With holiday celebrations underway, especially since they coalesce around food, we all could use reminding about what our pets can and cannot eat. This definitely includes me, as I am terrible about food when I have doggie eyes pleading with me to share some of the goodies.
I am not a veterinarian nor specialist in feeding other animals. Please check with your vet for “do and do not” instructions regarding your pet.
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Holiday Foods
Holiday foods and celebrations are a time when we pull out our traditional foods, whatever they may be in our various countries. In Japan, Christmas now has a KFC flavor, but in the USA we often pull out the various meat traditions, turkey, brisket, goose, or ham with all the usual side dishes.
But some of the food we are cooking should not be given to the animal members of our families. In fact, the AKC writes that this holiday season, November through January, is a time when vet visits jump up.
Vet Warnings on Holiday Food
Best is to first keep your pets out of the kitchen area while food is under preparation according to some veterinarians (vets). In some cases this is a matter of simple safety, food or utensils dropping on the floor or on the animal, hot fat splattering around, tripping over the dog or rabbit, shooing the cat off the counters, and so on. They do not need to be kenneled or isolated, but just kept out of the kitchen.
Next on the list is to inform everyone who is coming over for dinner, that they should not feed the animals, no matter how tempting. I find it helps to assure them that they will get their feast at the appropriate time, and with the foods best suited for them.
The main toxic foods, that can cause great harm, are artificial sweetener, grapes or raisons, and onions or garlic. Most of the food can be shared, provided it is clean from any of these ingredients or condiments. For example, plain mashed potatoes are okay, but not when mixed with butter, sour cream and chives.
Avoid for Dogs + Cats
Here are some comments about items that should not be fed to any dogs or cats in your house.
- Turkey, chicken, or duck bones can splinter and get stuck in the throat or gums of dogs or cats. If swallowed it can cause perforations in the gut.
- Fowl skin, which is very fatty, can cause digestive upset, and in a worse case scenario it can cause pancreatitis.
- I do take the skin and render the fat, then drain and that crispy skin I do feed to the dogs.
- No gravy or stews can be shared with dogs or cats, especially if they contain any toxic onions or garlic or their juices. This includes onions of any color, shallots, chives, leeks, and garlic.
- Raw yeast doughs can cause bloating and stomach expansion, symptoms that land many at the emergency vet. So skip giving raw bread dough.
- I do not think anyone does this, but things do drop on the floor.
- If your stuffing has raisons, grapes, or onions do not give to your dogs or cats.
- Chocolate is a well-known danger to dogs, so no candy or chocolate drinks.
- The artificial sweetener Xylitol, found in many commercially baked goods, can be harmful so no giving little tastes of any baked goods you did not personally bake.
- Dairy products can upset your mutt’s digestive system and cause diarrhea as many dogs, but not all, are lacto-intolerant.
- My dogs can consume milk products, so we do let them clean the vanilla ice cream bowl.
- Some vets also caution against raw eggs.
Avoid for Rabbits
Rabbits are one animal I have never lived with, so I looked at knowledgable sites and report here what they indicate as food not to give them.
- Avocados
- Chocolate
- Fruit seeds/pits
- Raw onions, leeks, garlic
- Meat, eggs, dairy
- Broad beans and kidney beans
- Rhubarb
- Iceberg lettuce
- Mushrooms
- House plants
- Processed foods (bread, pasta, cookies, crackers, chips, etc.)
- Raw potatoes
Avoid for Reptiles
I have never had a reptile, so these suggestions come from Hartz. Most reptiles require a very specific and monitored diet, so be sure to research your particular pet type and discuss any questions with your veterinarian.
- Herbivores: Avoid kale, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, and romaine lettuce. These plants contain an ingredient that prevents reptiles from absorbing calcium properly.
- Insectivores. Avoid spiders, ticks, centipedes, millipedes, scorpions, and fireflies. Fireflies are especially toxic because they contain a self-defense toxin called lucibufagin, which is extremely poisonous to reptiles. One firefly can kill a small reptile. If your reptile is not native to the area you live in, your local insects may not be safe to eat.
Avoid for Birds
Not having birds, I went on line and found these items to avoid.
- Chocolate
- Any onion and garlic
- Avocado
- Comphrey
- Stone fruit pits
- Apple cores + seeds
- Foods high in fat, salt, or sugar
- Any “sugar free” items due to the artificial sweetener Xylitol
- Birds may be lactose intolerant
- Peanuts just because they can have bacteria or fungus on them
- Okay for most nightshade fruits, but the plants may be toxic so be careful
Dog + Cat Approved Traditional Holiday Foods
General List
Boneless, skinless, turkey meat are generally okay to serve. But certain breeds such as Miniature Schnauzers, Yorkshire Terriers, and Shetland Sheepdogs are predisposed to pancreatitis, so it is recommended to not serve meat to these breeds.
- A side note here, if any of your meats are wrapped in string, be sure to carefully trash those items as the animals may scarf them up and that could cause intestinal problems.
Apples are okay but apple-based pastries and pies are not, given we do not always know what they are made with. But apple slices are fine, just peel them and remove the core (it really is the seeds they should not eat).
Stone fruit are okay as well, but remove the seed.
Many of the veggies are okay as well, like peas, green beans, zucchini, sweet potatoes, carrots, mashed potatoes, and so on. Again just make sure there are no onions or garlic in the dish, and it is best to serve the veggies without all the condiments.
Cooked grains, rice, and oats are fine to share, just make sure there is no onion/garlic seasoning.
Macaroni and cheese are generally okay, but do just a little to make sure your animal is not lactose intolerant. Well, also it is fattening.
Meats
The cooked turkey meat without skin or bones is perfectly fine to feed your dog provided you did not cook the meat with lots of onions and garlic.
Avoid ham due to nitrates and high salt content.
Fish are generally okay, but be sure to remove any bones. Salmon, mackerel, whitefish, herring, flounder and walleye are all common types of fish found in some packaged dog food and lots of canned cat food. The key here is to not feed fish containing high levels of mercury, like tuna.
- I personally only feed fish, generally salmon, that I have cooked as I want to be sure bones are removed and the fish is properly cooked.
- I will fry the salmon skin and cut into little bits as treats for the dogs, but do not give too many in one sitting.
Pet Recipes
Dog Gravy
This is a good protein heavy gravy your dog may enjoy and it is easy to make.
- Heat 1C of homemade turkey bone broth in a pot
- Whisk in 1T garbanzo bean flour
- Cook on low, whisking occasionally, until the suace thickens
- Let it cool
- Use as a topping
Two Doggie Carb Side Dishes
- Boil 1 skinned russet potato and 1 skinned orange sweet potato (save the skins)
- We are making two dishes in case your dog does not like one
- Mash potatoes and top with some of the gravy, set aside for one side dish
- Mash the sweet potato and top with some of the gravy, set aside for another side dish
Doggie Chips or Toppings
- Heat olive oil in a skillet
- Cut the potato and sweet potato skins, or even salmon skin, into bite sized strips
- Add skins to the skillet and cook until crispy, then remove and drain
- Now you have some dish toppings to use, just do not serve too many as they are a fatty treat
Doggie Muffin Dessert
- Dogs can eat cooked pumpkin and squash in puree, mashed, steamed, or roasted forms
- But do not season
- Best is to make pumpkin muffins
- Ingredients
- Pureed cooked pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling from a can, may contain nutmeg)
- 2T molassas
- 2T honey
- 1 large egg
- 2t baking powder
- 1t baking soda
- 1/2t cinnamon
- 1C all purpose flour
- 1C cold heavy whipping cream
- 1T peanut butter
- Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Spray 6 cavities of a muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray (not avocado oil).
- Stir together pumpkin, molasses, honey, and egg.
- Add baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and flour; stir until fully mixed.
- Place 1/4 cupful of batter in each muffin cup.
- Bake for ~14-16 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
- Cool completely before frosting.
- To make frosting:
- Add heavy whipping cream to a large bowl.
- Add peanut butter and beat with a stand mixer until stiff peaks form.
- Frost cupcakes as desired.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days or freeze for up to one month.
- Ingredients
Starbucks Puppuccino Dessert
This is just a small cup with a bit of whip cream. I prefer to make this at home, again so I am assured of its ingredients.
- 1C cold heavy whipping cream
- 2T pure 100% maple syrup (in smallish quantities)
- 1/2t Vanilla extract is okay in small quantities
Pup Cup Dessert
This is rather easy to make, just mash these ingredients up and mix.
- 1 ripe banana mashed
- 1/3 cup plain yogurt
- 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (heat it up in microwave if it is not creamy enough, but do it at 30sec intervals)
- Combine and put in a bowl
- Top with 1 small dog treat
Salutations
In some ways, given all that is happening in the world regarding food, this post may seem to be a bit frivolous to write about. However, it is important to me because last year, while on an RV trip with the dogs, I (without thought) fed my dogs a pulled pork mix that had both garlic and onions. They both got real sick, and we are very lucky that my brain-fart did not kill them. So if you have animals you live with, be very careful in what human-foods you share with them. What we can eat, is not necessarily what they can eat.
—Patty
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