How come dogs never get sick from eating/drinking disgusting stuff?

Which is why I make the treats she gets myself; dried liver, stuff like that.

Ewwww if I had to eat dried liver I think I would eat any thing else also just to get rid of the taste.

+10000

Yes, besides anti-freeze , lol , chocolate is the WORST thing your dog could get ahold of ..

It is TOXIC to them, and even a little bit can kill them...


[link to www.dogownersdigest.com]


Why is Chocolate Lethal?

Chocolate contains theobromine. A naturally occurring stimulant found in the cocoa bean, theobromine increases urination and affects the central nervous system as well as heart muscle. While amounts vary by type of chocolate, it's the theobromine that is poisonous to dogs.


for more info read above link..

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LOL the dog would be licking it's ass to get the liver taste out of it's mouth.

LOLOL!!!

Hehe! Seriously she loves a whole lot of stuff I wouldn't dream of touching, also blood products, heart, kidneys etc. Great nutrition value, few people like it perhaps (unless repackaged as "hotdogs" or something...) but I know it is healthy for her + she loves it.

Perhaps they are extremely good at analyzing stuff with their nose what is possible to eat or not, what is good for them or not as someone said above.

Still, I doubt we could last very long as humans if we subjected ourselves to all this crap.

/L

The dog here was caught licking dried, crystallized cat urine she found on an old tarp in a shed. Apparently the kitties were habitual in marking territory on that tarp.

Unreal, but true.

Dogs produced there own vitamin C which gives them a higher, more consistent vitamin C level in their blood compared to humans - also they have different bacteria and enzymes active in their digestive system.

Quote:

"How come dogs never get sick from eating/drinking disgusting stuff?"

Because dogs are merely feminazi's, reincarnated.

No way. Dogs are way more loyal and loving than feminazi's.

I had to research a little further into this to understand better what is ok for the dog to eat.

Found some good information here: [link to www.doggies.com]

"
[...]
Salivary enzymes

Both you and your dog use saliva to moisten food as it is chewed into small pieces. However, the make-up of the saliva is slightly different. Your saliva contains amylase, which helps to break down starchy foods into sugars before they even leave the mouth.

Your dog, on the other hand, does not have any amylase enzyme in his saliva, so the starches tend to stick to his teeth, causing plaque and tartar to build up. Your dog is much more likely to develop gum disease from the tartar, while humans tend to develop cavities from the sugars.

Your dog’s saliva contains a different enzyme, known as lysozyme, which is important in killing any bacteria that may be present in whatever your dog chooses to eat. Humans, who generally cook their food before eating it, do not have this protective enzyme.

Digestion continues in the stomach

After the food is chewed, it then passes into the esophagus where muscles work in waves to move the food into the stomach. Here we see another difference between human and canine digestion. Although both stomachs use acid to break down food, the dog’s stomach is much more acidic, carrying a pH of about 1, while a human stomach weighs in with a pH between 4 and 5. This is another protective enzyme that allows your dog to eat some really gross things and not get sick. His very acidic stomach kills most of the bacteria found in less-than-fresh roadkill and any other tasty tidbits he may find. The highly acidic environment is also more conducive to digesting bits of bone.
[...]
"

Very interesting read IMO, explains why many types of commercial dogfood and treats should be avoided (containing grain, starch, sugars).

/L

I heard from reliable sources that dogs refuse to eat kangaroo meat - can anyone confirm/deny?

Heard also on TV (a program about wolves) that they need to maintain a small but constant concentration of silver in their systems.

Our dogs love Roo meat, actually Wallabies in tassie, but very lean. They turn up their noses at beef half the time.

Actually Dogs replace their stomach lining every 24 hours. One of our puppies has a bad habit of licking things and has been poisoned twice now, once through lilliums. Thats why they can stomach stuff that would kill us.

I'm not sure why dogs don't get sick, but you might find this link useful:

[link to blogs.myspace.com]

It's a nice post about comparative anatomy.

Basically, dogs are carnivorous, and are designed in a way that lets them process and do away with bacteria.

Humans don't do so well with this because, from what I understand, we don't have the ability to do away with bacteria in the same way a carnivore can.

That may explain why your dog can handle stuff that seems otherwise not-so-nice to you. :)

Lysozymes, also known as muramidase or N-acetylmuramide glycanhydrolase, are a family of enzymes (EC 3.2.1.17) which damage bacterial cell walls by catalyzing hydrolysis of 1,4-beta-linkages between N-acetylmuramic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues in a peptidoglycan and between N-acetyl-D-glucosamine residues in chitodextrins. Lysozyme is abundant in a number of secretions, such as tears, saliva, and mucus. It is also present in cytoplasmic granules of the polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN). Large amounts of lysozyme can be found in egg white. C-type lysozymes are closely related to alpha-lactalbumin in sequence and structure making them part of the same family.

In humans, the lysozyme enzyme is encoded by the LYZ gene.[1][2]

Lysozyme is part of the innate immune system. Children fed infant formula lack lysozyme in their diet and have three times the rate of diarrheal disease.[citation needed] Since lysozyme is a natural form of protection from pathogens like Salmonella, E.coli and Pseudomonas, when it is deficient due to infant formula feeding, can lead to increased incidence of disease.

Whereas the skin is a protective barrier due to its dryness and acidity, the conjunctiva (membrane covering the eye) is instead protected by secreted enzymes, mainly lysozyme and defensin. However, when these protective barriers fail, conjunctivitis results.







[link to en.wikipedia.org]

I thought (ware?) wolves didn't like silver...
I haven't had a dog since I were a kid.. but I remember they ate everything & anything.. shit, piss, puke.. even their own puke. I found some dogs loved chocolate, while others turned their noses at it. I've seen cats get sick on chocolate tho'

Last Christmas Eve, we all got Chinese food.
It tasted slightly off in the texture, and didn't eat much. We had, unfortunately, given some chicken to our German shepherd.

We got slightly ill, but the poor dog was up all night throwing up. She threw up 9 times including three in my bed.

I felt so bad, and wondered why none of us threw up.

I take it to mean her digestive system is healthier than ours. Humans are used to ingesting garbage. Dog was raised on organic raw food and healthy organic meat and veggies we make for ourselves.

You CANT do that .chocolate is poison for dogs!!! You can make his heart to stop!!!!

Same thing.. You CANT give chocolate to a dog, you can STOP his heart!!!!

When a dog eats that kind of things , they are missing nutrients and minerals in his diet. his body ask for it. They need more balance food (better)and remember that like us they get hungry.