Never Feed Your Dog These 3 Foods

If your dog has ever given you the “side-eye” during one of your meals, then you are familiar with why it can be hard to say no to  them. However, we must avoid giving in at all costs, as some foods can wreak havoc on your dog’s health. 

Fortunately, many foods in moderation are harmless. Despite this, it’s a good practice to avoid giving them human food altogether, (except human grade raw food!) as all it takes is one time. After reading this article, you’re going to know 3 foods to never feed your dog. For more nutritions tips check out My Large Dog and Cali Raw Blogs 

Most dog lovers are aware of the most harmful foods to dogs, yet there are still too many mishaps. Frequently, when a dog eats something it shouldn’t, it will merely become sick and recover shortly after.

Yet, there are some foods that dogs shouldn't consume. Luckily, we’ve gathered the top 3 foods to never feed your dog. Plus, we’re going to cover what to do if this does ever happen, as an accident can occur. 

3 Foods To Never Feed Your Dog

1. Chocolate

This candy is often used for celebrations or to simply kick back and enjoy a romantic movie. Still, it’s one of the most dangerous foods to feed to a dog. Chocolate contains an ingredient named theobromine, which can prove significantly threatening to dogs. Theobromine cannot be adequately metabolized in dogs, resulting in grave consequences. 

It’s mostly found in darker chocolate, such as gourmet chocolate and baking chocolate. Typically, milk chocolate has much less of this ingredient, but it can still have severe consequences if consumed in larger amounts. 

There is a reason why chocolate is in our 3 foods to never feed your dog. Chocolate also contains caffeine, which is a poison to dogs in itself. Caffeine can cause numerous problems for canines that can and will threaten their life if they consume enough of it. 

Caffeine poisoning can include tachycardia, arrhythmias, high blood pressure, and other, more severe emergencies, such as tremors and seizures. In most cases, the dog will only become sick to their stomach, and it will pass, but the potential risk of serious side-effects is a clear sign to add this to the 3 foods to never feed your dog. It seems like a nice gesture, sure. Who doesn’t love chocolate?

2.Grapes

It’s easy to toss your dog a treat when they’re a “good boy,” but throwing them a grape can lead to serious consequences, including death. All grapes are toxic to dogs, some more than others. Grapes can cause kidney failure and a range of other deadly illnesses, so you should avoid giving your dog a grape under any circumstance. 

Products such as grape juice, grape jelly, and even raisins should never be given to dogs. Raisins, which are dried grapes, can be even more dangerous than grapes themselves and should be noted in our 3 foods to never feed your dog. 

This results from raisins being much more concentrated, which means less to is needed to be consumed before going south. The potential side-effect is not worth the risk of feeding your dog, even a single grape. Side-effects may include lethargy, nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and excessive drinking of water, to name a few. 

However, it should be remembered that if your dog eats only one grape, it should be treated as a medical emergency, resulting in a trip to the vet immediately. 

Grapes affect all dogs differently; in some dogs, it’s a temporary sickness or none at all. In others, however, kidney failure can develop rapidly. If your dog has eaten a grape, which is one of the worst 3 foods to never feed your dog, then take action immediately.

3. Cooked Bones

A very prevalent reason dogs take a trip to the vet is due to ingesting bones. With that said, there is a difference between raw bones and bones that have been cooked. Raw bones are a prevalent supplement to dogs on the popular raw meat diet. They provide nutrients and are a biologically appropriate treat. Yet if the bones are cooked, it can bring a whole host of problems.

If you feed your dog a cooked bone, your dog grows a risk of becoming very ill. Cooked bones are dried out, which can cause the bones to become brittle. This then leads them to splinter and possibly even penetrate through the dogs’ intestines.

Plus, there are many cases where the dog has eaten a cooked bone resulting in it becoming lodged in their intestines. This alone can be dangerous, as it can go unnoticed and cause severe and long-term damage if not extracted promptly. 

Many of these cases originate from people attempting to be kind to homeless dogs by feeding them scraps. However, this can happen accidentally by leaving the table for just a few seconds with chickenwings or pork chops on the table. Luckily, most dogs can pass smaller cooked bones, but there is no reliable pattern to look at to determine if it’s safe for a one-time treat. If you want to give your dog a bone as a treat, make sure its a raw one!

When To Seek Medical Help For Your Dog

Your Dog Becomes Lethargic

A very good way to determine if your dog is feeling okay is to keep an eye on their emotional stability. If they act nervous and fidgety for more than just a few hours, then a trip to the vet is highly recommended. 

Dogs can keep calm, even under moderate distress. By nature, they can learn to stay calm and mask any suffering they might feel.

Despite this, lethargy typically begins when the dog is scared, which isn’t entirely typical. If you notice your dog panting for more than a few hours, appearing restless, and they cannot sit still, then it may be time to see a doctor. 

Stomach Upset

The most common way we realize that a dog isn’t feeling well is when their stomach becomes upset. In most cases, an upset stomach isn’t something to become frightened about. However, if your dog is vomiting for more than a few hours, keep an eye on them. 

If the vomiting continues or worsens, especially if they appear distressed, then you should visit the vet to rule out anything serious. 

Vomiting can, on rare occasions, insinuate a more severe problem, such as accidental poisoning or an underlying health condition. If your dog appears playful and this does not continue for more than a couple of hours, then it’s likely a one-off scenario.

Bloody Stools

If your dog passes bloody stools, then this indicates that something serious is occurring. If this is the case, immediately visit your vet. 

Bloody stools can be a result of several reasons, including parasites, rectal issues, parvovirus, or injury to the mouth or throat. Rarely, it can be caused by cancer or tumors, but this is very unlikely. 

Nevertheless, if your dog passes a bloody stool, keep an eye on them, as this could be a severe problem that requires immediate veterinary attention. They may have eaten one of the 3 foods to never feed your dog.

Read: Healthy Poop Guide

Takeaway

Dogs love food, and they’ll do just about anything to have a taste of something that smells delicious. 

If your dog has ingested food that is in our list of 3 foods your dog should never eat, then pay close attention to them and seek medical help. In most instances, your dog will be just fine but this doesn'tmean they can’t become ill by consuming one of them. Lastly, perhaps consider pet insurance, which will help your foot the bill if a vet trip is ever necessary.