Dogs love sweet treats, especially brown sugar but shouldn’t consume much. They also enjoy vegetables, crunchy fruits, and even meat. Diet containing sugar is worse for four-legged friends than it is for humans.
Note: It’s not advisable to give your dog brown sugar regularly as it can lead to health complications.
Can Dogs Have Brown Sugar?
The answer varies, dogs should and shouldn’t have Brown Sugar. To fully understand why dogs should and shouldn’t have Brown Sugar, let’s take a look at what Brown Sugar is and how it can affect our dog’s health if consumed regularly.
Brown sugar is made from mixing a type of white granulated sugar with molasses. It’s often used as a flavoring or topping for desserts, baked goods and other food items.
Dogs can have brown sugar, but they shouldn’t consume too much of it. The problem is that brown sugar contains high glucose content, high levels of sucrose (table sugar) and fructose, of which are highly processed carbohydrates. It also has a high level of yeast.
These combinations can cause digestive issues such as bloating, diarrhea and vomiting. In addition, they can contribute to obesity, diabetes and also cause a dog’s sugar level to suddenly increase.
Dogs should be fine if they accidentally eat brown sugar because it isn’t toxic. However, regularly feeding your dogs brown sugar or even powdered sugar can lead to a whole lot of health issues, so it’s advisable to avoid this.
Is Brown Sugar Bad For Dogs?
Yes, Brown Sugar is bad for dogs if consumed daily or regularly because it doesn’t provide any health benefits to dogs. Here’s how brown sugar negatively affects their health and overall wellbeing.
- Brown Sugar can cause stomach upset in dogs
- It can give dogs diarrhea
- Causes dental issues
- Lead to canine obesity
- Affect dog’s metabolism
- Causes diabetes
Why Should You Avoid Giving Your Dog Sugar?
Don’t give your dog any types of sugars. Whether it is corn syrup, caramel sauce, cane juice, glucose, brown rice syrup, fructose, barley malt syrup, it is not healthy for dogs.
Dogs can eat a little brown sugar, but it’s not advised to give them this type of sugar frequently because it can make them fat and sick. There are other better foods for dogs than them having brown sugar.
Artificial sugar (Fake sugar) like xylitol are poisonous for dogs. This sugar is present in some brands of chewing gum and candy, which if eaten by a dog is very poisonous. The symptoms that follow after may be vomiting and severe abdominal problems for your dog.
Natural Sweet Treats for Dogs
Dogs are naturally attracted to sweet things even if they really don’t need sweet treats. Consider giving your dogs healthy fruits, if you are convinced that it has a sweet tooth. These should be in moderation and not more than 10% calories.
- Apples (or dehydrated apples)
- Bananas and pears are also safe treats in small quantities and are also used as base ingredients for many homemade dog biscuits and cakes.
- Bell pepper (Capsicum)
- Blueberries are low in calories and very low in sugar.
- Sweet potato is a DIY dog treats ingredient.
What To Do If Your Dog Ate Brown Sugar
You should visit a veterinary doctor, if your dog eats brown sugar to ensure that your dog is in good condition.
Sugar can cause the most serious problem for dogs, which is acute pancreatitis. This is a condition where the pancreas becomes swollen (inflamed) and can no longer function properly over a short period of time. Food digestion and nutrient absorption can’t take place in dogs without the pancreas and this can lead to malnutrition and other serious health problems.
Other Bad Sugars For Dogs
The following are types of sugars that you may find in the ingredient list of a sugary treat your dog eaten:
- Artificial sugar (The worst)
- Barley malt syrup
- Beet pulp
- Brown sugar
- Cane juice
- Caramel
- Corn syrup
- Fructose
- Glucose and other refined sugar forms
- Honey
- Rice syrup
Summary
Dogs can eat brown sugar safely, but should not. It has basically no nutritional value or positive health for a canine. Long-term brown sugar intake can cause serious illness and also give rise to chronic illnesses.
Will brown sugar cause any harm to your dog? Long-term yes, short-term it all depends on the amount of intake.
Brown sugar is not for dogs, even if they go nuts for the taste, it is not something worth including in their diet.
