As dog owners, we love to spoil our fur babies at nearly every opportunity presented. This is especially true when it comes to feeding them food items right off of our very own dinner plate. While you’re just about finished eating your meal, little Fido comes by and patiently waits next to you to be given a small treat. You look into his begging eyes and decide to scrape that last piece of broccoli off your plate and right onto the floor, where he gobbles it up with no hesitation.
It seems like an inconsequential charitable act, and in the case of unseasoned broccoli, it is. But unfortunately, there may come a day when Fido’s owner decides to feed him a piece of grape instead. All will seem fine at first, but after an hour or so, Fido might not be acting normal. In fact, he may be vomiting profusely and or succumbing to terrible diarrhea. And this is no exaggeration; a single grape has the capability of doing this to your dog.
Of course, such a scenario can easily be avoided when you’re aware of harmful food items for your fur baby.
Below are 5 of the most toxic foods for your dog. These are consumables that can cause detrimental health issues and you should avoid giving them to your furry family member.
While it depends on the size of your dog, as mentioned above, a single grape does carry the capability to afflict severe side effects on your dog.
Grapes are known to be highly toxic to dogs as they can cause kidney failure, even though research has yet to indicate what chemical in the fruit causes this. Due to this, it’s highly advised that you never feed your dog grapes, regardless of their breed, age, and gender.
Grape (and raisin) toxicity can even be fatal. According to ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, they received a total of 3,722 calls involving grapes and raisins in 2016.
Other than kidney failure, feeding your dog a grape can also cause them to succumb to:
Alcohol has very much the same effect on dogs as it does on humans except that smaller doses given to the former are enough to cause unwanted side effects. Small amounts of alcohol, especially those found in syrups and raw bread dough, is enough to cause vomiting, diarrhea, discoordination, central nervous system depression, troubled breathing, comas, and possibly even death in dogs. The smaller your breed, the more powerful the effect alcohol has on them.
Common sense dictates that you would never offer alcohol to your dogs. However, this doesn’t mean they’ll stop themselves from trying to get a drink. You should never leave an alcoholic drink on the table if your furbaby is known to hop on top when you’re not looking. Likewise, you should never do the same with items that contain yeast. The yeast in items such as bread and pizza dough can create ethanol in your dog’s stomach and can even cause stomach expansion.
We probably don’t need to tell you not to feed this to your furry friends; chocolate is cited as the most popularly forbidden consumable for dogs. It contains theobromine, a chemical substance that causes abnormal heartbeats, tremors, seizures, and possibly even death.
All chocolate is dangerous for dogs, but dark and unsweetened kinds are known to have the strongest sources of theobromine, meaning that they’re the deadliest.
Regardless if it’s fresh, cooked, or even in spice form, these two foods will always be toxic to dogs. It’s for this reason that you need to be very careful of what sort of foods you offer your dog as these two foods are very common ingredients.
Onions and garlic belong to the allium species of plants which are known to be very toxic for dogs. Such plants, other than the aforementioned, include leeks, chives, shallots, and much more. If your dog consumes any one of these, its red blood cells can become damaged, disallowing them to carry oxygen. Ingestion is also capable of causing anemia.
For more information on the symptoms caused by the toxicity in allium plants, click HERE.
These nuts can be fatal to your dog. Toxicosis depends on the size of your dog, but even a small amount of macadamia nuts can cause poisoning including muscle tremors, paralysis of the hindquarters, fever, vomiting, and increased heart rate. Macadamia nuts paired with chocolate increases the risk of death.
If your dog misbehaves and doesn’t stop jumping on you while you’re eating or tries to get on the dinner table when you’re not looking, don’t hesitate to call for the assistance of an expert dog trainer. They can help you train your dog to behave properly for the betterment of their health and well-being. If you happen to be in the South Florida area, feel free to call the professionals over at Giving A Dog A Bone.
