THANKSGIVING FOODS THAT ARE HAZARDOUS TO DOGS
The Holiday Season is right around the corner and you know what that means—tons of yummy treats! With turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie filling your plate, it’s tempting to also delight your pup with a few of the scraps! However, not all leftovers are safe for your pet’s health. But don’t worry; Sunshine Mills is here to help! Read on to find out a few foods you should absolutely avoid serving your dogs during the holiday season.
Stuffing
Stuffing is an automatic no-no for your dog! Stuffing is packed-full of items like onions, mushrooms, chives, scallions and garlic—all ingredients that are extremely toxic to pets. While some of the items in stuffing won’t kill them, others can be detrimental to their health. While on this topic, any side dish with ingredients such as these or seasonings like Sage, make sure it stays on your plate!
Cranberry Sauce
While Cranberries themselves are a safe food for your pet (they fight urinary tract infections and contain healthy ingredients), avoid feeding them cranberry sauce in any form. Canned cranberry sauce contains huge amounts of sugar and has sneaky ingredients like raisins and nuts. Be sure to keep all dishes that include these items away from your pets.
Mashed Potatoes
Again, potatoes by themselves are fine in moderation. What you need to watch out for are the ingredients that go inside the mashed potatoes. While ingredients like milk and butter can give your pup an upset stomach and produce accidents, other flavorings like garlic and onion in any form can be toxic to animals. If you add anything to your potatoes whatsoever, keep it away from the dog bowl.
Pumpkin Pie
Dogs LOVE pumpkin! And pumpkin within itself isn’t necessarily bad for your pets. In fact, veterinarians actually recommend feeding your dog pumpkin to help with their digestive system. However, most recipes for pie call for seasonal spices like cinnamon. Cinnamon in large amounts can induce vomiting and even liver disease. While a small amount won’t hurt your pet, it’s best to avoid any time of pie filling to be safe. Rule to follow? Humans get human desserts and pets get pet desserts.
Other foods to avoid: nuts, fruit, bread rolls, turkey bones and skin, gravy
Bottom line? When in doubt, don’t feed your animals anything from the table. Try serving them a well-balanced nutritious holiday meal that is actually good for them! That way your pup can enjoy all the tastes of the holiday while you can avoid feeding them unsafe and toxic foods!
