We all know that bread is an easy and a regular item in our (humans’) diet. You might think that bread should be okay to share with dogs. Can dogs eat bread? The answer depends on various factors.
Bread was one of the earliest food items in the world to be made in history. It is a staple diet in many countries for dinner, lunch, and breakfast.
However, not every food that a human consumes is good for a dog – even an item seemingly as innocent as a bread. Now, can dogs eat bread? Let us find out.
Bread is easily buyable from shops due to its easy availability. There are many food items that are healthy for humans and not for dogs. Your dog can still be better off without having bread at all.
Dogs are inclined to crave foods that humans eat, but these food items may not necessarily be included with a dog’s diet. Let yourself not be surprised by the fact that your dog is eating leftover pieces of bread.
Better use of time would be to get information on whether bread gives any health advantages to your dog and whether it is safe for your dog. Let us dive deeper to find the answer to “Can dogs eat bread?”
Table of Contents
Can Dogs Eat Bread?
Without any lying, it would be okay to say that dogs can eat bread. Still, giving dogs bread in limits is the key to a dog’s good health.
Bread is not a poisonous item for dogs, but you should be very careful about the type of bread that you must feed the pooch.
When you partake a piece of the sandwich with your pooch, you must keep in mind the amount you feed because here, moderation is the requirement.
If you are sure that your pooch is devoid of allergies to the ingredients in the bread, then you should be safe in making bread a part of the entire diet of your dog.
The fact that you are feeding your dog a tranquil and an appropriate diet, you can safely regard bread as safe for the pooch.
However, as a responsible dog owner, you must keep in mind that bread does not consist of any nutrients that enhance the dog’s health. A non-herbivorous creature like a pooch can manage well without being fed with person food like bread.
Thus, it turns out that bread is only good for being fashionable and induces a feeling of sharing between the owner and the pooch.
Can Dogs Eat Bread and Still be Safe?
Before giving food to your dog, there are some things that you should ensure as caution. Keep in mind that the primary ingredient in all bread usually is wheat if stated otherwise.
Bread would do damage to your dog if you feed him bread when he has an allergy to it. The type of bread you feed does not matter to the dog. What you should keep in mind however, is that the proportion of bread must not be above 5% in his diet.
Bread that is very low in sugar should be preferred at all times. Your dog can quickly gain a lot of weight if his diet contains bread because bread is filled with lots of carbohydrates.
You may find that bread is not poisonous in nature but feeding bread often is when you need to be careful the most.
With What Risks Can Dogs Eat Bread?
The water and flour in the bread dough are not the culprits of the dog’s harm. The yeast present in bread dough makes bread dough a food hazard for dogs. Yeast is one of the most crucial components involved in making bread.
The process that takes place after the dog eats bread dough is simple. The yeast inside the dough makes the dough rise inside the dog’s stomach. This results in the swelling of the stomach.
Very high amounts of ethanol are formed that are poisonous, which ultimately pervade the dog’s bloodstream.
The dough when expands, causes the build-up of pressure inside the stomach of the dog. This causes bloating. Another more serious condition that can arise when the dough is ingested is alcohol toxicosis.
The nervous system of the dog gets depressed, drunkenness can occur, seizures can occur and weakness can occur because of. In severe cases, the dog can get into a state coma.
Can dogs eat bread that contains raisins, nuts, or fruits? Dogs should not eat these types of bread. The bread varieties that contain these artificial preservatives are used to improve shelf-life, color, nutrition, flavor, and texture.
An ingredient called Xylitol is very dangerous to dogs. If this exists in your dog’s bread, keep in mind that it can cause many health issues.
Can dogs eat bread that contains resins? No, raisins have an extremely poisonous nature. Kidney failure can occur if your dog consumes raisins. In certain cases, death can occur.
Raisin bread should especially be not given. The portion of bread without raisins can still be injurious to your dog’s health.
Humans are very fond of bread that include seeds and nuts as ingredients because they bring lots of health benefits. It would be a mistake to feed your dog such a flavored bread. Stomach uneasiness and pancreatitis can result from feeding nutty bread to your dog.
Avoid macadamia nut bread to be given to dogs because they are especially the most harmful. The preservatives and man-made sweeteners should be completely prohibited for dogs.
Can dogs eat bread made of banana? Not only bread made of banana but bread containing garlic as well as onion should never be given to dogs. The reason for this is that bread made of garlic or onion harm the red blood cells of the dog.
Banana bread many a time have chocolate chips as an ingredient, which is highly poisonous for a dog. So, these bread are to be totally neglected.
Stale bread should not be fed to your dog because it contains mold that is harmful to your dog. Mold is poisonous in nature for dogs too and so, bread’s crust should be kept away from them.
Can Dogs Eat Bread That is Gluten-free?
Do not feed your dog gluten if he has an allergy to wheat. In dogs who do not have a wheat allergy, gluten is not harmful to them if given.
Gluten should be given to dogs without wheat allergy because gluten is a rich source of fiber, energy, and other crucial nutrients. Without specific health concerns, grains such as wheat are beneficial if they are a part of your dog’s daily diet.
Bread without grains can still be given even if your dog has an allergy. The allergy arising from animal proteins is a common one. Only if the source of the allergy is grain, you should not rule out soya, dairy, eggs, and beef.
If you catch grain as the culprit of allergy, then you should definitely, but only remove wheat from the diet. Rice, maize, and oats are very nutritious and important for a dog – they should be avoided as a last resort.
Can Dogs Eat Bread During an Upset Stomach?
Have you come across people saying that bread is good for a dog’s upset stomach? This may not always be true, but what you should do according to Merck Veterinary Manual is to feed a tasteless diet of boiled chicken and rice.
A better way of dealing with the issue would be to call your expert veterinary professional doctor for advice and solution.
Keep in mind that like any small portion of a meal, your dog’s bread contains some amount of calories. You should contact your vet if you observe your dog be overweight. He or she will curate a plan to maintain the activity, happiness, and health of your dog.
Bread itself is a bakery item that is big in calories and has a high glycemic index. Hence, feed your pooch little portions of bread at a time so that he does not suffer obesity in the future, especially diabetes.
Can Dogs Eat Bread for Health Benefits?
In case your pooch swallows a sharp item such as shards of pork and beef, bread may be useful here. These bone shards are dangerous for your dog and should be avoided carefully.
To protect shards of bone or chips of wood from hurting your dog’s insides, the bread acts as a cushion. This property of bread also helps your dog in avoiding intestinal perforation.
In severe cases when your dog is observed to undergo diarrhea, vomiting, or other painful condition, then you should immediately consult the vet instead of feeding him bread.
If your dog has difficulty in bowel movement or is suffering any other bowel difficulty, you can ask your vet to include grain-based bread such as whole wheat bread in your dog’s diet because it is rich in fiber.
Another important question to discuss is, “Can dogs eat bread that is plain-white?”. Under these circumstances, feeding your dog French bread or plain-white bread is not recommended, since they contain low nutritional value.
This bread being a supplement is not a must if your dog is already on a balanced and nutritional diet that is also high-quality.
How can dogs eat a bread-rich diet successfully? Well, when you bake treats for your pooch, you should ensure that it is devoid of salt, sugar, and any other preservative.
Be cautious about the ingredients present in your dog’s diet. Ensure that the ingredients in the diet are high-quality.
Can Dogs Eat Bread That Has Yeast?
You would be knowing about the skin infection caused by yeast on the dog’s skin. This yeast is different from the yeast present in food items such as bread.
There is hardly any link between your dog’s skin infection due to yeast and his eating yeast itself. Brewer’s yeast is a common part of a human’s diet. When beer is fermented, an inactive and dry yeast is formed that is rich in vitamin B.
This yeast enhances the nervous system, metabolism, and digestion. It also maintains your dog’s liver, mouth, eyes, hair, and skin in a healthy condition. To get all the benefits of protein, yeast is fed to dogs because yeast comprises of all the crucial amino acids.
With What Safety Precautions Can Dogs Eat Bread?
When you are deciding to give your dog human food, you should keep in mind that bread is definitely not the healthiest option. However, you can still consider feeding bread as it is not so bad either.
While talking about treats, it should be noted that just like any other treat, bread should be contained not more than 10% in your dog’s regular diet. Especially pay close watch on the calorie quantity that you feed.
We have listed some of the tips on how to safely give bread to your pooch:
- Feed your dog occasionally and not frequently.
- If you decide to give bread to your dog, give him only a wheat bread or plain white bread.
- If you are feeding bread in the form of sandwich, then double-check the other ingredients to ensure that they are all safe for your dog. Only after confirming that everything is okay should you go ahead with feeding bread as a sandwich.
- Avoid feeding your dog with bread dough ever in his lifetime because it reacts inside his stomach and can result in bloating and other severe side-effects.
- Always look at the labels of food products to ensure that they do not contain xylitol or such different ingredients that can cause difficulty for your dog.
Even though bread is considered safe for dogs in almost all cases, we do not have significant evidence pointing to why it should be regarded as a significant portion of the dog’s diet. Honestly, bread crusts do not hurt the dog if given sometimes but treats such as veggies are better due to their high nutritional content.
Here was our guide to help you decide on giving bread to your dog.
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