Oky, I never knew this, and thank goodness I don't like avocadoes (pple can gasp now... lol) but I was told by someone that avocados are bad for dogs!! who would have thought! So I did a bit of looking on the internet, i know stuff on the internet can be BS but perhaps its valid info ... so i thought i'd pass it along ...
Avocado
The avocado is very dangerous to all animals – the fruit, leaves, stem, and pit are all considered toxic parts of the plant. The toxic substance in the Avocado is called persin, which is a fatty acid derivative. Although poisonous to both cats and dogs, this plant is particularly deadly to birds. This is also a proven poison to various other types of animals including: goats, sheep, horses, cattle, rabbits and even fish! Ingestion of the avocado plant can lead to cardiovascular problems, and often results in death. This plant is highly toxic, and in animals symptoms can range vomiting, diarrhea, respiratory distress, generalized congestion, fluid accumulation around the heart, and heart failure. The avocado is deadly and should not be fed to any pet under any circumstances.
(from URL="http://www.bdnhumanesociety.com/householddangers.htm"]http://www.bdnhumanesociety.com/householddangers.htm[/URL]
Here's one article (relating to birds, but does mention dogs and what's the poisonous characteristics.):
http://kgkat.tripod.com/avocado.html
An abstract from a science journal talking of two cases, not much info:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en...&dopt=Abstract http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/m....html#Toxicity
sorry for so many links, I just found a bunch. lol