The recent dog food scare has many dog owners on edge, not knowing what they should do to protect their pet from potential future problems with contaminated dog food.
So what is the best option: to take the risk and continue to feed your dog commercial dog food? Making homemade dog treats and food for your dog? Or maybe feed your dog table scraps?
The worst thing you can do is feed your dog table scraps. Your dog will love the taste of your table scraps, and you may think that since what you’re eating is healthy for you, it should be for your dog too. But, foods that are good for us can be just as dangerous as contaminated commercial dog food for your dog.
For example:
A single piece of chocolate can cause seizures, coma and death. Even a small piece of chocolate is dangerous.
Anything that contains caffeine, including coffee grounds, tea, and tea bags, can have a similar effect and be just as dangerous as chocolate.
Raisins and grapes can cause kidney failure; even a single serving of raisins can kill your dog.
Excessive salt intake can also cause kidney problems.
Onions can cause anemia by destroying red blood cells.
Avocados are also highly toxic and can cause breathing problems and fluid buildup around the abdomen, chest, and heart.
If you give your dog bones, make sure they are raw because cooked bones can splinter and damage his internal organs.
Excess fat can cause pancreatitis, so it is not advisable to feed your dog fatty foods.
Fried foods also fall into this category and are not good if you want to keep your dog in excellent health.
Certain nuts, such as walnuts and macadamia nuts, can cause muscle weakness and tremors.
However, peanut butter is generally fine, as long as you use unsalted, unsweetened peanut butter, as sugar can stimulate cancer growth.
The core and pits of fruits such as apple cherries and peaches contain cyanide, which is poisonous to dogs and can kill them.
within 24 hours, without notice.
When in doubt, don’t feed your dog the foods he’s eating, assuming they’ll be fine.
So, what is the best option to take care of our dog’s nutritional needs in these frightening times?
For most people, it is unreasonable to feed your dog homemade dog food at every meal. It takes time to prepare homemade dog treats and homemade dog food, and with our busy lives, most people won’t have that time.
I think the best solution is to feed your dog good, quality commercial dog food and supplement it with homemade dog treats and homemade dog food. If you can feed your dog treats and homemade dog food about 50% of the time, your dog will most likely live a longer and healthier life.