Sharing food with a dog is one of the pleasures of living with one. It is also the fastest route to an overweight dog, and occasionally to an emergency. Here is a usable list.
The rule that comes first
Treats and extras of every kind should stay under ten percent of your dog’s daily calories. For a 10kg dog eating around 500 calories a day, that is fifty calories — about a third of a slice of cheese.
This is why “just a bit of chicken” becomes a two-kilo weight gain over a year. Measure by calories, not by generosity.
Safe in sensible amounts
**Cooked lean meat.** Chicken, turkey, beef, lamb. Plain, no seasoning, no onion or garlic, no cooked bones.
**Cooked fish.** Salmon, whitefish, sardines in water. Fully cooked, bones removed. Oily fish is a good source of omega-3.
**Eggs.** Cooked, no butter or salt. A whole egg is roughly 70 calories, a meaningful chunk of a small dog’s allowance.
**Carrots.** Raw or cooked. Excellent low-calorie training treats. Cut into sticks rather than coins for large dogs.
**Green beans.** Plain, fresh or frozen. A favourite among vets for bulking out a weight-loss diet.
**Pumpkin.** Plain tinned pumpkin — not pie filling, which contains sugar and spices. Useful fibre for mild digestive upsets.
**Blueberries.** Easy to portion, and most dogs love them frozen.
**Apple.** Flesh only. Remove the core and pips.
**Banana.** Small amounts. High in sugar, so a couple of slices rather than a whole fruit.
**Watermelon.** Flesh only, no seeds or rind. Mostly water, and excellent frozen in summer.
**Plain yoghurt and cottage cheese.** Unsweetened, no xylitol. Some dogs handle dairy poorly, so start with a teaspoon.
**Peanut butter.** Only if xylitol-free — check the label every single time, because brands change formulations.
**Cooked plain rice, pasta and oats.** Bland and useful during recovery from an upset stomach.
**Cooked plain or sweet potato.** Never raw or green.
Genuinely dangerous — never feed
**Chocolate.** Theobromine poisoning. Dark and baking chocolate are far worse than milk. Call a vet with your dog’s weight and the type and amount eaten.
**Xylitol (also labelled birch sugar).** The most dangerous item on this list. Causes a catastrophic insulin release and, at higher doses, liver failure. Found in sugar-free gum, mints, some peanut butters, protein bars and baked goods. A tiny amount can kill a small dog. An immediate emergency.
**Grapes, raisins, sultanas, currants.** Cause acute kidney failure in some dogs. The toxic dose is unpredictable, so treat any ingestion as urgent. That includes Christmas cake, mince pies and fruit scones.
**Onion, garlic, leeks, chives, shallots.** Damage red blood cells. Cumulative, and cooking does not remove the risk. Watch for these in stocks, gravies and curries.
**Macadamia nuts.** Cause weakness, tremors and hyperthermia.
**Alcohol.** In any form, including raw bread dough, which ferments in the stomach.
**Cooked bones.** Splinter into sharp fragments. Cooked poultry bones are the worst.
**Corn cobs.** Not toxic, but they do not break down and are a classic cause of intestinal blockage requiring surgery.
**Stone fruit pits.** Peach, plum, cherry, avocado stones. Blockage and choking risk.
**Caffeine.** Coffee, tea, energy drinks, and used coffee grounds in the bin.
The grey area
**Avocado flesh.** The main risks for dogs are the stone and the fat content. A small amount of flesh is not an emergency but is not worth offering.
**Cheese.** Safe but very calorific and salty. Excellent as a high-value training reward in pea-sized pieces.
**Ham, bacon and processed meats.** Too salty and too fatty. High-fat meals are a well-known trigger for pancreatitis.
**Milk.** Many adult dogs are lactose intolerant to some degree.
If your dog eats something dangerous
Do not wait to see what happens. Call your vet or an animal poison line immediately with:
- Your dog’s weight
- What was eaten, and the packaging if you have it
- How much, and how long ago
Do not try to make your dog vomit unless a vet tells you to. Some substances cause more damage coming back up, and home methods like salt water are dangerous in themselves.
Keep your vet’s out-of-hours number somewhere you can find it in thirty seconds. That, more than any list, is the thing that helps on a bad night.
