May 22—There are many common foods and house plants that can be toxic to your dog or cat, and experts say when giving pets human food, err on the side of caution.

“The thing to say initially, is that if you don’t know for sure it’s OK, assume it’s not,” said Decatur veterinarian and owner of Osborne Animal Clinic Dr. Steve Osborne. “Things you could assume are OK are like chicken and rice. … But when you get into certain vegetables and things like that, some things don’t make a lot of sense.

“So, if you don’t know for sure, don’t feed it and ask your questions later. Ask your questions first.”

Osborne said two common foods that are toxic to pets are grapes and raisins.

“That’s a biggie because that’s something you wouldn’t think,” he said. “Everybody thinks fruits are all good.”

Chocolate is a major toxin, Osborne said.

“The more chocolate there is in terms of density, the worse it is. Chocolate of any kind is bad,” he said. “There is a compound in chocolate that is like a caffeine. Dogs don’t do well in breaking down lots of things; they don’t break down aspirin very well, they don’t break down caffeine very well. You know how you get jittery when you have two cups of coffee or something like that and your heart rate goes to pounding and all that kind of stuff? That’s what happens to dogs.”

Osborne said the difference is, with a human, within 30 minutes the body has broken down the caffeine and the jitters are gone.

“In dogs, they can’t break it down, so it stays in there, stays in there, stays in there,” he said. “They end up with heart rate issues, blood pressure issues, and it can cause cardiovascular damage or collapse.”

Xylitol, also toxic, is a sugar-like alcohol that is often found in sugar-free gum and peanut butter. It can also be listed on the label as birch sugar or wood sugar. Osborne said to carefully check the peanut butter ingredients before giving it to a dog.

Mushrooms and onions are toxic to pets, Osborne said. Onions can cause red blood cell damage and anemia.

“Almost all the spices, like pepper, are not good for them. Sage and rosemary and thyme could be a problem for them, too,” Osborne said. “Most of the spices are GI tract irritants and can cause vomiting or diarrhea.”

Osborne said nutmeg and garlic are also toxic.

Certain nuts are poisonous, Osborne said, so it is best to not feed them any.

Tomatoes are not good for pets’ GI tract, Osborne said. Avocados are also dangerous. Fats are not good for pets, Osborne said.

“They can’t digest fats very easily,” he said. “It puts stress on their pancreas, it can induce pancreatitis. Especially in older animals. Things like butter, meat fat, chicken fat, oil, all the cooking oils.”

Osborne said pets should not eat anything fried.

“Even if it’s a meat that you know is OK like chicken,” he said. “Fried chicken is bad, where chicken itself is not bad.”

Corn on the cob is bad, but not because of the corn, Osborne said.

“That cob is the perfect size to be eaten, clear the esophagus, clear the stomach, but not clear the intestines,” he said. “We have probably a 70% survival rate on those things. But not all of them live, that’s for sure.”

Sweet potatoes are OK, but yams are toxic, Osborne said. He said uncooked bread dough is dangerous.

Dr. Harry Greenbaum of Bryan Animal Clinic in Decatur said there are also common household plants and flowers that are toxic to dogs and cats.

“Cats are highly sensitive to true lilies,” he said. “Even if they walk through the pollen and then lick their paw, it’s enough to cause toxicity.”

Some true lilies include white lilies, tiger lilies, Easter lilies and day lilies. These lilies can cause kidney failure, Greenbaum said.

Greenbaum said every part of sago palms are highly toxic.

“The little nuts that come out, dogs like to chew on them,” he said. “They’re real popular decorative plants in Florida, but the person I was talking to last week had one here. So, there are people that keep them here, too.”

The palms can cause GI upset, liver damage, and can be neurotoxic, Greenbaum said.

“As little as one seed can cause death,” he said.

All oscillating plants are dangerous, Greenbaum said. They include elephant ears, dieffenbachias, or dumb cane, umbrella plants and peace lilies.

“They have these oscillating crystals in them, and it makes tiny little cuts in the mucus membrane in the mouth and the GI tract,” Greenbaum said.

If there is an accidental ingestion of any toxic food item, Osborne said, induce vomiting.

“Vomiting within the first hour, or as soon as possible, is your best defense,” he said. There are several different ways to cause vomiting. One thing that people have around their house is hydrogen peroxide. You give it orally according to size. A small dog gets a teaspoon, medium dogs get a tablespoon, large dogs get a couple of tablespoons.”

Osborne said wait 15 minutes for the dog to vomit.

“If they don’t throw up in 15 minutes after the first dose, you give a second dose, and you keep repeating until they throw up,” he said. “The key is to give them plenty of time in between to react to it.”

Osborne said it’s not always necessary to take the pet to a veterinarian if they vomit everything back up.

“I would certainly notify my vet at some point and tell them what happened, what you did, where we are, and then follow his recommendations,” he said.

Greenbaum said people can also visit their veterinarian to induce vomiting in their dog via an eye drop.

“Within 10, 15 minutes after putting that eye drop in, they’ll empty their entire stomach,” he said. “Small foreign bodies, if they’re still in the stomach, you can get them to throw them up without having to go in surgically. And then the toxic thing is catching it real early. Once it absorbs, there’s not a whole lot you can do other than a dramatic treatment.”

There are other treatments at a veterinarian office for inducing vomiting in cats, Greenbaum said.

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.