Adopting a pet as loving, intelligent, and loyal as a dog brings tons of laughter and happiness into any home. But, becoming a pet parent also means responsibility. When you become the guardian of a living being, you need to consider the well-being of your pet in every single aspect of life, from exercise, training, and socialization, all the way down to the food they eat.
Now, it’s common to find pet guardians offering table scraps to dogs as a treat. Who can resist those sad puppy eyes, right? So, you may be wondering if it is safe to provide some potato salad to your furry friend.
So, can dogs eat potato salad? No, dogs shouldn’t eat potato salad. While a small amount may not cause any issues, eating too much or eating it too often can cause bloating, indigestion, gas, and a general stomach ache. This is especially true if the potato salad has garlic or onion in it, which is toxic for dogs.
No vet will advise you to feed your pet potato salad, considering the many of the ingredients of a potato salad can cause your dog to develop a plethora of health concerns in the long run.
So, without further ado, let’s take an in-depth look at the various elements involved in the making of a potato salad and why feeding this particular human food to dogs can be a bad thing for your doggo.
What Does A Potato Salad Consist Of?
Suppose you don’t want to look at the multiple recipes and versions of a potato salad and look for something more basic to determine the ingredients of a potato salad. In that case, it’s best to go with a traditional potato salad recipe.
Now, searching for recipes – from big names such as Martha Stewart to the first YouTube tutorial that comes up – will show you that most potato salads are very simple to make and consist of few ingredients.
Most recipes include boiled potatoes, diced red onions, chopped celery, yellow mustard, hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise, buttermilk, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Some recipes even include garlic powder.
Now, most of these ingredients are perfectly safe for your pet to consume in small quantities, such as boiled potatoes, mayonnaise, buttermilk, and celery. However, others (bolded) may cause intestinal distress for your poor pup, especially garlic. Even boiled potatoes can contain trace elements of a toxic compound known as solanine.
Can Your Dog Eat Potato Salad?
If you have potato salad on the dinner menu, and you don’t feel like depriving your four-legged friend, then you should prepare a potato salad separately just for your dog that is free of garlic or onions. It should not have any vinegar, salt, or pepper in the potato salad either.
Even with all the alterations that you’ve made to the potato salad, you should take care not to offer too much potato salad to your furry friend. On the flip side, if you want to feed just a few bites of regular potato salad, then you should not provide your pooch with this particular human food more than once a week.
The consumption of potato salad can give your pooch bloating, indigestion, gas, and tummy aches. Furthermore, most animal behavioral experts recommend dog owners not encourage their pets to eat table scraps.
The habit of dogs eating with the family at the dinner table can cause them to develop several behavioral problems such as begging, jumping up, and stealing food from the trash or counter tops. It can also cause other serious health issues such as obesity or pancreatitis.
Can Dogs Eat Boiled Potatoes?
Many pet owners feel that feeding their pups with boiled potatoes is perfectly safe and even healthy for their pets. However, raw potatoes contain a toxic compound known as solanine. Rinsing, peeling, and boiling potatoes does significantly reduce the risk of solanine toxicity, but there is still a risk that your dog may suffer from trace elements of solanine.
Potatoes are loaded with carbs also. Unless your dog has a very active lifestyle and burns off most of the carbs they are eating, they may become obese with the regular eating of boiled potatoes.
Moreover, potatoes are linked to canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), which can severely impede a dog’s heart function by inflating their cardiac muscles.
Health concerns for dogs regularly consuming potatoes include:
- Obesity
- Digestive issues
- Diabetes
- Heart problems
- Potato poisoning
Can Dogs Eat Boiled Eggs?
Eggs are safe for your dogs to eat. Eggs, mainly boiled eggs, contain tons of proteins, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that are essential for your dog’s well-being. The digestive system of canines can easily digest boiled eggs without causing any adverse effects.
Eggs are a healthy and nutritional snack for your pet. But, as eggs are pretty dense with calories, your dog can become obese by eating too many eggs.
Are The Other Ingredients Of Potato Salad Harmful For Dogs?
When it comes to red onions and yellow mustard, things can get pretty tricky. Yellow mustard is made from mustard seeds that are unsafe for dogs to consume. Mustard seeds have toxic compounds that can cause your them to experience gastroenteritis, inflammation of the stomach and intestinal tract.
Furthermore, onions are toxic to dogs too. You see, onions belong to the nightshade family, including garlic, leeks, shallots, and chives. These vegetables possess a toxin principle known as N-propyl disulfide. This compound can cause a breakdown of red blood cells in dogs, leading to anemia. Onions cause liver damage, asthma, dermatitis, stomach distress, and weakness in the canines.
Additionally, many potato salads include vinegar, and even diluted vinegar can affect most dogs adversely. And sodium and pepper aren’t the seasonings you should offer to your pet, as excessive sodium can dehydrate your doggo and cause liver damage.
Studies show that many dogs are lactose intolerant. You see, most potato salads are laden with dairy products such as mayonnaise, sour cream, and cheese. So, if your dog is lactose intolerant and gets a whole mouthful of potato salad, then it is likely that your pet will have to endure bloating, vomiting, lethargy, gas, and diarrhea.
Does Potato Salad Offer Any Nutritional Benefits To Your Dog?
As mentioned earlier, if your dog is lactose intolerant, it’s best to avoid feeding them potato salad. But, if not and you’ve prepared a potato salad especially for your pet, keeping away all of the ingredients that can harm them, then it is safe to let your pet indulge a bit.
You see, potato salads aren’t devoid of health benefits. It is common knowledge that potatoes are rich in carbohydrates that work to give your furry friend extra energy. Potato salad also has vitamin C, which can detoxify your dog’s body and improve immunity.
Potato salad has potassium, iron, and calcium necessary for bone growth, muscle function, and brain development. There is also vitamin B6 and fiber in potato salad, which keeps the digestive tract clean and helps in kidney function and bladder health.
What If My Dog Accidentally Ate Potato Salad With Seasoning And Onions?
Well, if your pooch has eaten a few bites of potato salad with seasoning or onion, then you don’t have much to worry about. But, if your doggo is lactose intolerant or eats their tummy full, then you need to keep a close eye on your dog for a day or two. If your pet vomits, has an upset stomach, or even seems lethargic, then you need to head straight to the vet.
If the potato salad that your dog ate had quite a bit of onion or garlic, then you should contact the vet immediately and get advice on what you should do.
Final Thoughts
There’s no denying that dogs add special meaning to the lives of their humans. They become more like family members in a short space of time rather than just being best friends.
But, as a pet parent, you are responsible for the well-being of your pet. As any doggo owner will tell you, canines aren’t discerning eaters. So, they will pretty much gobble up anything and everything you offer to them.
To ensure that your dog lives a long and healthy life, you need to ensure that you provide your doggo with wholesome and nutritious food. And keep food sources that are toxic for your pooch away.
It might seem like torture to many pet parents to deprive their pets of a few bites of table scraps. But, in truth, you are doing your pet a favor by keeping them away from most human foods that are usually harmful to them. Keeping your pet’s diet under control will ensure your pet’s health as well as longevity.
Not to mention, when you assign specific timings for your doggo’s meals, you are helping your pet learn essential social manners. Keeping a schedule for meals is necessary not just for pets but for humans too.
You see, having meals at regular timings ensures that your stomach gets plenty of time to digest the food you eat and convert it into the energy your body needs. Furthermore, when you aren’t forever looking for something to eat, you can spend the time bonding with your pet over a game of fetch.
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