What Are The Big No-no's For Feeding To Dogs?

[Isabel964]

What are the big no-no's for feeding to dogs?

The List So Far

No cooked bones - Cooked meat is ok, but cooking bones makes them brittle. Cooked meat is ok, but it does lose alot of the goodness that is in raw meat.

Raw chicken with bones and carcass is ok, but remove the drum stick as it can be pointy and hazardous

Raw meat - all is ok, even pork.

Eggs are good, though white can reduce ability to absorb some nutrients. A whole egge is good, the yold only is better (I think)

Bacon is ok, but because its smoked or processed, should not be given in anything thatn small amounts.

No Liver for puppies. Can cause the squirts big time. It did with mine and it was horrible (really horrible)

No chocolate. The darker (more pure) the chocolate the less hazardous it is.

No Onion (raw or cooked)

No Cows Milk due to lactose intolerance (Goats milk is fine). This is debatable as some dogs do have the enzyme that processes lactose in cows milk. If given to puppies when very young, they can be ok with (Mine have always been ok with milk). But as Steve says if they stop drinking cows milk for some time, they may lose the enzyme that processes it and become lactose intolerant. This is a personal thing and some poeple find their dogs are just fine and others would not consider givig their dog cows milk.

No Grapes/Sultanas/Currants etc - Poisoness (I had no idea about this!)

No Alcohol or caffiene (Including Tea)

Bread & Potatoes (too much can cause bloat)

Please remind me. I'm sure alot of us can do with reminders.

PS I'm editing this as people repond so we get one list that might help people.

Edited August 24, 2006 by Sky

[bridgie_cat]

mommy says chocolates not good for dogs...

ETA - maybe they could have the rest of your milk...

Edited August 20, 2006 by bridgie_cat

[bridgie_cat]

Raw Chicken wings???... I feed these to Lana occasionally and havent had a prob...

Egg white uncooked is bad but egg yolk is ok? is that how it works?

[New Age Outlaw]

Onion is bad, cooked or raw.

[kaywoman68]

Raw chicken wings and carcasses are fine for dogs, it does depend on the dog. I've been told to take the wishbone off the carcass before giving the carcass to the dogs because the wishbone is really hard and might jab Some people have fed drumsticks to their dogs but I've never done so.

Not so sure about the egg. There's been mixed opinions about it.

No sultanas for dogs

[wolfgirl]

Corn

[J...]

Drumsticks are an issue because of the thin pointy bone that runs along it. Other than that raw chicken is fine (I remove the wishbone from a carcase though - the cats share that! )

[shmoo]

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cl...;articleid=1030

[Red Mal]

ALL raw meat is fine for dogs, including Pork & Bacon, not sure why you think this is not OK ????

Depending on the size of dog, be careful of bones etc, beef is the brittlest

Eggs are fine raw, including shells, it contains calcium

NO Grapes/Sultanas/Currants etc - Very Poisoness

NO Cows Milk - Dogs are Lactose intollerant (Goat's Milk is fine)

NO Human grade chocolate - Toxic to dogs

No Onions as mentioned

NO Cooked meat or Bones

NO Alcohol or caffiene (Including Tea)

Bread & Potatoes (too much can cause bloat)

sure there's more, but can't think of any right now

[ellz]

Actually, not ALL dogs are lactose intolerant. It is my experience that those which are exposed to milk as puppies have absolutely no issues with milk as adults. It is generally those adults who have not been exposed to milk which have issues, the same applies for eggs.

Raw meaty bones are fine. No cooked bones whatsoever - including the bone out of the Sunday Roast.

Raw chicken is fine - bones and all. BUT, depending upon the size of the dog as to which portions should be given. Some smaller dogs would need necks and wings to be chopped further but most breeds of dogs can safely destroy an entire chicken frame.

Chocolate contains theobromine which can be dangerous to dogs. There are all kinds of statistics and numbers around which say that X amount of chocolate is ok for X size of dog but unfortunately this isn't necessarily the case. And likewise, your dog may steal some chocolate this Christmas and be absolutely ok, but may steal some more (or be given some more) at Easter and die.

Onions of any kind are out.

Depends where you live about the pork. Australia has strict butchering laws so pork is ok here, but isn't in some countries where the conditions may not be as rigid.

I don't know why you'd be feeding a dog bacon, but I'd go easy on it. It has a high fat content for a start which could cause the squits and can be quite salty, as well as being treated with chemicals to cure it.

I also don't know why you shouldn't give liver to puppies. Aside from the fact that I live in Tasmania and we are not supposed to give offal to animals because of the risk of hydatids, I am not sure of any other reason. In fact, I know of entire litters of puppies whose lives have been saved by liver when they were fading puppies.

[Red Mal]

I always say NO to Cows Milk because most dogs will suffer the squits with it even if they are not lactose intollerant, and as with any reaction, I would rather be safe than sorry and say No, unless it's goat's milk.

With Bacon, I've only ever given uncured and very little as treats, maybe for a training session, never as a meal, the salt content is fine, provided they have enough water and not fed too much of it (as I said, small pieces as training treats, once a week/month etc)

[ellz]

Hmmm...I'd better tell my dogs and puppies that they're meant to have the squits and be lactose intolerant then.

I have given dogs and puppies diluted cows milk for the last 20 years and not had an issue with any of them and I know for a fact that every dog I have owned in my entire life has consumed milk at SOME stage in its life. I wouldn't say that MOST dogs are lactose intolerant. I daresay many aren't but if they aren't challenged with something you'll never know. I would also say it is fairly safe to assume that the problem with dogs getting the squits over ANYTHING is because it isn't a regular part of their diet and any changes or introductions should be made gradually.

And I should also add that I was informed quite some time ago, that the problem with most "intolerances" in animals is that they weren't given the particular substance as a baby when their stomachs were learning to digest foods "other" than their mothers' milk. The weaning period is vital for many things related to diet and food absorption, as well as a crucial time in socialisation and learning.

Edited to add: I am not for one minute saying that everybody should go out and START feeding their dogs and puppies cows milk. What I'm saying is that it is not the big scary no-no that everybody believes that it is. It is nowhere near on the league of feeding onion or chocolate for example. It is in the same camp of feeding eggs. For many many years egg white was on the scary food list, yet research and modern thinking has changed that. Every puppy that I have reared has had diluted cows milk when they were being weaned. In many ways...straight from the cow, from the milk bottle in the fridge, from a tin of Carnation milk or from a tin of Sunshine powdered milk. None that I can recall have had any issues with this (once they were accustomed to it of course) as a puppy OR an adult. My adult bitches also enjoy a nice drink of milk during a long whelping and that has dual effect.

Edited August 20, 2006 by ellz

[Red Mal]

That's your opinion.

I personally would not want to take the chance of making my dogs ill when I can prevent it.

I feed my dogs a "species appropriate diet" and I've yet to see a Malamute go and milk a cow for a drink.

[ellz]

And your Malamute can open a bag of kibble can it?

[Red Mal]

I just said I feed a "species appropriate diet"

BARF

[ellz]

Well good for you (the rolling eyes are unneccessary btw). Unfortunately, the vast majority of puppy purchasers and dog owners don't BARF so I daresay many of them live with dogs which ARE on a diet that includes lactose of some kind at some stage.

Anyway, whatever. You can argue all you like, I'm not rising to the bait (I have seen your particular style on the price difference thread). You do what you want to do, I'll do what has stood me and my dogs in good stead for the last 20 years. None of the people I've sold puppies to have complained so I think I may be doing something right. And I DO resent the implication that I am deliberately making my dogs sick!!

Each to their own. As long as the dogs are healthy and happy, in my opinion there is no real right or wrong.

[Red Mal]

I did not imply you deliberatly make your dogs sick. I own Malamutes and they are known to suffer with Cows Milk and my statement was 'I would never feed mine milk knowing it would make them sick'. It was a personal statement.

I have no style by the way. I stated what I would not feed my dogs as this thread stated. After my reply, YOU challenged my statements, who's arguing ???

[Steve]

All baby mammals are born with the ability to be able to assimilate lactose because of their ability to manufacture an enzyme called lactase. All species milk has lactose . However, in many animals when the need to digest lactose is no longer present their systems kind of forget how to make the enzyme required to process the lactose at all or in the right ratio. As a result many become lactose intolerant .If you continue to feed milk such as Ellz is then the dog should still make enough enzyme to digest it all properly without a problem all of its life .But if you dont feed a diet which has milk in it for a period of time and then introduce milk chances are that the dog no longer makes lactase and it has an adverse reaction. Much also depends on the amounts you want to add to the diet and naturally a little is easier dealt with than larger amounts.

Some dogs and some breeds cant tolerate milk for reasons other than just the lactose as its a protein all on its own. Some are badly affected by the mucin levels etc.

Also homogenisation which is the process which chemically changes molecules in milk so instead of the cream floating on top that its evenly distributed has also been proven to affect the chemicals in the brain and there are lots of studies done with this and juvenile deliquency , ADD etc and theoretically may impact on aggression or similar in dogs.

Point is some dogs can have it and other s cant so neither red mal or ellz is more correct than the other.

[Nellie]

Someone said no cooked meat - why is that?

[ellz]

Cooked meat is ok. Cooked bones are not. They get brittle and can splinter.