What Not to Feed Your Dog

COOKED bones. The process of cooking bones hardens them and when your beloved dog crunches them up, dagger sharp splinters can potentially pierce any part of the gut on its way down. Bones also lose their goodness in the cooking process. They lose the essential fatty acids, fat soluble vitamins, enzymes and anti aging antioxidants necessary for the health and vitality of your pet.

CHOCOLATE is lethal to dogs. It contains Theo bromine, which causes increased heart rate, central nervous system stimulation and constriction of the arteries. The clinical symptoms of chocolate poisoning are vomiting, diarrhea, restlessness, excitability through to cardiac failure, seizures and death. 

ONIONS are toxic to pets. Onions damage the red blood cells leading to weakness, anemia and trouble breathing. My biggest mistake with my first dog, a Bichon called Teddy was to mix sautéed onions with his cooked mince every day. Teddy died too young at 8 years of a virulent cancer in his fatty tissue.

RAISINS AND GRAPES. Recent studies have found that raisins and grapes lead to kidney failure in dogs.

AVOCADOS. They are high in fat and can cause stomach upset, vomiting and even pancreatitis. The pit is also toxic and can get lodged in the intestinal tract leading to severe blockage.

ALCOHOL. It takes very little to intoxicate a dog. They will stagger, bump into things and hurt themselves. They will urinate uncontrollably. High doses can lead to death through suppression of the central nervous, respiratory and cardiac systems.

MILK. Unless it is lactose free pet milk or goat milk. Regular milk can cause diarrhea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal symptoms as dogs lack the enzyme to break down the sugar in milk.

HAM and other salty meats are very dangerous to pets. In addition to being high in fat, they are also very salty which can cause serious stomach ache or pancreatitis. Ham plus any salty food will cause excessive thirst causing the dog to drink so much water it could developing the life threatening condition called bloat. This is where the stomach fills up with gas and within several hours may twist causing death.

CAFFEINE. Contains methylated xanthine that, like chocolate stimulates the central nervous system.

MOST PROCESSED  COOKED FOOD. As already mentioned cooked and commercial food with suspect additives and by products can compromise the health and longevity of your pet. Especially processed food called KIBBLE this product is made with the nastiest of all byproducts.

SWEETS, CAKE AND ICE-CREAM. The sugar content can lead to obesity and high blood sugar causing diabetes.