The human-canine friendship is an old one. Trust and faith have been key drivers of this friendship. Humans trust their dogs with their lives. Dogs, on the other hand, will wag their tails on-call issuing from their master’s lips, and will eat anything out of their hands. WAIT. That shouldn’t be happening! Yes, we know it sounds cute and adorable, but should you be feeding anything and everything to your most loyal companion in the world? People do this so often and so randomly, it is unbelievable. Feeding without verifying the safety of a food item is nothing short of criminal negligence. You must inquire and enquire about the safety parameters since human and canine digestive systems don’t work 100 percent the exact way. In this discussion, we talk about almond milk and figure out if it is safe or not for your dog to gulp a few mouthfuls of almond milk.
Do dogs need milk?
But before we jump into the discussion about almond milk, first let us start with the basics. Do dogs need simple milk? Well, the answer to this question depends on the age of your dog. Consider puppies as an example. We all know that weaning is tough. The nutrients that your puppy was getting from its mother are going to be absent all of a sudden. So, in such a case, maybe it is not a bad idea to continue with the milking routine by offering some to your pup. Please note the use of the word some. We don’t recommend milk being served in large volumes. Once your pup has grown up, now you can offer milk as an occasional treat. However, you must not serve more than a few tablespoons of milk. Any more than that and you are simply creating gastrointestinal complications for your beloved pet.
Is almond milk any good?
Now, let us put the almond milk under the microscope. By nature, it is a heterogeneous mixture of things. Ground almonds, filtered water, and thickeners are used to formulate a consistent drink that is quite popular among humans. Almond milk is enriched with vitamins like vitamin B3 and vitamin E. These two vitamins are quite significant for the doggo pet. These vitamins are linked directly with a better immune system as well elimination of free radicals. Hence, the antioxidant role of almond milk is established as well. On the other hand, there are sugars and preservatives added to the commercial version of the product. Should you be risking your dog’s health by tinkering around with almond milk in its diet? Well, frankly speaking, we don’t think it is a good idea but for a detailed answer, let us jump to the next section. No beating about the bush, see?
Can dogs drink almond milk?
The question around which this article has been orchestrated! The funny thing is that there is no straight answer to this question. Almond milk is not the most appropriate drink for your poodle to sip on and yet, we cannot see why you shouldn’t allow your dog to taste it? So many factors must be considered when declaring something safe or unsafe for your pet’s diet. In this particular case, it is the variety of almond milk available in the market which complicates matters. You see, some types are simply enriched with sugars and preservatives and nothing else. On the other hand, there are some varieties that are OK by the doggo standard. You will have to find the ideal type of almond milk if you want an answer in the affirmative!
Do dogs like almond milk?
Putting the can or cannot debate aside for a moment, let us be methodical in our approach and ask ourselves: will my dog even like the taste of almond milk? That my word renders the answer a bit subjective, don’t you think so? And yet, we can guess the response of your dog to almond milk by highlighting a few points. One, almond milk is sweet. Second, it has a creamy texture. We are sure that your dog will find it hard to resist the temptation. We are not inviting you to experiment with the idea but we can bet you anything your dog is going to sip on almond milk crazy. And that is where things can go wrong. You cannot allow your dog to slurp almond milk unchecked. The most you can allow is tasting, and that too in a supervised manner. This is exactly what we talk about in the next section.
Signs that your dog loves almond milk!
Umm. We don’t claim to be an expert in body language but we can tell you this much that your dog will make it obvious if he or she likes the milk or not. Ask yourself, what are the key indicators that often tell you your dog loves something? Running around the kitchen like a maniac and wagging its tail like a tornado, right? We can predict a bit of drooling as well. We have mentioned in this discussion that it is difficult for our canine friends to resist something so sweet and so creamy. Don’t blame the pet if they smack their lips a lot of bark in a beseeching manner. Even if we are a big fan of almond milk, why shouldn’t your dog be? But still, you must not give in. You shouldn’t let your dog lick the milk for the sake of its health, that’s all!
Choosing the right kind of almond milk
Before the tasting step, you will have to shop for the best almond milk in the market. Now, there are a couple of points which you should keep in mind. One, the percentage of sugars and other additives shouldn’t be a high one. If your dog takes swigs of almond milk that have a higher percentage content of the aforementioned items, you can rest assured that your dog will become a victim of obesity and laziness at the very least. Secondly, you must not be attracted by any flavored almond milk product. There is a trend to go for chocolate milk these days. You can pick one for yourself but if you are thinking of buying one for your dog, we can tell you that it is a bad idea!
There is something else that you can do as well. And that is to whip up your almond milk at home. It is not as complicated as it sounds. All you need to do is ground some almonds, refine and filter them with water and throw in a thickener for consistency. Oh, the love that goes into all this is priceless and cannot be bought!
Why might almond milk be not suitable for your dog?
We have been hinting at this from the start and now, it is time to tell you why almond milk isn’t the healthiest thing to slurp on for your beloved dog. Well, almond milk can mess up the canine digestive system in a most bizarre manner. There are severe GI complications that can arise but for the sake of keeping things simple, we will limit ourselves to mention of diarrhea, bloating, and vomiting only. Then, almond milk has a lot of sugar content, there are artificial sweeteners added to appease the human craving. But these artificial sugars are nothing but toxic for your dog. So now you can see why we have been against almond milk consumption in the case of dogs from the very beginning of this article. You can never trust your dog to raise its paw and say well that is enough for now, I think I will stop slurping now. No, if you care about your canine friend’s health, you must not let it drink too much of this creamy concoction.
Important considerations
This is more about what if things go south? Let us say you experimented with the idea of almond milk and your canine friend hasn’t responded too well to the offer. What are your options? Well, the first thing that you need to do is stop pushing the cause. If your pet doesn’t like something, we see no reason why you should insist on force-feeding. Even though it is unlikely that your canine furball won’t like the taste of almond milk, we still don’t believe in force-feeding the concoction down the animal’s throat. Then, what if there are obvious symptoms of an anaphylactic shock? In case of an allergy that you didn’t see coming, your best chance is to get the vet immediately. Oh, and also, please don’t offer your pet almond milk daily. This should be a matter of an occasional treat and nothing more than that!
Conclusion
Well, folks, that would be all for now. This is one of the most comprehensive accounts of the events on this topic that you are likely to come across on the internet. But it has to end here! On an optimistic note that you learned something, if not everything from this discussion, we bid you and your canine friend farewell!