As a dog owner, you might always wonder whether peanut butter is safe for your dog.
Most of us don’t think about it before giving it to our dog, but the thought haunts us from the very second we feed our dog peanut butter.
Usually, people hide medicines in peanut butter. This is because the dog will not see the medicine and is the easiest way to avoid rejection from your dog.
There is no doubt that peanut butter is full of nutrients that will help your dog. But, just like everything else that is good, there is a catch.
And what’s that you ask? We say, keep reading!
Can Dogs Eat Peanut Butter?
The answer is… Drumrolls.
…Yes!
We, human beings, love peanut butter and use it as a part of our diet. Likewise, we can also serve peanut butter to our dogs.
Peanut butter is a delicious food that contains all the essential nutrients like vitamins, proteins, minerals, fat, and antioxidants.
We know any food that contains fat is not that great for your dog. But the fat content here is good fat, and it is essential for your dog. It also helps in reducing the bad fat content in the body as well. So it’s a Win-Win in this case!
There are some issues that we, as responsible dog owners, need to check. We’ll discuss that later in this post.
For now, it is okay if you have given a spoonful of this delicious food to your dog.
Benefits of Eating Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is a complete package of essential nutrition for both the human’s and dog’s body.
As we mentioned already, any nutrient you want as a part of your dog’s diet can be found in this tasty food.
Apart from having good fat, vitamins, proteins, and other necessary stuff, there is also a decent amount of good cholesterol.
This high-density good cholesterol can be useful in dealing with low-density cholesterol or lipoprotein.
The fats in the peanut butter are also known to mask the bacteria and microbes present in the dog’s mouth. This will help us to fight the bad breath when your dog wants to show you some love.
The sugar content in the peanut can be easily metabolized as the sugar that is used is safe.
Be sure to check for the presence of diabetes in your dog before giving him lots of peanut butter along with the diet.
One tablespoon of the peanut butter is recommended by the professionals as a safe dose for the dogs.
Over-consumption is not something we want here as the complications may not be that desirable.
Watch Out for Allergies
Some unlucky dogs might be allergic to peanut butter.
It is important to know this in advance if you don’t want your dog to suffer.
In most cases, these allergies are caused by the allergens present in the peanut.
Is your dog losing its body hair while scratching and biting? Is there a discharge coming from its ears? Are these happening after you feed your dog with peanut butter?
If yes, then your dog might be allergic to it. In some cases, the dog might also develop skin rashes after you give your dog peanut butter.
If you see this side effects, consult your vet and ask if it is safe to give your friend some peanut butter.
Dangers of the Peanut Butter
Peanut butter is awesome. It tastes great; it makes a great treat for your dog. But it also comes with certain risks.
It has been coming to notice that peanut butter, though useful in many ways, might have some bad effects on your dogs.
1. One of these several complications is the allergy situation, which we have already discussed above.
2. The next thing we should be wary of is the presence of a content called Alfa-toxin. This can cause many ill effects.
The Alfa toxins are known to be very harmful to the body as these induce cancer in specific parts of the body. These most commonly affect the liver of animals and with the due course of time can lead to permanent dysfunction of the organ.
3. Besides the fact that the peanut butter contains major and important fatty acids like omega fatty acids, these have more Trans fats in them.
These Trans fats are more dangerous than the low-density lipoproteins.
Such Trans fats are generated during preparation of the peanut butter to increase their shelf life.
These are toxic and can lead to serious health implications some of them are even stand lethal for the dog. This toxic fat can cause heart diseases like heart attack, diabetes, and chronic liver inflammation also.
4. Lastly, the sugar content in the peanut butter gives it more of a dangerous label.
The sugar content in the peanut butter is very much higher.
These sugars are not only harmful as per the diabetic index is concerned but also can cause increased bacterial and microbial proliferation.
This is because these microbes dwell upon high amounts of these sugars.
5. Some of the peanut butter manufacturers are not putting Xylitol and other sugar substitutes in them.
It is hard for your dog to digest this and other sugar substitutes and might even cause gut cancer in the due course of time.
If you don’t control the dose of peanut butter, then you might see some oily stool which is unhealthy. In some cases, there might also be diarrhea.
Final Note
So to ensure the proper health of your dog, you must take care of all of these points regarding the peanut butter.
There are many brands that are available in the market nowadays. A little bit of research before you buy will help a great deal in preserving your dog’s health.
You can also prepare your own peanut butter which is even safer than the ones you can buy from outside.
Another little warning. Try not to feed your dog with the spoon. There are cases where dogs get too excited and swallow the entire spoon. This can lead to choking and might also damage the respiratory tract as well.
If you can follow the simple precautions above, then your dog can enjoy its daily share of peanut butter without facing any issues.
Featured photo credit: annahoychuk/depositphotos