Posted by Larry Hoover on October 11, 2004, at 16:29:34
In reply to Re: ham skin....and a box of dead hair, posted by bridgey1128 on October 11, 2004, at 13:54:31
> I feel guilty because every time we have a ham we give the skin to our dogs. They eat it so fast I am not sure they even taste it!! Of course, this is only an occassional treat, so does this really hurt them? We also give them the bone.
The issue is the salt and fat that we humans tend to crave. Neither is good for a dog.
If you've ever had wild game, you know that there is precious little fat. Fat really irritates a dog's digestive tract, and can trigger pancreatitis because the fat puts the pancreas into overdrive producing digestive enzymes. The enzymes end up digesting the dog's own pancreas. Salt just puts a dog into physiological stress. The combination can make him sick.
You're right that occasional treats aren't likely to do harm. Just watch that the size of the treat itself is not too large.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:5053
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041007/msgs/401724.html