The other day, I read a shared post from a Vietnamese female friend living in the United States. She recounted how she fed the wild rabbits near her home cheese, which they really enjoyed, eating all of it. I then yelled at her that she should not have done that, as cheese is not good for rabbits. Initially, she was a bit shocked because she was cheerfully sharing her kind deed and I reacted that way. But after I explained to her that rabbits' digestive systems cannot absorb cheese, she understood the problem. She meant well but didn't know that rabbits should not eat cheese. This story made me think about how feeding dogs and cats human food is still very common in Vietnam. I too had made this serious mistake. Previously, I had fed one of my beloved dogs chocolate, which led to poisoning and despite taking them to the vet, I couldn't save them in time. I was shocked and very sad, I had never thought my favorite food could be such a deadly poison to my dog. I couldn't imagine that just a 43g chocolate bar could take away my beloved dog. I once wished I had never shared chocolate with them, but facts are facts, unchangeable. This regrettable mistake made me become more serious about pet food issues. Since then, I understand that not everything humans can eat can be eaten by pets. Sometimes, because we love our pets, many of us have shared our food with dogs and cats, especially when faced with their earnest "begging eyes". Before feeding our dogs and cats anything, we need basic knowledge about what they should and should not eat. And the first basic thing we need to know is that dogs and cats cannot eat human food.
Why can't dogs and cats eat human food?
1. Salt and spices
Why? The first reason to mention is: salt and spices. Salt and spices are essential components of human food. Unfortunately, they negatively impact the health of dogs and cats. Because they live with people and are often fed human food from a young age, dogs and cats get accustomed to the salty taste and can eat salty foods, but that doesn't mean they should. According to research from Pet Poison Helpline, foods seasoned with spices, salt, and all other sources containing salt like salt dough, seawater, cleansing solutions (containing sodium phosphate)… are harmful to the health of dogs and cats. Especially if they consume too much salt, dogs and cats can suffer from electrolyte imbalances, kidney inflammation, and even death.
2. Garlic and onions
Next are garlic and various onions. Onions and garlic are healthy components for humans and are often used in daily meals to enhance flavor. However, according to Daily Paws, onions, garlic, and some herbs can cause problems for the digestive system of dogs and cats, even damaging red blood cells. You see, we might nonchalantly share a piece of garlic bread with our beloved dogs or cats, not knowing it is harmful to them. What I want to emphasize here is, remember not to feed dogs and cats human food, as we might unintentionally harm them.
3. Caffeine and chocolate
After onions and garlic, I'll mention caffeine and chocolate. Chocolate is deadly to dogs and cats. When we say dogs and cats are allergic to chocolate, we actually mean the caffeine in chocolate. This means dogs and cats cannot eat anything containing caffeine, like chocolate, coffee, tea… These items are very dangerous for dogs and cats, they can cause vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, and even death. Don't make the same mistake I did, because according to the American Kennel Club, just one ounce (28.35g) of chocolate per pound (0.454 kg) of body weight can cause serious consequences for pets. Small pets can die from just one chocolate bar. You might want to share chocolate with your pets out of love, but please don't, not everything humans can eat will be good for pets.
4. Alcoholic drinks and foods containing alcohol
Besides, alcoholic drinks and foods containing alcohol can cause serious problems for dogs and cats, such as vomiting, diarrhea, difficulty breathing, coma, and death. Also, coconut water, coconut milk, and even coconut flesh can harm their digestive systems. Although a small amount of coconut water won't immediately harm dogs and cats, it contains too much potassium to be safe for them. Let's be cautious to avoid letting pets use these products.
5. Grapes, raisins, gum, xylitol...
Finally, in today's list, I want to mention popular snacks like grapes, raisins, gum, sweets containing the sweetener xylitol… All these products can cause poisoning in dogs and cats. You see, those daily-used items that seem harmless, like a few handfuls of raisins or a sweet pastry, can affect the health and life of dogs and cats.
These are just a few among the many items on the human food list that are dangerous for pets. Petncute.com hopes that through this, you can somewhat understand why dogs and cats cannot share human food. To protect their health and prolong the lives of your beloved dogs and cats, please take the time to prepare their food according to a nutritional formula suitable for their digestive systems and bodies. Or if you don't have time to research, prepare or memorize what to avoid, oh, such a headache, you can entrust this responsibility to petncute.com! Petncute.com hopes we will together care for the health and bring a better life to our dogs and cats.