Pet Knows

If your dog is anything like mine, he thinks the trash can is a pot of gold, and has accomplished amazing feats to steal food off of the counter if you leave anything temptingly close to the edge. But sometimes his favorite people foods can be very dangerous for him.

My dog, Mosby, once pulled down and ate a full box of chocolate Viactive Calcium Chews. The doctor was not nearly as worried about the chocolate (since there is very little pure cocoa in them) as he was about the dog overdosing on the vitamins. An overnight stay in the hospital later and I invested in toddler locks for the pantry to keep him from getting in there any more.

While dog owners are mostly all told that chocolate can be deadly poisonous to dogs, there is not as much awareness of some of the other foods pups should never eat. I was personally surprised by some items on a couple of lists I found! For example, alcohol (okay, I guess that one is pretty obvious), avocado, coffee, various nuts, onions, garlic, raisins, grapes, some mushrooms, and garlic, just to name a few. I know that when I cook, those are things that can end up on the floor pretty often…and what lands on the floor usually ends up getting eaten by Mosby before I have a chance to blink.

A comprehensive list about other common household items that can pose a danger to your pet can be found at the ASPCA website.