Can human food be substituted for pet food when feeding a dog? Yes, but with a few key exceptions. Check out this list to see which goodies aren’t okay to share.
When attempting to ignore your dog’s beseeching look and wondering, “What human food can my dog not eat?” be sure to refer to this list! While you can give your dog some human food, other foods can be extremely harmful to animals. Several of the most popular foods that can be harmful to animals are highlighted in the list below.
This is not a comprehensive list; before deciding to feed your pet food made for humans, you should talk to your pet’s doctor or a board-certified veterinary nutritionist.
For your pet, the following foods may be harmful:
- Alcoholic drinks
- Apple seeds
- Cherries’ pits
- Avocados
- Cherry stones
- Candy (especially chocolate, which is poisonous to dogs, cats, and ferrets, as well as any sweets containing the poisonous ingredient Xylitol)
- Chives
- Coffee (grounds, beans, and chocolate-covered espresso beans) (grounds, beans, and chocolate-covered espresso beans)
- Garlic
- Grapes
- Gum (may create blockages and sugar-free gums may include the poisonous sweetener Xylitol) (can cause blockages and sugar-free gums may contain the toxic sweetener Xylitol)
- Hops (used in home beer brewing) (used in home beer brewing)
- Macadamia nuts
- Rotten food
- Fungus plants
- Mustard seeds
- Onions, onion flakes, onion powder
- Peach pits
- Potato stems and leaves (green parts)
- Raisins
- Leaves of rhubarb
- Salt
- Tea (because it contains caffeine) (because it contains caffeine)
- stems and leaves of a tomato (green parts)
- Walnuts
- Xylitol (artificial sweetener that is hazardous to pets) (artificial sweetener that is toxic to pets)
- Wheat dough
