1. Chocolate acts as a stimulant, making your dog's heartbeat accelerate or beat irregularly, leading to seizures and even cardiac arrest. To compound things further, it also acts as a severe diuretic, causing frequent urination, vomiting, and/or diarrhea. If you even suspect your dog has consumed a lot of chocolate you may want to take him to an animal hospital immediately.
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2. Grapes and Raisins create havoc with your dog's kidneys and digestive system. What's worse is that the amount of grapes needed to cause problems can vary greatly among individual dogs. Symptoms include frequent urination, vomiting, and diarrhea.
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3. Onions cause the breakdown of a dog's red blood cells, which deprives his cells of much-needed oxygen. If you're in the habit of feeding your dog table scraps, make sure the dish was not prepared with onions, as the effects can be cumulative over a period of time. Symptoms can vary greatly, ranging from vomiting and diarrhea to loss of appetite, fever, or exhaustion.
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4. Macadamia Nuts. While the exact chemical compound is still unknown, even a small amount of macadamia nuts can cause fever, irregular heartbeat, seizures, or mild paralysis.
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5. Alcoholic Beverages. Dogs' physiologies are not equipped to handle alcohol consumption. They are extremely susceptible to alcohol poisoning, and even small amounts can lead to digestive problems or even death.
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6. Bread Dough. Because it is soft, dogs will often swallow the dough without chewing it. When the dough hits your dog's stomach, his body heat will cause the dough to rise inside his stomach. This rising action can cause bloating or vomiting. To compound things further, the rising action creates alcohol as a by-product, and your dog may experience the symptoms listed in the previous paragraph.
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7. Caffeinated Beverages are similar to the effects of chocolate, caffeine is a stimulant and can negatively impact your dog's heart rate, causing seizures or heart attacks.
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8. Avocadoes are toxic to many animals. The offensive chemical damages heart, lung, and other essential tissues. Be aware since guacamole's main ingredient is avocado, that you keep any such dips well out of your dog's reach.
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9. Pitted Fruits (Peaches, Pears, Cherries, and Apricots) The pits of these fruits contain small doses of cyanide, which can be fatal to smaller dogs. Also, if the pit is swallowed whole, it may become lodged in the intestinal tract, where the blockage will have to be surgically removed.
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10. Raw Fish, especially salmon, can contain parasites, usually fluke larvae. The dog consumes the fish, and the larvae hatch in your dog's digestive tract, attaching themselves to his intestinal walls. Symptoms can take up to a week to exhibit and usually mimic other canine diseases, such as distemper or parvovirus. The hazard here is misdiagnosis by the veterinarian, leading to an improper or ineffective treatment. If you choose to feed your dog fish, be sure to cook it thoroughly to kill any bad critters that could be hiding inside.
2 comments:
I didn't know about a lot of these foods. I have heard that you shouldn't give milk or dairy produce to either cats or dogs. If I don't put a smidgen of milk in Badger's water she won't drink it. She doesn't drink a lot and I worry about dehydration. She only seems to like the filthy puddle water she sees. She also loves cheese and quite often I do give her any bits of manky looking cheese that's left over.
Alchohol: When Meg was obviously dying, she was crying during her last night and I knew she had to go to the vet in the morning. I gave her a slug of Pete's best malt whiskey in some warm milk and she lapped it up gratefully. A couple of hours later she cried again and I repeated the medicine. When I took her to the vet in the morning she was thoroughly pissed, but I thought, why not? I hated to take her there, but of course I stayed with her while she had her injection. It was the last thing I could do for her and she had been an amazing friend to me. Her head was resting on my hand so the last thing she would have known was the smell of my hand and the feel of the other one stroking her.
Oh shit, I'm starting to cry. See you soon.
Oh dear! You have brought back memories of me holding Brunos head whilst the vet put the needle in. Some people may not realise that dogs are part of the family.
I did laugh when you mentioned that she was pissed (even though I should not have but it's just my wicked imagination!)
Bandit too prefers dirty rain water to fresh, what an animal!
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