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Thursday, 2 August 2012

Can Dogs Safely Eat Mushrooms

By Jerry Welsh


Dogs are loved in spite of their odd behaviors. To the consternation of the owners, dogs that are provided with enough high quality pet foods would still love to eat grass. Do dogs think that the yard is one big bowl of grass salad glistening with the morning dew and garnished with mushrooms? Grass eating does not have dangerous effects on the dog although some would be seen vomiting to expulse the bits of grass that were ingested. But mushrooms would be another matter especially if the dog has ingested "death caps" or Amanita phalloides. This specie of mushroom is poisonous not only to dogs but also to humans.

For the health of the pet, dog owners supplement the commercial pet foods with vegetables. Mushrooms are nutritious vegetables in fact they are considered as the meat in the world of vegetables. Mushroom is nutrient rich. Dogs can gain the healthful benefits humans get from eating mushrooms. Mushroom is a good source of the B vitamins - niacin and riboflavin. Mushrooms have high levels of antioxidants. Cancer is a killer disease of dogs. Cancer is a dreaded disease and dog owners would try to prevent the occurrence of this disease in the pet by including food high in antioxidants like mushrooms in the dog's diet.

Mushrooms in the dog's diet will have a significant impact on the health of the pet. Mushrooms in the dog's diet though has one danger - poisoning. To prevent poisoning, the dog can be given the mushroom consumed by humans. Mushroom poisoning cannot be totally prevented given the dog's tendency to explore and the dog's propensity to ingest things and substances it finds interesting.

Poisonous and non poisonous mushrooms almost look the same and in most cases these mushrooms would grow side by side thus identifying the dangerous species would be very difficult. The yard therefore will have poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms. The dog may not really like eating raw mushrooms but when the pet eats grass, poisonous mushrooms can be eaten as well.

Mushrooms, the ones that are not poisonous really do have healthful benefits for the dog. However, dog owners have to be vigilant in preventing the dog from eating mushrooms that have popped up overnight in the yard or in the nearby woods. Since it would be very difficult to identify which of the mushrooms that have popped out in the yard are poisonous and which can be safely eaten by the dog, it would be best to err on the safe side and remove all the mushrooms to prevent the dog from eating and being poisoned.




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