7 More Foods Dogs Should Never Eat

Cooked bones, raw yeast dough, fatty scraps, corn cobs, fruit pits, very salty snacks and moldy food are 7 more things dogs shouldn’t eat. Most of them aren’t poisons: they choke, block the gut or trigger pancreatitis.

Part 1 covers the classic toxic foods (chocolate, grapes, xylitol, onions, macadamias, alcohol and caffeine). This part covers the ones people hand to their dogs without thinking — many of them at holiday meals.

1. Cooked bones

It feels natural to give a dog a bone, but cooked bones (chicken, turkey, pork, beef, lamb) are brittle. They can splinter into sharp pieces that cause:

• Choking
• Broken teeth and mouth cuts
• Blockages in the stomach or intestines
• Tears in the gut lining, which can be life-threatening

Chicken wings, rib bones and the turkey carcass are the usual culprits. If you want a chew, ask your vet about safe, size-appropriate chew options.

2. Raw yeast dough

Raw bread or pizza dough is double trouble. In the warm stomach, the dough keeps rising, which can stretch the stomach painfully and cause bloating. At the same time, the yeast produces alcohol, which gets absorbed into the bloodstream.

Keep rising dough well out of reach — on top of the fridge is not too high for a determined Labrador.

3. Fatty scraps (turkey skin, ham, bacon, gravy)

Rich, fatty foods are one of the most common triggers of pancreatitis in dogs — a painful inflammation of the pancreas. Signs include vomiting, a sore belly (some dogs stand in a “praying” position with their front end down), diarrhea and not wanting to eat.

Holiday leftovers are the classic cause: turkey skin, ham fat, bacon grease, gravy, buttery mashed potatoes and sausage. Small, fatty treats add up quickly for a small dog.

4. Corn on the cob

Corn kernels are fine for most dogs in small amounts. The cob is not. Dogs tend to swallow chunks of cob that are too big to pass, and cobs are a very common cause of intestinal blockages — which often need surgery.

Throw cobs away immediately after barbecues and keep the trash can closed.

5. Fruit pits and seeds

The pits of peaches, plums, cherries, apricots and mangoes, plus apple cores, can cause choking or blockages. Many of these pits and seeds also contain compounds that release cyanide when chewed. The flesh of most of these fruits is fine in small amounts — it’s the stones and cores that cause problems.

Avocado pits are a big choking and blockage risk too, and avocado flesh is very high in fat.

Is the cyanide in a swallowed pit the real danger?

Usually not. The Pet Poison Helpline’s apricot page rates a single swallowed pit as a low risk for cyanide poisoning. The bigger risk is the pit getting stuck. The same page rates hulled apricot kernels (bitter raw apricot seeds) as a high cyanide risk. So a peach stone needs a call about blockage. A bag of apricot kernels needs a call about poisoning.

6. Very salty snacks

Chips, pretzels, salted popcorn, salted nuts and salty meats aren’t good for dogs. A large amount of salt can cause excessive thirst and urination, vomiting and diarrhea, and in extreme cases salt poisoning. Homemade play dough and rock salt (used on icy paths) are surprisingly common sources of salt poisoning.

If your dog grabs a few chips, they’ll probably be fine, but keep salty snacks off the menu and make sure fresh water is always available.

7. Moldy food and compost

Moldy bread, cheese, nuts and leftovers — and the compost bin — can contain mycotoxins, toxins made by some molds. They can cause vomiting, agitation, tremors and seizures, sometimes within an hour.

Use a dog-proof compost bin and don’t give your dog food that’s past its best. If it’s too old for you, it’s too old for them.

Poison or blockage? Two different emergencies

The seven foods above hurt dogs in three different ways, and each needs a different kind of watching.

	Blockage or injury	Toxin	Pancreatitis
Foods in this list	Cooked bones, corn cobs, fruit pits	Raw yeast dough, moldy food, large amounts of salt	Fatty scraps
How fast it shows	Hours to days	Mold toxins: from 1–2 hours to several hours. Dough: as it rises and ferments	Can be set off by a single fatty meal
Signs to watch	Vomiting, not eating, sore belly, straining to poop or passing only small amounts	Wobbliness, tremors, a swollen belly, retching with nothing coming up	Vomiting, sore belly, the “praying” stance, diarrhea
What the vet may do	X-rays; surgery if it’s stuck	Decontamination and supportive care	Pain and nausea control, IV fluids; severe cases stay 2–4 days

Sources: blockage signs and treatment from VCA’s foreign body guide; mold timing from Merck’s tremorgenic mycotoxin chapter, which also notes that recovery can take days to weeks; dough from the Pet Poison Helpline; pancreatitis from VCA.

The awkward one is the blockage. A dog can eat, drink and act normally for a day or more while a piece of cob sits in the gut. VCA notes that some objects pass on their own, but not all of them do, and only an X-ray can tell you which kind you have.

Salt: how much is actually dangerous?

A few chips won’t poison a dog. The real cases come from concentrated sources. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, signs of salt poisoning can appear in dogs at 2–3 g of salt per kg of body weight. The lethal dose is around 4 g/kg. Here’s that in teaspoons of table salt (about 6 g each):

Dog weight	Signs possible from	Possibly lethal from
10 lb (4.5 kg)	9–14 g, about 1½–2 tsp	about 18 g, 3 tsp
25 lb (11 kg)	23–34 g, about 4–5½ tsp	about 45 g, 7½ tsp
50 lb (23 kg)	45–68 g, about 7½–11 tsp	about 90 g, 15 tsp
75 lb (34 kg)	68–102 g, about 11–17 tsp	about 136 g, 23 tsp

The usual causes are homemade play dough and salt-dough ornaments, which the Pet Poison Helpline says can cause severe, sometimes fatal salt poisoning. It also happens with rock salt licked off paws, and when someone tries to make a dog vomit by feeding it salt.

Bonus: a few “maybe” foods

Some foods aren’t toxic but don’t suit every dog:

• Dairy (milk, ice cream, cheese): many adult dogs don’t digest lactose well. Small amounts of plain cheese are usually fine as a training treat.
• Raw meat and raw eggs: there is a risk of bacteria such as salmonella, for your dog and your family. Talk to your vet before feeding raw.
• Nutmeg and strong spices: large amounts of nutmeg are toxic; spicy food can upset the stomach.

What to do if your dog eats one of these

If your dog swallowed something risky — especially a bone, cob or pit — call your vet, even if your dog seems fine. Watch for vomiting, retching without bringing anything up, a swollen or painful belly, not eating, lethargy, or straining to poop. For toxins (raw dough, mold, salt dough), call right away. US: ASPCA Animal Poison Control (888) 426-4435 or Pet Poison Helpline (855) 764-7661 (fees may apply). Australia: the Animal Poisons Helpline, 1300 869 738. Elsewhere, call your vet or nearest emergency clinic.

Your dog just swallowed a bone, cob or pit: the first hour

1. Get the rest of it away from your dog, and any other dogs. Count what’s missing: two wing bones or one, a whole cob or half.
2. Don’t make your dog vomit. Sharp bone splinters and big chunks of cob can do damage coming back up. Only do it if a vet tells you to and shows you how.
3. Call your vet and tell them what it was, how big, how much, your dog’s weight and when it happened.
4. Watch for the next 2–3 days if your vet says to monitor at home. Look at every poop, and note if your dog eats less, vomits, strains or seems sore when picked up.
5. Go in right away if your dog vomits repeatedly, won’t eat, has a tight or painful belly, or retches with nothing coming up.

Cookout and party check

The foods in this list cluster at barbecues and parties, where lots of people are each handing over “just one bite”.

On the table	The problem	Swap it for
Corn on the cob	Cob blockage	A few plain kernels cut off the cob
Ribs, wings, chops	Cooked bones splinter	Plain meat cut off the bone, no skin or sauce
Sausages, bacon, burger fat	Pancreatitis	A small piece of lean, plain chicken
Peaches, cherries, mango	Pits	Sliced flesh, pit removed
Chips, pretzels, salted nuts	Salt and fat	Carrot or cucumber sticks
Bread or pizza dough rising in the kitchen	Rising dough and alcohol	Nothing. Keep it out of reach until it’s baked
Kebab skewers with meat juices	Swallowed skewers	Bin them straight away

Onion, garlic, chocolate and grapes also turn up at cookouts. See Part 1 for those.

Mistakes owners make

• Waiting for the dog to “pass it”. Some things do pass. A cob or a pit often doesn’t, and a blockage gets harder and more expensive to fix the longer it sits.
• Thinking raw bones are safe because cooked ones aren’t. Raw bones can still break teeth and get stuck, and they carry bacteria.
• Putting scraps in a flimsy trash bag. After a barbecue, the first things a trash-raiding dog finds are bones and cobs. Take carcasses and cobs straight to an outdoor bin with a lid.
• Letting every guest give “just one bite”. Ten guests means ten bites. Put one person in charge of treats, or use the dog food calculator to see how small a small dog’s daily budget really is.
• Leaving salt-dough ornaments on a low branch. Hang them high, or skip them in homes with dogs.
• Composting without a lid. Merck lists compost and moldy walnuts, peanuts, dairy and pasta among the sources of the tremor-causing mold toxins.

Safe swaps your dog will love

Instead of table scraps, keep a few dog-safe treats ready for family meals:

• Plain, boneless, skinless cooked chicken or turkey
• Cooked green beans or carrot sticks
• A spoonful of plain canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
• Our easy 3-ingredient frozen dog treats

Want to know what you can share? Read our list of 15 human foods dogs can eat.