Matthew Gates 4m 1,078 #nutsfordogs
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Think Twice Before Sharing Nuts With Your Dog
In a previous confession about what dogs can eat, it showed the various foods that your dog can eat or should not eat. It always becomes habit that if you are eating, dogs have a tendency to stare at you. I bet as you are reading this right now, you are eating something, and if you look just past your laptop, your dog is right there, isn’t he (or she)? I already know, my dog does the same thing. You feel bad, as if you should be sharing with your BFF. You might be inclined to give them something to eat, whatever it is you are eating, without a second thought, but can they really eat it? There are some foods that are great for dogs, other foods that dogs should have once in a while, and some foods that your dog should never ever, under any circumstance, ever swallow, for it becomes poisonous to their system.
As you are eating, your dog does not really care what you have. They just know it is food, and nearly all the time, most dogs are always hungry, or can eat whatever you have. Chances are, out of habit, you have conditioned them to think that every time you have food, you will give it to them. Every time you eat something, they have to eat something. By breaking this habit or realizing that your dog is not a human, you can certainly not feel too bad about skipping on giving your dog YOUR treat, and ignoring them, and not feeling bad about it.
You already know that your dog is like a child. Children really cannot understand this world. Most of us have to learn from mistakes, like when I stuck a fork in the electrical socket—twice—and other times, or learning just once that you should never put your hand on a hot stove. Most of the time, we are given guidance from our parents to not do certain things. Dogs have no idea that they cannot eat something, the same way that most children eat what you give them, usually with resistance, especially with vegetables or “healthy foods”, while always craving and wanting the foods they know they love. If you give a dog chocolate, it is most likely that they will eat it because to them, it is instinctual food, food they don’t know if they will get again, so they will eat it.
There are plenty of foods that are so easy to just hand to a dog, and you may be thinking a few pieces won’t hurt the dog, but we hardly think about what could happen when we do it. This food, especially if you are health nuts, is actually nuts! Literally, nuts! The nuts that we eat. Peanuts. Pistachios. Macadamias. Pecans. Almonds. Walnuts. Brazil Nuts. And many others. Easy and healthy food to eat. Healthy for humans, not so much for dogs. I love almost all types nuts. I have known people who were allergic to nuts and could eat nothing containing nuts. But for the most part, to those who do enjoy it, it becomes part of your health regime (almost all nuts are healthy in moderation), or just a craving for the battle between your sweet tooth and your salt tooth.
It is not until the food hits the dog’s digestive system and processes it and realize this dog body cannot handle this type of nutrient, and the dog suffers, and it may get to the point where you have to take them to the vet, and probably end up spending hundreds of dollars to get them healthy again. That is hundreds of dollars that you probably did not really even have. I mean, if you do have it, feel free to donate some of it to our website, as we could always use the funding to keep this website going, but if you don’t, than don’t feed your dog things that they probably should not be eating.
Nuts your dog can have in tiny moderation: Peanuts, Peanut butter, and Sunflower seeds (outside of shell and in very limited quantities). A little trick to make your dog think they are eating what you are eating is that if you are having a snack, to also grab their snack, whether it is human food like peanut butter, bread, or a dog treat, just because most dogs tend to enjoy being social eaters and feel the need to eat whatever their master is eating. Certainly a trick I have learned to do in order to not feel so bad when I am eating a snack, and the dog looks at me demanding her snack too.
Before you grab that handful of nuts, just double check to see if the dog can eat them. It can be very easy to not think about it and just throw a few pieces the way of your dog. Can your dog really eat the nuts you love and crave? Find out in the infographic below.
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Say No To Nuts
WHY DOGS SHOULDN’T EAT NUTS
- Almonds not easily digested, can cause upset stomach and gastric intestinal distress, flavored almonds are particularly enticing
- Walnuts (black, English, and Japanese varieties), can cause gastric intestinal upset or obstruction, may contain a toxin that can cause seizures or neurological symptoms
- Hickory nuts, can cause gastric intestinal upset or obstruction, may contain a toxin that can cause seizures or neurological symptoms
- Macademia nuts, rich in fat, can cause upset stomach and pancreatitis, may contain a toxin that can cause seizures or neurological symptoms
- Pistachios, rich in fat, can cause upset stomach and pancreatitis
- Pecans, can cause gastric intestinal upset or obstruction, moldy pecans can contain a toxin that can cause seizures or neurological symptoms
Walnut poisoning $356 average cost of treatment
Kidney failure $374
Last year, VPI policyholders filed $11,600,000 in claims for upset stomach
$3.6M in claims for liver failure
Fun fact Macademia nuts are indigenous to Australia, not Hawaii
Every year, Americans eat 2 billion pounds of almonds, 1.8 pounds of almonds per person, 45,000 tons of pistachios
Why are cashews without a shell? Cashew shells contain urushiol, which is extremely toxic when ingested.
Veterinary Pet Insurance covers treatment costs related to nut poisonings and more. Get a quote at petinsurance.com.
For more pet health and safety tips, visit MyPetHealthZone.com.
Source: http://www.wagthedoguk.com/2014/08/22/bad-nuts-for-dogs/
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