malondialdehyde, or glutathione peroxidase. The authors did record lower resting creatine kinase after four weeks in summer and suggested it might indicate protection against heat stress, while saying the finding warrants further study.

The same 2025 work turned up two quieter results that are more use to you. Offered a choice between diets containing blueberries, Fucus algae, or clove, the dogs clearly preferred the blueberry one. And in twelve Beagles, adding 3% blueberries changed nothing measurable about how well they digested their food, apart from cellulose digestibility. Dogs like blueberries and blueberries do not upset the rest of the diet. That is a fair reason to use them as a treat, and it is a smaller claim than the packaging makes.

What blueberries on the kibble bag are worth

Blueberries turn up in the ingredient list of a lot of dry food and a lot of packaged treats, usually with antioxidants as the reason. A 2025 analysis in the Journal of Animal Science measured what actually ends up in the bag. Across 40 commercial dog and cat kibbles with added blueberries, quercetin came in at about 5 µg/g, free phenolics were minimal to nonexistent, and the authors concluded that dog and cat kibble containing blueberries does not provide significant amounts of dietary polyphenols.

If the blueberries on the front of the bag are the reason you bought it, that is the finding to know. It is not an argument against the food, only against the picture on it.

Blueberry muffins, dried berries, and everything else on the shelf

The berry is not the risk. What gets added to it can be.

If your dog got into a bag of mixed dried fruit rather than plain dried blueberries, the raisins are the part that matters. See grapes and raisins.

When the answer changes for your dog

• A diabetic dog. Merck’s dietary guidance for diabetic dogs is a diet high in fiber and complex carbohydrates, and to avoid diets high in simple sugars. Meals are also timed around insulin injections. Ask the vet who set that plan before adding anything to it, including fruit.
• A dog on a weight reduction plan. The treat ceiling is a percentage, so it shrinks as the ration does. Blueberries are a low-calorie treat, not a free one, and VCA’s point that a single biscuit for a medium dog is like a person eating a whole hamburger applies to the rest of the day too.
• A dog being investigated for a food allergy. Merck lists the most common food allergens in dogs as beef, dairy products, chicken, wheat, and lamb, and blueberries are not among them. Food allergy is found in 1 to 2% of dogs receiving veterinary care, and a dog can be hypersensitive to more than one food source, so an unusual reaction is worth mentioning to your vet rather than assuming the berry is in the clear.