With Thanksgiving on the 24th, we wanted to take a moment and write a post that talks about what foods are safe and unsafe for your pets. We know animals are infamous for wanting food from the table, but it’s important to make sure you’re giving them the right foods.
Foods that are safe:
- Turkey – as long the meat is boneless, the skin is removed, and it’s fully cooked, there’s nothing wrong with giving a little slice to your pet. It can actually be a good source of protein for them.
- Cooked Eggs – along with turkey, cooked eggs provide a little protein for animals. However, if you’re cooking using raw eggs, make sure to keep them out of reach. Raw eggs could contain salmonella.
- Carrots and Green Beans – these are common Thanksgiving veggies, and perfectly safe for pets to eat. Vegetables are a great low calorie snack and can add some flavor to their meal.
- Baked Potatoes – plain baked potatoes are okay for pets in moderation. Just make sure that the baked potato is plain.
- Pumpkins – cooked and canned pumpkins are actually very helpful for pets. It can help them with diarrhea or to lose weight. Pumpkin seeds are also safe for them, as long as they have been roasted and grinded up. Do not feed any raw pumpkin (stems, innards, or shells) to them.
Foods that are unsafe:
- Corn on the Cob – the cob gets stuck in the small intestine and can block your pet’s digestive tract, leading to serious discomfort for your pet. In addition, too much corn (even off the cob) can upset their gastrointestinal tract.
- Fat Trimmings – these are easy to give pets to stop them from begging, but they can cause pancreatitis.
- Chocolate – usually pumpkin flavored desserts are served at Thanksgiving but chocolate desserts can be seen as well. Chocolate is a definite “no” for your dog. Why? Because chocolate contains theobromine and theophylline, which can be toxic, cause panting, vomiting, and diarrhea, and damage your dog’s heart and nervous systems.
- Canned Veggies – often times canned foods, especially canned veggies can contain a lot of preservatives and chemicals that are not healthy for a dog’s system.
- Nuts – the most dangerous are Macadamia, but we recommend just staying away from all of them, because they’re small and could get stuck in your dog’s throat.
- Yeast – the yeast in raw dough converts sugar to carbon dioxide gas and alcohol. This can cause your pet to become bloated and essentially “drunk”, needing to be taken to the hospital.
We hope this article helped give you some information and tips about keeping and your pets’ safe and your Thanksgiving fun. Also, just because some Thanksgiving foods are considered safe for animals doesn’t mean your specific pet will enjoy every item on the safe foods list.
Thank you to the Canine Journal, Petcha and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for information they provided on their websites. To read more, click the links above.