Canine Pancreatitis–Do You Feed Your Dog Table Scraps?
by Evan Davis, Admin
Filed under Dog Health, Dog Nutrition
Pancreatitis in dogs is a serious issue but one that can be avoided with proper nutrition and diet. So, do you feed your dog table scraps? If so, depending on the quality of the scraps, you may be setting your dog up for serious illness.
So, what exactly is canine pancreatitis and how do you identify it in your dog or puppy? Well, the job of the pancreas is to make digestive enzymes–chemicals whose job is to assist in breaking down food for digestion. Pancreatitis is a severe inflammation of the pancreas, and yes, if severe enough can kill your pet.
To truly take charge of your dog’s diet, you may be interested in learning about homemade dog food. I recommend the Dogtalknation.com book, Homemade Healthy Dog Food Recipes, which ships with free software.
What do table scraps have to do with pancreatitis? A diet of low quality scraps can lead to this condition. The scraps from a meal made from pre-trimmed, pre-battered, pre-buttered, pre-cooked, and pre-packaged foods consists of only bits and pieces which are either inedible and generally unwanted by humans. Such a diet of scraps is not balanced and provides only inadequate nutrition, if any at all.
Symptoms of pancreatits may be your dog suddenly vomiting, dehydration, lethargy, and/or diarrhea. These symptoms also belong to many other diseases, but if you suspect pancreatitis, take your dog to a vet immediately. Generally, high amounts of fat, high-fat meal, and the dog feeding out of the garbage can lead to canine pancreatitis. Ingestion of pesticides can also manifest as pancreatitis.
When wondering whether or not to feed your dog table scraps, ask yourself what you would do with the scraps otherwise. Would you throw them in the garbage or eat them yourself? If you would throw them in the garbage, don’t feed them to your dog. This is a good rule of thumb–if you won’t eat it yourself, don’t feed it to your dog.
Most table scraps are fats and carbohydrates, providing a plethora of low quality calories and little else. As a consequence, the dog obtains a sizable portion of its daily caloric need from the useless scraps and loses his appetite entirely for the commercial food. By refusing to put table scraps on the food, you may feel that you are leaving your dog with unpalatable dog food. This is not true if you are feeding your dog a good quality dog food for such a food will have balanced nutrition.
If you feel you must feed your dog something extra from the table, then save some of the good portions of meal, such as rice, potatos, or meat. Add just a tiny bit to the dog food and blend it well. Remember, just a tiny bit of good quality table food (not scraps, as such). The effect of this is to enhance the aromatic quality of the food, and this, in turn will heighten the dog’s sense of taste. If you want learn how to avoid nutritional pit falls such as canine pancreatitis through home cooked meals, then you may want to learn how to prepare healthy dog food using fresh, natural ingredients.
Discover everything you need to know about your dog’s health with the guide we recommend for solving and understanding dog health needs.
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