Doubtlessly, the relationship between a dog and a human is the sweetest thing to witness. Dogs have become the best friends for many humans out there. Dogs can make your sad days into happy days. Their love for the owners is very intense that many dogs have sacrificed themselves for the sake of their favorite humans.
Dogs have become more than a family to some people, and they want to provide the best to their dogs. Hence, in the quest of providing the best, people often think it is okay if you provide whatever good you are eating to your dogs as well. Keep it in mind; whatever is right for you is not always suitable for your dogs! If your dog has grown immune to eating some chips, it doesn’t mean that it is natural for him to eat chips. The case of dogs eating caramel has also left so many people with questions in their heads. Well, we are here to solve this specific question for you here today, and let’s discuss if your dog can eat caramel or not.
Dogs cannot eat caramel! It is not that caramel has direct adverse effects on the health of your doggo, but the sugar additives present in almost every caramel are dangerous to a high level.
The above statement is yet very unclear; let’s dig the topic a little deeper and find our answer. The point is, the market-made caramel contains a tremendous amount of sugar and preservatives. Many candies, including caramel, contain xylitol in it which has proven to be dangerous not only for dogs but for humans as well if taken in large quantities. Therefore, stop yourself right there and don’t make your dog eat that last piece of caramel you’ve saved for him as a treat.
Xylitol for Humans VS Dogs:
Let’s take a look at how xylitol affects humans. Xylitol is a sugar substitute, this additive is proven to be very helpful for people with diabetes, although it contains sugar to some extent too, it does not affect humans a lot. Xylitol is almost non-toxic to human bodies as well as minds. An average human being having no disturbed digestive systems at all can intake 50g of xylitol daily. More than this amount can lead to gastrointestinal tumors, affecting the mouth areas, esophagus, and the stomach itself.
But when it comes to dogs, how xylitol behaves completely changes! It is interesting to note that even 0.1 g per kg of xylitol is toxic for dogs, and a single candy or caramel contains 0.3-0.4 g of xylitol. It can seriously cause severe internal issues with your dogs or might kill them as well. Xylitol has caused several cases of hypoglycemia, liver failure, and seizures in dogs, according to Dr. Mudie.
It takes a duration of 10 to 50 minutes for a dog’s body to react to xylitol, while it starts showing abnormal behavior, approximately 12 hours of xylitol intake.
Natural Sugar-based diet for dogs:
Now, the question arises what if we provide our dog with homemade fresh caramel? The answer is again a big No. Red caramel is a hundred percent sugar product. Sugar is not as toxic for dogs as xylitol is but high sugar intake in dogs can lead to diabetes in the animal. It also causes digestive imbalances with the juices inside the dog’s stomach. The pH concentration can be disturbed too. Thus dogs might feel itchy skin and show extremely hyperactive behavior. It can also lead to the dog gaining a lot of weight, making it utterly impossible for you to hold him in your arms.
Teach your dog what is right for him:
Being a responsible parent for your dog, it’s your responsibility to teach him stuff he should do and should never do. He learns what you do or say. If you are taking your dirty shoes inside the house, trust our dogs are so observant they will learn it and think it is okay for them to bring in muddy paws too. Similarly, if you are teaching them not to eat anything unless you give it to them, they won’t eat anything wrong or anything from your dining table. But if you are eating from the same plate as your dog, there are certainly going to be issued between the two of you sooner or later. Thus, teaching your dogs will prove helpful as your dog won’t eat caramel on its own now!
You can keep your dog safe from any chemical by following the below steps:
- Provide him with pet foods that are recommended by the veterinarians. Don’t buy any local pet food.
- In case you don’t afford to buy clinically proven pet food, you can purchase local pet food only after deeply going through its ingredients. You can also look for its reviews on the internet or consult an online doctor.
- Don’t give celebratory meals from your table to your dog.
- Keep any product that contains Birch sugar, Meso-Xylitol, sugar alcohol, pentane far away from the reach of your dog.
- Only use pet toothpaste for your dog and not your regular toothpaste to brush your dogs’ teeth. That too, you don’t have to do it daily.
- Never let your kids feed your dog. It might end up in the harm of both your child and the dog too as both might team up to eat something they should never.
Treat your dog in other ways:
We know you were giving the yummy candy to your little boy only because you loved him and wanted to show that love. And no doubt your dog might have loved eating some sweets but you need to stop it right there. Because ultimately, it will just cause damage to your dog’s body. You need to treat him and make him happy in other ways. You can give him his favorite bone or the yummiest piece of chicken, that too can make him happy, and he would love you all the same.
But in case your dog insists on eating candies, you can give him a tiny portion (lesser than 10 g in total) of home-made caramel or any of these candies:
- Candy Corn
- Skittles
- Smarties
- Blow Pops
- Sour Candy
- Jolly Ranchers
- Starburst
Cases your dog can recover from xylitol poisoning:
Now if you know your dog has eaten caramel and it’s just been an hour or so, you need not worry. In such cases, the vets can quickly recover your dog from getting the toxicity into his nerves. Still, if it’s too late, let’s say, 3 to 4 hours after your dog has taken any xylitol product, the treatment gets a bit different and stringent for your dog to bear. But still, curable. If your dog has already started showing irrational behavior after 12 hours, the chances are meager that he may survive in his later life. Though doctors have been successful in treating dogs at this stage as well, yet nothing can be confirmed.
Conclusion
Concluding the above topic now, we’d say that do not provide any sugar product to your do in large quantities, especially if it is market-based. If you have some homemade candy that too artificial flavor-free, you can give the tiniest amount to your dog. Caramel or anything highly sweetened will cause a lot of issues for the dog’s health.