While we enjoy many foods there are some foods that can be a problem for our pets. Feeding pets our food can be fatal. Chocolate is a good example and widely known. There are others that may be ingredients in a food so here is a list of foods that can cause harm especially to small dogs and cats.

Chocolates contain caffeine and theobromide. Depending on the type of chocolate, the amounts of caffeine and theobromide can vary, cooking chocolate contains the highest concentrations while white chocolate the least. Within 2-4 hours of ingestion a dog can show signs of toxicity, usually hyperactivity.

There is usually vomiting and diarrhoea followed by collapse and then seizures. Death can occur within 24 hours. So a 10kg dog could easily be poisoned by 250 grams of milk chocolate and even a much less amount of mud cake containing cooking cocoa.

Grapes (sultans,raisins) contain an unknown toxin which causes acute kidney failure. It would appear that sultanas and raisins are more toxic because they are dehydrated grapes, hence concentrating then toxins.

This is important because raisins are present in fruit toast and fruit cakes. Usually within 2 hours of ingestion of grapes there is vomiting and an increased amount of drinking, followed by collapse and severe depression. There has been reports of only 7 grapes being eaten to cause toxicity.

Macadamia nuts contain an unknown substance which causes problems in our pets. Poisoning can occur with raw or roasted kernels, and macadamia nut butter.

Once the nuts have been ingested there is a progressive muscle weakness with considerable pain. The muscle weakness tends to affect the large muscle groups especially leg muscles. Pets are unable to walk and become very distressed. The amount of nuts needed to cause toxicity can vary from 4 to 20 nuts.

Onions contain thiosulphates. These chemicals cause an anaemia(loss of red blood cells) in pets. This can occur when small amounts of onions are fed to pets over a period of time.

This can happen when pets are fed our food which contains onions on a regular basis, examples are pizza, chinese meals, baby food. A single large ingestion of onions can immediately cause vomiting and diarrhoea and then several days later an anaemia. So a 10kg dog could be poisoned by 150g of onions.

Sugar-free foods that contain Xylitol have become popular in recent times. There is now evidence that prolonged ingestion of xylitol causes liver damage in pets. It would be best to avoid any snack foods that are sugar-free being fed to our pets.

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