Just about everyone is aware of how dangerous it is to feed a dog chocolate, but as it turns out there’s a plethora of dog poisons.  In fact poison and dogs are pretty close bedfellows. Here, compiled for your information and the public safety of canines everywhere, is a list of items okay for human consumption, but dangerously toxic for dogs.

First on the list is Caffeine. Caffeine is that helpful compound that keeps you from killing your fellow employees in the morning. However, in your panting pet partner, caffeine is all kinds of deadly. This means that giving a dog chocolate, coffee, many soft drinks, and a lot of different teas is off limits. The precise reason for caffeine’s status as a dog poison is methylxanthines.

Methylxanthines are molecules contained in caffeine that cause all sorts of caustic complications in your pets. If this particular dog poison enters your canine’s system then prepare to take a trip to the vet, or at least make a call to poison control. The effects of this molecule on animals include: vomiting, diarrhea, panting, major thirst, and abnormally frequent urination, hyperactivity, irregular heart rhythm, trembles, seizures and in the worst cases expiration.

Another dog poison that shouldn’t come as a surprise to the seasoned pet owner is alcohol. Alcohol isn’t exactly good for people, (though excessive consumption does occasionally have a well-known side effect of making you an awesome dancer) so it should come as no surprise that it is absolutely terrible for dogs. Also unsurprisingly, just as people are inexorably drawn to booze, dogs love it too. The rest of the items on the list are a little less obvious. Raisons, grapes, yeast dough, avocados, chives, onion, garlic, milk, salt, raw meat, eggs, the sweetener xylitol, chicken bones, and macadamia nuts all have a serious impact on an unsuspecting canine that consumes them.  It’s a dog’s life, eh? That’s quite a number of allergies to keep up with. Best keep to dry food for the time being.  

Here’s a quick breakdown of some other dog poisons:

Avocados give you a healthy dose of monounsaturated fats, but give one to a dog and you’ll be dealing with leakage from both ends. Macadamia nuts are awesome in cookies, but are known to cause hyperthermia, weakness, depression, vomiting, and trembling in dogs. Grapes/raisons will cause kidney failure. Yeast dough will expand in a dog’s stomach and cause serious complications. Salmonella and E. coli can get to a dog just like a human, so avoid raw meat and eggs yolks. Chicken bones will splinter into shards and cut a pup up from the inside. Xylitol leads to liver failure due to insulin release. Onions, garlic, and chives will hurt red blood cells. Milk is terrible for digestion. And a ton of salt is just as poisonous to dogs as it is to human.

So remember to keep these foodstuffs safely out of reach from your dog, and tune in next time for more helpful pet tips!