I often find people are fascinated to discover foods which are toxic to their pets. So I thought I would share the following blog with you that I read by Pete Wedderburn.
Pete Wedderburn qualified as a vet twenty-five years ago, and now spends half his working life writing newspaper columns. He lives in Ireland with his wife, two daughters and a menagerie of dogs, cats, poultry and other furry and feathered companions. Pete answers readers’ queries about their pets’ health in his video Q&A – he is also on Twitter as @petethevet and has a Facebook Fan Page.)
“After I blogged recently about pets with peculiar tastes in food, a number of readers asked me to produce a list of human foodstuffs that are toxic to pets. Everyone’s heard the message about chocolate being toxic to pets, and hopefully Easter has passed without too many canine fatalities across the UK (and yes, they do happen: it isn’t just media hype). But what about other food items that are safe for humans, yet capable of causing severe or even lethal intoxications in animals?
Well, co-incidentally, I’ve just come across an article reviewing this precise subject in the European Journal of Companion Animal Practice, so with thanks to the authors, here’s a brief review of the main food items to avoid giving to your pets:
Chocolate contains the stimulant theobromine. This gives humans a pleasant buzz, but the lethal dose is around 1 to 2.5 grams for a 10kg dog. This could be as little as two ounces of dark baking chocolate.
Coffee and tea contain caffeine: for my 10kg dog, the lethal dose is around 1.5g (a cat, at 5kg, could be killed by half of this amount). An cup of filter coffee could contain as much as 150mg of caffeine, so my dog would need to drink 10 cups (5 cups for the cat), so this is an unlikely occurrence. Dark tea may contain up to 100mg caffeine, so again, a dog would have to be very thirsty to drink a toxic dose. Nonetheless, owners should go easy when offering these types of drinks as “treats”.
Onions and garlic contain so-called organothiosulphates, which can lead to destruction of red blood cells. Pets rarely eat enough of these substances to fall ill (the quantities used to flavour human meals are generally safe), but there are recorded cases of cats falling ill after drinking onion soup and dogs becoming anaemic after grazing on fields of spring onions.
Grapes and raisins seem innocuous, but in 2001 the first article was published in the USA about their potential toxicity to dogs, and since then, the phenomenon has been recognised across the world. In the UK, there were 23 cases between 2003 and 2005. The toxic agent remains unknown but it can cause severe, fatal renal failure, after ingestion of relatively small quantities of grapes or raisins. The lowest dose that has been known to cause problems is 20g/kg of grapes (perhaps 20 grapes for my 10kg dog), or 3g/kg of raisins (about 20 – 30 raisins for my 10kg dog). In one study, 60% of dogs that ate substantial amounts of grapes were poisoned: it’s now recommended that every dog that has eaten grapes or raisins should be treated intensively to reduce the risk of complications.
Avocado is consumed by people all over the world, but all parts of the avocado tree and fruit contain a component called persin that can cause damage to cells in the heart and the mammary gland in birds and animals. Mashed avocado is known to have killed canaries and budgies, and there was one case report in 1994 of two dogs that loved eating avocados that died of heart failure. It’s not a big risk to feed occasional teaspoonfuls to dogs, but still, it’s best avoided.
Macadamia nuts also contain a toxic compound that has not yet been identified; they’ve been associated with lethargy, weakness and collapse in dogs when eaten in moderate amounts (between 2.2 and 64g/kg: if one nut weighs 3g, my 10kg terrier would need to eat between 7 and 20 nuts). All affected dogs have made a full recovery, but it’s still best to avoid feeding these to your pets.
Hops has sometimes been eaten by dogs when they’ve had access to waste that’s been left over after home brewing; it contains a number of compounds that may be toxic. Affected dogs suffer from a syndrome known as malignant hyperthermia, with the body temperature shooting up soon after hops ingestion. Emergency treatment is as important as if a dog has overheated due to being left in a parked car on a sunny day.
Salt is safe as a seasoning agent, but when pets eat large quantities, they can be fatally poisoned. This only happens rarely: case reports include a Boxer that drank huge amounts of salty water while swimming in the sea, a group of dogs that ate play dough, and a Doberman that was given 10 teaspoonfuls of salt by her owner in an effort to make her sick after she’d eaten chocolate.
Xylitol is produced naturally by many fruits, and is also produced synthetically: it is used as a sweetening agent in human nutrition (it’s known as “E976″). It’s common in toothpaste, chewing gum and lozenges: it has plaque-reducing properties, and it produces a cooling effect on the tongue. The first recorded case of toxicity in a dog happened in 2004, after a 9 month old Labrador ate around 100 pieces of a sugar-free chewing gum.The dog collapsed, suffering from a dramatically reduced blood sugar, but she made a rapid recovery after treatment. Since then, many other cases have been reported, and some have died. The message: if you’ve a dog with a big appetite, keep your chewing gums stash out of reach.
There are other foodstuffs that can cause problems. Adult pets lack the enzyme to digest lactose, so large quantities of any dairy products commonly causes diarrhoea. Raw egg whites can also upset the digestion, so should be given in moderation, if at all. The stones of many fruits (apples, pears, plums, apricots, peaches, nectarines and cherries) contain a compound that can be toxic if they’re cracked open and swallowed. Some raw vegetables (including cassava, common beans and runner beans) contain substances than can damage the digestive tract.
Finally, alcohol can be poisonous for pets, just as for humans. A couple of measures of whisky would be more than enough to cause severe poisoning to my 10kg dog. In one bizarre case, reported in 2008, a dog in Austria suffered from alcohol poisoning after eating half a kilogram of raw yeast dough. The fermentation of yeast in the digestive tract had produced enough ethanol to cause the dog to have a blood alcohol level higher than the legal limit for driving. (By the way, raw dough is best avoided for another reason: it can expand inside the digestive tract, causing a blockage.)
Cats are less commonly poisoned than dogs: they’re more fastidious in their eating habits. Dogs, especially some breeds (you know who I mean, Labrador-owners) can have unstoppable appetites, with no discernible “off-switch”, which makes them particularly prone to problems.”
written by Pete Wedderburn
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterwedderburn/100032752/dont-feed-your-animals-barbed-wire-and-other-tips-to-avoid-problems-with-pets/
Claire
I also use Logical Oral gel on her teeth once daily, or as often as I get a chance to do it. 8 weeks later I checked her teeth and the tartar has almost all gone from her teeth and she now doesn’t need a dental.
