Bacon Grease
 

Did you guys know this? Because I didn't and I paid dearly for it.

My wife likes to mix bacon grease with our dog's food on Sat. mornings after our "big family breakfast".

Anyway, apparently, she gave him too much and he almost died. Our dog was diagnosed with pancreatitis, almost died and spent five days in the doggy hospital. He is recovering now, but still has no appetite. We keep trying to get him to eat, but he won't. Hopefully, that will end soon.

From what the vet said, because of domestication, dogs cannot process high levels of fat. And, guess what is in bacon grease? yup, huge levels of fat.

I learned an expensive lesson and thought I would pass this on. I had only heard that bacon grease was good for a dog's coat, I had never heard it could be deadly.

Other than chocolate, any tips you want to pass on that some of us might be unaware of (regardless of species)?

Oh that's horrible. I knew about chocolate, but not the fat one.

I'm glad he is ok at least.

Glad he's doing fine.

But just out of curiousity, Why would you give your dog bacon grease?

Good that your dog is ok, but I never heard that feeding a dog fat was a good idea.

I never heard that!!! My mother did that all the time with our dog when I was growing up and he lived to a ripe old age.

Glad to hear your doggie is trying to recover :)

As I recall, aspirin is toxic to cats and ibuprofin is toxic to both dogs and cats.

Oh, edit to add:

not exactly "medicine", but antifreeze (ethylene glycol) is toxic to people AND animals....but it TASTES sweet.

That's the big danger to pets and kids, is that it tastes good.

So always rinse down antifreeze spills and make sure containers are up out of the way.

I didn't, the wife did.

Her parents did it, so she did as well. Plus, the dog loved it. She was told it was good for their coat.

Hell, I used to give the dog leftover scraps from steak night and that included a lot of fat.

No more people food for any dog in our family (immediate and otherwise).

I predict the dog will go on strike soon and later enlist the help of the cat (who likes to steal food from the dog--since his must be better than her's).

I had heard that too. Suprisingly, some people medication is o.k. for animals.

We have to give our dog Pepcid twice a day for a little while. Apparently, Pepto works too.

onions are toxic to cats....

glad that your dog is recovering.... i had pancreatitis twice a few years ago and it wasn't fun at all... took like 2 weeks to regain a reasonable appetite.

I've heard that onions and chocolate are bad for dogs but never fat.

/scribbles note to buy onions at the store tonight
//hates cats
///anyone remember my thread about my cat pissing on my computer monitor and frying it?
////needs help....slash-aholic

Eggs are good for a dogs coat as well.

Since people are giving tips on animals, I will throw one it that i just learned recently. If your dog ever gets ahold of a bottle of pills and eats them all, give him polysporne (That stuff for cuts) it makes dogs puke and helps get some of it out of him.

I think people should'nt feed any table scraps or foods humans eat. You just don't know how your dog will react to it. And yeah chocolate is the worse thing you could give your dog, that's like poison for them.

When the girlfriend and i got our puppy, in addition to Chocolate and Onions, the vet said that Citrus fruits and grapes were also really bad for them.

ratbastid's Great Aunt Ruth had a series of fat little dogs all named Daisy Mae that she fed steak and bacon for breakfast every morning. And she wondered why her Daisy Maes all died after 2-3 years....

At Christmas, my brother's very solid, not exactly petite English Bulldog raided a one pound box of Godiva Chocolates while he and his wife were out. They called the vet's emergency hotline when they got home, and were told that that amount of chocolate could kill the dog (this is a big, solid dog) They were instructed to feed the dog a diluted hydrogen peroxide solution which made the dog vomit, she felt like crap the next day I'd imagine, but at least she lived to feel like crap.

Something I found interesting relating to chocolate and dogs:

The effect of chocolate on a dog is cumulative. Their bodies cannot get rid of the poison, so every little bit of chocolate they ingest builds up in their system until it becomes fatal.

Even over a period of years.

Some dogs are not as affected by chocolate though. If memory serves correctly, chihuahuas are pretty close to immune to chocolate.

It's worth noting that things like lard, chocolate, onions, etc, can be bad for dogs, but it's not strictly speaking a poison to them. It's more like an allergic reaction to certain things, and just like people some dogs suffer worse from it than others.

I've had more than one dog that was given lard to improve their coats, and they lived to a ripe old age. My mother's wretched little Shitzu is a genius at finding her chocolate stash, and that obnoxious thing is still alive. Basically, you don't need to ban poor old Fido from eating table scraps, just spoil them in moderation and watch for any adverse reaction.

A quick google brought up this list, that has a bunch of plants on it ...

http://www.co.clackamas.or.us/dc/poisons.htm

Interesting that nuts are harmful to dogs. We had a dog when I was a kid, and whenever it needed to take a pill, my mom would put the pill in peanut butter.

Funny, I've heard of a different use for peanut butter with dogs.....

but I digress.

Here is another article on how chocolate is poisonous for a dog. It also includes a few other things (including onions)

LINKY

My dog is on the drakers diet now.

Oh my, this made me remember what we did as bored kids for entertainment many years ago. We had a Great Dane, so we'd make a piece of toast and spread the top of it with about a half inch of peanut butter, then offer it to the dog. When the dog opened his mouth to take it, we'd smush the toast up on the roof of his mouth. Juvenile hilarity would follow as we laughed our asses off at the sight of the dog spending the next 10 minutes trying to lick the stuck-on toast that we'd glues to his palate with peanut butter.

Now before anyone tells me what a horrible, mean thing that was to do, I agree it probably was. Kids do dumb things. That being said, the dog loved the peanut butter and I suspect he would have thought it was worth the inconvinience to get his favorite treat. He didn't die from it either! :D

High serum levels of triglycerides can cause pancreatitis in humans as well. I don't know if is the same mechanism as in dogs, but I would guess that it is. Most fats are triglycerides (the rest is cholesterol). Your blood levels of triglycerides are a function of your genetics and your diet. Dogs can eat food cooked in a small amount of bacon grease (which gives great flavor even in small amounts) but it is as bad for them as it is for us to eat in by the spoonful.

Thanks for the forewarning. I don't have a dog, but I have a cat that would almost eat anything and I suppose that includes bacon grease. I'll keep it away from him next time I make some bacon.

Thanks for sharing your lesson with us.

I don't know about peanut butter because we have a little rubber toy with a hollow inside that you are supposed to fill up with peanut butter and the dog spends a few hours trying to get it out. Good for keeping the dog busy and quiet when you have to go out. I imagine they wouldn't sell the things if peanut butter was so dangerous.

Man, that's scary. I suppose as a general rule it's probably not a good idea to feed our dogs any people food.

It's hard to resist though.

I like to give my doggie eggs, chicken bones (actually any bones) and salmon skin. I occasionally dribble a little bacon fat over her food. Right now I am giving her salmon oil in her food.

I would think common sense wise, moderation would be ok, but does anyone know definitively what's ok or not ok? I've given my dog fruit too like plums and grapes to no ill effect. The eggs are 2-3 times a week, fried over easy in olive oil. And the bones are 2-3 times a week (supervised).

In some rural areas bacon grease is used to poison/kill dogs. A person would get rid of a pesky neighbor's dog by saturating an everyday kitchen sponge in bacon grease and then tossing it to the offending dog. The combination of bacon grease and the expanding sponge would effectively kill the dog. :|

A small amount of olive oil added to a dog's food will help with digestion and improve the appearance of its coat.

KMA--glad to hear your dog is on the road to recovery.

How much bacon grease was it by the way?

Oh, I think we should have a Pets Board...

Chicken bones are very dangerous to give to animals.

The explaination from the Link above

Any type of bird bones can be very dangerous to dogs The hollow bones of poultry tend to break into slivers that can cause a lot of damage to the mouth, and can perforate the stomach or intestines when swallowed.

One of my family's dogs died from eating chicken bones. It would have been really upsetting if it weren't for the fact that the dog wasn't actually supposed to be digging under the henhouse fence and eating our laying hens.
:rolleyes:

Edit: Maleficent hit "post" first, jinx!! ;)

Anything with a lot of Omega 3 fatty acids will improve a dog's coat and many veterinarians recommend using this in cases of dandruff or itchy coats. Bacon grease is an excellent source of both Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids... but comes with potentially fatal levels of fat, as you found out. A good replacement is fish oil which you can buy in either liquid or capsule form.

When I worked for a veterinarian, he always recommended Lipiderm Healthy Skin and Coat Capsules which can be purchased at your local PETsMART.

Hope your dog recovers quickly!

I had a pug with an insatiable appetite. While at his 1 year check up, the vet told us that he had fat building up in his chest. Apparently, pugs do not get fat "outward", but rather, they build up fat deposits that puts pressure on their chests and hearts.

And oh, we put him on a diet and he's still kicking apparently, according to my ex

hope the dog recover's well..

i also heard potatoes are not healthy for dogs aswell ..
anyone know about this?

and by extension - raisins.....

http://urbanlegends.about.com/gi/dyn...agename=grapes

"When medical care was sought, blood chemistry panels showed consistent patterns. Hypercalcemia (elevated blood calcium levels) was frequently present, as well as elevated levels of blood urea nitrogen, creatinine and phosphorous (substances that reflect kidney function). These chemistries began to increase anywhere from 24 hours to several days after the dogs ate the fruit. As the kidney damage developed, the dogs would produce little urine. When they could no longer produce urine, death occurred. In some cases, dogs who received timely veterinary care still had to be euthanized."

Re: fish oil, some cats are (no fooling) actually allergic to fish. For those cats, flaxseed oil is a good substitute for omega 3 fatty acids. Too much omega 6 fatty acids can cause allergies and itching - you want to look for foods with no more than a 7:1 ratio of omega 6 acids to omega 3 acids (some experts say a ratio of 5:1 is optimal, but I've never seen a commercial dog food with a ratio that low, even super-premium brands). You can add fish oil or flaxseed oil to improve the ratio. Adding bacon grease or other saturated fats will increase the amount of omega 6 acids.

Also, the rule of thumb for a toxic dose of chocolate for a dog or cat is 1 oz per pound of dog's weight - this is for MILK chocolate, the dose is of course lower for dark chocolates with higher cocoa solids. So an 8 lb dog could die from a Hershey bar, but a 40 lb lab puppy is likely to just puke a bit, or show no immediate effects at all.

It must depend on the dog. My sister's dog ate a whole pound Sees chocolates she had bought me for Christmas. All I got was the chewed up box and a cute poem. Didn't even slow the dog down.

Hmmm....I had heard about the chicken bones but I wasn't sure if it was urban legend or not.

My reasoning was that as carnivores, shouldn't dogs be able to handle bones? I also figured that they aren't that stupid and would eat it a certain way.

What about other bones? I will cease the chicken bones just to be safe. I thought the splintering made it easier to chew up, but then again, I am not a dog. What about the softer cartilage parts of chicken bones or chicken skins?

Also, does anyone know the real deal with rawhides? If they are so bad, shouldn't they be banned?

Thanks.

My dogs are canine vacuum cleaners. With the exception of anti-freeze and medications, I think they've eaten everything listed above including a whole turkey carcass and a 2 lb of raw bratwurst. I'd guess there is a size issue here, as well. A 130# Newfie can probably get away with eating things that a 20# dog could not.

Our dogs ate chicken bones all the time for many years without ever having a problem. While I suppose a bone could get stuck, I have a feeling it is extremly rare.
Flaxseed oil drizzled on your dogs food will give it a nice shiny coat, that much I do know;)

I have heard from some experts that raw foods are very good for dogs and cats. That is raw meats and so forth. I have also given moderate amounts of solids from preparing stocks to dogs with no ill effects (these would include very soft-from simmering for 12+ hours-chicken bones, carrots, onions, garlic and celery) sometimes I put them in the food processor as well. The marrow from bones is good for them. This is only in moderation though. It's important to consider your animal friend's weight and breed when feeding them anything but their store bought food. BTW, this is another discussion that could be touched upon. Rating brands of pet food...threadjack, but I already put it in Tilted Suggestions...