When you see your dog giving you a sad little look while standing near the dinner table, you could be inclined to slip your furry friend a bit of your food. Sharing food with your dog may appear fairly harmless, but beyond stimulating bad begging habits and even putting on weight, you could essentially be putting your dog’s general health and life in danger.
There are a variety of foods and ingredients eaten by humans daily, such as chocolate, milk and garlic that can induce severe toxic reactions in pets. In this chapter, we’re going to take particular notice at the ones that can be most hazardous to your four-legged pal.
Safe Human Foods for Dogs
There are human food items that are acceptable to feed to your dog; even so, these items must be kept as small as possible. These food items are:
Lean Meat – Lean meat consists of meat devoid of bones that has had the extra fat taken off. If feeding chicken and turkey, the skin must also be removed as it can be a source of fat. Lean meat includes the white meat from chicken or turkey and offers a tasty treat for your doggie in addition to a superior source of protein.
Raw (and cooked) Eggs – The most apparent problem here is salmonella, but raw diet fanatics promote the effectiveness of a raw egg in your dog’s diet. While the white provides the Avidin enzyme, which prevents the absorption of vitamin B (Biotin), the yolk contains more than sufficient Biotin to balance out the enzyme. So, when fed raw and whole, or cooked and whole, eggs are loaded with protein and a host of natural vitamins for your dog.
Fruits – Dogs can safely savor bananas, apple slices, strawberries, blueberries and watermelon. The seeds must be taken off these fruits or in the case of watermelon it has to be a seedless one as most fruit seeds have arsenic that is poisonous. Fresh fruits are an excellent treat to help in training your dog and can likewise provide your pet with a good way to cool down during summer days.
Vegetables – Selected veggies like carrots, green beans, cucumber slices or zucchini slices all are excellent treats for your dog. It’s smart to replace commercial dog treats with baby carrots if you want to slim your dog down a bit. Veggies make great lowcalorie treats and good training tools too. But steer clear of canned and pickled vegetables since they have excessive salt.
Baked potatoes – A plain baked potato is fine to feed your dog but in all honesty it’s not something that ought to be done regularly and must never include any toppings. A few pieces of cooked baked potato can be a great treat for a patient puppy.
White Rice and Pasta – White rice and pasta are often termed as a potential meal for a dog with indigestion. Normally boiled white chicken and white rice are utilized to help firm up stools along with nurture a dog that is having difficulty getting any nutrition from food because of illness.
While there are definitely some human foods that are safe to give your dog, there are numerous which are hazardous and potentially poisonous when consumed by your pet. Generally speaking, it’s best to be safe than sorry so steer clear of feeding your dog any human food unless of course suggested by your vet.
Dogs that aren’t given human food or table scraps are often better behaved than dogs who do get people food anyway, they don’t beg since they know they won’t get any scraps and they also have a tendency to drool less and hassle visitors to your home less given that they understand that human food is for people and not for them.
Unsafe Human Food for Dogs
Alcohol – Alcohol can result in not just intoxication, loss of coordination, poor breathing, and irregular acidity, but possibly even coma and/or death.
Apple Seeds – Apple seeds are harmful to a dog as they contain a natural chemical that releases cyanide when consumed. So, make sure to core and seed apples before you give them to your pooch.
Avocado – Avocados have Persin, which can cause diarrhea, nausea, and heart congestion.
Baby food – Baby food alone isn’t bad, just make sure it doesn’t contain any kind of onion powder. Baby food also doesn’t have all the nutrients a dog depends on for a healthy, well kept diet.
Bones – The risk with bones isn’t the dietary content, nor is it always the danger of chocking. Instead, you have to be careful with bones from meat sources like chicken and fish since they may damage your dog’s digestive tract once the bones splinter inside the body.
Candy and Gum – Besides candy contain sugar; it often has Xylitol, which can result in the over-release of insulin, kidney failure, and worse, death.
Cat food – Not that the dog would want this at any rate, but cat food has proteins and fats which are directed at the diet of a cat, NOT a dog. The protein and fat levels in cat food are far too high for your pooch, thus rendering it unhealthy for dogs.
Chocolate – You’ve probably heard this before, but chocolate is a DEFINITE NO-NO for dogs. And it’s not only about caffeine, which is more than enough to cause harm to your dog alone, but theobromine and theophylline, which is usually toxic, result in panting, vomiting, and diarrhea, and impair your dog’s heart and nervous systems.
Citrus Oil Extracts – Leads to vomiting.
Coffee – The information and rules here are pretty much the same with the info and rules against chocolate. This is basically poison for your dog if consumed.
Corn on the cob – This is a guaranteed method of getting your dog’s intestine obstructed. The corn is digested, but the cob gets stuck in the small intestine, and if it’s not taken out surgically, can be fatal to your dog. Furthermore, excessive corn kernels can distressed the digestive tract too.
Fat trimmings – Leads to pancreatitis.
Fish – The principal fish you need to be cautious of are salmon and trout. Raw salmon can be deadly to dogs if the fish is contaminated with a certain parasite, Nanophyetus salmincola. The parasite by itself isn’t harmful to dogs, but is usually infected with bacteria called Neorickettsia helminthoeca, which oftentimes is lethal to canines if not dealt with correctly. However, cooked salmon is okay as it kills the parasite.
Grapes and Raisins – This is one that a number of dog owners do not know. Grapes have a toxin that leads to severe liver damage and kidney failure.
Human vitamins – Some human vitamins are acceptable to use, but the important thing is assessing the ingredients (every one of them – active and inactive) to the vitamins your vet registers for your dog. Make certain there’s no iron, as this can harm the digestive system lining, and turn out to be toxic for the liver and kidneys.
Liver – Prevent feeding too much liver to your pooch. Liver contains a substantial amount of Vitamin A, which can detrimentally affect your pup’s muscles and bones.
Macadamia nuts – These have a toxin that can slow down locomotory activities, leading to weakness, panting, swollen limbs, and tremors along with possible injury to your dog’s digestive, nervous, and muscle systems.
Milk and Dairy Products – While small doses aren’t likely to kill your dog, you might get some smelly farts and some awful cases of diarrhea. Why? Dogs are lactoseintolerant, and don’t have sufficient of the lactase enzyme to effectively digest dairy foods. If you need to give them dairy, consider lactose-free products.
Mushrooms – Just like the wrong mushroom can be deadly to humans, the same pertains to dogs.
Onions, Garlic, and Chives – Regardless of what form they’re in (dry, raw, cooked, powder, within other foods), onions and garlic (particularly onions) are among the absolute worst foods you may give your pup. These are poison to canines. They contain disulfides and sulfoxides (thiosulphate), both can cause anemia and destroy red blood cells.
Persimmons, Peaches, and Plums – If you reside in an area that is home to persimmon, peach, or plum trees, watch out. Persimmon seeds and peach and plum pits leads to intestinal obstruction and enteritis. You need to ensure there aren’t any wild persimmon or other fruit trees that leave seeds growing in your backyard.
Rhubarb and Tomato leaves – These contain oxalates that can detrimentally impact the digestive, nervous, and urinary systems.
Raw fish – Yet another vitamin B (Thiamine) deficit might result from the regular ingestion of raw fish. Appetite loss will be prevalent, accompanied by seizures, and in exceptional instances, death.
Salt – Much like salt isn’t the healthiest item for people, it’s much less healthy for canines. An excessive amount of it can result in an imbalance in electrolyte levels, dehydration and possibly diarrhea.
Sugar – This is applicable to any food that contains sugar. Make sure you confirm the ingredient label for human foods – corn syrup can be found in just about everything nowadays. An excessive amount of sugar for your dog can result in dental issues, obesity, and sometimes diabetes.
Tobacco – A primary toxic hazard for canines. The consequences nicotine has on dogs are considerably worse than on humans. Nicotine damages your pup’s digestive and nervous systems, boost their heart rate, make them faint, and eventually lead to death.
Xylitol – A sugar alcohol present in gum, candies, baked goods, and other sugarsubstituted products, Xylitol, while triggering no apparent injury to humans, is incredibly toxic to canines. Even a small amount leads to low blood sugar, convulsions, liver failure, even fatality for your pooch.
Yeast (by itself or in dough) – Much like yeast rises in bread, it will likewise expand and rise inside your pup’s tummy. Make certain they don’t get any. While mild cases will result in gas, plenty of farting, and distress – an excessive amount of it may rupture their stomach and intestines.
Keep These Out Of Your Dog’s Reach Too
While these don’t necessarily fall under a specific class above, you will want to stay away from them too:
Old food – You never like old and moldy food, so what on earth makes you think your pet will? The bacteria in spoiled food is made up of all sorts of toxins that is usually damaging to your dog’s health.
Give them the freshest and best, dog-approved food only.
Leftovers – If you feed them leftovers frequently they will not receive a proper diet. If you do give them table scraps, always remove any bones and trim down the fat.
Examine the ingredients – Final point here is making sure to know what’s in the food your giving your pet. The food items above should undoubtedly NOT be on there. You’d be amazed at the number of foods contain sugar and caffeine, that you simply wouldn’t expect to without first checking the ingredient list.
Human treats – Chips can have garlic and onion powder, cookies may have raisins, chocolate or macadamia nuts. Bottom line – there is a reason there’s food and treats made particularly for dogs.
When In Doubt, Ask the Vet
If your pooch is behaving oddly, or suffering from even minor signs such as weakness, lack of coordination, nausea, diarrhea, etc. and you think he may have eaten something he shouldn’t have, go to the vet right away. If you wait a long time, your pet may not make it.
