Hey ladies. This is kind of like another thread in here but I decided that I wanted to "educate" some of you on what kind of foods are extremely harmful to dogs and cats. That is, if you guys don't know already what these foods are.

I was going through one of the veterinary lectures I went to and I found the one on common food toxicities. So here goes the list.

Avocados are toxic to birds, small rodents, livestock, horses, and toxicity has been reported in dogs. It hasn't been reported in cats. Of course that means no one has seen a cat come in having eaten an avocado.

Grapes and Raisins are a big one in dogs. It can cause acute renal failure. Cats don't seem to be affected. Of course that's up to your discretion on whether you give them grapes or raisins.

Macadamia nuts have been reported to be toxic in dogs. The big symptom of this is weakness, especially in the pelvic limbs.

Onions and Garlic which also includes all things related to this family such as leeks, shallots, chives, onion powder, garlic powder, etc. These affect dogs and cats. This damages their red blood cells.

Of course the big everyone should know, is CHOCOLATE and the caffeine that is in it. Whenever they eat chocolate, no matter what it is, call the vet to see if they've eaten enough to where it can majorly affect them.

Gum and baked goods with xylitol in it is majorly bad. This leads to liver failure and sometimes it quickly kills the liver. This needs to be treated right away.

Moldy foods are bad.

Alcohol is bad.

Rhubarb is bad.

Bread dough that contains yeast to make it rise is bad. Their stomach acts as an oven and the dough will rise in their stomach much like it does when you cook it in an oven.

The young, green fruit of tomatoes is harmful. Once the tomato is ripe, it is okay.

You forgot mistletoe: it's toxic to cats. Many household plants are, too.

thanks for the "education"...I work in this field also...

You also forgot chocolate, they arent supposed to have it...

I put in chocolate in there right in the middle. The education is for people who don't already know this. You'd be surprised how many people don't know these things. That's why I wrote that this is for the people who don't know about these common food toxicities.

I didn't add mistletoe just because it wasn't a food.

But mistletoe is bad for cats.

Calalillies are toxic to cats.

And so is um... I forget the name of those plants that came around christmas time. They are red. Goodness. I can't remember for the life of me.

pointsettas

Thanks. I couldn't remember the name.

There's a whooooole list of plants that are toxic, not just the few that were named :)

Yea. And I don't even know all those. I just know a few.

All of the ones I posted in the first post were just meant to be about common food toxicities since I'm not super knowledgeable on all the toxic plants.

Very interesting! Learn something new everyday. Thanks!

Very interesting! Learn something new everyday. Thanks!

You are welcome. :) I'm glad someone learned something out of this post.

Here's a site that has poisonous plants: http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/protect_your_pet_from_common_household_dangers/common_poisonous_plants.html

Gotta watch out for them plants... they're KILLERS. :p

so this actually scares me.. i used to give my dog grapes (red seedless ones) whenever I was eating them.. I didn't know they could actually hurt her :(....
What about carrots or seedless watermelon?

Carrots are perfectly harmless. In fact some veterinarians encourage it as an alternative to dog biscuits especially if the dog is overweight.

I've never heard anything about watermelon being bad for dogs.

Great info--thanks!!!

is bread thats already been baked ok? like the kind you buy from the grocery store? and what about raw meat?

Great thread!! I would like to add on about the chocolate. The darker the chocolate the greater the threat of poisoning due to the Theobromine in the chocolate.