by Dr. Mark Dos Anjos
Keep your fur babies out of harm’s way this Halloween with this candy safety guide from a vet.
When Halloween comes around, candies and treats are absolutely everywhere—and our pets are very aware of it! Some of these goodies are okay in moderation, but many contain dangerous ingredients that can harm our furry friends.
Anytime you choose to give your fur baby a processed treat out of a package, even a typical dog treat, you’re taking a leap of faith and hoping that the treat will be safe. Thankfully, most of the time, they are safe, but sometimes they’re imported from less-than-reliable sources and contain things that aren’t even on the label.
How many of you even know where the dog treats you buy are from, let alone our human treats? This Halloween, you can keep your pets safe by learning which Halloween treats and candies they definitely shouldn’t eat, plus the safe alternatives you can offer to still include them in the festivities.
Table of Contents
Dangerous Ingredients to Look Out for in Halloween Candies
What Kind of Halloween Candy Is Most Dangerous for Pets?
What’s the Best Alternative to Halloween Candy for Pets?
What Happens if Your Dog Eats Something Toxic?
Dangerous Ingredients to Look Out for in Halloween Candies
Many Halloween treats aren’t made for dogs at all and contain certain ingredients that are considered safe for humans but dangerous for pets:
1. Xylitol
Xylitol is an artificial sweetener present in many Halloween candies labeled low-calorie or low-sugar. It’s been found in candy corn but is much more likely to be found in sugar-free gum and hard candies.
People are fine with it, but in dogs, it stimulates excessive insulin secretion and leads to low blood sugar and liver failure. About 60% of dogs die without treatment, although they have a good chance of recovery if they’re treated.
2. Baking Chocolate
This isn’t something you find in many candies, but if someone makes homemade treats, you may run into it.
Companies usually rely on alternatives to good chocolate since it’s relatively expensive, but if a dog did get enough theobromine (the toxic component in chocolate), it would cause vomiting and diarrhea, tremors, panting and even seizures.
3. Caffeine
This is something that might be included in some hard candies, like the coffee candies found in some places. It could be a problem for a small dog and cause vomiting and diarrhea, increased heart rate, restlessness, tremors and seizures.
4. Excessive Sugar
Sugar is not a poison for dogs, but if eaten in excess, it can upset the gut and cause vomiting and diarrhea. Many of the candies we eat during Halloween, like candy corn, are really just sugar, artificial flavors and food coloring.
5. Wrappers
Dogs have the habit of eating everything associated with food, even when it isn’t something edible, so one of the common problems we see on Halloween is not actually candy but the wrappers they come in. Sometimes there’s still a little candy stuck to a wrapper, sometimes it’s just the smell, but if a dog eats it, there’s a chance of choking, becoming blocked or maybe just irritating the stomach. Be sure everyone at home remembers to throw out the wrappers as soon as they eat the candy, and of course, never let a dog rummage through the candy, as he’ll eat it even when wrapped.
What Kind of Halloween Candy Is Most Dangerous for Pets?
The most common problem seen on Halloween isn’t poisoning but bacterial gastroenteritis, or “garbage gut.” Any of the human candies, even if they don’t contain enough of a toxin to make a dog sick, can cause problems. The most common thing seen is vomiting and diarrhea.
A Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, for example, only contains about 12 mg of theobromine, the toxic part of chocolate, but will still make your dog sick, as our pets aren’t used to eating that massive amount of sugar. A single peanut butter cup contains 47 grams of sugar, whereas even a cheap processed dog treat only provides sugar through sources like corn and wheat and doesn’t contain pure sucrose.
Dogs also may not be able to handle all the sodium. That one peanut butter cup contains 357 mg of sodium, which is about what a whole cup of dog food contains. Smaller dogs that would never even finish a cup of dog food will eat a peanut butter cup, and a lot more, if they get access.
Other Common Halloween Candies That Are Dangerous
Some of the other candy brands that are dangerous for pets include:
Snickers: Fun-sized bars, those most popular at Halloween, contain about 8,000 mg of milk chocolate and 9,000 mg of sugar.
Starbursts: The artificial dyes can upset your dog, but they also contain about 3,000 mg of sugar in every piece.
Kit Kats: The amount of chocolate and sugar varies in each region, but a good estimate is about 7,500 mg of chocolate and at least 4,000 mg of sugar.
M&M’s: A 1-ounce serving (28 grams) contains about 19,000 mg of milk chocolate.
Candy corn: A serving of about 15 pieces of candy corn contains more than 23,000 mg of sugar.
What’s the Best Alternative to Halloween Candy for Pets?
Let’s face it, no dog is going to complain if he doesn’t get chocolate and gummy bears for Halloween. Your dog may have learned in previous years that when people come to the door for Halloween, he’s going to get treats though, so you can be prepared for that.
Take a bowl at the beginning of the evening (or late afternoon in most places) and fill it with some whole-food treats:
Include a half dozen blueberries, 3 or 4 strawberries, 3 or 4 raspberries, and a half dozen slices from an apple.
Add a dozen or so chunks of liver cooked in the air fryer, and if you think your dog will need more than that over the evening, just cut them into smaller pieces.
Whenever someone comes to trick-or-treat, just give your dog one of the treats from their own bowl.
Whole-food treats in moderation aren’t going to make him sick, but if your dog is small, like a Maltese or Chihuahua, this amount of fruit is excessive, so you can take just one apple slice and cut it up into small chunks, slice the berries into fourths and cut the liver pieces up very tiny.
Other Safe Halloween Treat Alternatives
If you don’t want to give your dog the same whole-food treats that he normally should be getting every day, you can make up some treats at home.
Peanut butter bites: These are very easy to make for your dog. For a medium or large dog, use a tablespoon, but for a smaller dog, just put teaspoon-sized dollops on a pan and freeze them.
Yogurt pieces: You can use plain non-flavored yogurt for these, but Greek yogurt works better. I just put tablespoon-sized pieces on a baking sheet and freeze.
Pumpkin cookie bites: Add ½ cup of pumpkin, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, and about ½ cup of oats. Mix and add water if they’re too dry. Bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.
The best thing for your dog is to put the treats in a bowl and give them to him one at a time throughout the evening.
What Happens if Your Dog Eats Something Toxic?
If, for some reason, the kids or a visitor comes in and decides to give your dog a treat that you know isn’t safe, you need to look for the following signs of illness:
Vomiting: This may just be from eating too much sugar, but your dog should be examined.
Weakness
Tremors
Seizures: If your dog eats so much of something that they have a seizure, it’s an emergency.
A dog may not show any signs until there’s permanent damage, so if you’re told that your dog was given something (like a chocolate bar) and there are still no symptoms, you should go ahead and take him to an emergency veterinarian right away.
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