While we know we shouldn’t share our food with our pets, it can be difficult to convince Fido that “people food” is not for him. An occasional snippet from your plate will probably not harm your dog, but there are certain foods that are dangerous. Here is a brief list of foods to avoid feeding your dog.
Raisins and grapes are bite sized, delicious, and great for humans. However, both of these are toxic to dogs and even fairly small amounts can lead to kidney failure. No one is quite sure yet which chemical is responsible for toxicity, but ingestion will lead to vomiting, diarrhea, and possibly death.
Onions and garlic both contain thiosulphate. Thiosulphate can cause anemia in cats and dogs by rupturing the red blood cells that carry oxygen to your pets organs. Ingestion of moderate amounts of onions or garlic will cause vomiting, diarrhea, shortness of breath, blood in the urine, and can be fatal if untreated.
Chocolate has been long known to be poisonous to dogs. The toxicity of the chocolate depends upon it’s cacao content. Thus, baker’s chocolate is the most dangerous while milk chocolate is the least. Ingestion of any kind of chocolate is not recommended for dogs.
Other foods that can be harmful in large amounts are apple cores, broccoli, any kind of caffeine, potato peels, and alcohol. Veterinarians recommend not feeding dogs anything that is not designed for the canine body. This helps to avoid confusing your dog about which grub is his as well as avoiding accidental poisoning.
If you suspect that your dog has ingested something dangerous, please call your veterinarian or pet poison hot line immediately. Some toxins take a while to cause noticeable symptoms, so please do not assume that if your dog is not vomiting that he has not been poisoned.
