Dogs have a well-earned reputation both as man’s best friend, and as a living, breathing vacuum cleaner. Dog food is never enough; even if they have just eaten a full bowl of food you know that they will be sitting at your feet begging for table scraps the minute you sit down to eat dinner. Many people are all too willing to indulge their friends and offer up some scraps–after all, if you can eat it they can too, right? Other people are simply careless and don’t notice when their dog grabs a bite and runs off with it. Regardless, many foods that normal people can eat just fine are actually lethal to our four legged friends and must be watched carefully to ensure that your pet lives a full and healthy life.
As a general rule you should always remember to only feed your dog marked food, not table scraps! And certainly not just any table scraps! Because of the difference in size and digestive systems food that seems innocent and inviting to a normal human can fatally poison your pet in a matter of moments. Most people know that chocolate can be lethal to your dog (it contains a chemical called theobromine which can cause increased heart rates and seizures), but did you know that garlic is also lethal? Or onions? Both contain sulfoxides and disulfides that can cause anemia and onions also have the toxic component thiosulphate, too. Even beer can kill a dog by causing increased heart rate and seizures, and most people know of at least one person who likes to feed their dog a beer every now and again.
The moral of the story is simple: dog food is designed for a dog’s digestive system; people food is designed for our digestive system. Food that we take for granted every day can be lethal to our pets, which is why we always have to be careful to avoid letting them eat table scraps and only feed them the proper nutritional diet.
