Dog food taboos

Chocolate, grapes/raisins and related products, allium plants such as onions/garlics/leeks, and xylitol are the four absolute taboos that may cause death if touched. The rest of the so-called "dietary red lines" are mostly based on the dog's individual physique and feeding methods. There is no 100% unified standard.

My family used to have a three-color corgi rice cake. I didn’t pay attention when unpacking the package during Double Eleven last year. It took half of the 70% black rice cake I put on the coffee table and chewed it. When I found out, there was only a shiny wrapping paper left. I was so scared that I grabbed it and rushed to the pet hospital, my hands shaking on the way. After inducing vomiting and injecting liquids overnight, everything was fine. The doctor said that the theobromine content of the half piece of black chocolate was just at the poisoning threshold for his weight. If he came in two hours later, he might be at risk of heart failure. Don’t think that only high-purity black chocolate is dangerous. I’ve seen puppies secretly drink half a cup of milk tea with cocoa powder in pet friends, and they were sent to the hospital because of a tachycardia. After all, dogs only metabolize theobromine at one-tenth the speed of humans, so the accumulation of small amounts is a big problem.

Grapes are more "obsessed" than chocolate. The veterinary community has yet to figure out which ingredient can cause kidney damage in dogs. Clinical cases are even more polarized: some dogs secretly ate a bunch of grapes and jumped up and down, while some developed acute kidney failure after eating only two. Even raisins, grape juice and even baked snacks with grape ingredients have been recorded as causing disease. Two years ago, the pet hospital I often visited received a case. The owner casually gave the dog half a piece of grape cake, and he started urinating blood that afternoon. It took a week of treatment before he was rescued. So no matter whether your dog has eaten grapes before and nothing happened, don’t take the initiative to feed them. You really can’t afford the risk.

There is still quite a controversy over allium plants. One party says that a small amount of cooked garlic can be antioxidant and help repel internal insects, while the other party believes that as long as it contains n-propyl disulfide, there is a risk of destroying red blood cells and causing hemolytic anemia. My own experience is to simply avoid them all, especially raw onions, garlic and leeks. Even the chopped green onions mixed in the dumpling fillings should be carefully picked before feeding, so as not to risk hemolysis for such a dispensable benefit.

The most easily overlooked absolute taboo is xylitol. Many people know that they cannot feed sugar to dogs, but they don’t know that sugar-free is even more dangerous. It is found in sugar-free chewing gum, sugar-free yogurt, and even some cough syrups and baking sugar substitutes. If dogs eat it, it will trigger a large amount of insulin release within 10-60 minutes, directly causing hypoglycemia, and in severe cases, it can cause irreversible liver failure. There was a Teddy in the pet friend group I joined before. He picked up half a piece of sugar-free chewing gum that the old man dropped on the ground. He spent more than 8,000 yuan to save it after sending it to the ICU. After buying sugar-free food at home, be sure to put the unpacked garbage high to avoid leaving opportunities for dogs to take advantage of.

Of course, there is no need to get into trouble. When I first got a dog, I was really nervous. Feeding it a cherry tomato would take half an hour to read popular science. Later, after getting to know Dr. Chen of the pet hospital, I realized that many so-called "taboos" actually depend on the situation. For example, people often say "dogs can't drink milk". The essence is that most dogs are lactose intolerant. If you feed it for the first time, try giving it one or two spoons first. There will be no loose stools or diarrhea. It is perfectly fine to give it an occasional drink. My friend's border collie has been drinking half a box of fresh milk every day since he was a child. Now he is 8 years old and all the indicators in his physical examination are very good.

There is also the problem of bones. Don’t just feed them blindly after people say that “dogs are born to eat bones.” You must not touch sharp chicken bones, duck bones, or chewed pork ribs with edges. I have stepped into this trap myself: During the Chinese New Year, my relatives secretly fed a piece of pointed ribs to the rice cake, and I had blood that night. The film showed that the intestines were scratched and had to be drained for three days. But if you give it a big stick bone that has been pressed soft in a pressure cooker, or a specially dried beef bone to grind its teeth, that's totally fine, as long as you don't let it chew off large pieces of hard residue and swallow it.

The same goes for feeding raw meat, which has been a hot topic recently. Supporters say that it is naturally easy to absorb, and dogs will have shiny hair and less feces after eating it. Opponents emphasize that the risk of salmonella and Toxoplasma gondii in raw meat is high, especially if there are children, the elderly, or members with low immunity in the family, who are prone to cross-infection. I haven’t dared to try it myself. My friends who insist on feeding raw meat and bones also have to do a separate test for pathogenic bacteria every time they buy meat, and deworm the dog on time every month. Both options make sense. It just depends on whether you can bear the corresponding costs and risks.

In fact, to put it bluntly, raising a dog does not need to be a test. Keep in mind the four red lines that may be fatal. Feed less high-salt and high-fat foods. It is not a big deal to feed a few mouthfuls of boiled vegetables and unsalted lean meat at home. Pay more attention to your dog’s gastrointestinal reactions. It is more reliable than reading the taboo list on the Internet one by one. After all, each furry child’s intestines and stomach are unique.