Stop List: Toxic Foods for Your Pet

What does your pet like to eat? Most probably, you’ve found the best pet food for him, and he likes the taste. However, let’s be honest: pets always want to try something new with their teeth and tongues, so they frequently eat “human” foods by accident or intentionally.

However, most keepers know that they shouldn’t feed their pets with such products as sausages, sweets, or bread. A dog, a cat, a parrot, or any other pet should have a specialised menu with high-quality animal foods included. Cat owners might want to check one of the wag cat food reviews to find out more about worthy pet food manufacturers. And here is the Purina naturals dog food review in case you are a dog keeper.

Nevertheless, it is sometimes just impossible to resist that dog’s eye asking for something tasty. It’s only a small piece but it can harm!

Sometimes, it’s enough for a pet to eat just one berry or that “small piece” to cause severe health consequences or even lethal outcomes. Here is the stop-list for pet foods: check it out to know what products should be forbidden for pets to eat. Make sure you don’t react to their begging looks or reward them with something unconventional for a successful training using these toxic foods. They’re dangerous.

Chocolate

Yes, I start with this tasty and sweet food the majority of humans love to eat. People don’t find anything bad in chocolate plates, and it’s actually like that, especially if to consume them moderately. For humans.

However, foods containing cocoa beans are toxic for domestic animals because of two components: caffeine and theobromine. Those are alkaloids stimulating the heart muscle beat and affect the central nervous system. In fact, one small piece of dark chocolate (which carries more alkaloids than milk chocolate) may be enough for a little dog or cat to feel sick.

Vets confirm that the most frequent caffeine and theobromine pet intoxication cases happen during holidays when the average number of sweets per family increases. Keep chocolate plates and candies away from your home animal. The overdose of alkaloids may cause symptoms like neural overstimulation, urinary incontinence, hyperactivity, and other things causing overtiredness. Intense overdose cases may require immediate professional assistance for your pet.

Garlic and Onions

That may be unexpected, but garlic and different onion species are toxic for domestic animals as well. It’s because of the organic sulfoxides contained in these plants. When a pet chews an onion or garlic, sulfoxides dissolve to create different sulfur connections that are poisonous due to their destructive effect on red blood cells.

According to scientists, not only fresh veggies of this kind may cause poisoning for cats and dogs. Fried, roasted, boiled, and baked onions or garlic can also be dangerous for your pet’s health.

Symptoms of such poisoning are tricky: they appear a few days later and include vomiting, diarrhoea, and fatigue. Additionally, a pet poisoned with onion or garlic may refuse to eat normally, has intense breathing and heartbeat. Still, that’s not always the case. Sometimes, cats or dogs may eat these and other “toxic” vegetables without any visible consequences causing a threat to their health and life.

Alcohol

Come on, let’s be honest: many dogs may want to drink some beer with their keepers. It seems funny, but ethanol is also toxic for pets. Sometimes, ethanol intoxication may appear after an alcoholic party at home. However, it may be enough for a pet to eat few rotten apples, wild plums, or raw dough. These products contain ethyl alcohol, so even a small amount of them may be enough for an animal to get intoxication.

The effect of ethanol on home animals is the same as that on humans: the body absorbs it quickly, and then the brain starts “lagging”. You may notice signs of depressed mood, apathy, movement coordination loss, and higher body temperature one hour after your pet “got drunk”.

Fortunately, in most cases, drunk animals don’t require professional assistance. Their body will get rid of alcohol naturally a bit later, and your cat or dog will be okay again. However, try to keep them away from beer cans: alcohol overdose is never good.

Raisins and Grapes

The reaction of different animals to grapes and raisins may vary. For example, the consumption of these products by a dog may result in renal failure. There were even fatal cases after a dog swallowed only a few grape berries. However, other dogs may feel well after eating a few pounds of raisins.

To Conclude

These were only some of the regular human foods that can be toxic for your pets. It is better not to share your meals with a companion in any case. Leave your favourite dish for yourself, and feed an animal with specialised, high-quality foods for them. That’s the best way to avoid health issues and poisoning.