Is Spaghetti Sauce okay for dogs?

[Fundog]

Hi all,

We had spaghetti for dinner the other night, and as usual, my son made a bit more sauce than noodles, so there was a bit leftover. It was made with mild Italian sausage, tomato sauce, and mushrooms, along with the usual Mediterranian herbs that go in it. I didn't want it to become a "science project" in the fridge, so I warmed it up and put it on the girls' dinner tonight (they gobbled it right up). Anyway, I just wanted to make sure it is safe to give them spaghetti sauce, and won't do them any real harm. What about the mushrooms? Are mushrooms safe? Thanks.


On another sidenote, I have to (proudly?) confess my dogs are now officially "spoiled." The other night my son simply set down their bowls of plain, boring kibble-- no num-nums-- the girls looked at it, looked up at my son, then walked away! He had to find some num-nums and dress up their dinner for them.

In addition, my family is now somewhat envious: They are beginning to complain that I feed the dogs better than I feed them. They accused me of never getting "nummy-nums" for them, but only for the dogs. So this past weekend I brought home doughnuts for them, (the humans) and told them they can no longer say I don't give them nummy-nums.

[ckranz]

Bewary as many spagetti sauces contain onion which is a big no no for dogs.

[emmabeth]

Ach... the amount of onion in spaghetti sauce is not going to be a problem.

Onions (and garlic, and leek, and spring onions, and shallots... etc etc) are indeed bad for dogs, IN LARGE QUANTITY..

Dogs fed a clove of garlic here and there (and mine get a fair bit) and dogs consuming the odd bit of onion in left overs are not going to have a problem, theyd have to eat lots of the stuff! (though, it is relative to the size of the dog, if a chi steals and eats an entire onion, id keep an eye on them.. if a labrador did i wouldnt worry).

These things are often good in small doses and bad in large - garlic is a good example of this, very very good stuff with a multitude of beneficial properties, just dont let your dog eat a whole string!

[Fundog]

Okay, thanks Emmabeth-- that's what I was thinking. My son usually just sprinkles a dash of onion powder in the 2 qt. saucepan when he makes the sauce-- because he's too lazy to chop up a fresh onion (and I don't blame him, really)-- so I figured the trace amount of onion in the recipe was negligible. So far they've never gotten hold of an entire onion, nor an entire bulb of garlic-- or even an entire clove, for that matter! It's always just a trace sprinkling, the same as is put into a typical recipe, for taste.

When I give them the leftover stew from a pot roast, I always pick out the pearl onions that are in it, so the only onion they get is what makes the flavor and leaches into the soup.

[ckranz]

Ach... the amount of onion in spaghetti sauce is not going to be a problem.

Onions (and garlic, and leek, and spring onions, and shallots... etc etc) are indeed bad for dogs, IN LARGE QUANTITY..

Dogs fed a clove of garlic here and there (and mine get a fair bit) and dogs consuming the odd bit of onion in left overs are not going to have a problem, theyd have to eat lots of the stuff! (though, it is relative to the size of the dog, if a chi steals and eats an entire onion, id keep an eye on them.. if a labrador did i wouldnt worry).

These things are often good in small doses and bad in large - garlic is a good example of this, very very good stuff with a multitude of beneficial properties, just dont let your dog eat a whole string!

In my lazagna sauce recipe and pasta sauce recipe there is usually 2 cups of finely chopped onions.

We only use homemade sauce too.

[emmabeth]

Mmmm... so if you fed the entire lasagne to a small dog - might cause a problem.

But a bit of left over sauce isnt going to do it, though feel free to double check with your veterinarian (though i think its so rare they have v little data on it!)

This is I think one of those things where common sense applies. If you are cooking purely for your dog, dont add onions (because theres no need really rather than because of the poisoning risk) - do add garlic, theres less of the poisonous stuff in garlic than there is in onions AND its beneficial.

If you are feeding left overs, unless its onion soup or onion gravy, dont panic about it.

Loads of things can be dangerous in sufficient quantities - look at water! Drink enough of that and you will (and so will a dog) do serious damage, never mind falling in it!

[spydre]

About a month ago, or a couple of weeks ago we had made spaghetti, and I left the pot with the leftovers on the counter to cool before I put it up - Dodger discovered he can reach the very back of counter and helped himself to what was left - at least 2 helpings of spaghetti. If the sauce didn't come with onions, we at least added dried onions to it (my son doesn't like onions, so one of the jars we split generally, and then add the dried onions to ours). We also generally add quite a bit of garlic and italian seasonings to it. For that one foray, I was expecting him to at least have an upset tummy, but he showed no signs of problems.

He showed more problems when he got to the M&M's bag (that took a week to recover) and when he dug a tostitos "cheese and salsa" canister out of the trash - that was at least 4 days. Thanks to those, I think he's learning the hard way not to get into trash (well, the m&m's weren't trash, but he had to try real hard to get them).

[MaiasMom]

I am not an advocate of feeding a dog people food, no processed people food. You don't know what is really in there. I feed a high quality dry food and supplement with raw veggies. For digestion I give them some plain yogurt or plain cottage cheese a couple times a week. Taste for a dog is not the issue, it's the smell, dogs have few taste buds, it's all in the nose. I like to give them raw crunchy veggies like carrots. They love tomatoes, go figure. I would never ever give them anything process because of added salt or sugar. they also like fruit so I give them some cut up apples as a treat. When I roast a chicken I will strain the juice to get as much of the fat out of it as possible, mix it with warm water and pour it over their food. I tasted it and it had no flavor but they smell it and it's like I gave them the whole chicken. IT's all in the nose.

[springermomx3]

My dogs get italian food all the time. When I order pizza I generally get them some sort of side dish.. eggplant rollatini or whatever. They love it.

[jjphoenix]

i dont give mine anything with onion in, garlic yes but onion no, mine had a bit on leftover onion gravy and was really really ill, not worth it, its poisonous!