During the hot summer mornings, anyone would want to have a summer treat by grabbing an ice-cream cone. But does it mean that since you are having a piece of the delicacy it needs to be given to your furry friend? Let us try to find out the logical answer to this question. There are lots of articles that you will find on Google wherein it has been written that dogs should not really eat ice creams. But what if your little furry friend wants to have a piece of it and sees you in a manner that you cannot say “no” to him?
We often refer dogs as man’s best friend. Since they are so faithful to us that we treat them as our friends can’t we spoil them a bit by serving them the delicious and palatable treat to make their day wonderful? Let us try to find out the ingredients that are present in ice cream before taking the discussion forward. (Remember, we are trying to find out whether little bit of ice-cream can be given to our furry friends or not?)
Facts that prove dogs should not be given ice cream:
- Ice cream consists of lactose, which has two sugar molecules chemically linked together. In order to digest ice cream your pooch needs to break these sugars apart with an enzyme known as lactase. But dogs do not have the ability to produce lactase, which can lead to acute intestinal symptoms and lactose intolerance.
- The other part of the problem is that due to lactose intolerance dogs suffer from gas, diarrhea, and vomiting after eating ice cream. So now it is clear that dogs cannot possibly digest ice cream.
So what is the possible solution when your little furry friend looks with a baby face asking for a bite of ice cream?
Let us try to find out the options available to us:
- Peanut butter popsicles
When you see that your pooch is finding it irresistible during summers and wants a piece of the ice-cream you can serve non-dairy recipe for a peanut butter Pup-sicles.
You can make your very own peanut butter popsicles by following the steps given below:
- Ingredients:
- 1 cup peanut butter (ensure that is unsalted and unsweetened. Verify on the label of peanut butter whether it contains any kind of xylitol as it is poisonous to dogs)
- Mashed ½ ripe banana
- Water as per the requirement
- Method:
- Take a small bowl and mix peanut butter with a little water or half mashed banana (Note: Water and banana are not necessary but they assist with freezing steadiness)
- Line up a cookie sheet with wax paper or utilize Kong-style toys having a cavity to fill
- Serve the mixture on the tray or stuff it in the toys
- Freeze the tray or toys for several hours or overnight
- If you wish to reuse the tray straight away take out the cubes and amass them in a bag container in the freezer
- Serve the delicacy to your furry friends
Chicken & Beef Broth Ice Cream
Now you would say that we have already mentioned at the top that dogs cannot eat ice cream so how are we adding this option? The answer is that this particular recipe is lactose free and does not contain any diary product, hence; it is extremely safe to be served to dogs.
- Ingredients:
- Ice tray
- Water as required
- Chicken or beef or tuna
- Method:
- Commence with low or no sodium broth
- Assimilate equal proportions of water and broth (approximately ½ cup each)
- Pour it in ice cube tray
- Freeze till it is solid
- Add small pieces of plain cooked chicken or beef in each ice cube tray
- It will result in highly palatable treat for your pooch
- If you want something else apart from chicken or beef you can even add tuna
- Integrate ½ cup of low sodium broth chicken or beef to 6 Oz can of tuna in water
- Add one teaspoon of water if required to assist in assimilating all the ingredients
- Empty into two ice cube trays and freeze till they turn into a solid
Frozen Pumpkin Pudding
You can even give a vanilla pumpkin pudding to your dog in frozen form. It does not contain any undesirable ingredients that are present in ice-cream bought from stores and is highly palatable in taste.
Apart from these three options you can spoil your furry friend; sometimes by giving him an ice cream (it can be on a yearly basis; most probably on his/her birthday). But always remember that chocolate is not good for your little friend. In case if you find that your pooch has eaten lots of ice cream by accident get in touch with your veterinarian immediately as it can result in diarrhea, vomiting, and general discomfort in dogs.
But the good news is that even if your dog mistakenly eats ice cream he/she will be alright. Just keep your eye on them and everything will be just fine. If you have come across any unusual situation with regards to your dog and ice cream do let us know. We will try to cover your story in one of our upcoming blogs.