Dogs should have treats, too, especially during the holiday season. With this in mind, I went to Duma Meats in Suffield and selected a soup bone from their smoked meats bin.
Three hours later, there I was at Metropolitan Animal Hospital in Copley. She’d managed to get the bone wedged behind her lower canines and around her lower jaw, tighter than a wedding ring.
You should never give soup bones to a dog, the vet said, adding that Metro sees soup bone dogs quite frequently.
Right. Apparently I didn’t get the memo everyone else I spoke with seemed to have memorized. I’ve been giving my pups soup bones for decades, with nary an incident. And since the bones were clearly marketed as pet treats, might my purchase be at least understandable?
What kinds of treats are actually safe for dogs?
I spoke with one gentleman who said his vet had told him never to give a dog a bone smaller than its head.
That, said veterinarian Rena Kennedy, is an old wives’ tale. (Full disclosure, she’s my niece and the first person I called when disaster struck.)
Raw or smoked bones bigger than Fido’s head are fine, but such treats usually have a lot of fat. Also, raw bones are better than cooked ones that may splinter, but uncooked meat carries the risk of spreading harmful bacteria to both the owner and the dog, she said.
Antler chews are OK as long as they are from a pet store, but don’t use ones you find on the ground.
“The sheds you find on the ground, you don’t know what other kinds of animals have chewed on them. Porcupines like to chew on them for the calcium, so you don’t know where the weak points might be, and they can splinter,” she said. “Get treats from the pet store because you don’t know what’s happened to it in the wild.”
Even those pet store antler chews can’t be considered 100% safe, though. Dogs who are heavy chewers can still manage to break their teeth on them, Dr. Kennedy said.
Home-cooked beef, pork and lamb bones are also off limits, she said. Lamb bones are too small and present a choking hazard. Raw beef and pork bones can spread food-borne illnesses, and never offer poultry bones of any kind, raw or cooked. Whole fish? Again, no, cooked or uncooked.
Dogs can choke on rawhide treats, which can also block their intestines. Though one of my dogs used to eat rawhide pig ears like potato chips, Kennedy said they’re high in fat. High fat diets might be tasty and tempting, but can lead to potentially fatal pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas), she said.
Sigh. What’s left?
If you love your dog, Nylabone or brands like it for chew toys are the ticket, Dr. Kennedy said. They come in a variety of hardnesses, so if your pup shreds one too easily, go up a rank or two in hardness.
“Get one appropriate for the size of your dog. They should not be able to swallow the bone whole: it should be bigger than their mouth. It shouldn’t be something that they can chew up. They can chew parts of it off, but they shouldn’t be able to swallow it whole,” she said.
Nylabones are made so dogs can’t break off pieces large enough to cause a problem, Kennedy said, cautioning at the same time that nothing is completely foolproof.
In general, buying something from a pet store is the best bet, she said. That means smoked bones a butcher shop might offer aren’t a good idea, as the unregulated temperatures butcher shops may subject the bones to could be high enough to cause splintering, she cautioned.
If it seems like this cuts out most treats, it sort of does. Turns out the obesity epidemic isn’t unique to humans. Most dogs are overweight, so vets try to discourage most treats except for training purposes, no matter where they’re sourced, Kennedy said.
It’s an uphill battle. Some pet owners push back so hard against vets who say their dogs are overweight that the doctors have given up preaching, Kennedy said. So if the vet doesn’t bring up Fido’s weight, pet owners should ask, and then listen.
The dog isn’t “all muscle” or just “a big ball of fluff,” as some owners will argue. No. It’s fat, and it’s unhealthy, she said.
Food is not love in this case. Overweight dogs are prone to a variety of maladies, including joint problems and arthritis that would not be so debilitating if the pups lost weight.
Doggie cake pops or other bakery-type treats are just more calories, she said. Pup cups, the popular treats offered by numerous restaurants, can also result in pancreatitis, as can ice cream, whether marketed for dogs or not, she said.
“In general, stay away from raw things and fatty things. Get your treats from the pet store, and limit the amount of treats in general to control your dog’s weight and health,” she said.
Got it. So what about raw fruits and veggies? I’ve had pups that couldn’t get enough carrots, peaches, apples, raspberries, pears and cucumbers. Fred would have sold his soul for a frozen green bean, and Noli would definitely sell hers for a peanut.
“Those are fine,” Kennedy said. But avoid grapes, raisins, onions and garlic, which can harm your furry friend. Ditto leeks and chives: Like onions, they can cause your dog’s red blood cells to rupture, in addition to vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and nausea.
By all means, remove the seeds and pits from fruits: Besides containing deadly toxins, dogs can choke on them or suffer intestinal blockages, Kennedy said. Case in point: apple seeds contain cyanide. Humans shouldn’t eat them, either.
Oddly, corn is OK, but corncobs aren’t. Blockages again. And even more oddly, avoid avocados, which contain a toxin called persin. Avocados are also high in fat, so there’s the pancreatitis issue again, she said.
Avoid nuts, which are also high fat. Those yummy macadamia nuts can even cause puppy paralysis, Kennedy said.
Peanuts and peanut butter are actually legumes, so though they are not dangerous to dogs, they are high-fat treats and should be given in moderation, she said. Plus, some peanut butter brands contain xylitol, which is extremely toxic to dogs. It’s also found in sugar-free gum, which dogs should never be exposed to, anyway.
For the record, legumes also include lentils, peas, broad beans, chickpeas, soybeans, lima and green beans, barley, corn and rice. They’re all fine.
The American Kennel Club (AKC) also warns against cherries, which can bring on cyanide poisoning. And by all means, keep Fido out of the tomato patch: The green parts of the plant contain a toxic substance called solanine.
Store-bought mushrooms are fine, but wild mushrooms are a hard no as dogs cannot distinguish between those that are toxic and those that aren’t, the AKC notes.
Raw asparagus? The AKC claims it’s too tough for dogs to eat raw and has lost much of its nutritional value once it’s cooked. Who knew? Broccoli florets contain isothiocyanates, which can cause gastric irritation, and tough broccoli stalks can block a dog’s esophagus.
Some dogs are more susceptible to tummy aches than others, so go ahead and try small bits of raw broccoli, Kennedy said. At worst, you might be mopping up the floor and lesson learned.
We were lucky. With a dose of pain meds, the vets were able to remove the soup bone. Plan B was to sedate her, and maybe cut the bone in two or three sections while she was zonked. We went home with a week’s worth of antibiotics so she wouldn’t get infections from all the abrasions in her mouth.
Noli slept all night and most of the next day, but was soon back to her old self. Again, we were all lucky. A 25-cent treat turned into a $230 vet bill, but it could have been much worse for everybody.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.