We, humans, love to cook and eat. But sometimes we expect that the foods that are perfect and healthy for us will prove the same for the pets, especially the dogs. But you need to understand that some specific foods that are safe for humans are life-threatening to dogs.
The metabolism of dogs is different from that of humans. Feeding human foods to dogs might prove fatal depending on the foods you’re feeding.
In this article, we will discuss the foods that are life-threatening for your dogs. If you own a dog, make sure you don’t let them eat these foods.
Avocados
Avocados are one of the most popular foods among humans. But keep in mind Persin is a toxic substance in avocados. Even though it’s perfectly safe for a human to consume person, it can prove extremely poisonous for your dogs.
The person can be found in the pits, avocado fruit, bark, and leaves. Therefore, make sure you’re not feeding any part of the avocado tree to your dogs.
As per Thought co, if your dog eats the avocado, the fluid will start accumulating in its chest and lungs. As a result, they will face severe breathing problems, which will lead to severe oxygen deprivation and ultimately, painful death.
Apart from the lungs and chest, fluids can also accumulate in the pancreas, heart, and abdomen, which will lead to other serious complications. Additionally, the avocado pit is small and your dog can accidentally swallow it, which can cause blockage in the digestive tract or choking.
Xylitol
You might have noticed Xylitol being used by manufacturers to sweeten candy, toothpaste, chewing gum, and baked goods. It’s one type of sugar alcohol.
While considered safe for human beings, Xylitol is extremely dangerous for dogs. When your dog eats foods that contain Xylitol, it can lead to a significant and sudden drop in the overall blood sugar level of the body.
There might be some initial symptoms such as weakness, vomiting, coma, difficulty moving, depression, and seizures will help you know whether the dog is going through life-threatening situations or not. These symptoms can showcase within 40 minutes of consumption.
Not to mention. Xylitol can cause death as well as liver damage. They can also suffer from liver failure.
Caffeine is the most common substance found in tea, coffee, and cocoa. Many people also add caffeine to their soft drinks. For the past couple of years, the popularity of caffeine increased within the medical industry as manufacturers use this substance to create different types of medicines.
But do you know that caffeine can stimulate the heart rate as well as the nervous system in dogs? Within 4 hours, dogs will start experiencing restlessness, improper bladder control, excessive thirst, diarrhoea, and vomiting.
If your dog consumed too much caffeine, it will go through lung failure or improper heart rhythm, which might prove fatal.
The body of the dog can absorb caffeine super quickly. Depending on the weight of the dog and the amount of caffeine consumed, the dog may die.
Raisins and grapes
Make sure you never fees raisins and grapes to your dogs. They can prove extremely fatal to your dog causing kidney failure.
Even though the toxic substances contained in the grapes are still undiscovered, even one or two grapes can prove fatal for your dog.
But remember that the level of toxins varies from dog to dog. Reports stated that 170 dogs died after consuming a couple of raisins. Therefore, you need to pay close attention to the ingestion quality.
Whether your dog eats raisins and grapes raw or consumes them with other ingredients such as baked cookies, poisoning from these food items is inevitable. Even if your dog eats these foods, watch for possible symptoms such as fatigue, diarrhoea, and depression. You can also notice other types of signs such as excessive thirst and kidney failure.
Yeast dough and alcohol
You can find alcohol in numerous products, including perfumes, beverages, paint, mouthwash, and other types of cleaning products.
Even though alcohol is dangerous for humans too, occasional consumption of alcohol isn’t life-threatening. But dogs cannot tolerate alcohol, even if the amount is too low.
After consumption of alcohol, its symptoms will develop in dogs within an hour. Depression, poor breathing, tiredness, vomiting, low body temperature, and improper muscle coordination are some of the most common symptoms.
If your dog drinks too much alcohol, it might die due to seizures and heart failure. You also need to ensure your dog isn’t consuming raw dough as it contains yeast. When the yeast cells ferment, they will produce alcohol. As a result, the blood alcohol level of the dog’s body will increase and they might die due to alcohol poisoning.
Not only that, but the dough can expand on their stomach and cause bloating. As the organs will be pressurized in such situations, your dog will face problems breathing properly.
This is why you should always avoid feeding alcohol or raw dough to your dogs. Don’t leave alcoholic beverages unattended near the dogs.
Chocolate
Perhaps the most harmful food for dogs is chocolate. The chocolates contain caffeine and theobromine, which will undoubtedly affect your dogs. This is because dogs aren’t capable of metabolizing these substances.
If your dog eats chocolate, it might experience diarrhoea, stomach pain, dehydration, and vomiting. These symptoms can pose other serious health issues such as muscle tremors, heart attacks, internal bleeding, and death.
However, the complication of the side effects in depending on the size of the dog as well as the type of chocolate that dog has consumed.
For instance, dark and bitter chocolates are most dangerous for your dogs as these chocolates contain a high level of cocoa. Not to mention, cocoa powder will also prove life-threatening for your dogs. If you don’t know what isn’t safe for your pets, you will end up risking their lives.
As per reports, negative symptoms of chocolate consumption will appear if your dog eats even a small amount of chocolate. Most dogs experience chocolate poisoning during events such as Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc. Despite the occasion, make sure you pay close attention to the overall well-being of your dogs.
Salt
If your dog consumes too much salt, it will develop a condition known as salt poisoning, which is known as water deprivation amongst dogs.
When your dog suffers from salt poisoning, it will face different types of neurological disorders, including vomiting, cerebral oedema, depression, diarrhoea, and tremors. In some severe cases, it can prove fatal.
More than 3 grams of salt per KG body weight will affect the dog’s well-being. This is why you should avoid feeding them salted foods. You also need to ensure your dogs have proper access to drinking water.
Other foods that might prove harmful to your dogs
We discussed the foods that will undoubtedly affect your dog. However, some foods might not prove deadly, but they can still cause some serious health complications in your dogs. To walk on the safe side, make sure you don’t feed the following foods to your dog:
- Garlic, onions, and chives. These foods will affect the red blood cells of your dog’s body. As a result, your dog will suffer from anaemia. In some severe cases, you might need to consider blood transfusion for your dogs.
- Macadamia nuts. These nuts are another food that can prove harmful to your dog’s body. These nuts come with an unknown substance that will cause muscle tremors, weakness, and vomiting. These nuts also contain a high level of fat, which will lead to pancreatitis as well as an inflamed pancreas.
- Apples, peaches, and plums: These pits or seeds contain cyanide. Therefore, when your dog consumes an excess amount of peaches and apples, it will suffer from some serious side effects. They might also develop different types of digestive problems.
What do you need to do if your dog consumes harmful food?
The best and most effective way to protect your dog is by preventing them from eating harmful foods in the first place. If you’re searching for relevant methods that will minimize the risks, make sure you don’t leave the above-discussed foods wide open. If you do need to leave them in an open space, choose a location that cannot be accessed by your dog easily.
As you might have understood, different types of foods feature different types of toxins. As a result, the symptoms and consequences of the foods will be different. For instance, the symptoms and consequences of eating a chocolate bar will be different from the symptoms of eating raisins or apples. Therefore, you need to determine which type of food your dog has consumed so that you can consider the perfect treatment option.
If you noticed that your dog has consumed something toxic, make sure you call a reputed veterinarian as soon as possible. Even if you think that your dog has ingested a little amount, you still net to get them checked by professionals so that your dog doesn’t end up suffering from severe symptoms. Depending on the toxic food and symptoms, the treatment will vary.
Final thoughts
These are the foods that will prove life-threatening for your dogs. Make sure you let us know if you have any other questions.
Zuella Montemayor did her degree in psychology at the University of Toronto. She is interested in mental health, wellness, and lifestyle.
