My puppy (which I’ve told you already in my articles titled “When do puppies calm down?“) wants to try every existing human food! And I am not even kidding. It doesn’t matter what it is, if I’m eating it he wants a bit too! Be it apples, gummy bears, and also my chicken nuggets. Recently I had a bag of Takis (don’t judge me), and of course my dog was begging for a piece. That’s when I thought can dogs eat Takis? Are Takis safe for dogs, and junk food in general?
However, before we start there’s something else I want to stress. It’s important to do research on all food and if it’s safe for dogs. Especially junk food.
You can do that through the following articles on popular human foods:
- Can dogs have syrup? Is it safe for canines?
- Skittles and dogs: This is the real truth if they can eat them
- Can dogs have jello: Safe or toxic?
- Pretzels: Can dogs eat them? Here’s what you should know
- Can dogs eat Twizzlers or are they toxic?
- Is caramel really safe for dogs?
Many foods we humans love aren’t safe for dogs. So if you want your dog to stay healthy, it might be time to learn which foods are a NO-NO.
Can dogs eat Takis – the truth
The short answer to the question can dogs eat Takis is no they can’t and they shouldn’t! The main reason is that Takis are quite spicy, and dogs should definitely not eat spicy food. This is because your dog’s stomach is much more sensitive than yours. In fact, spicy food can be toxic for dogs!
Why dogs shouldn’t have Takis
I’ve mentioned the first reason why dogs shouldn’t eat Takis – because this junk food is very spicy. But what will happen if your dog eats spicy food? A little bite won’t harm them, right? Wrong!
Even small amounts of spicy food can cause serious health issues for your dog. Now, spicy food won’t kill your dog, but it definitely will cause the following problems:
- Canine pancreatitis
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Gas
- Excessive thirst
Secondly, just like any junk food, Takis are highly processed. This means that nutrition-wise they have nothing to offer. Well, except calories. Besides this, processed food is loaded with preservatives and other disgusting ingredients. All of these are not only unhealthy for your dog but for you too!
Too much salt, too much sugar
The third reason, and for this one, we need to take a look at the ingredient list of Takis.
The ingredients used to make Takis are:
Corn masa flour, soybean and/or palm and/or canola oil, iodized salt, sugar, natural and artificial flavor, citric acid, soy protein, yeast, momosodium glutamate, maltodextrin, sodium diacetate, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, artificial colors (Red #40 lake, Yellow #6 lake), onion powder, hot chili pepper (chili).
Let’s ignore that Takis are spicy, let’s also ignore that they don’t have any nutritional value. But, we can’t ignore that salt and sugar are the third and fourth ingredients on the list. As you probably already know, the higher the ingredient on the list the more concentrated it is.
Too much sugar and salt can make more harm to your dog’s body than you can even imagine.
Sugar, for example, will in the short run make your dog obese and ruin its teeth. However, in the long run, too much sugar can lead to diabetes in dogs.
Sodium poisoning
Too much salt on the other hand can actually be fatal. This is because too much salt can lead to sodium poisoning in dogs.
Keep onions and garlic — powdered, raw, cooked, or dehydrated — away from your dog. They can kill their red blood cells, causing anemia. That’s even the onion powder in some baby food. Eating a lot just once can cause poisoning. Look for signs like weakness, vomiting, and breathing problems.
Symptoms of sodium poisoning include:
- low appetite,
- excessive thirst,
- vomiting,
- diarrhea,
- depression,
- scratching and disorientation,
- weakness,
- lethargy
- tremors,
- high temperature,
- seizures,
- coma
I’ve written in detail about sodium poisoning in my article about pretzels and why they are not good for dogs. You can check that out too!
Onion powder
We often forget that dogs should never consume onions or garlic. The same goes for onion powder and garlic powder. If you take another look at the ingredient list you’ll see that onion powder is there too. It might not be high on the list but that doesn’t make it less dangerous.
Garlic and onions can kill your dog’s red blood cells, causing anemia. If your dog ate onion powder or garlic powder look for the following symptoms:
- weakness,
- vomiting,
- breathing problems.
If you know that your dog consumed Takis, please immediately contact your veterinarian and let them know what happened exactly.