Almonds — Food safety facts
Feed with care · Dogs · full breakdown on the linked food page
Not toxic, but hard to digest and a choking risk — they can also go rancid and cause stomach upset. Salted or flavoured almonds are worse.
Dogs and cats carry the same rating (Feed with care), so the notes below hold for either pet.
Almonds is not poisonous to dogs, but it is easy to over-feed. Rich fat, salt or seasoning can bring on vomiting or diarrhoea within a day, and repeated large portions are a recognised trigger for pancreatitis.
If it ate some before you noticed, watch for vomiting, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, unusual tiredness or a painful, swollen abdomen over the next 24 hours. A one-off small amount in a healthy adult usually passes with water and rest; repeated exposure, a puppy or kitten, a senior, or a pet with an ongoing illness is a reason to call your vet the same day.
Why these cautions matter
Mouldy food can carry tremorgenic mycotoxins, which produce uncontrollable tremors and seizures rather than a simple stomach upset.
A heavy salt load drives up thirst and urination, and in the worst cases leads to sodium ion poisoning, which is a genuine emergency.
Almonds can turn up now and then, but not as a daily habit: keep the rest of the day's food unchanged and watch the next walk and the stool that comes with it.
The full verdict, portion guidance and serving notes are collected on the Almonds food facts page.