10 Thanksgiving Foods You Should Never, Ever Feed Your Pet

A few bites of cooked, boneless turkey are fine, but don’t give your pet a bone to gnaw on or let them munch on the turkey carcass. They could swallow small pieces of bone, which could harm their digestive tract.

Hopefully, you wouldn’t knowingly give your pets alcohol, but during big family gatherings, make sure that wine glasses aren’t accidentally left in a place where pets could lap them up. Alcohol can be very dangerous, even lethal, to pets. According to the ASPCA, alcohol ingestion can lead to “vomiting, diarrhea, decreased coordination, central nervous system depression, difficulty breathing, tremors, abnormal blood acidity, coma and even death.”

Be careful not to feed your pet any scraps of cakes or cookies containing raisins. Both grapes and raisins have a toxic substance that can cause kidney failure in pets, according to the ASPCA.

Pets don’t just have to worry about stinky breath when it comes to onions, garlic and chives. Eating these foods can cause stomach irritation and can even lead to red blood cell damage in animals, according to the ASPCA.

Raw bread dough containing yeast is dangerous for cats and dogs. “When a dog or cat ingests raw bread dough, the yeast continues to convert the sugars in the dough to carbon dioxide gas and alcohol,” the ASPCA explains. “This can result in bloated drunken pets, which could become a life-threatening emergency.” Raw cake batter is also a no-no because the raw eggs inside may contain salmonella bacteria, which could cause food poisoning.

All nuts, including almonds, pecans, and walnuts, can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and even pancreatitis, in cats and dogs, says the ASPCA. Macadamia nuts are especially dangerous. They can cause “weakness, depression, vomiting, tremors and hyperthermia [high body temperature].”

Resist the urge to throw your pets a few treats from the snack bowl this holiday season. Salty snacks like potato chips, pretzels and popcorn can cause “excessive thirst and urination, or even sodium ion poisoning in pets,” says the ASPCA.

Chocolate is a well-known dangerous food for pets. Certain chemicals found in cacao seeds can cause vomiting, diarrhea, abnormal heart rhythm, seizures and even death, according to the ASPCA. The organization notes that dark chocolate is even more dangerous to pets than milk chocolate.

Like chocolate, coffee and some dark colas contain chemicals called methylxanthines than can have serious health consequences for pets.

Essential oils from the stems, leaves, peels, flesh and seeds of citrus fruits can cause stomach irritation and even “central nervous system depression if ingested in significant amounts,” says the ASPCA.