When the kitchen is full of baking and cooking, and the whole family is eating around the table, it’s easy to want your pets to join in the merriment. You may be tempted to slip them a piece or two of table scraps. However, you need to be careful about what human foods you feed your pets.
Amy Nichelason, a canine and feline practitioner and clinical professor of primary care at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, discussed table scraps on a recent episode of Wisconsin Public Radio’s The Larry Meiller Show.
“A lot of time, we cook our holiday meals with a lot of oil and butter that make it delicious for us but can cause gastrointestinal upset — or less frequently, even more serious issues like inflammation of the pancreas — for cats and dogs that aren’t used to eating this kind of fatty and delicious food,” she says.
It’s important to keep pets away from these types of indulgent foods, as well as some fruits and vegetables. Onions, grapes (and raisins) and garlic, specifically, are known to be toxic to pets.
If you want your pet to feel included around the holiday table, Nichelason suggests you give them small treats meant for their species or pieces of their kibble instead of table scraps.
Furthermore, baked goods may also pose a risk. For example, it’s now believed that tartaric acid in grapes may be at least one of the causes of toxicity in pets, and tartaric acid is also present in cream of tartar.
“We have seen some toxicities through the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Poison Control with cream of tartar exposure that is very similar to grape toxicity,” Nichelason says. “Cream of tartar is in some baking powder, so we want to make sure we are preventing exposure to pastries and pies where this is an ingredient.”
If you still want your pet to feel included around the holiday table, Nichelason suggests you give them small treats meant for their species or pieces of their kibble instead of table scraps.
“They don’t know the difference and they are very happy,” she says. “It’s one way to make your pet feel a part of the festivities and avoid diarrhea.”
If you are worried about other human foods that may be harmful to your pet, the ASPCA has a helpful list of things to avoid.
Britta Wellenstein