Do you know what the best thing in the world is? TREATS. Especially if my humans are making homemade ones, they know all of my favorite things so they make them just perfect!
But whether you’re baking your own dog treats, or buying some, you might wonder if almond flour is safe for us. Well, as a dog, I’m an expert on what I can and can’t eat (most of the time), so I can tell you all about it!
Can we dogs eat almond flour? Yes! We can! Isn’t that great? We can eat almond flour regularly, so it’s perfectly safe for our treats to contain it! (I mean, you’re obviously not going to just give us flour, it will come inside a treat, right?)
But anyway, treats with almond flour are fine, and very yummy. Just make sure there aren’t any additives like sweeteners and similar, as they can be bad for us.
But why do you humans sometimes use almond flour instead of normal flour? I asked my humans the other day and they said that it can be extra beneficial.
Something about it having less sugar and fewer carbs, and about how it’s better for digestive health. I suppose that’s good. My humans also said that almond flour has vitamin E and other antioxidants, so it’s really healthy and good for you.
So maybe you want your dog to have the same benefits and you use almond flour in the treats. Only…that won’t work. I mean sure, you can use the almond flour. But we won’t get the same benefits as you, to us it will just be a slightly different flour and that’s it. (I never notice the difference if I’m honest).
But the main point is that almond flour is safe for us dogs, and therefore you can use it in our delicious treats!
Is almond flour toxic to dogs?
Most foods, when it comes to dogs, seem to be safe as long as it’s not too much. And almond flour is pretty much the same.
Using it in small treats is completely safe for us. However, you need to be careful not to use too much. So don’t give us lots and lots of almond flour treats, and don’t use a huge amount of it when making the treats.
Almond flour is made with almonds (I’m so clever), and almonds can be toxic for us. So although the flour is safe, using too much will eventually also become toxic and harmful for us.
Basically, if we eat too many almonds or a large amount of almond-based food, we can get almond poisoning. Do you want to know more about it? It’s important to know, so I’ll tell you!
If we eat lots and lots of almonds, we can get gastrointestinal stress, obesity, and pancreatitis. But that’s not all. Almonds can sometimes have Aspergillus mold, and we dogs are particularly vulnerable to this mold, and we can end up becoming seriously ill!
So sure, we can eat one or two almonds, and it’s fine. But too many and it goes bad very fast. We just aren’t designed to digest nuts, better to stick to our normal food and to safe treats.
To help you out, even more, so you can keep your dog safe the way my human does with me, I’ll tell you all the symptoms and signs that your dog has some sort of almond poisoning:
- Eating Too Many Almonds:
If we’ve eaten too many almonds, you’ll know soon enough. We’ll start vomiting, having diarrhea, and will be very dehydrated. Not good at all.
- Poisoning from the Aspergillus Mold:
If you notice any signs of us having poisoning from the aspergillus mold found in almonds, you need to take us to the vet as soon as possible. Some telltale signs are lethargy, liver failure, loss of appetite, and lots of vomiting.
- Pancreatitis:
This can be very bad, so you also need to take us to the vet as soon as you suspect we have it! Some of the main symptoms will be weakness, vomiting, weight loss, fever, difficulty breathing, and many many more.
Basically, make sure we aren’t eating almonds regularly or in large quantities. And keep the almond flour to small quantities too, so that the almond component of it doesn’t build up to a dangerous level.
Other than that, it should be fine.
What kind of flour is best for dogs?
So, almond flour is safe for our treats. But what about other types of flours? Which one is the best? Are there any that aren’t safe?
According to my humans, the reason why they bake my treats themselves is to make sure they’re healthy, so that’s what they also look for in the flour.
White flour is what you usually use for baking your huge cakes and biscuits and human treats. But white flour is usually very processed, and it doesn’t really add any healthy or nutritional value.
So my humans say it’s best to avoid white flour in dog treats.
Here are other flours you can use, and why they are good:
- Whole-wheat flour:
This is usually the most commonly used flour when it comes to dog treats. It’s completely safe, and it’s pretty healthy. The only thing to watch out for is the gluten it contains. Just like how some humans are allergic to it, so are some dogs! But if gluten is fine for your dog, then this is the flour to use!
- Gluten-free flour:
My humans say that they’re happy I’m not allergic to gluten, because gluten-free flour is harder to use. But it’s the best and safest option for dogs that can’t have gluten, and if you manage to get it right, then it makes for delicious treats!
There are also many different types of gluten-free flours, so you have plenty to choose from!
There are lots of other flours, but those are the main two types. Those and the almond flour, of course. But I’ve talked about that enough already. Now, where is my treat?
