Wondering if pizza is good or bad for your dog? Pizza may be okay for you to have on occasion, but can dogs eat pizza without getting sick? When you come right down to it, it is probably never a good idea to feed your dog pizza or pizza crust, no matter how much they want it. Here are the reasons why pizza is bad for dogs and puppies!
Pizza Is Toxic To Dogs
There are a lot of pizza ingredients that are okay for us to eat, but that are toxic to dogs. For instance, you need to be really careful about giving your dog mushrooms, which are a common pizza topping. Other pizza toppings and ingredients that can be harmful to your dog include:
Cheese — There are some cheeses that dogs can eat, but most dogs are lactose intolerant, and mozzarella isn’t necessarily the best choice for them.
Garlic — Once upon a time, it was thought that garlic was extremely healthy for dogs, and that it gave them shiny coats. Today, we know that garlic can cause some serious health problems in dogs. In some cases, it can even lead to coma and death.
Onions — This is another food that you should never give to your dog. Onions can cause a lot of damage to the red blood cells in dogs.
Mushrooms — We already touched on mushrooms a bit. Some mushrooms are safe for dogs to eat, but others can actually kill dogs. It is best to avoid mushrooms completely.
Sodium — Not only is there a lot of sodium in pizza sauce, most of the meat that is on a pizza is either high in sodium to begin with, such as bacon, or it is seasoned with salt when cooked.
Other Seasonings — Dogs don’t have the same taste buds as we do, and they don’t need to have food that is seasoned at all. Some seasonings can actually be harmful to a dog’s digestive system.
Oil — Pizza is greasy. In fact, that is what a lot of people love about their pizza. But, oil is definitely not something that you want to have in your dog’s diet.
Can Dogs Eat Pizza Crust?
Just because it doesn’t have any meat or sauce on it, the crust is not healthy for your dog. All you are doing is giving them something that is starchy, fattening, and high in carbohydrates and empty calories. Pizza crust is high in fat, and no dog needs to have any additional fat in their diet, since it can lead to obesity, pancreatitis, and other serious health problems.
No, Dogs Can’t Have Pizza
It is never a good idea to feed pizza to your dog. That being said, some of the toppings are okay, such as ground beef. If you want to give your dog a treat, instead of giving them pizza, cook up some ground beef with no seasonings. They will love it, and it’s much healthier for your pup.