Ah, coleslaw — one of the healthiest and easiest recipes anyone can make in their home. Coleslaw is packed with different vitamins and fiber, which is why eating it regularly can help you meet your daily nutritional requirements. This dish is also very versatile as you can use different ingredients to make it more flavorful and filling.
Thanks to its health benefits, eating coleslaw regularly is a must. However, the same isn’t generally true for canines as their bodies are built differently than yours. Not all human foods are safe and healthy for your fur babies — and unfortunately, that includes coleslaw.
The short answer to the question posted here is: no, you should never feed your dogs with coleslaw. This dish can be harmful to them because of the following reasons:
Raw Cabbage
Raw cabbage is the main ingredient in making coleslaw. When given in large amounts, raw cabbage can cause an upset stomach in dogs. Over time, raw cabbage can also suppress the thyroid glands of your dogs because the vegetable contains thiocyanate.
When you incorporate coleslaw into your dogs’ diets, it won’t be long before they develop hypothyroidism, a health condition that slows down your dogs’ bodily functions. Once diagnosed with hypothyroidism, your dogs will experience weight gain, lethargy, and poor skin and coat health.
Onions
Coleslaw uses a few slices of onions to bring more flavor and spice. However, even a small amount of onion can be harmful to canines. Onions contain a toxic substance that can damage your dogs’ red blood cells and eventually cause anemia.
Mayonnaise Dressing
A generous amount of mayonnaise dressing is added to the coleslaw to mix all of the ingredients. This ingredient contains too much sugar and fats, which can be harmful to your fur babies. Giving your dogs foods that have mayonnaise dressing can upset their digestive tract and cause gas, bloating, and diarrhea. Over time, mayonnaise dressing can lead to weight gain and canine obesity.
If your dogs have existing health conditions, such as diabetes, pancreatitis, obesity, or dairy allergies, it’s best to avoid serving even a small amount of coleslaw to them. Mayonnaise dressing can trigger other health conditions, such as joint pain and cardiovascular diseases.
Cream
Because it contains dairy, the cream used in making coleslaw can be hard on your dogs’ digestive systems. Most dogs are lactose intolerant, which means their bodies lack lactase enzymes that help break down dairy products.
Since dogs are lactose intolerant, their bodies can’t consume or digest cream very well. Aside from this, the cream can also cause many symptoms in dogs, namely upset stomach, vomiting, and diarrhea. In worse cases, this ingredient can trigger inflammation in your dogs’ gastrointestinal tracts.
Salt and Sugar
Seasonings like salt and sugar don’t sit well with dogs. In fact, a high salt diet can cause poisoning in dogs, and too much sugar can lead to weight gain and diabetes.
Unless you’re confident that the coleslaw is salt- and sugar-free, never feed any to your dogs.
Preservatives
Store-bought coleslaws use tons of preservatives to improve the taste, color, and shelf life of the dish. Any type and amount of preservatives are harmful to canines as these contain toxic chemicals that can trigger cancer and liver damage.
No Nutritional Benefits
Similar to humans, dogs require a well-balanced, healthy diet to stay healthy. Unfortunately, coleslaw doesn’t meet this requirement as it doesn’t contain any essential vitamins and minerals. On the contrary, coleslaw only has too much fat, sugar, and salt.
High in Calories
Dogs only require 25 calories every day for every pound they weigh. For example, a 6-pound chihuahua only requires 150 calories every day, and a 60-pound labrador should not have more than 1500 calories daily.
Store-bight coleslaws often contain around 165 calories. This means that feeding the entire dish to your smaller breed dog can adversely affect their health, while giving the dish to a larger breed dog might not have any health benefits at all.
When Should You Take Your Dogs to the Vet?
If your dogs ate a little bit of coleslaw, you don’t have to worry too much as symptoms are often tolerable and go away after a couple of hours. But to be sure, call your vet the moment you suspect your dogs ate coleslaw without your consent.
However, if your fur babies consume a lot of coleslaw, rush them to the vet immediately. Because of the unhealthy ingredients it contains, eating a lot of coleslaw can eventually cause the following symptoms:
- Choking and intestinal blockages (often caused by large chunks of cabbage)
- Diarrhea
- Passing of gas frequently
- Upset stomach
Are There Any Safer and Healthier Alternatives to Coleslaw?
Yes, there are. Instead of sharing your coleslaw with your fur babies, opt to make dog-friendly dishes from scratch. In this way, you’ll have peace of mind knowing that what you’re feeding your dogs is safe and healthy for them.
Here are some dog-friendly alternatives to coleslaw:
Homemade Dog Treats
Who says you have to spend a lot of money to give treats to your dogs? You can make dog treats at home using ingredients that are staples in your kitchen. For one, you can bake peanut butter treats using peanut butter, flour, and water. You can also make frozen treats by mixing some yogurt and fruits in an ice cube tray.
Fruit Salad
To create a fruit salad, simply mix different dog-friendly fruits. You can use apples, blueberries, bananas, and strawberries for this recipe. Just make sure to remove any seeds (if there are any) from the fruits.
Broccoli Salad
Broccoli is packed with essential vitamins and minerals for dogs. This vegetable carries vitamin C that boosts the immune systems of your dogs, and reduces joint pain caused by inflammation. Broccoli also has fiber, vitamin K, and folic acid.
To prepare a broccoli salad, mix broccoli florets and add a little bit of olive oil. The keyword here is “a little bit” as too much olive oil can cause stomach upset in canines.
Choose Dog-Friendly Alternatives
Coleslaw can have adverse effects when given to dogs, which is why you should never share any with your pets. If you want them to eat something healthy as you indulge in a bowl of coleslaw, prepare one of the dog-friendly alternatives mentioned here. This will enable the both of you to enjoy mealtime together!