 The Short Answer is: |
the number of coffee creamers dogs consume will not make much of a difference to their health. This may cause them to vomit or have a small amount of diarrhea. The exception would be if your dog ate a small amount of coffee creamer with a fairly large serving of coffee. The health of your dog might be at risk if he eats too much coffee grounds or drinks too much coffee. The reason for this is that coffee is toxic to dogs. |
In this article you will know the answer to the query “My Dog Ate Coffee Creamer“.
Even though I rarely sit in a coffee house there is something very seductive about having the time to relax while watching the world go by and just watching the world go by.
Taking my dogs there would make it even more special for me.
Although I do not like it when other customers fawn over my dogs it gives me another opportunity to walk them!
But the problem with taking your dog to places like these is that they are full of wonderful smells food scraps and coffee shards.
The fact that my dogs are Golden Retrievers ups the ante in this respect.
It is well known that coffee is toxic for dogs but how can we make coffee creamers that are dog friendly?
To begin with I would like to define what I mean by coffee creamer…
What is a coffee creamer?
The creamer can be added to coffee or tea in place of milk or cream.
In the United States it is available in powder or liquid form and most varieties are dairy-free.
Nestles Coffee-mate a powdered creamer was one of the first coffee creamers.
It is by all accounts still one of the best-selling coffee creamers on the market today.
Following a description of what a coffee creamer is I want to explore how much of it Americans buy every year.
How popular is coffee creamer?
Coffee creamers are extremely popular in America because so much coffee is consumed.
There are over 180 million Americans who use coffee creamer and the market is estimated to be worth $3 billion per year.
International Delight and Coffee-mate are the two leading brands in this market although Coffee-mate has a share that is twice that of International Delight.
Put that way it seems highly likely that there will be a dog somewhere in the U.S. that eats or drinks some coffee creamer.
However are these products potentially harmful to dogs?
Taking a closer look at the ingredients in the next section I hope to learn more.
What are the ingredients in coffee creamers?
I will examine the ingredients used in four coffee creamer products in this section: CoffeeMate International Delight sugar-free coffee creamers and chocolate creamers.
We can also get a sense of the main ingredients used in coffee creamers by looking at these three products
Your dog might be affected by them.
Coffee-mate Original
Coffee-mate dominates the market for creamers thanks to its 11 powdered creamers and 26 liquid creamers.
In addition I will examine their “Golden Goose”- the original powder.
It is primarily composed of corn syrup solids and hydrogenated vegetable oil.
Dogs cannot be poisoned by either of these ingredients.
However since corn syrup is 77% carbohydrates and vegetable oil is 100% fat neither product contains any vitamins or minerals so they are both very unhealthy.
In addition there are six other “ingredients” that contribute less than 2% to the product.
Its good to know none of these are toxic for your dog but bad to know they have more in common with chemicals than real food!
One of these ingredients is sodium caseinate a substance derived from cows milk.
Phosphate and glyceride are other ingredients.
As we move forward lets look at our next product which is not a powder but a liquid.
International Delight
A product from International Delight that interests me is a liquid creamer flavored with French vanilla.
As I mentioned earlier this manufacturer isnot as big as Coffee-mate but its creamer line still has twenty different flavors.
There are three main ingredients: water palm oil and cane sugar.
Despite the fact that these ingredients are not toxic for dogs they are extremely unhealthy.
When it comes to carbohydrates cane sugar is even worse than corn syrup because it is 100% sugar.
The fat content of palm oil is the same as that of vegetable oil.
In addition to the Coffee-mate powder there are other ingredients present but in tiny amounts.
A glyceride and a phosphate are present as well as sodium caseinate.
Taking a closer look at these two products reveals just how similar they are.
Sugar-Free Coffee Creamers
I havenot chosen this based on my own preference for sugar-free creamer since I’m not a huge fan of it myself.
According to a bizarre study dogs prefer sugar-free coffee creamers to traditional creamers.
There is one sweetener in some sugar-free foods that can kill your dog which is why I have included it on my list.
Xylitol is that product.
While this artificial sweetener is safe for humans it is poisonous to dogs and can cause them serious harm.
There are quite a few of them.
Therefore I decided to check if any sugar-free creamers contain xylitol on the market.
The really good news is that the most popular products (Coffee-mate and International Delight) do not contain this ingredient.
Among the many artificial sweeteners available xylitol is the only one that is toxic for your dog.
Both companies use sucralose and acesulfame potassium as artificial sweeteners.
Chocolate flavored creamers
There are many different flavors of coffee creamers on the market as I have mentioned.
There are some flavors that are chocolate-based.
This is bad news for dogs because chocolate contains a compound that is toxic to them if consumed in enough quantities.
This article explains all the reasons why chocolate is so harmful to dogs.
I have some good news to share with you.
No cocoa is present in the three or four chocolate flavored creamers made by International Delight.
Moreover although the chocolate flavors in the Coffee-mate range do contain cocoa it is used in such tiny amounts that your dog would have had to inhale 32 ounces of it. No one should put themselves in danger by drinking a bottle of creamer.
What should I do if my dog ate coffee creamer?
I’d like to conclude this article by explaining what you should do if your dog ate coffee creamer.
I can not give you a simple answer as you already guessed.
In most cases the number of coffee creamer dogs consume will not make much of a difference to their health.
This may cause them to vomit or have a small amount of diarrhea.
The exception would be if your dog ate a small amount of coffee creamer with a fairly large serving of coffee.
The health of your dog might be at risk if he eats too much coffee grounds or drinks too much coffee.
The reason for this is that coffee is toxic to dogs.
Your dogs danger level depends on how big they are and how much coffee they have consumed- or more specifically how strong the coffee is.
Amanda (Author)
With over a decade of experience, Amanda is a distinguished dog trainer. Her expertise in canine behavior has transformed countless lives, fostering harmonious human-canine connections. Through compassionate and personalized approaches, she empowers owners to understand and connect with their furry companions, creating a legacy of joyful tails and transformed lives.
Osvaldo Maciel (Content Reviewer)
Osvaldo Maciel, a stalwart in the field with 14 years of experience, is a revered dog trainer. His journey is defined by a profound understanding of canine behavior, shaping unbreakable human-canine bonds. Osvaldo guides owners to connect with their beloved pets, leaving an indelible mark of happiness and transformation. His legacy shines through the countless lives he has touched.
