Toxic and Dangerous Foods for Pets

May 10, 2016

Some foods that are okay for people and some other animal species eating them can adversely affect the pets. This is due to difference in metabolism. Some may lead to digestion upsets while others can cause illness and death in extreme cases. In this article we take a look at common foods that you should not feed your pets.

Onions and Garlic

Any form of garlic and onions - be it raw, cooked or dehydrated – has the ability of destroying the red blood cells of your dog. This may cause anemia. It is possible for the same effect to happen even with the powdered onions found in certain baby foods. Giving a simple smell dose is fine but huge consumption is toxic. Some signs you can base on for anemia are dullness, vomiting, loss of interest in food, weakness and breathlessness.

Coffee, Tea and Caffeine

This is one of the worst. Large quantities will for sure turn out to be fatal and the worst part is that there is no antidote. You can easily know caffeine poisoning by the following symptoms: rapid breathing, restlessness, muscle tremors, heart palpitations and fits. Apart from tea and coffee, the caffeine that is in cocoa, colas, chocolate and Red Bull (stimulant) is equally toxic. Some other pain killers also have it.

Grapes and Raisins

People have often used raisins and grapes to treat the dogs. However, that is not a good thing to do. As much as it is yet to be discovered the reason why grapes can lead to kidney failure, do not give it to them. An early sign can be repeated vomiting. After a day, depression will set in. The best prevention that you can use is keeping your counters free of grapes and raisins.

Avocado

In spite of the high regard that you have for the guacamole, never allow your pet more so the dog to eat it. The humans that are not allergic will not be harmed by this. But huge quantities of it are toxic to the dog. If there are avocados in your garden, restrict your pet not to go to the plants. What makes it toxic is persin and this can be found in leaves, bark and seed of the avocado tree.

Macadamia nuts

Never let your dogs eat macadamia nuts or any food that has them. They do not need to be in large amount for them to turn out fatal. Look at symptoms such as muscle tremors, vomiting, and rise in body temperature, increased heart beat and weakness. Chocolates that have the nuts make the situation worse and may even cause death.

Chocolate

At this stage we have already acknowledged that chocolate cannot be favorable with your dog. The most toxic of all is the dark chocolate, unsweetened baking chocolate and the chocolate mulch. A lick of it alone is enough to cause upsets. The symptoms that you can base on to know chocolate poisoning are diarrhea, vomiting, and extreme thirsty conditions.