One of the most frequent questions we get here in Customer Service is about Garlic (Allium Sativum). Many of you have heard or read that garlic is toxic to dogs and wonder why we include it in our Force, Keen & Zeal diets. We wish to address this concern and eliminate the fear of including garlic in your canine friend’s diet.
Garlic is a member of the Allium family, along with onions. The toxic chemical contained in garlic and onions is thiosulphate. Dogs should NEVER be fed onions. But, this chemical only exists in minute amounts in garlic. Ingestion of large doses of this chemical can cause hemolytic anemia in dogs, destroying red blood cells. A large dose would be ingested if, for instance, you are in the middle of making dinner and you walk away from the kitchen counter to answer the phone, leaving a whole bulb of garlic within easy reach for your dog who proceeds to devour the entire thing.
The Whole Dog Journal, recommends garlic as a good addition to any raw diet. Their advice is that you can safely feed 1 clove of garlic for every 20 lbs of body weight. Another source describes an average daily intake of garlic as 1 clove per day for a medium-large dog. Yet another source claims that you would need to feed your dog as much as two whole bulbs a day for an extended period to make your dog sick. At www.Sojos.com, they claim that it would take as much as 50 cloves of garlic in one sitting to cause toxic effects in your dog. Keep in mind that people have been feeding their dogs garlic safely for thousands of years and that many healthy pet foods and treats contain garlic in small, safe amounts. It is simply a matter of very high doses and a large quantity relative to the size of your dog.
Dr. Pitcairn recommends the following amounts be given to your dog if feeding a raw diet and if indicated. Cats can have 1/4 clove per day.
- 10-15lbs = 1/2 clove of garlic
- 20-40lbs = 1 clove
- 45-70lbs = 2 cloves
- 75-90lbs = 2 1/2 cloves
- 100lbs+ = 3 cloves
Force, Keen and Zeal diets contain small, health-boosting amounts of garlic.
***Resource: www.preciouspets.org, Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats, The Lang Institute for Canine Massage: Course Manual, The Whole Dog Journal, Alternative Medicine for Pets, www.Sojos.com.
