5 Foods You Should Never Feed Your Dog
Five Foods You Should Never Feed Your Dog: Macadamia Nuts
Ingesting macadamia nuts can cause vomiting, lethargy, tremors, weakness, loss of coordination, hind-leg paralysis, and an increase in body temperature. Symptoms may take up to 12 hours to appear.
Five Foods You Should Never Feed Your Dog: Members of the Allium Family
Members of the allium family include onions, garlic, chives, shallots, and leeks. Some dog foods and vitamin supplements contain garlic, but the amounts are small and properly balanced. Giving your dog anything other than what is included in products designed for dogs can cause vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, liver damage, asthmatic attacks, and red blood cell damage that leads to anemia.
Five Foods You Should Never Feed Your Dog: Grapes and Raisins
Eating grapes and raisins can cause vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, abdominal pain, lack of appetite, and kidney failure. Dogs that already have health problems may experience other or more severe symptoms. The toxin is more highly concentrated in raisins, which mean it takes considerably fewer of them to poison a dog than fully hydrated grapes.
Five Foods You Should Never Feed Your Dog: Artificially Sweetened Foods
Products sweetened with Xylitol can be deadly to your dog. Xylitol can be found in gum, candy, and bakery items. Within 15 minutes, the dog may experience a sudden drop in blood sugar that shows as weakness, lethargy, and a loss of coordination. The dog may also vomit and have seizures. Liver failure may occur within a few days. Get your dog immediate vet attention if it has ingested Xylitol.
Five Foods You Should Never Feed Your Dog: Foods that Contain Methylxanthines
Several foods contain substances known as methylxanthines. These foods include coffee, tea, cola, chocolate, and any product containing caffeine. In the case of chocolate, the darker the chocolate, the more toxic it is to a dog. Eating these foods can cause vomiting, diarrhea, panting, thirst, abnormal heartbeat, hyperactivity, loss of coordination, tremors, seizures, and possibly death. Symptoms may take up to 12 hours to appear.
Speaking from personal experience on this one, a bag of chocolate chip cookies (left within reach by a certain husband) is the quickest way to discover how much vomit a dog can produce. Thankfully, our dog was a large breed and the cookies were not heavy on the chips. He was fine after vomiting a few times and the vet gave him a clean bill of health.
Seeking Medical Attention
If your dog has eaten any of these foods, or other substances toxic to dogs, contact a vet or call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 1-888-426-4435.
Published by Amanda C. Strosahl
Born and raised on the banks of the Mississippi river, Amanda moved to the Greater Indianapolis area in 1994, where she worked alongside her husband in the newspaper industry until 2008. She now works as a f... View profile
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14 Comments
Post a CommentI knew about chocolate but not about these, thanks!
I am always careful of what I feed my dogs. Great article.
Didn't know about macadamia nuts - but I rarely eat those. They aren't special for me. Now chocolate? Well, YOU know about chocolate--
Grapes? Raisins? I learned something new!
Such important information, great article.
I hadn't realized garlic and Xylitol were on the no-no list. Thanks!
Great article, thanks for the different tips. I've already gotten lucky once with this kind of thing (a friend made me sugar cookies with green tea in them, and my dog got into a few!).
wow I thought they just couldn't have chocolate which was fine by me cause I don't share my chocolate with anyone - great information here!
Just read this wonderful article to my mom over the telephone, who on occasion will sometimes do the thing many do, baby that soft face with the look of gimme some at the dinner table, lol! She is usually very careful what she feeds her dog and how much, but not truly knowing what is and what isn't good. She told me to tell you thank you for an excellent article. Always good to be aware. (glad yours turned up a clean bill of health after the cookie scare) =)
I'm glad you're spreading the word. I'm afraid not enough people know this. Nice work. :-)