Most dogs are willing just about anything given to them. However, every dog owner must be careful of avoiding certain types of foods as they may not agree with your dog’s digestion with some being very harmful to your dog’s health.
Here are five dangerous ingredients to avoid putting in your homemade dog cookies.
1. White flour
White flour although a source of carbohydrate, can be harmful when fed to your dogs as it causes spikes and drops in canine blood sugar levels. In the long run, regular consumption of white flour can cause your dog to be obese or acquire diabetes.
Instead of using white flour in your dog cookies or any other homemade dog food, you can use whole grains like quinoa, oats and brown rice instead. Some vets also recommend dropping grains altogether from your dog’s diet.
2. MSG
MSG or monosodium glutamate has been previously proven to be bad for people’s health and it isn’t very good for your dog’s health neither. But still MSG can be found in many commercial dog foods as they are a cheap way to ad flavoring. MSG is bad for dogs as the ingredient is non-nutritive and is artificial in nature.
You can add flavor to dog cookies and other dog food without using MSG by turning to natural flavors. Add in huge portions of animal meat in your recipes and totally eliminate other flavor enhancers.
3. Soy
Soy maybe good for humans but they aren’t as healthy a choice for pet food. According to experts, the ability of dogs’ bodies to process plant-based proteins aren’t as great as tha of humans. Therefore, proteins from soy aren’t much useful for dogs as they can’t process it like humans do. Oftentimes, dogs that are fed food with soy become flatulent.
Again, a better alternative to soy are animal meats and proteins. These meats have similar amino acids found in soy but are digested more easily by dogs.
4. Corn
Corn, although a whole grain, is a known no-no when it comes to being a dog food ingredient. Dogs won’t be able to digest corn making its nutrients unavailable to dogs who ingest them. However, like MSG, corn is still a chosen ingredient included in commercial dog cookies, treats and food as the produce is a cheap ingredient making it easier for manufacturers to cut corners on nutrition.
As said earlier, it would be better if you go entirely grain-free when it comes to feeding your dogs. Choose animal proteins over corn. There are surely dog cookie recipes online that perfectly incorporate meat into their recipes.
5. Onions
Onions are hard to avoid when fixing a cooked meal for your dog. But as most recipes don’t call for it, it is easier to avoid when making dog cookies. But why are onions bad for dogs in the first place anyway? Well, onions, although very tasty, can cause changes in your pet’s blood cells which put it at risk of developing anemia. This condition may lead to insufficient levels of oxygen to be delivered to a dog’s muscles and other important organs causing them to become weak and have a reduces appetite. Dogs afflicted with anemia will look tired and lose their enthusiasm.
Making dog cookies and other similar food for your dog may appear to be all fun and games. But things can easily turn sour when you unwittingly put some undesirable ingredients like the one listed above in your dog’s food. Be mindful of which ingredients may or may not be good for your dog’s health.
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