We love our dog so much and we only want the best for him. We want to provide him the best shelter, clothes, toys and food. However, when it comes to food intake, there are certain foods that may be harmful for our beloved Fido. So before feeding your dog, make sure that you are not giving him anything that can be harmful for his health.
These are the top 10 food that you should not give your dog:
1. Grapes and raisins – it’s been confirmed that even grapes grown without fertilizers or pesticides can be toxic to dogs. Although this may not be applicable to every dog, small amounts eaten over a long period of time can result to an acute kidney failure. This means that the dog may not produce urine, which means that he cannot filter toxins out of his internal body system.
2. Chocolates – chocolate is made with cocoa beans which contain a chemical called Theobromine, which is toxic to dogs. Different types of chocolate have varying effects on a dog’s health. Dark chocolate has the largest Theobromine, coming in at a whopping 450mg (compared to 1mg for white chocolate).
3. Fatty foods – fatty foods are hard for a dog to digest and can exhaust the pancreas, leading to pancreatitis. This can threaten your dog’s health and is potentially fatal.
4. Nuts – Macadamia nuts should be avoided. In fact most nuts are not good for your dog’s health since nuts are high in phosphorus, which can cause bladder stones.
5. Mulch – mulch is not food, but this is one thing that is very tempting enough for dogs to eat. Some dogs are attracted to cocoa mulch, and will eat it in varying quantities. The cocoa bean shells can contain from 0.2% to 3% theobromine as compared to 1-4% in unprocessed beans.
6. Onions – onion powder especially raw onions have been shown to trigger hemolytic anemia in dogs.
7. Potatoes – green potato skins have solanine which is toxic to dogs. However, cooked, mashed potatoes are fine for a dog because this is actually quite nutritious and digestible.
8. Artificial Sweeteners – Xylitol is used as a sweetener in many products, especially sugarless gum and candies. Ingesting large amounts of products sweetened with xylitol may cause a sudden drop in blood sugar in dogs, resulting depression, loss of coordination, and seizures.
9. Turkey – turkey skin is currently being regarded as a cause to acute pancreatitis in dogs, partly due to its high fat content.
10. Avocado – this is toxic for dogs because this is considered the only “fatty” member of the veggie-fruit family.
Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org
