Thanksgiving Foods Dogs and Cats Should Never Eat

Thanksgiving brings tempting smells, crowded kitchens, and plenty of opportunities for pets to steal food. For dogs and cats, however, many holiday favorites can cause poisoning, pancreatitis, choking, or a dangerous intestinal blockage.

Keep cooked bones, turkey skin, gravy, stuffing, onions, garlic, grapes, raisins, chocolate, alcohol, raw yeast dough, and other rich or heavily seasoned foods away from your pet. Products containing xylitol are especially dangerous for dogs.

Dangerous Thanksgiving Foods for Pets

Cooked Turkey Bones and the Carcass

Cooked poultry bones can break into sharp pieces. They may cause choking, injure the mouth or digestive tract, or become lodged in the esophagus, stomach, or intestines.

Discard the carcass, bones, and butcher’s twine in a tightly secured trash bag inside a closed container your pet cannot reach.

Turkey Skin, Gravy, Butter, and Fatty Scraps

Turkey skin, pan drippings, gravy, butter, and other high-fat foods can cause vomiting and diarrhea. They may also trigger pancreatitis, a painful inflammation of the pancreas that sometimes requires hospitalization.

Pets with a history of pancreatitis, digestive disease, or dietary sensitivity may be particularly vulnerable.

Stuffing and Seasoned Side Dishes

Stuffing, casseroles, mashed potatoes, gravy, and seasoning blends commonly contain onions, garlic, chives, or leeks. These ingredients can damage red blood cells and cause anemia in dogs and cats. Cats are especially susceptible.

Onion and garlic remain hazardous when raw, cooked, dried, or powdered. Because symptoms can take several days to appear, contact a veterinary professional after a suspected exposure rather than waiting for your pet to look sick.

Grapes and Raisins

Grapes and raisins can cause acute kidney injury in dogs. The amount that causes illness is unpredictable, so any suspected exposure should be treated seriously.

Check breads, stuffing, salads, sauces, and desserts for hidden raisins or grapes. If any pet eats them, call a veterinarian or animal poison control center promptly.

Chocolate

Chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine, which can affect the heart and nervous system. Dark chocolate, baking chocolate, and cocoa powder contain higher concentrations and are especially dangerous, although any chocolate exposure warrants a call for professional guidance.

Possible signs include vomiting, restlessness, a rapid heartbeat, tremors, and seizures.

Xylitol or “Birch Sugar”

Xylitol is a sweetener found in some sugar-free gum, candy, baked goods, mints, peanut and nut butters, oral-care products, medications, and supplements. It may also appear on labels as birch sugar or wood sugar.

In dogs, xylitol can cause a rapid, life-threatening drop in blood sugar. Some dogs also develop severe liver injury. Do not wait for symptoms if your dog may have eaten a product containing xylitol.

Alcohol and Raw Yeast Dough

Beer, wine, cocktails, and alcohol-containing desserts can cause vomiting, weakness, poor coordination, tremors, breathing problems, coma, or death in pets.

Raw bread dough made with yeast presents two hazards: it can expand inside the stomach, and fermentation produces alcohol. Keep rising dough well away from dogs and cats.

Macadamia Nuts

Macadamia nuts are toxic to dogs. Exposure can cause vomiting, weakness, tremors, difficulty walking, and an elevated body temperature. Nuts may be hidden in cookies, pies, or snack mixes.

Raw or Undercooked Turkey

Raw or undercooked poultry can contain harmful bacteria that may make pets and people sick. It can also contaminate bowls, floors, countertops, and other household surfaces. Serve only thoroughly cooked turkey if your veterinarian has approved it for your pet.

Can Dogs and Cats Eat Plain Turkey?

For many healthy dogs and cats, a small bite of plain, fully cooked, boneless, skinless turkey is acceptable as an occasional treat. It should contain no gravy, butter, seasoning, onion, garlic, or other added ingredients.

Ask your veterinarian before offering turkey if your pet has food allergies, a sensitive stomach, pancreatitis, kidney disease, another medical condition, or a prescription diet. A familiar pet treat or a normal portion of your pet’s regular food is often the safest way to include them in the celebration.

Prevent Thanksgiving Food Accidents

Most holiday exposures happen because a guest shares a bite, food falls on the floor, or a pet gets into unattended plates or trash. A few precautions can reduce the risk:

• Ask guests and children not to feed your pets.

• Keep serving dishes away from table edges and low surfaces.

• Store candy, gum, baked goods, and snack-filled handbags in closed cabinets.

• Clear plates, glasses, and leftovers promptly.

• Secure trash containing bones, foil, plastic wrap, food bags, corn cobs, and string.

• Keep pets out of the kitchen during busy meal preparation.

• Feed pets at their usual time and maintain their normal routine.

• Provide a quiet room with water, a comfortable resting place, and a favorite toy if guests cause stress.

• Watch exterior doors during arrivals and departures, and confirm that identification tags and microchip contact information are current.

What to Do If Your Pet Eats Something Dangerous

Call a veterinarian, emergency veterinary hospital, or animal poison control center immediately after a known or suspected toxic exposure. Do not wait for symptoms, especially after ingestion of xylitol, grapes, raisins, chocolate, alcohol, onions, garlic, or raw yeast dough.

Be prepared to provide:

• Your pet’s species, age, weight, and medical history

• The product or food involved

• The estimated amount eaten

• The approximate time of exposure

• Any symptoms your pet is showing

Keep the package or ingredient label available. Do not induce vomiting or give food, milk, medication, hydrogen peroxide, or another home remedy unless a veterinarian or animal poison-control professional specifically instructs you to do so.

ASPCA Animal Poison Control is available 24 hours a day at 888-426-4435. Pet Poison Helpline is available at 855-764-7661. Consultation fees may apply.

Seek immediate emergency care if your pet is choking, having difficulty breathing, experiencing seizures, collapsing, becoming unresponsive, or showing severe weakness. Repeated vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, tremors, pale gums, unusual behavior, or marked lethargy also require prompt veterinary attention.

For non-emergency questions before the holiday, Peoria pet owners can call or text Parkway Animal Clinic at 623-362-8000. Text messages are monitored during business hours only. If your pet may be experiencing an emergency, call a veterinary hospital or emergency clinic rather than relying on routine text messaging.

A few minutes of preparation can help keep Thanksgiving focused on family, good food, and pets who can enjoy the day safely.