 The Short Answer is:
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You may be surprised to learn that your dog is more afraid of homemade French toast than he is of store-bought French toast. French toast is stacked with sugar and wheat as are many other ready-made foods. I don’t mean to mislead you. Although these products aren’t healthy for your dog they won’t kill him either. |
The purpose of this research is to explain “Can Dogs Eat French Toast?“.
Despite its name French toast isnot at all French.
Rome built it around 2000 years ago.
To be precise the fifth century BC.
French toast is not described as such because it originated in France or because it is particularly popular there.
However French means to slice which is why French toast uses sliced bread.
Like French fries which were named for their shape (they are sliced potatoes) rather than their origin.
Do you feel deceived all this time or is it just me?
Who would have thought such humble food could have such a “misleading” history?
Can dogs eat French toast?
You may be surprised to learn that your dog is more afraid of homemade French toast than he is of store-bought French toast.
French toast is stacked with sugar and wheat as are many other ready-made foods.
I do not mean to mislead you.
Although these products are not healthy for your dog they would not kill him either.
They would not eat it unless it is the only food they consume for months at a time.
Here are some homemade French toast recipes in contrast.
When you make food yourself you can expect it to be healthier and cheaper than ready-made store-bought alternatives.
Some homemade French toast recipes use raisin bread and even a few raisins can leave a dog in need of emergency veterinary care.
Let me take a look at the ingredients which are present in ready-made products before I depress you with more information about that.
Can dogs eat ready-made French toast?
My usual approach will be to compare the ingredients in popular ready-made brands of French toast with popular homemade recipes.
Then I will review whether your dog should eat these ingredients.
I will begin by reviewing two readymade products.
- The thick and fluffy classic French toast from Kelloggs Eggo.
- French Toast Cinnamon Sticks from Great Value (which is Walmarts own brand).
Despite the differences in ingredients between these two products the main four ingredients are the same.
And they are :
Enriched flour
Water
It consists of sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
Yeast
Your dog will not be harmed by any of them.
I’d like to briefly mention each ingredient.
Enriched wheat flour
If your dog eats the whole packet of French bread or if he is wheat intolerant enriched wheat flour would not cause him any real problems.
This could cause a little tummy upset or something worse depending on how much they ate and how sensitive their allergy is.
Sugar/ high fructose corn syrup
The other product lists corn syrup as an ingredient while the first lists sugar as an ingredient.
These two forms of sugar are essentially the same.
Any form of sugar isnot necessary for a dogs diet and it can be very unhealthy when too much is consumed.
While these two recipes contain a little sugar your dog would not be harmed by it- unless they eat French toast every morning for breakfast.
Yeast
In the world of baking yeast is one of those ingredients that is often misunderstood.
Live yeast or dried active yeast can be very dangerous for dogs in specific circumstances as you may have heard.
If it is proven to be in homemade bread and the dog eats it.
Dogs are at risk because the dough is increasing in size and could continue to grow once inside their warm stomachs.
In the end the dough could become so large that it blocks the dogs stomach.
It isnot a threat to your dogs health to have yeast in ready-to-eat bread.
In this section I will focus on the ingredients that can be used in recipes that you can make yourself after having looked at the ingredients in French toast that you can buy.
Can dogs eat homemade French toast?
To refer to this I am using the website Allrecipes.com.
There are many recipe websites on the Internet which is why it is one of the most popular.
I will start this section by discussing what on the surface appears to be an obvious ingredient.
Raisin Bread
Dogs can have a few pieces of bread and it would not bother them.
What is the point of talking about it? Why should I waste your time?
French bread recipes often call for raisin bread because it is a popular bread type.
Furthermore raisins or any byproduct of grapes are highly toxic to dogs and should not be fed to them.
Small dogs can be poisoned by even a single raisin.
Eggs
You can feed your dogs cooked eggs (as in French toast).
Eggs are a great source of protein contain a good amount of B vitamins and contain traces of almost every vitamin there is.
When you consider that an egg needs to nurture a chick they are one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet.
Raw eggs could potentially contain harmful bacteria so people are concerned about feeding them to dogs.
Due to the fact that French toast requires cooked eggs I would not mention it again.
Milk
In the same way that dogs with wheat intolerance may have difficulty eating bread some dogs with lactose intolerance may struggle to eat any food that contains milk.
While the amount of milk in the recipe is minimal most dogs should be fine with the presence of milk in the recipe.
Cinnamon
The health benefits of cinnamon are well known.
As a natural remedy it has been used by humans for thousands of years.
Dogs who suffer from arthritis benefit from the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric.
Cinnamon however can also be irritating to dogs.
Too much of spice can cause short-term but unpleasant side effects including coughing or watery eyes for your dog if it is consumed or even inhaled at one time.
Vanilla extract
French toast is another recipe that uses this ingredient.
Vanilla extract is only used in tiny amounts usually one teaspoon or less so your dog will be fine with a bite or two of French toast containing the vanilla extract.
Vanilla extract poses a real threat to dogs because of its alcohol content which is around 35%.
In order for a dog to suffer any real damage it would need to have consumed much more than a teaspoon.
Syrup
The syrup is the last ingredient I want to discuss.
It seems to be a staple of breakfast pancakes and French toast.
The syrup is not poisonous for your dog but because it is 60% sugar it is high in calories.
If you and your dog are sitting at the table eating French toast you might want to keep this ingredient to yourself and not share it with your dog.
The following section will take a broader look at some of the most common ingredients present in shop-bought or homemade French toast.
Can dogs eat French toast products?
There are now a variety of breakfast products flavored with French toast in response to Americas love of the dish.
When you can eat French toast flavored cereals coffee or even protein powder with a French toast twist why limit yourself to plain French toast?
French Toast Crunch or Cinnamon Toast Crunch do not contain any toxic ingredients for dogs but they are not healthy treats either.
You should not let your dogs consume coffee in any form or flavor.
Dogs are highly sensitive to caffeine and it can cause nasty side effects such as diarrhea and disorientation.
The protein powders are less of a problem for dogs but in addition to being high in protein which is not surprising they can also contain about 50% sugar which means plenty of calories.
Keeping your dog as far from your gym bag as possible is the safest thing to do.
If you want to read more about dog food tips read here: Dog Food Tips and Tricks.
