Can Dogs Eat Cinnamon? Or Is Cinnamon Bad For Dogs?

One of the favorite spices that comes to mind when people are baking sweets (such as cookies, pies, buns, baked apples and my all-time favorite, cinnamon rolls) is cinnamon.

I mean, come on, who here doesn’t have some cinnamon sitting somewhere in their cupboard?

Quick Introduction About Cinnamon And Dogs

Not only is cinnamon a very popular ingredient when preparing sweets, however, it’s also a very prominent ingredient in many different types of food around the world.

And, if you’re baking in the kitchen and your dog is anywhere around, you can bet they’ll be on your tail (and will keep at it) until you give them a little taste of the good stuff you’re preparing!

This issue specifically gets asked a whole lot around holiday season, when many people love to bake and prepare all these cinnamon-inspired food and sweets to serve to their loved ones, family and friends – and hopefully impress. And who said Fido doesn’t want in on some of that action?

But, before you can give them a piece of what you’re baking that has cinnamon in it, you should ask yourself “can dogs eat cinnamon?” and “is cinnamon safe for dogs?”.

Can Dogs Have Cinnamon? The Short Answer

YES, dogs can eat cinnamon, because it isn’t exactly toxic for your dog.

If you’re looking for even more of a reassurance about this subject, have a look at this article from ASPCA that explains how cinnamon for dogs is safe and completely non-toxic.

As long as your dog has cinnamon in moderate amounts and only on occasions, they’re safe and you have nothing to worry about.

How Much Cinnamon Can Dogs Eat?

To start with, your dog should only consume cinnamon on occasions and in small to moderate amounts at most.

Feeding your dog a large amount of cinnamon is the last thing you want to do, since this will result in hurting your dog’s stomach most of the times, as well as other issues like decrease in blood pressure and unwanted changes in heart rate.

Also, feeding your dog an excessive amount of cinnamon at once may lead to irritation or the development of blisters inside their mouths, something which will be visible to you if you were to check it.

So as long as you don’t over-do it with the cinnamon, nothing bad will happen to your dog. The only time problems will start to arise is when your dog eats an enormous amount of cinnamon all at once.

What Do I Do If My Dog Ate A Lot Of Cinnamon?

Moreover, if your dog over-consumes cinnamon, they’re most probably going to experience some stomach issues such as diarrhea or vomiting, and they might face some problems the next time they encounter a wound and start to bleed due to the blood clotting effects that cinnamon has.

Unlike other human foods out there, cinnamon doesn’t really have the potential to be fatal to dogs, even if these dogs eat cinnamon in fairly larger amounts than they should.

This, for example, isn’t true at all for chocolate, as chocolate is very bad for dogs if eaten in even the tiniest bit of excessive amounts, and can prove to be fatal.

The most they’ll experience is what we mentioned above – some diarrhea and vomiting for their bodies to get rid of it.

So, long story short, sprinkling around half a teaspoon of cinnamon with a meal they’re having every now and then will be more than fine.

Dosages Of Cinnamon For Dogs

Of-course, larger sized and heavier dogs in weight will tolerate higher cinnamon dosages than smaller sized and lighter dogs in weight.

As a quick rule of thumb, you’re safe to give your dog a daily dosage of 0.125 tablespoons (or 1/8 tablespoon) of cinnamon for every 10 lbs they weigh.

From there on, you can work your way up or down, depending on how your dog’s dealing with this specific dosage of cinnamon.

You never want to start off by giving your dog a very large dose of cinnamon and working your way down from there, it’s always best that you start off slow in order to know how much is too much for YOUR dog.

You know the saying “the devil lies in the details”? Well, when it comes to giving cinnamon to your dog, the devil lies in the dosage! Meaning what’s good for your dog can quickly turn into something terrible if given in the wrong amounts.

Cinnamon For Dogs: Why Is Cinnamon Good For Dogs?

Not that you should really try so hard and put much effort into providing your dog with cinnamon in their diet, but nonetheless, here are some of the wonders that cinnamon may be able to do to your dog if provided in the right amounts:

  • Helps heal arthritis and joint problems thanks to the anti-inflammatory characteristics it has
  • Helps regulate blood sugar levels in pre-diabetic dogs or dogs with diabetes and improves insulin resistance
  • Helps keep your dog’s energy levels high and fights away lethargy
  • Helps fight fungus that causes yeast infections
  • Is a very tasty natural sweetener that you can use in food your prepare for your dog instead of unhealthy sugar
  • Combats diarrhea
  • Improves blood circulation
  • Improves overall brain health, brain function and memory levels
  • Improves digestion.
  • Helps lower blood pressure
  • Helps lower bad cholesterol levels
  • Prevents bloating
  • Improves intestinal health

Clearing Up One Issue About Cinnamon And Benefits For Dogs

Now that we’ve got these benefits stated, one thing must be made clear. It’s not always the case that cinnamon is going to be able to provide your dog with any/all of these benefits.

These benefits of cinnamon have been mainly proven to apply to you and I as human beings, but very little literature has been published on the subject of the benefits of cinnamon for dogs.

This is why in the introduction to this section we said “the wonders that cinnamon MAY be able to do to your dog” and not “the wonders that cinnamon WILL DEFINITELY do to your dog”.

At this point in time and with the information available at hand, it’s just a game of perhaps, unfortunately.

Compare this to, let’s say, the benefits of feeding your dog salmon – there’s no comparison because the benefits of feeding your dog some salmon have been scientifically proven a long time ago, while the benefits of feeding your dog some cinnamon still need a bit more time to be proven scientifically.

How Can Dogs Eat Cinnamon?

You might be baking something for you or your family members which has chocolate in it or raisins and might be tempted to give some to your dog (such as fruit cakes with raising in them), but that is something you should NOT do, because chocolates and raisins (which we talk about in this article of ours about dogs eating grapes) are DEADLY to dogs.

Treats that have cinnamon as an ingredient and are designed for humans and not specifically designed for dogs should be off-limits for dogs, as not only do the manufacturers of these treats not take into consideration the amount of cinnamon that our dogs’ bodies can withstand, they almost always contain very high amounts of sugars, preservatives and a whole lot of other ingredients that are harmful to your dog.

There are many manufacturers in the dog food industry that do an excellent job of producing dog treats with cinnamon taste, so you’re best off checking those if you’re looking for a treat to give Fido. Just don’t go and feed your dog any cinnamon bread or cinnamon twists!

One of the ways a lot of people like to give their dogs cinnamon is sprinkling half a tablespoon of cinnamon on a meal they’re having.

This way, your dog will be getting the benefits that cinnamon has to offer them, all while making the food they’re having taste better.

Or, you could give your dog one of those popular dog treats you can buy that has cinnamon as an ingredient in them.

However, and if you choose to do this, you MUST carefully inspect the ingredients list of the food first to ensure that cinnamon isn’t present in very high amounts that will harm your dog.

If you’re looking for some DIY cinnamon dog treats that you can prepare on your own at home for your pooch, look no further, as Doggy Dessert Chef has got the perfect recipe for you!

Here’s a tip from us – give your dog a little bowl of natural, uncolored and unsweetened yogurt (as we already know, this type of yogurt is very good for dogs), sprinkle some cinnamon on it, and mix the two together. Your dog will love you for this treat!

Last but not least, some dog owners like to give their dogs cinnamon in the form of a capsule as supplementation. This is not recommended by us as a practice to take up on, as it’s best you stick to giving your dog ground cinnamon powder that can be mixed in with their food.

A Note About Dogs Inhaling Cinnamon

When dogs are given ground cinnamon powder to eat on their own and without proper supervision, some dogs will tend to inhale this powder instead of properly chewing and swallowing it.

There are also some websites out there that will encourage you to do this, telling you that if you offer your dog some cinnamon to sniff, this will help them improve their cognitive function.

It’s a very bad practice to allow your dog to inhale cinnamon powder, as this will only lead to things like lung infection, having a very hard time breathing, the air passage being cut off by the inhaled cinnamon and many more similar problems.

Yes, there may be some evidence to back up the claim that sniffing cinnamon can improve cognitive functions in dogs, but is it worth it to put their life on the line just for this? Definitely no. There’s a million and one other ways we can achieve this.

So to avoid all of these potential issues, make sure your dog NEVER inhales any cinnamon and only eats cinnamon through the mouth.

In case you suspect or know for a fact that your dog has inhaled any amount of cinnamon, be that a small amount or a large amount, you need to immediately get them to the nearest emergency pet care center near you.

Better safe than sorry if your dog ends up choking on that inhaled cinnamon and you’re too late!

When Should Dogs Not Eat Cinnamon?

It should be noted that pregnant dogs should NOT consume a lot of cinnamon (if you can ensure they don’t consume any cinnamon at all, that’s even better), because cinnamon can have weird effects on your dog’s uterus, which is the last thing you want to happen when you have a pregnant dog.

It should also be made very clear that any cinnamon that contains higher-than-usual amounts of nutmeg should not be fed at all to your dog, since the consumption of high amounts of nutmeg can cause many problems to your dog’s health.

A Note About Ceylon Cinnamon VS Cassia Cinnamon

When out and about looking for some cinnamon to bring home, you always have to keep your dog in mind if you’re planning to ever give them some of it in the near future, because the type of cinnamon you’re going to be buying will have a great say in whether you can give your furry buddy some of it or not.

To keep this as simple as possible, there are two things you have to know when shopping for cinnamon for your dog and yourself:

A) Ceylon Cinnamon is ideally dog-friendly, this is the kind of cinnamon you want to get.

B) Cassia Cinnamon is NOT the ideal dog-friendly kind, this is NOT the kind of cinnamon you want to get ideally.

We only covered these two types of cinnamon because they’re the most popular, widely available and most used types of cinnamon around.

When compared to Ceylon Cinnamon, Cassia Cinnamon is known to have much higher levels of a compound called Courmarin, which is known to cause significant health problems in dogs when taken in such high levels, most dangerous of which is liver damage.

Ceylon Cinnamon is safest when you want to feed some cinnamon to your dog, as this type of cinnamon contains much lower levels of Courmarin.

Ceylon cinnamon is going to cost you a bit more than Cassia cinnamon 9 out of 10 times, but it’s well worth it because you’re keeping your dog’s health as a priority.

Cinnamon And Honey

Since this article is all about your dog and cinnamon, I might as well add this section that tells you all about how some hot boiled water, some cinnamon and a little bit of honey for your dog can be a medication miracle.

This combination:

  • Fights the flu and coughs that come with it
  • Helps cure heart disease
  • Helps heal arthritis
  • Helps soothe toothaches
  • Improves digestion and solves indigestion problems
  • Aids with respiratory problems
  • Helps fight obesity by boosting metabolic rate
  • Improves immunity system

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