Foods That Can Cause Your Dog To Have Seizures

I believe that commercial dog food is a culprit for many illnesses in a dog, and that it contributed to or may even have caused my dog’s seizures. The reason I came to that conclusion is that Cory’s seizures gradually were reduced once we stopped feeding him kibble and canned dog food, until they stopped completely over 5 years ago, without ever putting him on anti-epileptic drugs. Were you even aware that there are other foods that can also cause seizures in dogs and harm your dog’s overall health? There are a few of these that really took me by surprise.

* Chocolate Foods. Almost everyone knows that chocolate can cause seizures and even death in a dog. My dog, Cory, ate some of my son’s chocolate candy from Halloween. By the time Jayson had discovered him, Cory had his head deep inside the bowl of chocolate candy bars, tail just wagging back and forth, as he had already eaten quite a bit of it before his discovery. My son contacted the poison control center and was told to get Cory to drink some Hydrogen Peroxide. This caused Cory to throw up. Lucky for us, I had a bottle of the stuff in the first aid cupboard! Of course, Jayson led Cory outside for this part, as it was sure to be messy. Fortunately, Jayson found out about the incident quickly enough to ensure that no harm was done. If you think your dog has gotten into some chocolate, and you do not know how much time has passed, you should contact a vet right away. If you do indeed, catch your dog in the act of eating chocolate, you should use the Hydrogen Peroxide treatment. Keep in mind that milk chocolate will do less harm to your dog than will dark chocolate.

* Onions or Products Containing Onion Powder. Onions have disulfides and sulfoxides in them that can lead to the destruction of red blood cells, which makes dogs anemic.

* Raw Fish is off limits. Especially here in the Pacific Northwest, salmon and other fish often carry a fluke which in turn carries a bacteria which can cause seizures and death if consumed raw. The danger is completely eliminated if you cook the fish first, although you have to be careful to get all the bones out of the cooked fish before allowing your dog to eat it. I’ve been told that freezing the fish at a certain temperature will also kill the fluke & eliminate the problem, but I’m not enough of a scientist to know what that temperature is or how long the fish would need to be frozen in order to be comfortable feeding raw fish to my dog.

* Foods Containing Nutmeg Of course, not many people would ever think to put nutmeg on their dog’s food, but it can lead to seizures, trembling, and even death. Just don’t share any of your cookies containing nutmeg with your pooch and you should be OK with this one.

* Foods Containing Mushrooms Certain mushrooms have poisons that might lead to issues for dogs. This is particularly true for wild mushrooms. Because I have this knowledge, I know to keep Cory away from the mushrooms when we go on our walks. The “Leave It” command is among the first commands your dog should learn.

* Food Made for Cats Poor Cory, he loves to lick the plate clean after our kitty’s done eating, and now that I found out about this one, he won’t be able to anymore. It turns out that cat food is too high in protein and fats for dogs to eat. OK, maybe he can still lick the kitty’s plate, but don’t substitute cat food as meal for your pup.

* Seeds of Apples Apple seeds and other pits from fruit contain the poison cyanide, which can cause seizures.

* Raisins and Grapes There is conflicting information regarding raisins and grapes because when I discovered that these foods can lead to kidney failure in dogs, I was actually using a dog training manual that said to feed dogs raisins as treats. I called the person who wrote the training manual to discuss this and she dismissed my issues because she said she has fed her dogs raisins for as long as she has been training them. All I can say is be aware of the risks and do more research before giving grapes or raisins to your dog.

* Egg whites. feeding your dog the entire egg is not a problem, the issue comes with the splitting of the whites and the yolk, the whites of an egg contain a protein named avidin, and it actually depletes your dog’s body of the essential B vitamins. The yoke seems to have an element that counteracts the avidin protein in the whites, so if an egg is eaten whole, the depletion of vitamin B is no longer an issue.