Sharing food with a dog is one of the ordinary pleasures of having one. It is also how most household poisonings happen, because several of the dangerous items are things nobody thinks twice about.
Here are both lists, and what to do if the wrong one gets eaten.
Safe in small amounts
Plain, cooked where appropriate, and without butter, oil, salt or seasoning. Treats of any kind should stay under about a tenth of daily calories.
- Lean cooked meat. Chicken, turkey, beef or salmon, skinless, boneless and plain. Not bacon or ham, which are too fatty and too salty.
- Carrots, raw or cooked. Low calorie and good for chewing.
- Green beans, a genuinely useful snack for a dog on a diet.
- Apple with the seeds removed. The seeds contain cyanide compounds.
- Banana, in small amounts because of the sugar.
- Blueberries, which most dogs take as readily as any treat.
- Watermelon, seedless and without the rind.
- Cooked plain sweet potato.
- Plain cooked rice or pasta, useful for an unsettled stomach.
- Peanut butter, checked for xylitol every time. High in fat, so a smear rather than a spoonful.
Never
- Chocolate, for the theobromine. Dark and baking chocolate are by far the worst, and effects run from vomiting to seizures.
- Grapes and raisins, which cause acute kidney failure. The mechanism is still unknown and there is no reliable safe dose, so treat any amount as serious. Watch for these in cakes and cereal bars.
- Xylitol, also sold as birch sugar. In sugar-free gum, sweets, some peanut butters and toothpaste. It triggers a rapid insulin release, causing a crash in blood sugar and liver failure. This is one of the fastest-acting poisons on the list.
- Onion, garlic, leek and chives, which damage red blood cells and cause anaemia. Garlic is the strongest, and cooked is no safer than raw. Gravy, stock and many leftovers contain them.
- Avocado, containing persin, plus a pit that is a genuine obstruction risk.
- Alcohol, in any quantity.
- Macadamia nuts, causing weakness, tremors and fever.
- Cooked bones, which splinter. Raw bones carry their own risks and are a conversation to have with your vet rather than an assumption.
- Caffeine, from coffee, tea and energy drinks.
- Raw yeast dough, which rises in the stomach and can twist it, and ferments into alcohol as well.
- Salt in quantity, which causes sodium poisoning.
- Very fatty food. Bacon, gravy and fatty offcuts trigger pancreatitis, which is painful and can be severe. This is why Christmas is a busy week in veterinary practices.
If your dog eats something on the second list
- Ring your vet or an emergency clinic straight away. Do not wait for symptoms, because with several of these the window for effective treatment closes before symptoms start.
- Keep a pet poison helpline number somewhere you can find it quickly.
- Tell them what, roughly how much, and when. Take the packaging with you.
- Do not make the dog vomit unless a professional has told you to. With some substances it makes things considerably worse.
It is worth having the out of hours number saved in your phone before you need it. These calls always happen in the evening, and hunting for a number is time you would rather spend driving.
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