Not long ago I posted a picture titled, “Why I don’t buy doggie treats.” It was a picture of an 88¢ package of hot dogs. Most of the responses I got were terrible. Two redditors told me “I hope you die.”
Really? For giving my dogs the occasional piece of hot dog as a treat? I wonder what you would think of me when I let my children eat a Hershey kiss.
Most of the comments went way overboard. Most of the comments were downright misleading and uninformed. (“You are killing your dogs”) How do I know this? Because I consulted my vet after I read the posts. The over-blown responses sounded more like PETA that reddit. My vet rolled his eyes and told me, “stop listening to stupid people on the internet.” He went on to explain that a steady and exclusive diet of fatty, salty processed foods can cause serious health problems, but treats are virtually insignificant. “Just like humans.” He said.
So I did a bit of research and found that the probability of a large dog getting pancreatitis from eating two grape-size pieces of hot dog every day for 5 years straight is less than 2% higher than a dog that eats specially formulated dog foods and nothing else. By comparison, a child that eats two Hershey kisses a day for 20 years has less than a 2% greater chance of contracting diabetes than if he ate nothing but healthy foods exclusively for 20 years.
The fact is, most dogs, especially large dogs can easily and safely digest these kinds of treats. Dogs have been human companions for at least 10,000 years, but food made specifically for dogs has only been around for a bit over 100 years. Even then, dog nutrition has only been studied and applied to dog food for about 50 years. What did people feed dogs for the first 9900 years? Scraps, fat, lard, stale bread, spoiled milk and rotten eggs, an overwhelmingly fatty diet.
Being a dog owner means giving your dog a good life. A good life means being flexible and reasonable, and not dictatorial or overly restrictive. When my 10 year old drops a chicken nugget, I’m not going to rush off to have my dog’s stomach pumped. In fact, I’m not going to worry about it at all. But I guarantee I won’t tell reddit about it – too many knee-jerk reactions by uninformed people.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/dhmx2v/stop_listening_to_stupid_people_on_the_internet/
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