All You Should Know About Dogs And Bacon

bacon and sausage plate

While enjoying the heavenly delight and pleasure that comes with eating bacon for breakfast, you might have wondered whether you can share some with your pooch.

Try preparing some bacon and eggs for breakfast as well, and you can bet that Fido is going to be right there begging you for some after the beautiful smell led their way to you!

But, while eggs are a perfectly safe food for dogs to eat, exactly how safe is it if you want to feed your dog some bacon?

Can Dogs Have Bacon?

NO, you’re better off avoiding feeding your pup bacon.  Despite the fact that bacon in and of itself is not particularly toxic or poisonous to canines keep reading to understand why it’s not the best thing for them.

Since bacon is just preserved pork by means of smoking, curing or salting, and while these preservation means may be fine for us humans, they (most of the times) have terrible effects on your dog’s health.

Sorry to burst your bubble there and tell you that you can’t share some bacon with your furry companion, but as they say, better safe than sorry.

Can Dogs Eat Raw Bacon?

NO, even if the bacon you want to give to your pooch is raw and hasn’t been preserved with harmful substances, it’s still better if you don’t feed them any kind of bacon.

Wait, so the answer to: “can dogs have raw bacon?” is also NO? Why?

uncooked bacon slices

Raw bacon:

  • May lead to gastrointestinal problems
  • May lead to diarrhea
  • May lead to the formation of harmful parasites and bacteria
  • Still contains many negative elements just like any kind of bacon, which we will be going over in the next section

Why Is Bacon Bad For Dogs?

The following are some of the main reasons why bacon is bad for your furry buddy and why you should keep them away from it:

– Pancreatitis: Bacon is very rich in fat content (saturated fat, the worst kind), which is often the primary reason pancreatitis develops in dogs.

And pancreatitis is not a small issue, it requires surgical intervention, could be fatal to your canine, and even if they survive it, they will forever be affected by it for the remainder of their life.

– Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Which is caused by the very high levels of sodium nitrate in bacon.

– Sodium: Bacon is also known to have very high levels of salt, which can lead to terrible health problems in dogs, such as dangerously high blood pressure levels.

– Obesity: Being very high in calories, bacon can easily add on the pounds for your canine (just like it can for you and I if we eat too much), leading to all kinds of things like obesity, hypothyroidism and cardiovascular disease.

If you suspect that your dog has consumed bacon without your supervision and see any/all of these symptoms in them (vomiting, diarrhea and intense stomach pain), then you have to talk to your veterinarian on the spot and tell them about the situation.

If you’re afraid your pooch is experiencing stomach pain, check out this video!

Is There A Safe Way To Give Dogs Bacon?

With everything mentioned above, there is still hope if you really want to go out of your way and feed your pooch bacon for any reason.

There are a lot of companies out there that manufacture low-sodium and low-fat bacon, or even turkey bacon, which allows you to sneak in that occasional treat once in a while in their diet.

Can Dogs Eat Bacon Grease?

NO it is not good for your dog to eat bacon grease.

Some people like to mix their dog’s food with a little bit of bacon grease sometimes, but that’s not good and should NEVER be done, for the same reasons bacon (as we talked about above) is bad for your dog.

Bacon grease:

fat small dog on tile floor

  • Is very high in saturated fats (the terrible kind of fats that you want to try your best to stay away from)
  • Is extremely rich in calories (thanks to the high level of fats they contain) which can make your dog obese in no time
  • Has next to zero nutritional benefit
  • May lead to dangerous heart diseases with time
  • May lead to clogged arteries

6 COMMENTS

  1. can dogs eat goat fat or cooked meat fat, beacuse many dog cookies have animal fat in them and i want to know if it is good for them, or if the WILL APSOLOTLY DIE

  2. Dogs can eat bacon and bacon grease. This article has no science behind it. Sure, feeding excessive amounts of bacon or bacon grease will cause problems for you or your dog, but in moderation it really is not a problem. If your dog has health issues or is overweight then by no means aggravate their condition by adding a high fat high salt food to their diet, but if your dog is relatively young and healthy then it is highly unlikely that feeding a small or moderate amount of bacon or bacon grease to your dog will bring them any harm. People have been doing this for decades with no ill effects, but again the key is moderation and only in healthy active dogs. I typically feed about a tablespoon of bacon grease to 2 cups of dry dog food. I don’t do this every day, in fact I do it quite rarely as I rarely eat bacon. It is important to remember that bacon is high in fat and salt so overfeeding bacon or bacon grease to the healthiest of dogs can cause an upset stomach and diarrhea, so always use moderation and keep an eye on your dog for any negative effects.

    • Thanks for leaving a very common sense, and scientifically founded response. The person who wrote the original article doesn’t even know the truth about saturated fats. Saturated fats were given a bad rap without any scientific studies at all. As it was later discovered the the doctor who started the no saturated fats fad was found to have committed outright fraud about his studies. Recent scientific studies have proven that it is the saturated fats that are good for you and the unsaturated fats that cause problems..

  3. I completely and utterly agree with Bob. Search on Google for “The science of saturated fats”. I think it will change your mind.

  4. I do not think that a little bit of bacon will kill my dog. I think the key behind this is moderation and feeding it to the dogs in small quantities.

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