Dangerous Nuts to Dogs

Dogs have great appetites. Dogs are always eager to eat. It would seem as if these animals don’t even bother to taste their food. As soon as the filled doggie bowl is laid down by the master, the content will be gone in a flash. The indiscriminate eating habit often lands the pet in tight spots. The dog’s indiscriminate eating habits often has dangerous effects on the dog – poisoning. Dog poisoning is usually caused by ingestion of toxic chemicals. Surprisingly, dogs can get poisoned by human foods too. Due to the difference in metabolism, dogs can be dangerously affected by foods that are perfectly safe for humans to consume.

Nuts are included in the list of human food that must not be given to dogs. A dog owner should never make the mistake of training the pet to catch food with its mouth by using any kind of nuts. Almost all nuts have harmful effects on the dog though the level of toxicity varies. Effects of nut ingestion in dogs would range from simple stomach upset to serious conditions that would need professional medical attention.

Roasted, barbecued or sugared – nuts are favorite snacks. TV buffs would commonly have a can of soda and a bowl of nuts on the table. Dogs are food motivated and the smell of the food being eaten by the master would be very interesting thus nuts must not be left lying around. The high levels of fat and phosphorous content of nuts is what makes this food unsafe for dogs. Dogs don’t usually chew the food thus nuts can create an obstruction in the gastrointestinal tract. Dog owners must steer the pet away from almonds, walnuts, pistachio pecans and macadamia.

Pecans and almonds don’t really have toxic content but ingestion of these nuts would still cause the dog stomach upset. However, moldy walnuts and pecans contain tremorgenic mycotoxins. Almonds and pecans become toxic to dogs because of this chemical that is produced by molds. Dogs that have ingested moldy almonds would suffer from seizures and other neurologic symptoms. Aflatoxin, a fungal strain found in pistachio nuts have dangerous effects in dogs. Pistachio ingestion would cause cancer and liver diseases in dogs

Macadamia nuts causes temporary paralysis in dogs. By eating as few as six macadamia nuts, the dog would develop tremors and swelling of limbs. The swelling of the limbs would cause the dog pain and would hamper its mobility. The immense pain will make the dog yelp if the swollen limb is touched. The high phosphorous content of this nut causes the dog to develop bladder stones.

Dogs are nuts, but can dogs eat nuts and what kind. Find out at Sarah’s Dogs where you can learn about this as well as dog first aid.