Other Foods Harmful for Your pets

I seem to be on a roll tonight, finding things that are harmful to our furbabies!

We all know that chocolate is bad for dogs, and we obviously know to keep our medications, both prescription and over the counter, out of our animals reach, but I stumbled across a whole list of foods that are great or OK for humans to eat, but can cause serious problems for dogs and cats.

Macadamia Nuts - they cause a toxic reaction called macadamia nut toxicosis. Within about twelve hours of eating the nuts they begin to develop symptoms such as being unable to stand, walking wobbly, vomiting, tremors, weakness, elevated body temperatures, depression and an elevated heart rate. The symptoms usually go away in about 48 hours, but the fear from these reactions can lead to dangerous and even deadly shock.  If eaten with a combination of chocolate, it could be even worse, because kidney failure could occur.

Avocados - They are toxic to birds, mice, rabbits, horses, cattle, and dairy goats  Avocados  create stomach problems such as vomiting and diarrhea, and ingestion can result in respiratory distress, congestion, fluid accumulation around the heart and even death.

Coffee (all kinds) and Tea and tea leaves- Causes caffeine poisoning similar to chocolate.

Did you also know that cocoa bean mulch can be just as dangerous as chocolate????

 Onions and garlic ( from http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/StoryTemplate_Process.cfm?specie=Dogs&story_no=257) are other dangerous food ingredients that cause sickness in dogs, cats and also livestock. Onions and garlic contain the toxic ingredient thiosulphate. Onions are more of a danger.

Pets affected by onion toxicity will develop haemolytic anaemia, where the pet’s red blood cells burst while circulating in its body.

At first, pets affected by onion poisoning show gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea. They will show no interest in food and will be dull and weak. The red pigment from the burst blood cells appears in an affected animal’s urine and it becomes breathless. The breathlessness occurs because the red blood cells that carry oxygen through the body are reduced in number.

The poisoning occurs a few days after the pet has eaten the onion. All forms of onion can be a problem including dehydrated onions, raw onions, cooked onions and table scraps containing cooked onions and/or garlic. Left over pizza, Chinese dishes and commercial baby food containing onion, sometimes fed as a supplement to young pets, can cause illness.

Onion poisoning can occur with a single ingestion of large quantities or with repeated meals containing small amounts of onion. A single meal of 600 to 800 grams of raw onion can be dangerous whereas a ten-kilogram dog, fed 150 grams of onion for several days, is also likely to develop anaemia. The condition improves once the dog is prevented from eating any further onion

While garlic also contains the toxic ingredient thiosulphate, it seems that that garlic is less toxic and large amounts would need to be eaten to cause illness.

 Grapes and Raisins - http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/toxicology/f/grape_raisin.htm

 Raw Yeast Dough - (From the ASPCA blog)  "raw yeast dough can rise and expand in a dog’s warm and moist gastrointestinal tract, and potentially result in a life-threatening emergency. Many species of yeast (including Saccharomyces cerevisieae, which is commonly used in the leavening of bread) are actually acidophilic—that means they like acidic environments. Therefore, stomach acids may actually play a role in enhancing the rising process when raw yeast dough is consumed."

Alcoholic Beverages - Depending on the amount ingested (and the size of your pet), alcohol can potentially result in vomiting, diarrhea, incoordination, central nervous system depression, difficulty breathing, tremors, acidosis, coma and even death.

Walnuts -  http://www.solanopetemergency.com/articles/walnuts.htm

 Here are some other potential dangers:

• Pear pips, the kernels of plums, peaches and apricots, apple core pips and seeds (contain cyanogenic glycosides resulting in cyanide posioning), cherry pits, mustard seeds,
• Potato peelings and green looking potatoes
• Rhubarb leaves
• Mouldy/spoiled foods

I don't mean to scare anyone... or be an alarmist... but there were some things I didn't know, and I know there are others like me, who might not know, so if it protects one pet from being very ill or even dying, then I've accomplished something good.