Foods You Should Never Feed To Your Pet

It can be really difficult to resist the urge to share our leftover food on our plates with our pets, but there are some foods that we should be extra careful with around our pets.

Foods you should avoid sharing with your pets include:

• Avocados – the large center seed in an avocado is a choking hazard for animals, and there is debate as to whether or not Persin in avocados is also toxic.
• Chicken bones – chicken bones can splinter while being eaten and cause severe damage to your pet.
• Chocolate – chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine, which can cause toxicosis and may even cause seizures and death for your pet. Generally speaking, the darker the chocolate the more dangerous it is to your pet.
• Coffee – coffee also has caffeine, so like chocolate it can be very toxic to your pet.
• Garlic – in small amounts garlic may not be toxic to your pet, and it may even be an ingredient used in some pet foods, but in large doses it can be damaging.
• Grapes (and raisins) – while grapes can be a healthy snack for us, they can cause acute renal failure in your pet.
• Nuts – many nuts can be dangerous to pets including almonds which can cause digestive issues in pets, walnuts which contain a toxin that can cause seizures in pets, and macadamia nuts. Nuts are often a “hidden ingredient” so be sure to check labels before sharing snacks with your pet.
• Onions – onions can kill animal blood cells and cause Heinz Body Anemia which can be life threatening to your pet. Even onion powder used in food can pose a danger.
• Raw meat – raw meat should not be consumed by humans or pets for the same reasons, it exposes them to the risk of salmonella and other bacterial infections.

Remember that your pet is naturally very curious so if a food smells good they will eat it. It is important to make sure you are properly storing food with these ingredients out of reach from your pets and in containers that cannot be opened by your pets. Make sure that you also to extra caution during holidays and other times when you have guests around and that they know your rules with food around your pets.