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Avocado and Garlic
I read somewhere that avocados were not good for dogs. Has anyone else heard this?
And what is it about garlic. I personally think it could be a bit extreme to add it regularly to the diet, but what is the controversy surrounding it?
And what is it about garlic. I personally think it could be a bit extreme to add it regularly to the diet, but what is the controversy surrounding it?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by cherish on -
Hi Jennifer,
Garlic contains thiosulphate... This is the same ingredient in onions that makes them toxic to dogs, causing anemia. However, garlic contains only a small fraction that onions do. I am a big believer in feeding my dogs garlic... they love the flavor, it is good for their digestion, and really works at repelling fleas. That being said, I would recommend educating yourself on it before making the decision to give it to your dog or not..... there is lots of controversy surrounding this issue.
Avocado info is a little harder to come by.... I went on the ASPCA website (http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pro_apcc_ask_peoplefo...)
to find out exactly what is was that made avocado's a no-no. 'a toxic principle known as Persin'. This toxin may not be in all avocados, just the Guatemalan variety... This would make sense to me as many years ago I lived in a house with a huge avocado tree... my Dobermans loved to eat them! Apparently my tree wasn't Guatemalan!
Hope that helps a bit!
Cherish, Naaki, and Kota
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Permalink Reply by dani on -
a while back, my dog had some serious intestinal issues, so i switched him to a natural brand dog food. while trying to find the right one, we came across AvoDerm, which touts avocado as a main ingredient! here's the link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AvoDerm
so... perhaps not the guatemalan kind...?
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Permalink Reply by cherish on
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Hi Dani,
The AvoDerm website says all their avocados are from California (this is also where I lived when my dogs ate the avocados from my tree with no problems, as mentioned above)... I would suggest you email them and ask about it then share your answer with us! :) If you don't want to, let me know and I will..... My curiosity is piqued!
Cherish
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Permalink Reply by Rubi on -
I like this discussion! I'm very interested to hear what people come up with regarding avocado and garlic! I just bought some citronella pet spray and Diatomaceous Earth to use for the flea season. I'm excited to give it all a try. What do you guys think about Solid Gold Seameal supplement?
It has seaweed, flaxseed, vit b, and lemon powder in it, along with other vitamins and minerals. How does avocado work? Is it supposed to help with skin irritation and/or flakey skin?
Thanks!
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Permalink Reply by Rubi on
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The Solid Gold Seameal seems to be doing a great job of keeping one of our dog's coprophagia at bay, as well as making their poop solid (but not too solid). So, I feel good about keeping them on this supplement. They love it too! Thanks for your insight on the Avoderm, I'll keep it in mind if they get itchy, dry skin.
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Permalink Reply by dani on
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I switched charlie off of avoderm after a little while. it was only because the place we got it was a little out of the way. just thought you guys should know about it. he liked it well enough!
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Permalink Reply by Becca Seitz on -
Being able to feed dogs garlic greatly depends on the individual dog, in my experience. I've fed my personal dogs garlic without any problems. However, my parents were having some issues with their dogs. Both my parents and I have fed raw food for many years now (nearing 10?), and like many people we go through phases of highly supplementing our home made food and being a little more "purist" by feeding the nearly-whole animal. My parents went through a phase of making sure the dogs had garlic in their food every night. After a couple weeks they started noticing the dogs were eating the charcoal out of the fire pit! They were also eating EVERY plant they could find in the backyard (It could have been pretty scary if my parents had any dangerous plants in their backyard). The dogs had developed Pica! After thinking it through I advised them to quit the garlic. Sure enough, after a week or two they stopped eating the charcoal (they seem to have kept a taste for a lot of backyard plants though!) It seems as though the garlic had caused a mild case of hemolytic anemia (which is the danger when dogs eat onions). I no longer recommend that everyone supplement with garlic willy-nilly. I always advise my clients to watch for signs of anemia in their dogs! Like us, each one tolerates things differently :)
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