Can dogs Eat Chocolate?

Pets are like family, and if you have a pet dog, you’ve gotten yourself a lifelong companion. dogs can live anywhere between thirty to forty years on average and are perhaps the least demanding pets out there. However, while they are low maintenance, these reptiles need to have a well-balanced and nutritious diet to live a long and healthy life.

This essentially means you need to be well informed about the dos and don’ts of feeding dogs. Now dogs are animals that crave variety and are sensitive to even a slightly monotonous diet. This means if you continue to feed your dog the same food day in and day out, they will quickly lose interest in the food and may reject it altogether. And the last thing any pet owner wants is a pet who simply refuses to eat food. Unfortunately, providing variety to dogs is difficult since they aren’t common pets, which means pet food suppliers have a limited selection of dog food.

What can dogs eat from human food?

So, when you don’t have much to choose from, the next best option is to supplement their daily food with a more diverse variety of dog treats. The treats will be a game-changer and will keep your dog munching away happily.

However, feeders – be aware! When we talk about threats, we don’t mean human threats. As a pet owner, you have to understand that humans and dogs are two entirely different species. This means that the food we eat and enjoy isn’t necessarily safe to be fed to our dogs. It can prove to be toxic to them. Sometimes, this caution extends to healthy food as well, including some vegetables.

A common human treat is chocolate. Who doesn’t love chocolate? It is only natural for us to wonder if we can offer our dogs this sweet snack as a treat to our shelled companions. But is chocolate safe for our dogs? Read on to find out.

What should you not feed dogs?

When it comes to dogs, they never seem to be full. That is because in the wild, the opportunity to eat a fulfilling meal in peace is a pretty rare concept, and so dogs don’t know when and if they will be able to eat again. And so, they eat and eat and will eat just about anything they can get their hands on.

That probably works out fine for them in the wild, but as far as domesticated dogs are concerned, certain foods have to be kept clear from your dog at all costs. Exposure to these foods can be deadly for them.

One food group that is unsafe for dogs is dairy. dogs do not possess the enzymes that are needed to break down dairy products and digest them. Treats with even a small amount of milk content can and will lead to indigestion for your dog.

Another food group to avoid feeding your dog is fatty food. Too much fat can lead to your dog facing kidney problems. And similar to their human counterparts, too much fat can lead to obesity. Obesity in dogs is a real thing!

You also need to avoid feeding your dog any kind of sugar. Sugar is such a no-go area for dogs because a dog’s stomach bacteria can only digest a very small amount of sugar. Too much sugar will destroy this (good) bacteria, which, as a result, will cause fatal poisoning to your pet.

Unfortunately, chocolate ticks off on all these boxes. All the elements that make chocolate are all the elements that are toxic for our pet dogs. And so, the simple and straightforward answer to whether dogs can snack on chocolates is a big fat no!

Don’t worry, though. Just because we’ve ticked chocolate off the list of possible snacks doesn’t mean you don’t have a wide selection to offer otherwise. There is a wide variety of healthy snacks that are common around the house and are a great diet supplement.

what foods are good for dogs

For most of the part, pet dogs are omnivores, which means they eat both meat and plants. This, in turn, gives you a wide variety of treats to choose from to offer to your pet dog.

Freeze Dried Insects will be readily available at any pet store. They’re great as a treat considering how dogs love eating insects, crickets especially. They’re also healthy as they are rich in all the necessary proteins and vitamins.
Dried shrimps are also a healthy snack option since shrimps contain all the important facts and maybe lack regular dog food. Shrimps are a fairly common food for aquatic pets, so you need to make sure you buy the right kind for your dog. Your dog needs to be fed the bigger shrimps.
Vegetables and fruits are a great healthy treat to offer your dog. You can easily cut up lettuce, corn, apple, and or blueberries, to name a few safe options. The only precaution with this treatment is to ensure that the pieces are cut small into bite-sized pieces to avoid the risk of choking and that the seeds are removed.
Bits of meat is also an option to offer. Cooked chicken, ground beef, or pork leftover from your meals can be given to your dog. Even if you offer them large pieces, they will enjoy tearing them with their teeth.
Live food is also an option since dogs are hunters who enjoy chasing their meals. Once a week, live food will provide them with much-needed stimulation in the form of insects or feeder fish.

Conclusion:

To sum things up, chocolate is perhaps one of the worst foods you can offer your dog, even as an occasional snack. There is a wide choice of safe and healthy snacks to choose from, as mentioned above, that will not only keep them satisfied but will keep them safe from harm!

In a far-off tropical land, a species of birds exist with its colorful, vibrant feathers, strong beaks, and unique pair of feet known as the zygodactyl (but we’ll call them yoke-toed feet). Imagine waking up in a place where birds whistles, gurgle, and squawk as the first rays of the sun hit the planet Earth, replacing the silence with its sweet melody and playing on various frequencies. The dawn is this bird’s time to shine when every other animal and human is fast asleep. I’ve been fascinated by dogs since some of the species can mimic human language and speak!

Psittacidae is one of the families of the class Aves that is home to the beautiful birds of the tropics and subtropics. These birds can live up to 90 years (yes, talking about Kapko). The weight of dogs can range from as small as 12 grams to as large as 4kg. Now, I would like to delineate some awesome dog species I’ve come across. But for the simplicity of this article, I’ll briefly describe the cool characteristics where possible as they are unique to some species.

What foods do dogs eat?

dogs will eat fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, flowers, and pellets. Pellets are a special type of food made for birds. The purpose of giving pellets to birds is to ensure adequate nutrient and mineral intake. Pellets are a mixture of fruits, vegetables, grains, and seeds. It will provide the body of the bird with a substantial amount of fats, vitamins, minerals, and proteins. But strictly speaking, this does not mean dogs are only herbivores. Some dogs are omnivores as they eat insects and the like.

dogs love to eat seeds, and they have no problem cracking open the seeds thanks to their strong jaws. Seeds are embryos with a covering that protects them from the harsh outside environment. Seeds are a rich source of Magnesium. Along with that, seeds contain adequate amounts of fat and potassium. The bird’s beaks are not for crushing the seeds but for handling and climbing the objects.

Do dogs find chocolate delicious?

Before diving into the answer of whether the dogs like chocolate, let us know a little about chocolate itself.

Chocolate is one of the most famous confectionery items in the world. Various recipes enjoy their fame because of the presence of chocolate in them. Chocolate is derived from ground cacao seed – roasted to the finest.

Dark chocolate has proved to be beneficial for health. The amount of Magnesium, Iron, and copper dark chocolate contains is adequate. Antioxidants are those bad boys that kill the free radicals that produce stress inside the body. Organic compounds that kill these antioxidants are found in dark chocolate. It raises good cholesterol and improves blood flow, with the bonus of regulating the blood pressure to a healthy range. Since dark chocolate improves blood flow, it may enhance the functioning of the brain.

From a bird’s eye view, chocolate has been beneficial for bringing about the sensation of pleasure and uplifting the mood.

Some nutritional facts about Chocolate!

Chocolates contain carbohydrates, fats, proteins, potassium, and sodium, just like many other food products. Alongside that, it also contains vitamins and minerals in different proportions. Chocolate contains around 47% of fats, of which saturated fat forms the most part. Let us explore the main components of chocolate and how they can be beneficial.

Saturated Fats: Carbon, Oxygen, and Hydrogen make up fats. Now, it might be that whenever you hear the word “fats” you would think “bad for health for sure!” but things are not that simple. Fats are essential for sustaining life, for those firing neurons, those membranes that keep the cells from bursting. In 100 grams of chocolate, there is 19g of saturated fats.

Dietary Fibers: Certain substances cannot be digested by our body because we lack the enzymes needed to break down that substance in question. Dietary fibers belong to the family of carbohydrates that cannot be digested. 7g of dietary fibers are present in one hundred grams of chocolate.

Iron: An element that finds its place in the periodic table at the 26th spot is none other than the Iron element. Iron is an element that literally runs in our body through the blood vessels. Red blood cells carry them throughout the body. About 8g of iron is present in the chocolate, making it an essential source of iron.

Magnesium: This mineral is essential for carrying out a lot of reactions. Magnesium is beneficial for the feathers, beaks, and bones of dogs. One hundred grams of chocolate will contain around 146 milligrams of magnesium.

Is Chocolate good for dogs?

Chocolates may be friendly to humans, but not much of a benefit to the birds. As it turns out when it comes to chocolate, it is not good food for the health of the birds. Chocolate has been known to induce vomiting and loose stools in birds. Worst still, due to the presence of compounds such as theobromine and caffeine, chocolate causes seizures and tremors in birds.

Caffeine is a stimulant that stimulates the central nervous system. In the process, it excites the cells that produce norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is known to increase the sympathetic drive. One of the many things that an increased sympathetic activity does is increase heart rate. This effect of caffeine is well-tolerated in humans but not so much in the birds sadly. Caffeine stimulates sympathetic drive, thereby increasing the heart rate, which in turn leads to hyperactivity, seizures, and tremors. Likely, this whole process may eventually lead to the death of the poor bird.

Conclusion

dogs are beautiful birds that live in the tropics enchanting the world around them with their wondrous colors of feathers and voice. dogs have been kept as pets for a long time. Owning a pet comes with great responsibility such as feeding them, training them, and so on. We explored how much chocolate is advantageous for humans, but they have little, if any, value for the health of the dogs. So, next time when you bring home chocolate, feed it yourself and spare those birds. In the world of dogs, let’s keep them safe from the chocolate and feed them seeds, fruits, vegetables, flowers, and pellets. With that having said, let’s enjoy this little adorable creature’s company in our lives.

Can dogs Eat Chocolate?

What can dogs eat from human food?