Keep Your Pet Healthy: 10 Table Foods You Should Never Feed Your Pet

Even though dogs and cats share most parts of family life with their human owners, these pets should not necessarily eat all the same foods that their owners eat daily. Read the following information to learn about 10 table foods that you should never feed your cat or dog.

Keep Your Pet Healthy: 10 Table Foods You Should Never Feed Your Pet

Bones

Even though it may seem natural for a dog or a cat to chew on bones, think twice about this.

Bones can splinter, and this action can cause tears or blockages in the intestines, or cause the animal to choke.

What causes problems are not the bones found in pet stores, but the cooked bones from your meals.

Don’t feed your pets bones that have been cooked.

Caffeinated Foods and Beverages

Chocolate, coffee and tea are all examples of caffeinated foods and beverages that you should not feed to pets.

Not only do they contain caffeine, which is a stimulant, but they also contain theobromine.

Both substances can be toxic to your pet’s nervous system, heart, and digestive tract.

Dairy Products

Dogs and cats do not tolerate dairy products well, as their digestive tracts are unable to digest lactose in the proper manner.

While the probiotics in yogurt may be healthy for you, your pet won’t get the same benefits.

If your dog is experiencing diarrhea, you can get them a different kind of probiotic at your local vet instead.

Garlic and Onions

Garlic and onions can irritate the gastrointestinal tract of dogs and cats.

Cats are a bit more sensitive to these foods than dogs, but both types of animals should avoid eating garlic and onions.

Grapes and Raisins

Grapes and their dried counterparts, raisins, cause sudden kidney failure in dogs and cats.

Research has yet to prove which substances in the grapes and raisins cause this serious health issue.

For small treats and snacks, consider something instead, like apples.

Macadamia Nuts

These nuts cause a toxic reaction in both cats and dogs for an unknown reason.

Symptoms include vomiting, lethargy, abdominal pain, tremors and stiff joints.

Persimmons

The seeds of persimmons can cause an obstruction to occur in the intestinal tract of cats and dogs.

They also can be the reason your pet develops enteritis, which is an inflammation of the small intestines.

Raw Eggs

While hard-boiled eggs are an ideal source of protein for cats and dogs, uncooked eggs can pose certain issues.

For one thing, raw eggs contain avidin, and this can prevent the absorption of biotin in dogs and cats.

They also can contain Salmonella along with E. coli both of which could cause diarrhea and vomiting.

Uncooked Dough

Bread dough that is uncooked is not safe to eat for pets, mainly due to the live yeast.

This can cause problems like vomiting. Cookie dough can also be problematic, again because of the uncooked eggs.
Be sure to closely monitor pets that may have ingested uncooked dough.

Avocado

All parts of the avocado tree from the fruit to the bark can be toxic to your cat or dog since they contain Persin.

Symptoms of toxicity from this food include diarrhea and vomiting.

On top of that, the pit is too large to safely ingest, and many breeds of dogs may try to, resulting in problems.

If you feel there is an issue with any food you have fed your pets, the safest route is to consult with a veterinarian, say the experts at Chester Valley Veterinary Hospital.

After all, you want your pet to stay healthy and live a long, happy life.