No, Your Healthy Cereals Are Not At All Healthy For Your Dog
As it is written above, you cannot give your crunchy chocolaty cereals to your pet. Period. The healthy cereals contain a chocolate ingredient which makes cereals sweet to taste. It doesn’t matter if you are enjoying some sweet crunchy meal with a dash of milk, your dog doesn’t need such fancy munching. No doubt, we find instant cereals nutritious and healthy, but as a responsible pet owner, you must be careful at picking the right meal choices for him. If you are in a dilemma whether you should give cereals to your dog or not, we bring some facts about the same. Keep reading this post and explore the options for your furry buddy. While all of us want only the best for our dogs, accidents like feeding your dog chocolate sometimes happen. That’s why it’s a good idea to have an insurance plan in place. You can find many affordable options over at Bivvy.com.
What’s good and what’s not?
If you think that your grains and plant-based cereals are as good for your pets as for you then you are wrong. Such materials are complex to process for your dogs. However, there are some options useful for their fiber content. For instance, plain oatmeal which is made with water and not milk can be helpful in treating digestive blockages or constipation in the dogs.
It’s like actually treating your dog as your baby and giving him cereal in somewhat smaller doses than you would ever give to a child. Even if you have the largest dog breed at home, this rule doesn’t change at all.
Cereals with chocolate ingredient and other additional flavours might be crunchy pieces but it is not at all healthy options for your dog. If any chance supposes your dog nibbles up cereal that’s fallen onto the floor at breakfast time, do check that it’s dry.
We prefer cereal and milk breakfast for ourselves and no doubt, dogs too enjoy this tasty treat, but they should avoid milk as much as possible.
No, we are not saying that milk is harmful to dogs, but these pooches find it hard to deal with milk when they get mature due to declining of their tolerance for dairy and lactose. In fact, cereal and milk as a meal will upset their stomach.
Plainer flavours of cereals are better for pets
Simple, non-flavoured cereals are more recommended for pet consumption than a brand of cereal coated with sugar and chocolate. And even if the cereals are plainer, take them as an occasional treat for your dogs and not the full meal. Remember that giving your dog anything includes chocolate as an ingredient, even if it is cereal, it can be deadly! These cereals should be used as a snack since giving an excess of grains to your pet may do more harm than good.
Dangers of giving cereals to dogs-
– Pieces of cereals can be a choking hazard for dogs
– Cereals in excess amount may cause constipation in dogs
– Chocolate cereals are poisonous for dogs
– Added sugar and flavoured cereals may affect digestive systems of the dog
– Sweet cereals may cause weight gain and make your dog obese
– Dogs may get diabetes with an overdose of chocolate-based cereals
– Too much sugar may cause tooth decay in dogs
Oatmeal Vs Cereal
There are several healthy breakfast foods that your furry buddy may enjoy more. Oatmeal is one of such foods that offers plenty of benefits to dogs other than treating constipation. It helps in reducing cholesterol and make your dog’s heart stronger.
Oatmeal over cereals are always a preferable and healthy option but you just cannot replace your regular dog food with it.
Why chocolate acts as toxic for dogs?
Chocolate has caffeine and theobromine which comes under the methylxanthines category. The darker the chocolates, the more toxic it is for dogs. White chocolates are less toxic due to the absence of cocoa.
When a dog eats chocolate, it can react and cause vomiting, dehydration, severe agitation, abdominal pains, irregular heartbeat, muscle tremors, fever, seizures, and death.
So, no chocolate and no chocolate flavoured cereals for your dog! Cereals are a superb breakfast option, but for humans. Experts never advise giving the cereals to your pets except as an occasional treat. Never give a bowl of milk and cereal too to your dog as pooches cannot handle dairy and lactose well and it may result in an upset tummy.
Diverse chocolate samples have unique theobromine levels.
Cooking, cocoa and dark chocolate include several significant levels, while milk and white chocolate have the most limited. If you are buying with any amount of bitter or dark chocolate, blunder on the side of caution. The big level of theobromine in dark chocolate indicates it needs just a very small volume to poison a dog. Not exactly an ounce of dark chocolate might be sufficient to harm a 44-pound dog.