8 Foods to Avoid Feeding Your Pet Pooch
Dogs are one of the best species of animal to include in your family unit and are the most sociable, loving, and affectionate pets you could ever hope to share your life with.
When it comes to feeding and socializing with your dog, the temptation can often be to either overfeed them or else share your own dinner or treats with them, especially when they are using all their impressive manipulative skills to get you to share.
However, just a small amount of the wrong type of food could easily cause a negative reaction in your dog, and even worse, could even lead to fatality. So, with that being said, continue reading to learn about the top eight foods to absolutely avoid feeding your pet pooch under any circumstances.
1. Raisins and Grapes
The first food items on the list that you should absolutely not feed to your dog, regardless of their age, breed, and level of physical fitness and well-being, are raisins and grapes.
It is still, to this day, a mystery to people who have dedicated their working life to researching how foods can affect domesticated animals as to which specific substance found in raisins and grapes is so toxic and dangerous to dogs.
However, just one raisin that you accidentally drop onto the floor from the kitchen counter can cause serious and wholly negative repercussions in your dog’s digestive system. If you do even slightly suspect that your dog has ingested a raisin or grape, you should immediately rush your dog to a pre-registered and established veterinary surgery, such as Easy Vet.
2. Corn on the Cob
There are certain substances, most often human food and, more specifically, hard pieces of fruit and vegetables, that can cause serious blockages in the intestines of dogs, cats, rabbits, and other mammals.
Therefore, one such foodstuff that you should never even consider giving to your dog is corn on the cob, which in itself is not actually poisonous to your animal, but can cause problems such as intestinal rupture. Signs and symptoms to look out for in your dog that may well indicate an issue and blockage in their intestine tract include inappetence, pain, lethargy, and vomiting.
3. Macadamia Nuts
Another seemingly random foodstuff that should never, under any circumstances, be fed to a dog is macadamia nuts.
Macadamia nuts can induce a variety of painful and worrying signs and symptoms in your dog, including a lack of coordination and issues with walking and balance, weakness in the limbs, overheating, and even hyperthermia and depression.
4. Garlic and Onions
For humans, adding onions, either raw, fried, or roasted, and cooking meats and other meals with a handsome sprinkling of garlic is entirely normal and understandable and serves to improve virtually any meal.
For dogs, however, garlic and onions are both highly toxic, and you should never feed any breed or age of dog raw or cooked garlic or onion, or indeed any foodstuff which contains either ingredient.
If your dog does consume even a small amount of onion or garlic, it may well vomit immediately, and some dog owners will assume that they have removed the toxic substance and will therefore do nothing. However, even for the time the toxic items were in your dog’s digestive system, they could have adverse effects that you are unaware of, so you must still take your dog to the vet immediately.
5. Avocado
If any fruit or vegetable could ever be described as ‘trendy’, then the avocado would certainly top the proverbial bill, and you may well have avocados in the kitchen as a staple for breakfasts and salads, especially during the summer months.
It is absolutely essential to remember that any part of the avocado plant is incredibly toxic to dogs, as well as other animals such as cats and bunny rabbits, and should be kept well away from your pets at all times.
6. Caffeine
Hopefully, you are already fully aware that caffeine is not only found in coffee and teas but also chocolate, some medications, and most soft drinks.
Feeding caffeine in any form to your dog is an absolute proverbial no-no, as caffeine can speed up the heartbeat of your dog to dangerous levels and will also overstimulate its nervous system. Between two and four hours of consuming even a tiny amount of caffeine, your dog will probably start appearing incredibly restless and want to drink entire bowls of water at the same time. Caffeine in dogs can also mean that their heart rhythm becomes abnormal and, in some cases, their heart rate may never return back to a normal rate.
7. Alcohol
One of the most common examples of animal abuse in everyday life, and indeed one example that you might have heard about at some point in the past, is giving a dog alcohol.
Categorically, you should never give your dog even a tiny amount of alcohol, as its systems simply cannot tolerate it, and it can lead to poor breathing, vomiting, depression, lack of coordination, tiredness, and even fatalities.
Remember that alcohol is also found in paint, nail varnish, nail varnish remover, cleaning products, perfumes, and mouthwash, so you should keep all such products well away from your dog’s reach.
8. Chocolate
Finally, perhaps one of the more well-known foodstuffs that most people recognize to be entirely poisonous to dogs is chocolate, which contains not only the aforementioned caffeine but also a chemical called theobromine, which your dog simply cannot digest.
It may well be the case that due to leaving a piece of chocolate on the table, your dog eats a small amount, and even if they show no signs or problems, you should still immediately contact your vet.
When a dog consumes a piece of chocolate, it is likely to experience extreme stomach cramps and pain, become immediately dehydrated, and vomit. More serious repercussions of your dog eating chocolate include internal bleeding, seizures, stroke, and heart attacks.
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