Good Food And Good Exercise Make For A Healthy Dog

Owning a dog provides many benefits, but you only get out of them as much as you put into them. Good training, good shelter, good food, fresh water and regular exercise and a happy home are all that a dog needs to be content.

Just as the wrong foods can hurt the health of humans, the same goes for the health of dogs. There are some things that are quite dangerous to feed a dog. Make sure you know what those are to avoid harming them.

Feed your dog premium pet food and fresh meat and make sure you get out and take them for a walk or a run. This gives us a good excuse to get out ourselves and exercise as well. You could say that owning a dog actually keeps humans healthier. Certainly a well-trained and healthy dog keeps us a lot happier.

Many people are unaware that some foods that we eat on a regualr basis can be deadly to your dog.

For example: a piece of chocolate can cause seizures, coma and death. Even a small piece of chocolate is dangerous. Anything containing caffeine can have a similar effect and be as dangerous as chocolate, and that includes coffee grounds, tea and tea bags.

Grapes and raisins can cause kidney failure and even a single serving of raisins can kill your dog.

Excessive salt intake can also cause kidney problems.

Onions can cause anemia by destroying red blood cells while tomatoes can cause tremors and heart arrhythmias.

Tomato plants are particularly toxic to dogs.

Avacadoes are also highly toxic and can cause breathing difficulty and fluid accumulation around the abdomen, chest and heart.

When giving your dog bones ensure that they are raw as cooked bones can splinter and damage their internal organs.

Excessive fat can cause pancreatitis, so it is not wise to feed your dog a diet of fatty foods.

Fried foods also fall into this category and are not good to retain maximum health in your dog.

Certain nuts, such as Macadamia nuts and walnuts can cause weakness and muscle tremors.

Peanut butter however is generally okay provided you use the salt and sugar free peanut butter as sugar can encourage cancer growth.

The core and pits of fruits such as Apple's cherries and peaches contain cyanide, which is poisonous to dogs and can kill them within 24-hours without warning.

If in doubt, always refrain from feeding your dog foods that we are eating assuming that they will be okay.

What is safe for humans can kill your dog within hours.

So, do yourself and your dog a favor and don't feed them human food. As they always say, it is better to be safe than sorry and if you love your dog like I do, you do not want to lose them very soon. I have just recently experienced the unexpected loss of two pets and I am hopeful that it was nothing that I did that may have caused it. The loss of those two pets will stay with me for a very long time. They were my friends.