Can Dogs Eat Gingerbread Cookies? Beware Of These 3 Dangers
Can dogs eat gingerbread cookies? If that’s one of the main questions lingering in your mind, then you’re in the right place because we’ll be answering it shortly.
Gingerbread is one of the world’s popular holiday treats, especially during the Easter and Christmas seasons. Since we all tend to do away with most of our strict food consumption rules and habits over the holidays, can dogs eat gingerbread cookies?
This article sets out to comprehensively answer this question by explicitly exploring some of the primary considerations and factors as to why you should or rather shouldn’t let your furry friend eat gingerbread cookies.
Before we get to the “can dogs eat gingerbread cookies” section, let’s first delve into the basics.
Quick Overview
Gingerbread refers to a broad name of baked pastries generally made of common bread ingredients, flavored by ginger or sometimes nutmeg or cloves, and sweetened with sugars or honey to taste. With that in mind, I’ll throw back the question to you – can dogs eat gingerbread cookies? – but you don’t have to answer back.
Moving on, it’s believed that the first known gingerbread recipe can be traced back to Ancient Greeks in 2400BC. At this time, gingerbread was mainly used for ceremonial purposes by the Egyptians and aristocrats before the Crusaders brought in Europe in the 11th century for experimentation.
The first known gingerbread trade dates back to the 17th century when it still had significant medical values before it became widely available in the 18th century.
To fully answer the main question, can dogs eat gingerbread cookies? We’ll first have to examine the potential dangers that gingerbread poses to dogs.
What Could Happen?
Other than mimicking human behavior, the consumption of sugary items tends to affect our furry friends the same way it does to humans. But can dogs eat gingerbread cookies the same way humans do without any repercussions?
Considering that gingerbread contains elevated levels of sugar content, eating it could probably spike your dog’s blood sugar levels. Besides exposing your dog to issues such as dental problems, obesity, and diabetes, here is a detailed outline of the potential dangers of offering sugary gingerbreads to your dog.
Food Poisoning
Before we reveal the answer to whether dogs can eat gingerbread cookies, we have to examine its toxicity effects on your canine friend thoroughly. For starters, gingerbreads commonly include varying kinds of sweeteners, including chocolate and xylitol.
In this case, chocolate contains a highly toxic and non-digestible compound for dogs called theobromine. The worst part is that it’s known to cause life-threatening consequences like excessive vomiting, diarrhea, urination, increased heart rate, irritability, thirst sensation, and muscle spasms.
On the other hand, artificial gingerbread sweeteners like xylitol are known to cause low blood sugar and liver degeneration in dogs – something that you wouldn’t like your pup to experience.
Digestion Problems
Sugary foods are widely known to trigger stomach upsets in dogs, meaning that allowing your dog to eat sugary gingerbread cookies can cause digestive issues. What happens is that the sugar in gingerbread cookies usually impairs stomach micro organismic functions and result in nausea, stomach upsets, and vomiting.
Metabolism Changes
The most common metabolism change that would take place if your dog ate sugary gingerbread cookies is insulin imbalance, which is also life-threatening as it can lead to muscle degeneration and obesity.
Other gingerbread cookie flavors, such as nutmeg, contain myristicin compounds, which widely impede dogs’ neurological functions and mainly cause delusions.
Conclusion
So, can dogs eat gingerbread cookies? The answer is no. Gingerbread cookies are as harmful to dogs as the ingredients used to make them. Therefore, avoid offering your pooch gingerbread cookie treats, or you could otherwise jeopardize your dog’s life. Feel free to share the insights encompassed within this review with all your friends and family.
Austin is a witty and vivacious blogger who has a knack for making people laugh. With her infectious sense of humor, she effortlessly brings joy to her readers through her blog posts. But Austin's talents don't stop there - she is also a passionate cook and baker. Her kitchen is her sanctuary, where she experiments with flavors, creates mouthwatering dishes, and bakes delectable treats that leave everyone craving for more.
