Donna's Healthy Living Tips

I am often surprised that there are still dog owners out there who don’t realize that chocolate is poisonous to their friend.  So allow me to add a few others you may not realize could be life-threatening to your favorite furry friend.

Onions, grapes/raisins, chocolate, avocados: These are all poisonous to dogs.  On avocadoes it is the skin and pit.  The pits on many fruits are poisonous to both humans and animals so make sure you compost them and keep the compost bin inaccessible to your furry friends (ours is outside out gate, my sister Elaine put fencing around hers to keep her dogs out). 

By the way, if your dog does ingest one of the above (and quantity that may harm depends on the size of your dog and how much they ingest) you can make them vomit it up (if it hasn’t been too long…check with your veterinarian or local animal emergency clinic to decide).  Pour peroxide down their throat (yep, it is as fun as it sounds) and it will foam and make them vomit.  You may need to repeat a few times to get all of the material out of their tummies.  I guarantee this won’t be fun for either of you and you may want to do this on a floor that is easily cleanable.  We have had the pleasure of doing this three times for Jewel.

Time #1: Jewel was probably a couple years old and Keith brought home these great, huge, fudgey brownies to share with me.  We got distracted by something and Jewel snatched them off the table.  When we discovered it we called animal emergency (of course she did this after 10 PM, our animals have a knack for having emergencies when we are thinking about going to bed).  Animal emergency told us about the peroxide and how to do it.  After two rounds we felt we had gotten the chocolate out of her.

Time #2: Fast forward a few years and I had made some lovely brownies with mints in some and Reese’s Cups in others.  I wrapped a couple samples in plastic wrap to share with my sisters and set them on top of the microwave (about 4 feet off the floor).  I went into the other room to the garbage (Jewel and Fari both are not above trash picking…they must be their Grandpa Sink’s genes…and we keep the garbage behind a secured door.) and when I returned about 10 seconds later Jewel looked guilty. 

I looked around to see what she had done and discovered the missing brownies.  After a round or two of peroxide we got two still-wrapped packages of brownies.  Keith declined my offer to sample the warm, chocolate goodness.

Time #3: A couple years ago we were having a birthday party for my step-daughter, Alyssa.  I had baked an organic chocolate cake which was awaiting frosting in the microwave (that is our favorite dog-free storage container because she hasn’t figured out how to open it).  I had gone into Quest when I got a frantic call from Alyssa saying that she had pulled the cake out to use the microwave and forgot to put it back in.  Jewel had eaten the entire cake. 

We got out the peroxide only to discover that I only had about a half bottle in the house.  We used that and I ran to the drugstore for more (always keep a couple bottles on hand…it doesn’t go bad).  After using the better part of another bottle, Jewel still hadn’t vomited (although Alyssa and I had peroxide all over us!).  I concluded that she had figured out how to use her tongue to keep from swallowing the peroxide.  We ended up taking her to the animal emergency clinic where they put a pill under the lid of her eye that induced vomiting.  Amazing!  Alyssa got a store-bought cake that year (vanilla) and the rest of her party went off without a hitch.

We keep any chocolate in the house out of reach of Jewel.  Even my baking cocoa is kept in the refrigerator.  Our snacking chocolate (because of all those good antioxidants) is kept in the freezer (we eat smaller portions when it is frozen too!) and baked goods are kept in the microwave or we wrap them into individual portions and freeze them.

Donna Copeland is an Independent Shaklee Distributer and lover of furry friends.  Her dog, Jewel, takes Shaklee’s Joint Health Complex and OmegaGuard (Omega 3 Fatty Acids).  Her cat, Fari, takes the same however he enjoys his OmegaGuard opened so he can lick up the yummy oils.  Find out more at http://www.Shaklee.net/DonnaCopeland