6 Foods You Should Never Feed Your Dog

All of us love to take care of our furry friends, and, if we’re being honest, most of us take this into spoiling territory. It can be a fun thing to pamper your pet with toys and treats, but it’s also important to remember that some of these items can actually harm your animals. There are quite a few foods to avoid giving to dogs because they can prompt anything from mild discomfort to severe illness or death.

Read on for more insight into what foods should never be balanced on your pooch’s nose or served in their monogrammed bowl:

• Chocolate: While it’s delicious for humans, chocolate is one of the most widely known poisonous foods for dogs. We all learn as kids to never give Fido a bite of our chocolate bar, but why? The simple answer is that substances called methylxanthines are found in cacao seeds (and also in coffee). While these can give quite a pep to people, in dogs, they can prompt vomiting and diarrhea, seizures, tremors and, in the most severe cases, death.
• Alcohol: Some people might think it’s funny to give their dog a sip of beer (it’s not), or maybe your pet lapped up a spilled gin and tonic. No matter how they ingested it, it’s time to immediately call animal poison control—alcohol can cause severe reactions like abnormal blood acidity, coma, central nervous system depression and even death.
• Citrus: To be clear, eating the fruity part of a clementine or an orange is not likely to cause severe reactions in your dog. They might get a stomachache from the citric acid, but that’s about it. The real danger comes from the different pieces of the plant itself (e.g., the stems, leaves, peels, etc.) that can contain higher doses of this acid, which can, in turn, create more significant symptoms.
• Grapes and raisins: These are absolutely foods to avoid giving to dogs, but for reasons we can’t yet label. We don’t yet know exactly what substance or chemical in grapes can cause kidney failure in dogs, but we know that it happens. Never let your pooch ingest one of these.
• Milk and dairy: While dairy products likely won’t trigger severe reactions in dogs, they can be quite inconvenient for owners if their pets eat or drink them. They can cause diarrhea or other digestion problems, which can lead to quite a mess around your house. It’s best to avoid these altogether.
• Nuts: Almonds, walnuts and pecans have oils and fats that can cause vomiting and diarrhea, while macadamia nuts can cause these plus more severe symptoms like tremors and hyperthermia. As a general rule, nuts are definitely foods to avoid giving to dogs.

As a general rule of thumb, dogs should probably be avoiding all human foods, but especially the ones listed above. Pups need your help to keep poisonous foods for dogs out of reach, but they also rely on you for plenty of clean water, exercise and regular DIY grooming done at our world-class facilities here at The Soggy Dog. Give us a call today to learn more about our dog care services.

Categorised in: Dog Food, Dog Safety

This post was written by Writer