What Foods Make Dogs Blind?

What Foods Make Dogs Blind? The ten foods that you should never give your dog: The habit of giving leftovers to the dog or of sharing our food with him has its limits in the following products.

Dogs are strict but tolerant carnivorous animals; that is to say, their diet is based on meat and animal fats, as well as other components, although they accept and tolerate vegetable remains more or less well, which can even serve as a supplement for certain substances.

This ambiguous relationship with non-animal products is believed to stem from their wolf ancestor’s habit of eating his victims whole. In other words, when wolves eat a sheep or a cow, both ruminants, they also eat the intestines with the vegetable content included.

This means that a minimal vegetable contribution can be counted in their diet, and in fact, it is known that some vegetables, if they are crushed, are beneficial for dogs since they provide them with vitamins and other compounds that help them regulate vital functions.

However, this good relationship with carrots, boiled potatoes, spinach, or some fruits such as apples, bananas, or pears does not extend to any food, and we should never think that dogs are omnivores like us and much less than their diet resembles ours.

Nothing could be further from the truth, and in fact, among what we eat, there are many foods that can cause serious problems and even lead to death. Here are ten of the most common human products that are neither good nor advisable for our dogs.

1. Chocolate

Under no circumstances should the dog eat any product derived from cocoa since theobromine poisoning ¹is one of the most dangerous that exists. The substance in chocolate makes it exciting, and dogs do not tolerate it, to the point that it can kill them in high doses.

On the other hand, the more percentage of cocoa chocolate, the more dangerous it is, reaching the limit in powdered chocolate. The derivatives are not good either, since the mere presence of theobromine is harmful, especially if it is chocolates with alcohol, since they add ethanol, another toxin for dogs.

2. Onions, leeks, garlic, and Calçots

The fault lies with a substance known as thiosulfate, which is very present in these vegetables, as well as in leeks, chives, shallots, and -attention Catalans- Calçots ². Dogs lack the enzyme to break it down, and therefore it can reach the liver causing its collapse.

Obviously, everything depends on the quantity since the concentration of thiosulfate in a piece is low, but it is advisable to avoid tempting fate and let the dog be satisfied with any of these substances.

3. Quinces, jams, and others made from sugar

If cane sugar is already bad for us, for the dog, whose glucose regulation system is not as efficient as ours, it is highly inadvisable. Especially in high concentrations, it can cause serious hyperglycemia ³, although it depends on the size and activity ratio of the dog. Quinces, toast with jam, or the classic prize sugar, should be discarded.

4. Industrial sweets

Industrial sweets may contain cane sugar and glucose, but they are also toxic due to the presence of xylitol ⁴, a sweetening compound widely used in the pastry and pastry industry due to its low-calorie content.

For the dog, it is a powerful poison since it triggers the production of insulin in the pancreas; This removes all the sugar from the blood and can thus cause serious hypoglycemia and liver problems.

5. Leche

The problem is lactose, which is the sugar found in milk and that dogs cannot digest, which causes diarrhea that can dehydrate them. However, dogs can eat cheese or yogurt, where the lactose has been fermented, and in fact, dairy products are a good calcium and protein supplement.

6. Avocado

This fruit, which is precisely one of the most recommended for humans to fight bad cholesterol, is toxic to some animal species, especially cats and horses. In dogs, cases of poisoning are known, but they are not as sensitive, which is a harmful agent.

It is a natural avocado antifungal that protects you against fungi. However, the additional danger of the avocado is in the stone, which is large and round: easy to swallow, and difficult and painful to expel.

7. Fruits with large stones

As in the avocado, we will avoid large stone fruits, or we will not give the dog pieces of the whole fruit. Such is the case of the peach, which can also present allergy problems due to the hairs on its skin, plums, or even cherries in small breeds. A bone that is too large can cause a serious intestinal obstruction, and the dog will swallow it whole because its way of eating is to tear and swallow.

8. Bones

Although classical iconography shows us otherwise, animal bones provide very little nutritional value to the dog, even when cooked. On the other hand, if you crush them, you run into two dangers; The first is the classic chicken bone that splinters, and the dog swallow it, unleashing a risk of intestinal perforations with all that this implies: internal infections, bleeding, etc.

The second danger is that it will not splinter, and the dog will reduce it to a shredded paste that will be swallowed and solidified in the intestine as hardened feces that can obstruct or cause painful, tear-risk bowel movements. In the best of cases, given the concentration of calcium that will be produced in the intestine, there will be osmotic imbalances that will cause diarrhea.

9. Leftover fish

The dog is not exquisite and smug like the cat; it does not distinguish parts and swallows everything it finds after lightly crushing it. Therefore, the risk of swallowing a hard, sharp thorn is high. The dangers are the same as those described in the previous section.

10. Grapes

Although it sounds surprising, grapes have a toxin -unknown until now, although it is suspected to be an antifungal- highly harmful to dogs since it causes serious kidney problems and can lead to death. If the grape is in the form of raisins, the danger of poisoning skyrockets exponentially.

Our Resources

1
Theobromine poisoning, also informally called chocolate poisoning or cocoa poisoning, is an overdosage reaction to the xanthine alkaloid theobromine, found in chocolate, tea, cola beverages, and some other foods. Wikipedia
2
Calçot is a type of green onion. The name calçot comes from the Catalan language. The calçot from Valls is a registered EU Protected Geographical Indication. Wikipedia.
3
Hyperglycemia in critically ill dogs increases the risk of morbidity and mortality. Source: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
4
Xylitol is extremely toxic to dogs. Even small amounts of xylitol can cause hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), seizures, liver failure, or even death in dogs. VCAhospitals