Hypertension is disease that can attack your pets, including your dogs. Your dogs can be exposed to hypertension due to several reasons, such as obesity, aging, genetic or some severe diseases like kidney disease.
Hypertension in dogs should be monitored well as it might lead to organ damage. Hypertension is one disease that can attack dogs, but there are more unknown but deadly dog diseases every dog owner should know. You should be aware of them!
One way to handle or overcome hypertension in dogs is by controlling your dogs’ diet, avoiding some types of food that can trigger hypertension in dogs.
The most common type of food that should be avoided by dogs with hypertension is the low sodium food. In other words, it is the type of food that has low amount of salt.
Why Should the Dog Avoid High Sodium Food?
Sodium is believed to have some harmful effects to your dog. If your dog is suffering from hypertension or heart failure, then it is not supposed to be fed salty foods. Salty food has the effect of developing fluid in the lungs (pulmonary edema).
Food that is rich in sodium will be likely to cause the blood pressure levels in dogs. That’s why you should limit the intake of salty food for your dog, including feeding them with human’s food that is mostly tasty and salty.
Examples of Food to Avoid for Dogs with Hypertension
There are several examples of food that should be avoided by your dogs if
they suffer from hypertension. Most of the food are human food that has hidden
sodium. These are the food items you shouldn’t feed to your hypertension dogs:
- Cheese
or peanut butter
- Luncheon
meat
- Prepared
or cured meat or fish, such as sardines, bacons and ham
- Crackers,
chips, pretzels and popcorn
- Broth or
soups
- Salted
nuts
- Canned
vegetables and other convenience foods that are packaged
- Ketchup,
olives and pickles
- Hot dogs
- Any commercial
salad dressings
- Instant
cereals
- Commercially-prepared
sauces
For assurance about the kinds of food your dog should avoid, you better contact your veterinarian to get the best recommendation of food for your hypertension dogs.
Also check these delicious foods that actually are toxic for your dog and foods that cause diarrhea in dogs. You might think these foods are yummy, but they give bad effects to your dog. Besides high sodium food, chocolate is also one of the food should be avoided by dogs. Make sure you understand what should you do when your dog eats chocolate.
Regarding to commercial dog foods sold in pet shop, they contain 1.0 gram
sodium per 1000 Kcal. It means that the relative content of sodium in the dog
food is about 1.0 gram and it is still ten times the amount of sodium needed by
pets.
If your dog suffers from hypertension, then it is the best way to consult with your vet about the type of diet your dog should have, especially if your dog suffers from kidney problems.
Your vet will specifically design a diet, called renal diet that restricts the amount of sodium intake. There’s another diet made by Hill’s that is also specifically made for dogs with heart disease that has 0.23 gram of sodium per Kcal and some veterinary cardiologists recommend this kind of diet.
- Is Sodium or Salt Really that Bad for Dogs?
The answer is it is not if it is given in moderation
and it is completely safe. Moreover, salt is also crucial for their body to
function properly.
However, how much salt given to your dog must be really monitored as high amount of salt will give harmful effects, just as stated before, high blood pressure and also salt toxicity.
Salt toxicity is a condition when your dog is getting poisoned because of too much salt consumption. There are several symptoms of salt toxicity in dogs, such as vomiting, limping, seizures, tiredness or weakness and excessive thirst. This condition can even lead to comma.
Too much salt is not good for dogs, but salt deficiency is also harmful for your dogs. When their diet is lack of sodium, then they will not get enough nutrients for their body to function properly. To keep your dog healthy, do not try to remove salt completely from your dog’s diet, but do not feed them with human food that is also high in salt.
Making your own dog food is the best thing you can do to prevent them from getting hypertension as homemade food is healthier. You can check these homemade diets to feed your sick dog.