If you are a dog owner and like me prefer eating warm crispy french fries from McDonald’s or any other fast-food restaurants in the privacy of your own home, you should remember that your dog always begs with his big puppy eyes for your food. If you don’t mind sharing your food with him but then you should ask yourself, can dogs eat french fries? Is it bad for dogs to eat french fries? Let’s discuss it here.
Can Dogs Eat French Fries from McDonald’s or Burger King?
Fast food fries are very unhealthy and could be hazardous for dogs to consume due to the high amount of salt and oils used. Fries prepared in a restaurant environment are especially not recommended to give to your dog in large amounts.
Unlike chocolate, a few fries are not deadly for dogs to consume by accident but is not recommended. Fries prepared in the fast-food industry often contain harmful seasonings for dogs such as garlic and pepper as well.
McDonald’s fries are not made for animal consumption due to the amount of fat and high quantity of salt used to prepare them. The same applies to Burger King or any other fast-food restaurants.
A medium portion of McDonald’s french fries adds up to a total of 340 calories with 16 grams of fat and 44 grams of carbs. The amount of salt put into Burger King and McDonald’s french fries is 0.5 grams.
Can Dogs Eat Salty French Fires?
In humans, too much salt can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. But what about dogs? Many do not realize a large quantity of salt is highly unhealthy for dogs to consume all at once.
If a dog consumes a large amount of very salty fries in one sitting the consequences could result in seizures, diarrhea, disorientation or at worst a coma. It especially important to avoid this for small breeds dogs.
Can Dogs Eat Spicy French Fries?
Anything that leaves your mouth with a burning taste, even if you have resistance to it or not, is incredibly unhealthy and possibly hazardous in large amounts for your dog. A few times my dog has eaten even a small amount of spicy food that was accidentally dropped on the floor has made her experience diarrhea, an upset stomach and vomiting.
What kinds of fries can dogs consume without being harmful to their health?
Is It Ok to Give Your Dog Home Made French Fries?
As I mentioned before fast-food fries is very unhealthy or even hazardous for dogs, but what about other ways of making fries? For example, using an oven or a toaster.
Baked potatoes are alright to feed your dog if it is baked in an oven with little to no salt added. The less salt the better for consumption.
It is extremely unhealthy to feed your dog fries with any types of oils or spices. The healthiest type of fries you could give it your dog is home cooked, in an air-fryer oven with no oils or seasoning such as pepper or salt.
How Many French Fries Can Your Dog Have?
A few salty fries with oils is ok to give to your dog in very small amounts such as one or two pieces. Any more could lead to dehydration, weight gain or pancreatitis or even more severe consequences. It is safe to give your dog more than one or two home cooked fries with no oils and no salt or any other seasonings.
What Are The Side Effects Of Letting Your Dog Eat French Fries Without Your Supervision?
Letting your dog consume too many salted fast-food fries could lead to dehydration, weight gain, pancreatitis, seizures, diarrhea, disorientation or at worst a coma. So, I would say do not allow your dog to eat more than two fast food fries but the safest option would be to completely cut the portion to zero.
How Often Can Your Dogs Have French Fries?
The recommended time span between giving your dog fries is only a few times a week. Depending what type of fries your dog is consuming they could be hazardous every day or every other day for health reasons of your dog.
Conclusion
Feeding your dog french fries from fast food restaurants is unhealthy and even hazardous in large amounts. However, occasionally, in very small amounts it will not affect your dog badly if not given every day.
Dogs can consume larger amounts of french fries if it is cooked at home with no oils or seasonings like salt in an oven or air-fryer. Giving your dog fast food fries has many consequences that could lead to salt poisoning or even worse easily if unsupervised.
Personally, I always avoid sharing my fast food french fries with my dog Roxy because of her sensitive stomach despite her constant begging. Most dogs love smelling and trying humans’ food without knowing that can be harmful for them.
Thank you for reading our “Can Dogs Eat French Fries?”
We would love to hear about your experiences giving your dog french fries – please give your comment below.
We believe that other dog owners will definitely appreciate and benefit from it.
References:
https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/animal-health-literacy/potentially-dangerous-items-your-pet
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/good-dog-bad-food-foods-people-are-bad-your-dog
https://www.avma.org/resources/pet-owners/petcare/household-hazards
https://medlineplus.gov/pethealth.html