What foods are dangerous?

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/protect_your_pet_from_common_household_dangers/foods_potentially_poisonous_to_pets.html

  Pistachio nuts are fine, but avoid macadamia nuts.

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Ok thank you so much.

Chocolate isn't quite as bad as everyone thinks. A medium sized pound dog would have to eat *multiple* king sized *milk chocolate* Hershey bars to get sick.

Now, unsweeted baking chocolate is a whole other matter, even an ounce or two of that can be fatal. But there is nothing wrong with giving a dog an M&M or something from time to time (I do it sometimes, and she lurves em).

My neighbor used to give her two goldens m&ms every now and then. Only one at a time - they loved them too!

whtsthfrequency

Chocolate isn't quite as bad as everyone thinks. A medium sized pound dog would have to eat *multiple* king sized *milk chocolate* Hershey bars to get sick.

I'll never think that again after what we went thru at Christmas.  Tink got into just a FEW Hershey's kisses (nothing near a 'bag' -- literally just a handful of them and she's about 15 pounds - which is 'small' but not tiny dog sized).  What happens is when the chocolate/theobromide is processed in the liver it turns into a substance very like cocaine.  It causes the heart to race and causes a ton of problem for the liver and possibly the kidneys.

yes, the darker and more 'pure' the chocolate the bigger the problem, but I really wasn't aware *what* happened.  I knew it was the theobromide but didn't know what it *did* in the body that was a problem.

Tink had a horrible problem with it and her liver is STILL not approaching normal.  But I found out at the time that even relatively small amounts over a prolonged time can actually cause a cumulative effect.  Now I'm not talking about an M&M or two -- but I've got a friend who tends to "hide" chocolate in the house because she'll buy it on sale after a holiday and then save it to take to rewards (she's a teacher) and her dog is forever finding chocolate and getting into it.

And it's the cheapest of cheap "milk" chocolate but finally I have her convinced that she realkly need to keep Teddy out of the chocolate because this dog just keeps having more and more gut problems (and I don't think that's rocket science sheesh)

I always assumed that if they ate it and didn't barf a ton that was it -- but it's really the potential heart trauma, liver trauma and kidney trauma that can occur even days later that's the big deal.

And I *know* the night Tink got into those kisses SHE was scared to death by how fast her heart was racing and how freaked she felt (it was literally a pug on SPEED in a big way that night). 

OTHER THINGS:

Tylenol (acetaminaphen) -- not a food but sure is a common substance -- VERY poisonous.  Just one 225 mg "regular" Tylenol can kill a small dog.

Ibuprophen -- again very toxic.  It is occasionally used for dogs (and Rimadyl is carprophen which is a 'cousin' drug to ibuprophen) but it si VERY difficult to dose and control.

Xylitol -- like in gum and Sorbitol -- both very very poisonous to dogs

Onions -- that's a quantity thing (makes it difficult for the body to retain calcium) ... but they say that even one tiny slice of onion a week for a dog is too much.

Sorry callie, I didn't mean to give them impression that it was ok to feed dogs milk chocolate haphazardly, because yes, some dogs are exquisitely sensitive as it sounds Tink was. Most dogs are fine, but some dogs just have wacky sensitive hearts. Although to me, a handful of milk chocolate for a pug would qualify as a good amount, enough to cause sickness, not a little. I was talking tiny amounts like an M& M or one half a kiss for a Berner or something.

 And the cumulative effect is sort of true, not exactly in terms of chemical buildup but in terms of damage done. Smaller dogs (under 10 kg or so) tend to be more sensitive. This is also just something I heard, but it is interesting...that pugs tend to have sensitive hearts because of their restricted airways... the theory is, slightly less airflow so there is increased circulation as the heart attempts to pump more blood to make up for less than normal oxygen flow. So the heart muscle is sensitive to electrical signals to speed up.

whtsthfrequency

Smaller dogs (under 10 kg or so)

Here she is talking like a vet school person again -- even MY vet doesn't talk in "kg" but someone at a vet school will say stuff like "one mg per kg" (say "one mig per kig";) and the whole room nods in agreement cos they all talk that way!!

 I AM KIDDING YOU!!!! *rotf laughing mu behind off";) [for the rest of the world (or those of us who have forgotten everything we learned in high school math) 1 kg = 2.2. pounds so roughly she was talking about a 22 pound dog or "small" LOL.]

whtsthfrequency

This is also just something I heard, but it is interesting...that pugs tend to have sensitive hearts because of their restricted airways... the theory is, slightly less airflow so there is increased circulation as the heart attempts to pump more blood to make up for less than normal oxygen flow. So the heart muscle is sensitive to electrical signals to speed up.

But yeah -- what you're saying makes a LOT of sense -- that bracheocephalic snout impacts EVERYTHING.  It changes everything from the eyes, to the brain cavity to the airway (you should hear a pug "suck" it's bed -- it could wake the dead!! LOL).  But even stuff like teeth-cheaning and stuff -- you have to take "breed" into account.  And given the fact that they are so food-oriented that the biggest majority of pugs on this planet are vastly over-weight THAT would be hard on the heart as well. 

So, trust me -- I'm hearing you.  It makes a TON of sense.

Hey, metrics make the world go 'round.  We just like to pretend it doesn't.  LOL.  When I started "doing" the dogs' food, I started out translating kg to pounds in my spreadsheets and grams to ounces.  Now I go the other way around if I find a value like that.  Tenths of things are so much easier to do in my head!  Bleh.  If you are including 2.5 pounds of meat in your diet, which is about 1130 grams, and you know it has so many mg of iron per ounce or so many per gram, which would you rather try to do in a spreadsheet?   You'll have to stay with ounces (40) or use the grams, which you can instantly convert to kg (1.130), which by the way you know is 2.2 and a bit - maybe 2.4ish?  That would be close enough for government work.

whtsthfrequency

It's funny, in small animal everything is "ok....this many mgs of drug in this many mls of diluent and it goes in an x kg dog"...everything is very precise and all metric. In large animal it's like "put a pound of salt in a three gallons of water and give about x gallons to the fat cows and x to the skinny ones over there!"

Absolutely anything I could say would NOT be politically correct, so I'm just going to giggle, ok?

whtsthfrequency

It's funny, in small animal everything is "ok....this many mgs of drug in this many mls of diluent and it goes in an x kg dog"...everything is very precise and all metric. In large animal it's like "put a pound of salt in a three gallons of water and give about x gallons to the fat cows and x to the skinny ones over there!"

Now that's hilarious.  Oh for the days when the fat cow ruled.

I once actually did treat a sheep with salt water.  In that case it was WATER that was dangerous.  The lesson is that literally anything can be "dangerous."