If you love eating pasta dishes, then lasagna must be on your favorite list. It is indeed a yummy snack item that includes onions and garlic, which are healthy for humans, but are they healthy for your dogs too? Should you feed your traditionally cooked lasagna to your canine friend? Well, the two major ingredients in lasagna are – onions and garlic, which are quite toxic to dogs. So, giving lasagna to your dogs can be dangerous.
So, can dogs eat lasagna? Unfortunately, the answer is No. Typically made lasagna includes garlic, onions, and tomato sauce, and these three ingredients are bad for your dog’s health. These are toxic to dogs. Apart from this, if your dog is lactose intolerant, the cheese in the lasagna can be threatening for them.
In short, lasagna does not contain anything good for your dog. So, you shouldn’t feed lasagna to your dogs.
Lasagna – A human food, NOT for dogs!
It is really difficult to find a person who does not like lasagna. It treats your taste buds with a sweet and sour taste. But unlike other types of human food, lasagna is not something that you can share with your pet dog.
So, if your fur friend is staring at you when you are having lasagna, let him stare or just move to another place, but don’t even give them a bite of it if you want good health. The ingredients in the lasagna that is good for you can be life-threatening for them.
So, think wisely before you give them even the leftover of lasagna.
Why is lasagna not safe for your dogs?
Tell me one reason why lasagna? There are myriad reasons for its bad effects on dogs, but not a single reason to feed them this food. Lasagna is made up of bell pepper, ground meat, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, cheese, lasagna noodles, and oil. But only the bell pepper, ground meat, and lasagna noodles do not have any bad effect on dogs.
Onions and garlic
Onions and garlic are the two most dangerous ingredients for dogs’ health that are must-have for preparing lasagna. Though a small amount of garlic and onion do not leave big trouble, lasagna includes a good amount of diced garlic and onions, which can result in poisoning, and sometimes, it might be life-threatening.
Cheese
While cheese is not always harmful to your pet, overeating it can be the reason for stomach upset. It is dangerous for dogs if they are lactose intolerant. Overeating of cheese can also cause digestive issues to your dogs.
Tomato sauce
Even the tomato sauce in a lasagna can affect your canine friend. Tomato sauce is also toxic to dogs, and it also contains onion and garlic, which cause digestive problems to your dogs.
Why is tomato sauce in lasagna dangerous for your dogs?
Yes, the innocent-looking tomato sauce can play the villain’s role when it comes to feeding lasagna to your dogs. It is highly acidic and also contains garlic and onions, which is dangerous for dogs.
So, having tomato sauce can be even more dangerous to your dogs than having onion and garlic. If your dogs eat tomato sauce accidentally, take him to your vet as soon as possible.
What happens if your dogs eat lasagna?
Lasagna noodles have basically no harm to dogs, but the ingredients in it (especially onions and garlic) are fatal. The toxins present in onions and garlic can cause serious complications for dogs, and it can cause oxidative damage to them.
Though a single onion might not be dangerous for you but eating more can be fatal. If your dogs eat onions, they might suffer from a condition called hemolytic anemia.
It destroys the RBC (red blood cells) of your dogs and loses the ability to carry oxygen, making your dogs quite unhealthy. Sometimes onion poisoning might be life-threatening.
Hopefully, you can get treatment for onion poisoning. If you go to your vet immediately after your dogs eat lasagna, s/he might induce them to vomit to give them instant support. However, for severe cases, your dogs might need a blood transfusion.
What to do if your dog eats lasagna?
For many dog owners, it becomes quite overwhelming when their dogs eat lasagna accidentally. However, if they eat a small portion of it, there is a minimum chance of being affected. You can still talk to your vet for safety measures.
But in case your dog eats a large portion of it, you should take your dog to the vet the soonest way possible to get the immediate treatment.
How to make dogs-friendly lasagna?
Traditionally cooked lasagna is not at all recommended for your dogs. Well, if you still want your dogs to taste lasagna, you can make it at home by using only the dog-friendly ingredients. Omit everything that might create trouble for your dogs’ health.
Instead of cooking lasagna traditionally, bake it. Take 1 lb ground meat, 2 eggs, shredded mozzarella, and parmesan cheese (avoid or reduce the quantity of cheese if your dog is lactose intolerant.), and 1 box of lasagna noodles.
You can cook the ground meat and drain the grease before you use it on noodles. Use the traditional way of baking and bake the noodles until they get a chewy texture. Now refrigerate them overnight.
Dogs-friendly lasagna might not give you the same taste as traditionally cooked lasagna, but yes, you can feed your dogs without being worried about any side effects. However, it is better to avoid this food. There are other tasty food items you can try on your dogs that are healthy for them.
Can eating lasagna kill my puppy?
Lasagna contains garlic, onions, cheese, and tomato sauce. The toxicity of onions and garlic is dangerous for dogs, and it can sometimes be fatal for your little pup. Even eating a single onion can make them ill.
If you see them vomiting, having breathing issues, and lethargic, it might be due to the effect of eating lasagna. Since the immune system of your little pup is weak, eating lasagna can be life-threatening for them.
Apart from this, eating cheese can also be problematic for puppies. They can have digestion issues. And if your puppy is lactose intolerant, eating cheese can be fatal for them.
The tomato sauce used in lasagna includes onion and garlic. That means the toxicity level gets doubled when onions and garlic combine with tomato. Therefore, tomato sauce can be even more dangerous for the little puppy.
To conclude, yes, frequent eating lasagna may even kill your puppy.
How to understand your dogs are suffering from onion toxicity?
If your dogs eat lasagna, it is not that they will instantly get sick. If you find the following symptoms in them, you have to take your dogs to your vet as soon as possible –
- Weakness
- Lethargy
- Fainting
- Decreased appetite
- Reddish urine
However, it is always recommended not to give your dogs anything that includes onions and garlic. If they eat, don’t wait for the symptoms to appear, rush to your vet for immediate help. Your vet might induce vomiting if you go just after he eats onions. In severe cases, doctors might suggest a blood transfusion.
When to visit your vet?
Prevention is always better than cure. Try not to give even a bite of lasagna to your dogs. But if it eats and if you find he is not okay, or if you find any of the symptoms of hemolytic anemia, it is the high time to take your pet to your veterinary expert.
Only a vet can evaluate your dogs and understand how much he got affected due to eating lasagna. However, it is always suggested to talk to your vet before feeding any human food to your dog because sometimes human food that is healthy for us might be fatal to them.
The final thought
So, can dogs eat lasagna? And the answer is a big NO. Why give even dogs-friendly lasagna when there is an ample amount of other healthy food for your dogs? The traditional lasagna dish is like a poison to your dogs. If you have leftover of lasagna, it is better to put them in the dustbin rather than giving it to your dogs. In the case of dogs-friendly lasagnas, you can put other veggies that are healthy for dogs.