We’re all guilty of sneaking our dogs table scraps. It’s impossible not to experience at least one moment of weakness when we see their big, brown eyes pleading with us to spare a small nibble. Most of us usually end up slipping them a little bit of whatever meat we might be having at the time. But sometimes we might not always be eating a carnivorous diet, and so our dogs might get some other little bits of food. For the most part, we all know what foods should absolutely be avoided, but every so often there are one or two food items that make us stop and question, is this okay for my dog to eat?
Most of us probably know that cucumbers are harmless to dogs in a raw state. But what about when they’re pickled? Raw cucumbers actually do possess some nutritional value that can be of benefit to your dog, such as potassium and magnesium, as well as vitamins C and B – like biotin. Pickles are actually okay for your dog to eat as well, but they hold no nutritional value and they’re usually high in sodium levels. Slipping your dog a little bit of pickle with that sneaky bit of hamburger is totally fine, but it shouldn’t become a habit that they regularly ingest pickles with all that extra and unnecessary sodium.
Besides just the extra sodium, the way pickles are made means that your dog might be getting other spices and ingredients that could potentially lead to their stomachs becoming upset. Pickles are often made with onions and vinegar, both of which can lead to irritated stomachs in dogs – not to mention extra sodium that is unnecessary. Pickles are also made with dill, an herb that makes upset tummies feel better, but it’s a really bad idea just to feed them pickles because of the dill. It’s better to just be safe and avoid deliberately feeding them pickles. While they may be tasty to us, they don’t offer any nutritional value to our dogs. That is why it’s better to just pick them out of any human food that we might be sneaking our pups as a treat – especially if the pickles are accompanied by onions.
