Alice White
On a hot day, you really want the ice cream to cool down a little and reduce the discomfort from overheating your own body. This is a very pleasant feeling – eating ice cream, enjoying the coolness, sweetness, and special taste. And how can you not let your dog try this delicious treat? After all, she, too, suffers from the heat. Can dogs eat ice cream?
Unfortunately, not every owner thinks about this, offering his beloved pet a sweet miracle on a stick or in a glass.
Why is Ice Cream Dangerous for Dogs?
Ice cream cannot alleviate the suffering of an animal during a heatwave. This cold treat only creates the appearance of cooling. The fact that ice cream gives a person temporary relief and pleasantly refreshes does not mean that the dog will experience the same effect.
The man slowly eats ice cream, licking the delicacy with his tongue. Even if he takes a bite, he usually keeps it in his mouth for a few moments. Therefore, the cooling of the body occurs gradually, starting with the blood vessels located in the oral cavity. Thus, the body temperature drops along with the blood. When ice cream enters a person’s stomach, it can lower the temperature of internal organs somewhat, but not for long.
How does a dog eat ice cream? Fast and greedy. Foodie dogs don’t savor every frozen bite. They grab the treat with their teeth and immediately swallow it, trying to grab a larger portion. There is no gradual cooling of the body.
Therefore, ice cream is more likely to harm the pet than good.
This is What Threatens your Dogs when They Eat Ice Cream
- Suffocation;
- Catarrh (stomach inflammation);
- Pharyngitis;
- Angina pectoris.
All these unpleasant consequences arise due to the fact that a large piece of very cold food gets into the heated animal organism. The contrasting temperature can cause spasm of muscles and blood vessels – hence suffocation and angina pectoris. Damage the walls of the stomach, causing inflammation, which is not easy to treat and can later turn into chronic gastritis. Well, nobody canceled the banal cold – pharyngitis, sore throat, and even cough.
So is it worth giving your dog ice cream if you then have to urgently run to the veterinarian and take a long time to be treated?
What Other Harm Can Ice Cream Do to a Dog
Ice cream is mainly made from dairy products. Accordingly, it contains lactose, which is very poorly tolerated by most dogs. Therefore, a cold treat can cause diarrhea in the animal. This, of course, is not so scary, but unpleasant, both for the pet and the owner.
Sugar, even in small doses, and especially for small dogs, is dangerous. Frequent consumption of ice cream for a couple of days can cause a serious rise in blood sugar in the animal. And this is already fraught with diabetes.
Sugar-free ice cream, for diabetics or bodybuilders, is definitely deadly for your dog. Because it contains xylitol. This substance can kill an animal within a few hours.
Chocolate is used to decorate a refreshing delicacy in an effort to make it taste good. But this is also a deadly product for a dog. Even if she ate it, it would seem, quite a bit, it will cause serious harm to health.
Nuts, which are so beautifully sprinkled on top of ice cream, are far from always good for dogs, especially small breeds.
Chemical fillers – preservatives, colorants, emulsifiers, flavor enhancers. This is “heavy artillery” for the body of the animal. Dogs are very sensitive to these substances and do not tolerate them well.
It must be remembered that the best way to cool an animal’s body is with plain clean water. How to water a dog when it’s hot – our magazine has already published useful tips on this topic, follow the link and read.
Here are a couple of healthy dog ice cream recipes:
- Instead of regular ice cream, you can make sorbet at home. Frozen fruits – bananas, strawberries, raspberries, pieces of watermelon – beat in a blender with water and fruit juice. There will be no pieces of ice in this drink, so such a puree drink will be pleasant and useful for the animal. Serve in small portions.
- Fill a special toy with small pieces of wet food or cooked meat and put it in the refrigerator. The dog will be happy to try to get cool pieces. She will not be able to swallow everything at once, so nothing threatens the health of the animal. In addition, this activity will take her for a long time.
- To make dog ice cream, you need to use freezer tins. They should be of such a size that the finished piece cannot be swallowed whole by the dog. At the same time, it shouldn’t be too big. You can freeze pieces of meat in broth. Stir mashed fruits and vegetables with ground flaxseed, crumbled dog biscuits. Pour in low-fat yogurt, juice, applesauce. Add some honey.
The result is wonderful treats that even a person will like, not like a dog.
Some Tips on How to Get Your Dog Through the Heat
At home in hot hours, be sure to close windows and doors, draw the curtains. Ventilate the room when the sun is not shining through the windows.
Use an air conditioner to gradually lower the temperature in your home. Because too much temperature difference between the street and the apartment can adversely affect both the health of the dog and the person.
Give your dog a cool place in the house. A tiled bathroom floor is fine. If your dog doesn’t like it, buy a cooling mat so he can lie on his stomach.
Sometimes you can douse your dog with water, but not too cold. Spray onto the coat with a spray bottle.
You should not give your dog ice cream, even homemade ones, too often. It is better to replace it with water at room temperature and use the above methods to cool the body.
