Every fourth Thursday of November, we celebrate Thanksgiving to show how grateful we are for the blessings we’ve received, and we share these blessings with those we love through a bountiful feast.
Because we love our pets like family, we’d let them join in the festivities and share our meals, unaware of unforeseen dangers in randomly sharing our food with our pets.
Every year, countless dogs and cats experience food-related illnesses during the holiday season. To keep our furry companions safe, watch out for these 10 common Thanksgiving food that are unsafe for dogs and cats:
- Turkey
Roasted turkey is the Thanksgiving table’s centerpiece. Let’s face it: without turkey, Thanksgiving wouldn’t be the same. Although you can give well-cooked, white turkey meat without any seasonings to your cats and dogs, you need to avoid giving them turkey skin since it’s high in fat. Also, avoid giving them cooked turkey bones, since these are choking hazards and may splinter their digestive tract. Throw away leftover bones properly so your pets won’t be tempted to eat them.
2. Mashed potatoes
Plain potatoes, either baked or boiled, are safe. Mashed potatoes, however, are made with butter and milk and aren’t recommended for lactose-intolerant pets. Some recipes even have garlic or onion in them, which are very toxic to both dogs and cats.
3. Stuffing
Stuffing is a mixture of bread, herbs, vegetables, and meat that go inside the roasted turkey or served as a side dish. Some stuffing contain ingredients that can irritate your pet’s digestive system like onions, leeks, chives, garlic, sage, pepper, raisins, and spices.
4. Gravy
Compared to regular gravy, Thanksgiving gravy is much more flavorful because of all the turkey fat that seeps during roasting. This makes gravy too rich, quite salty, and very fatty for your dog or cat to consume.
5. Cranberry sauce
Cranberries themselves contain vitamins that are good for your pets. In fact, cranberries are found as ingredients in some pet food like Wishbone Pet Foods. However, canned or homemade cranberry sauce may contain huge amounts of sugar, which negate all the goodness from the antioxidant-rich fruit. So, no sweets for our furry friends!
6. Pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie
Plain boiled pumpkin and sweet potato are safe for pets. Turn these into a holiday pie however, and they can become a dangerous health threat for our cuddle buds! For instance, if consumed in high amounts, nutmeg can cause seizures while cinnamon can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and liver problems.
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7. Pecan pie
Pecan pie has high amounts of sugar, which aren’t good for anyone, including your pets. These nuts also have high fat content. It can cause an upset stomach to dogs; and vomiting, diarrhea, or pancreatitis to cats.
8. Green beans
Fresh green beans are low in calories and are packed with iron and vitamins. Dogs and cats are free to snack on green beans – if these are not cooked with butter, spices, and fried onion toppings.
9. Bread dough
When making bread, yeast dough rises when the temperature is warm. When ingested, the same thing happens inside your pet’s stomach. This can cause painful bloating and vomiting, which is why both pets and humans should avoid eating raw dough and batter.
10. Waldorf salad
…or any kind of salad with dressings, onions, garlic, grapes, raisins, walnuts, and macadamia nuts as these are toxic to pets. Grapes and raisins can cause severe kidney failure and other gastrointestinal issues in dogs and some cats. Walnuts and macadamia nuts, on the other hand, can cause neurological problems and vomiting.
Instead of sharing what’s on your Thanksgiving table, let your pets snack on either raw or boiled vegetables, or a well-cooked, unseasoned white chicken or turkey meat, prepared in small, bite-sized servings.
Better yet, give them pet food with a family-inspired recipe like Wishbone Pet Foods. With the goodness of fresh fruits and nutritious herbs, Wishbone makes for a great gourmet Thanksgiving meal for your furry companions.
The best way to thank our loved ones this Thanksgiving Day is to prepare them food that nurtures. Let’s thank our dogs and cats by keeping them safe and healthy, especially this holiday season.
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