CAN DOGS EAT ONIONS?

Onion is an extremely common vegetable that is consumed by a large number of people on a daily basis. It provides a lot of health benefits to the human beings like boosted immunity, controlled blood sugar levels, reduced chances of heart disorders and many more. So, what makes onions so beneficial for our health? The table below depicts all the important elements that are present inside an onion which makes it so useful for a human body.

Nutritional Elements in an Onion

As depicted in the table, the Vitamin C, chromium and various antioxidants, although present in small amounts inside an onion, but these constituents are extremely helpful for the proper functioning of the human body.

But, this article is about dogs. And, as the title suggests, we are here to determine whether to feed onions to our dogs or not. And, a simple and straightforward answer to this question, which might surprise a lot of people, is NO! you can’t feed onions to your dogs in any shape or form.

So, what makes an onion good for a human being but extremely harmful for a canine. Read further to find out.

Risks of feeding Onions to your dogs

1. Onions contain a lot of essential elements that are good for us. But it also contains an ingredient known as thiosulphate which might not affect the human body much, but it is exceptionally harmful to our pets that include dogs as well as cats. This ingredient has the potential to damage the red blood cells present inside a canine’s body. It causes the RBC’s to break down or burst and this can lead to a condition called Hemolytic Anemia. In this tremendously detrimental disease, the ability of the red blood cells to carry oxygen efficiently is reduced and they get destroyed because of a process known as hemolysis. This condition can prove to be fatal for a dog and thus, it is recommended not to feed onions to any pooch out there.
2. Apart from such a dangerous disease, the consumption of a large amount of onions by a canine can also cause a lot of other health-related issues like:

• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Fatigue
• Asthmatic Attacks
• Liver Damage
• Dermatitis
• Various Allergic Reactions
• Discolored Urine

3. And, not only onions, all the members of the Allium family (which onions are a part of) like garlic, leeks, chives et cetera are to be avoided when it comes to feeding our dogs. They all can be very harmful to the general health of our loyal companions.

FINAL VERDICT:

As seen, Onions present no benefits to a dog’s health, unlike human beings. It can be a serious threat to a canine’s body as anemia, which is caused by thiosulphate present inside the onions, can be severely deleterious to a dog’s health and it can also be lethal for them. Therefore, this easily available and very common vegetable must be strictly avoided and should never be fed to our sweet and furry friends.