Topics

• Can dogs eat bread? 
• Can dogs eat wheat bread? 
• Can dogs eat garlic bread? 
• Can dogs eat Bread dough? 
• Can dogs have raisin bread?

Imagine yourself watching a dog going all the way on a sandwich. What’s the first thing that comes to your mind? If it’s the question, “can dogs eat bread?” Then this article is just for you. 

Bread is the staple food in most American households, and therefore it is just natural for you to find your dog munching on a piece of Bread that he found. But is it really safe for him? 

To find answers to this question and many others, you must read the following article.

So, can dogs eat bread or not? 

Coming to the actual question, according to us, it is entirely safe for dogs to eat Bread as long as you offer Bread to your pooch in moderation. Bread doesn’t really carry any harmful or toxic substances in them, and therefore the prospects of Bread directly impacting your dog’s health in a negative fashion are very low. 

That’s why we think that it’s completely okay if you like treating your dog to Bread from time to time. 

But that’s just the short answer to the question, “Can dogs eat bread?”. The story completely changes when we talk about the pros and cons of feeding Bread to dogs. 

Detailed Answer

As mentioned above, Bread doesn’t carry any intrinsic quality that can be deemed harmful for dogs when we talk about the short term. But the moment we start thinking about Long term implications of feeding Bread to dogs, the equation completely changes. Bread is basically a mass of carbohydrates, and that’s why it has close to zero nutritional value. Bread comes void of any essential protein, vitamins, or minerals, and therefore offering Bread to your dog all the time isn’t going to help improve your dog’s well-being. On the contrary, your dog will most likely feel full after eating Bread as it’s full of carbohydrates, and this will stop him from eating his actual food that is meant to provide your dog with the necessary nutrition. 

That’s why although the answer to the question “can dogs eat bread?” Is still a yes, but we still recommend dog owners avoid feeding Bread to their canine friends. The reason for this is simply the fact that Bread tends to harm dogs more than it benefits them in the long term. 

Some of the harms caused to dogs by eating Bread are as follows

• Obesity
• Harmful bread dough
• Harmful ingredients used in Bread

Obesity

As mentioned above, Bread comes loaded with carbohydrates, and as anyone can tell you, carbohydrates are excellent at making us obese very quickly. Precisely the same goes for dogs as our pooches can become highly overweight if they are fed a meal rich in carbohydrates such as Bread. Obesity amongst dogs is also a huge issue in the USA and the leading cause of dog deaths all over the states. According to a survey, around 56% of all household dogs suffer from obesity in the USA. This shows that the food that we are offering to our dogs and our day-to-day routine is already putting our dogs at risk of being overweight. Now, if you start offering your pooch pieces of Bread multiple times a day, it surely will make your pooch highly obese. 

Obesity can in itself act as the leading cause of a large number of severe and fatal diseases. All of which can drastically reduce your dog’s lifespan and can cause him a lot of pain. That’s why dog owners need to protect their dogs from obesity at any cost. Some of the diseases caused by obesity in dogs are as follows

• Heart complications which can lead to Myocardial infarction
• Lung disease and the overall collapse of the respiratory system
• Kidney related issues leading to Renal Failure
• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• High blood pressure
• Weak immune system
• Cancer

Harmful bread dough

Ever tried making Bread at home? If yes, then you must be aware of the fact that Bread tends to rise due to all the gases produced by the fermentation action of yeast added to the bread dough. Ideally speaking, Bread requires a dark, moist and warm space to rise properly. Now you must be thinking that why are we telling you about how Bread is made when you are here to know the answer to the question can dogs eat Bread or not.

Well, rest assured as we haven’t forgotten about the question at hand. This rising factor of Bread can be harmful since a dog’s stomach proves to be the best place for yeast to do its job and continue rising the dough even after being eaten by a dog. That’s why dog owners must never feed bread dough to their canines. Dogs can suffer from intense stomach pain due to the rising dough in their stomachs, and it can also cause significant blockages in the gastrointestinal system of dogs. These blockages can further cause diseases and medical complications, such as given below

• Gastritis
• Gastroenteritis
• Celiac Diseases
• Crohn’s disease
• Gallstones
• Fecal incontinence
• Lactose intolerance 
• Hirschsprung disease
• Abdominal adhesions
• Barrett’s esophagus
• Appendicitis
• Indigestion (dyspepsia)
• Intestinal pseudo-obstruction
• Pancreatitis
• Short bowel syndrome
• Whipple’s disease
• Zollinger-Ellison syndrome
• malabsorption syndromes 
• Hepatitis

Due to all the issues mentioned above caused by the rising of dough inside the dog’s stomach, we recommend our readers avoid feeding bread dough to their dogs. This also answers the question, “Can dogs eat bread dough?”

Another noteworthy issue caused by feeding bread dough to dogs is the production of ethanol due to the fermentation process continuing inside the dog’s stomach. This can result in excessive ethanol production in dogs and expose them to severe ethanol poisoning. 

This ethanol toxicosis can cause several serious diseases and can prove to be fatal. Therefore dog owners should always be on the lookout for the symptoms of ethanol toxicosis. Some of those symptoms are given below for the convenience of our valued readers 

• Weakness
• Depression
• Hypothermia
• Mal functioning central nervous system
• Seizures
• Coma

Harmful ingredients used in Bread

Most Breads are made by using whole wheat flour. This makes Bread extra nutritious and gives the Bread a more refined taste. That’s the reason why whole wheat bread is so famous. But the prevalence of whole wheat bread is not exactly a piece of good news for Dogs. Most dogs tend to be allergic to all the grains, including wheat, and therefore feeding them whole wheat bread can cause dogs to experience severe allergic reactions. That’s why we recommend dog owners avoid feeding whole wheat bread to dogs unless they are entirely sure that their pooch is not allergic to whole wheat at all. This also answers the question, “can dogs eat wheat bread?”

The best way to find out whether your dog is allergic to wheat or not is by talking to your vet about this. Your vet knows more than anyone else about what’s good for your dog and what’s not. He will surely be able to run some tests on your pooch and tell you whether he is allergic to wheat or not. 

Presence of harmful Raisins in Bread

Unfortunately, the list of harmful ingredients found in Bread doesn’t end with whole wheat. There are many ingredients that are used in Bread that prove to be even more harmful to dogs than whole wheat. A prime example of such ingredients is Raisins. Raisins are often added to Bread to increase the Bread’s flavor and make the Bread much more presentable. Raisins can cause sudden and varied epileptic seizures in dogs if they consume a considerable amount of Raisins. Even when consumed in small quantities, raisins prove to be quite dangerous as they can cause an allergic reaction like conditions in dogs. 

There is no consensus amongst the veterinary society on how and why raisins cause such reactions in dogs. That’s why there is no cure to these conditions, and this is the reason why vets always recommend dog owners to keep their canines far away from Raisins. This also answers the question, “can dogs have raisin bread?”

Garlic Poisoning

Another common ingredient that is used in Bread all over the world is Garlic. This naturally leads us to the question, “can dogs eat garlic bread?” Unfortunately, there is only one answer to this question: a big No. Just like Raisins, Garlic can also harm dogs in many ways, and therefore dogs should never be fed garlic bread. Garlic poisoning can easily cause dogs to have severe abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, Fatigue, and it can also cause dogs to collapse completely.

Xylitol Poisoning

You must be highly worried about the prospects of feeding Bread to your dogs. But we haven’t even talked about the most dangerous substance present in Bread for dogs. Yes, you heard that right, there is something even worse than wheat, Garlic, or raisins found in Bread. We are talking about Xylitol here. Xylitol is a sugar derived from fruit sources, and it is often used in baked products to add to the sweetness of those products. This sugar is used all over the world, and therefore you can easily find Xylitol in almost all baked sweets and foods such as Bread. 

Xylitol is completely harmless for humans, and in fact, it can act as a better substitute for regular sugar. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about the relationship between dogs and Xylitol. Xylitol can be highly dangerous for dogs and can cause severe toxicity. That’s why it is recommended to dog owners to keep their pooches far away from any sources of Xylitol. This information about Xylitol present in Bread also helps us answer, “Can dogs eat bread?”

An abundance of artificial additives

Bread sources from stores also tend to be full of artificial additives. These artificial additives include colors, flavors, sugars, and preservatives. These additives are added to Bread to increase its taste, appearance, and shelf life. But all of these artificial additives have a long list of associated side effects, and therefore artificial additives do more harm than good. This stands true for dogs, as well as all these additives can affect your dog’s well-being in a terrible way. Abundance of artificial additives in Bread is another why you should avoid feeding Bread to your dog.   

Too many nuts in Bread

Bread also sometimes comes being loaded with nuts. This makes them a tasty treat for us humans, but dogs should be specially kept far away from this type of Bread. Most folks think that only humans can be allergic to nuts, but they can’t be more wrong. Nut allergy is prevalent in all mammals, and therefore our dogs can also be allergic to peanuts and other nuts. In fact, according to some researches, dogs are more vulnerable to nut allergies as compared to humans, and therefore dog owners should keep that in mind. All nuts are full of fat content, including omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, and therefore, they should only be consumed in balance. Too many nuts can easily expose your dog to a ton of fatty acids, and this can make them susceptible to obesity.

So, what’s the final verdict on the question “Can dogs eat bread?”

Now that we have told you all about the harms of feeding Bread to dogs, I guess it is safe to assume that you agree with us when we say that dog owners should never feed Bread to their four-legged best friends. There is no benefit of feeding Bread to dogs as Bread has nothing significant to offer on the nutritional front. On the other hand, dogs stand to lose a lot due to the consumption of Bread, and therefore dogs should be kept far away from Bread.

But none of it means that you should start having a panic attack if your dog gets hold of a piece of Bread that you accidentally dropped. Bread can’t affect your dog’s well-being if consumed in small quantities, and therefore there is no need to rush to the vet immediately.