Q&A WITH DR PAULINE TAYLOR, BVM&S MACVSC
DR. PAULINE SAYS: To be safe you should not allow your dogs to eat ice cream at all. My dogs have always loved licking ice cream cartons but I am well aware it is not good for them. Usually made from cows milk with a high fat & sugar content, ice cream can lead to upsets in their digestive system with signs of abdominal pain, vomiting & diarrhea & in some dogs an even more serious metabolic condition called pancreatitis that affects the working of the pancreas gland. The flavor of ice cream is also critical. Dogs have a very low threshold for chocolate which contains “theobromine” a direct toxin for dogs. Theobromine is similar to caffeine, it is very slowly metabolized in dogs and can cause cardiac arrhythmias, epileptic seizures, internal bleeding, heart attacks, and eventually death. So chocolate ice cream is a never never! The same advice applies for cats.
DR. PAULINE SAYS: To be safe you should not allow your dogs to eat ice cream at all. My dogs have always loved licking ice cream cartons but I am well aware it is not good for them. Usually made from cows milk with a high fat & sugar content, ice cream can lead to upsets in their digestive system with signs of abdominal pain, vomiting & diarrhea & in some dogs an even more serious metabolic condition called pancreatitis that affects the working of the pancreas gland. The flavor of ice cream is also critical. Dogs have a very low threshold for chocolate which contains “theobromine” a direct toxin for dogs. Theobromine is similar to caffeine, it is very slowly metabolized in dogs and can cause cardiac arrhythmias, epileptic seizures, internal bleeding, heart attacks, and eventually death. So chocolate ice cream is a never never! The same advice applies for cats.