Are Poptarts Bad for Dogs?
You wake up early in the morning, or your kids do just before school. However, your dog ends up finding your quick snack of a Pop Tart® that you were going to give the kids… Should you be worried? More importantly, what if you or your kids gave your dog a Pop Tart? Most of the time, your pet’s going to be able to eat these quickly, and if they do, you may end up freaking out. But should you? Can a Pop Tart hurt your pet? What should you do if your dog ate a Pop Tart? Can a dog eat a Pop Tart? Keep reading and find out for yourself!
Are Pop Tarts Bad for Dogs?
So fortunately, Pop Tarts don’t have any unhealthy ingredients (okay, that’s a lie… they’re not even completely unhealthy for us) for your dog. Mainly, they don’t have ingredients in most cases that can harm your dog. Some people worry about the ingredients and flavors (such as chocolate) when it comes to your dogs eating Pop Tarts – the truth is, there’s not enough of an ingredient in them that can harm your dog. One of the biggest concerns in the chocolate flavors is the caffeine content rather than the chocolate itself. Most of these treats don’t actually include as much of the natural ingredients as they claim to have in them compared to natural and artificial flavorings (and food color).
Sugar Free May Be a Problem
One of the biggest things you need to worry about is the sugar-free variety of foods. If your dog eats a sugar-free Pop Tart, then you may want to worry. These are often very high in Xylitol, and this can be extremely toxic to your dog. Xylitol has caused many dogs to perish as they cause blood sugar drops, as well as liver failure and toxicity.
Sugars
The main concern isn’t really that a Pop Tart has ingredients like chocolate in it – it’s the high sugar and additive content, let alone the fact that they are high in starches and contain no nutritional value for your dog. If your dog frequently eats foods that are high in fats and sugars, they can develop problems like extreme weight gain, and even get diabetes.
If your dog eats a whole box of Pop Tarts, and they’re sugar free, just make sure it’s not happening on a regular basis. Of course, it’s not recommended to feed your dog these things, but it’s also not recommended that you or your kids eat them on a regular basis either. However, if your dog gets ahold of some once in a while, they’re probably fine.
What Are Other Choices?
There are actually a lot of other choices in flavored treats that you can give your dog. For example, they even have fruit flavored snacks for dogs that contain no harmful ingredients that could be toxic to them. Aside from this, it’s probably a better idea to give your dog healthy alternatives. If your dog is a fruit lover, you may see if they like bananas for example. Bananas are in moderation, an extremely healthy snack for your dog because they have a lot of potassium, minerals, fiber, and other vitamins in them. Of course, you shouldn’t give them to your dog regularly because they’re higher in sugar, or you should give them a banana that is greener as opposed to when it’s super-ripe (the riper a banana is, the less potassium and nutrients are in them and the more sugar they have).
Conclusion
So there you have it. Yes, your dog can safely eat a Pop Tart. Of course, this isn’t recommended as something that a dog should have frequently, but you are more than likely going to have a dog or pup get into them from time to time. Just make sure they didn’t eat the wrapper as well. And make sure they’re also getting the regular nutrition and activity they need to burn off those extra calories of sugar and starches.
