Why a dog should not be given pork: causes and consequences

What can and cannot be given to a dog should be known even before you decide to get a puppy. Why does meat like pork stand apart in a dog’s diet? Not everyone can answer this question correctly. Someone feeds his pet everything, someone only dry food. Those who try to follow all the rules do it rather to perform at exhibitions.

Rules for feeding dogs with meat

They say that all dog lovers know that the dog should not be fed pork. In fact, only breeders can be attributed to the category of dog owners, while the rest, for some reason of their own, give birth to this animal. Those who supposedly know everything about feeding dogs are simply adhering to the prescribed rules.

Overfeeding your animal, even out of great love for him, is not worth it. One of the reasons dogs shouldn’t eat pork is obesity. Pork meat is the fattest, as one hundred grams contains 17 grams of protein and 20 grams of fat. Whereas in beef for the same amount of meat there will be 20 grams of protein and 17 grams in lamb, and 2 and 6 grams of fat, respectively.

But pork is not only harmful for its fat, parasites and even the plague virus are found in it more often than in other meat. Therefore, it is worth understanding in more detail what to give the dog and what not.

Dog diet

From how the puppy that appears in the house will develop and grow, it depends on what it is fed. Particular attention is paid to nutrition in the first year of a dog’s life. If the puppy does not get enough of the substances he needs, then in his further development may have problemswhich will also affect his health. And wool, and teeth and skeleton, and claws – all this is formed as a result of good nutrition.

A puppy is the same child, only a dog, and therefore they feed him approximately the same way (according to the frequency of feeding):

• after he began to eat on his own, that is, at the age of one and a half months to two, the puppy is fed every three hours;
• from two to three months, the number of feedings begins to decrease from 6 to 5;
• then every two months the number of feedings decreases: at 4-5 months it is already 4 times, and at 6-7 months – 3 times a day;
• after the dog is one year old (maybe even a couple of months later), feeding is carried out twice a day.

It is important not only the correct hourly feeding, but the correct diet.

Gradually, about once a week, raw fish can be added to the diet. It is better to give sea fish, as it is more useful and it has fewer small bones. In addition, the risk of becoming infected with worms comes from river fish.

It is considered an erroneous opinion: “give milk to the dog to drink.” Yes, milk contains both calcium and phosphorus. But milk also causes indigestion, and not just in dogs. And phosphorus is absorbed from marine fish.

It would seem strange, but dogs can and should be given vegetables and fruits. First vegetables are given mashedteaching them since childhood. Vegetables and fruits contain many vitamins and also help the animal clean its teeth. When a dog nibbles on a fruit or vegetable, she uses it to remove plaque from her teeth.

And of course, meat, as a great protein source, should be on the menu. Even if pork is completely excluded from the dog menu, then beef and lamb should still be cooked.

Good nutrition is essential to a dog’s health. You should know that its features of the digestive system are different from humans. It is the digestive process of the dog that does not allow him to give him pork.

The effect of foods on the digestive system

A wide variety of foods should not be given to a dog. One of the forbidden foods is pork. As already mentioned, pork – the fattest meat and this is the reason for its prohibition on the canine digestive system.

Why you can’t feed pork to a dog can be understood by analyzing its negative properties and future consequences.

Pork fat in large volume, the dog’s stomach is difficult to digest. This fat accumulates in the liver cells and leads to obesity in the dog. Here no amount of exercise will help., because nature itself has laid the body’s immunity to such heavy food.

Any meat undergoes a pre-sale check for quality and the absence of parasites in it. But what is normal for a person can be dangerous for a dog. If there are no diseases and parasites dangerous for a person in pork, then for his friend it may be just the opposite. One of the dog diseases – distemper, occurs as a result of eating pork. Also from this meat you can become infected with such a parasite as trichinella. There have been cases of rabies infection after eating “forbidden” meat.

This is why a dog should not eat the meat of domestic pigs or wild boars. Even completely eliminating pork from the diet, it can still be encountered, for example, in dry food. Indeed, in expensive dry food there is lean and steamed porkwhich undergoes strict quality control and processing.

Diseases that occur in dogs after eating pork

Aujeszky’s disease

This disease is better known as pseudorabies. The disease is common in farm and domestic animals, as well as in rodents and poultry. Spread by pigs that have been ill or carriers of the virus.

Dogs become infected by eating raw meat or by contact (living near) with carriers.

Symptoms begin with a lack of appetite, and then from further refusal of food. Animal there is profuse salivation and itching in the nose, ears, lips. The endless itching and the attempts made by the dog to calm him down resemble rabies. Therefore, Aujeszky’s disease is sometimes called pseudorabies.

There is no effective treatment for the disease yet. The outcome is almost always fatal, because the bright signs appear only a day or two and there is very little time to determine them.

The most important thing is the prevention of the disease:

• extermination of rodents and food safely hidden from them;
• control over the food received, the absence of raw meat from animals suffering from Aujeszky’s disease in the menu.

Trichinosis

The disease got its name from the small roundworms Trichinella. Infection occurs due to eating raw or poorly processed meat. Why is it possible to get infected from pork? Yes, because meat waste gets into the feed of pigs, which can be infected larvae.

Trichinella larvae have a high survivability and able to survive even after frying, salting, smoking, cooking. Once in the body, the larvae grow into adults and can live in the intestines for several months, and in the muscles even for several years.

Signs of the disease are fever, muscle and abdominal pain, and sometimes diarrhea.

The more worms that enter the body, the more severe the disease is.

What should a dog owner remember?

Having learned about these diseases, any owner must understand: why dogs can not have pork. By the way, sometimes pork can be given to a dog. In winter, animals store fat to maintain their temperature. At this time, you can give once a week lean pork pieces to your pet. In another period, it is allowed to give the heart and stomach of pigs to a dog.

Now many veterinarians are reconsidering why pork is bad for a dog. Increasingly, it is said that non-fat pork meat is given in diets. Pork contains iron, zinc, amino acids, and B-group vitamins. And this means that it can be given to dogs.

Knowing why it is impossible, everyone decides for himself and his animal what to give and in what capacity. High-quality lean and boiled meat can be given, but do not abuse it.