Pets often grab the chance to eat anything they find alluring when no one is looking at them. They are keen on picking food around the house, and they are just impatient to gulp down the first thing they see as food.
However, most edible things around the house may not be that dangerous for your pup. The best thing is to keep edibles or hazardous substances away from the reach of your dog. Otherwise, you will not get to see it again.
But now that they have eaten, let’s say butter in this case, would it cause your dog any trouble?
Keep reading the article below to find out how to deal with your dog after eating a stick of butter.
Is A Stick Of Butter Dangerous?
Butter is made of pure fats. If your dog ate it, they would just have added fats in their system. However, the severity of side effects primarily depends on what kind of dog you have and what type of butter they ate. Also, you need to recall if the butter was wrapped or not.
It would help if you asked yourself various questions so you can understand what exactly went wrong. A lot of the management steps or cure rests on the factors mentioned above.
What Will Happen To Your Dog Now That They Have Ingested A Lot Of Butter?
In most cases, a dog should be okay after eating that much butter. The most that can go wrong is that they may have loose stools for some while that can get troublesome for you and your dog, as well.
This happens because dogs are not supposed to digest lactose. After all, their bodies lack the enzyme that catalyzes lactose digestion. And this makes them lactose intolerant, and you already know that butter is a by-product of containing milk containing a high amount of lactose.
Now either the dog will vomit the butter, or it will make its way to your dog’s digestive system. If it is in the gut, your dog may experience abdominal discomfort, bloating, and ultimately diarrhea. Your butter-eating furry friend will have loose stools for a day and two, and later they will be completely okay.
In other cases, eating a lot of butter may pose some danger in dogs who are already suffering from specific health problems. If that is the scenario, you may need medical advice from your dog’s doctor. However, you should know about those health conditions to take extra care of your poodle.
Pancreatitis
The pancreas is an organ responsible for a lot of digestion in the digestive tract with enzymes’ help.
In pancreatitis, these enzymes get activated, which results in autodigestion of the pancreas. The enzymes start eating the pancreatic cells, leading to inflammation and severe pain. If your dog has often suffered from pancreatitis, he may become ill again following butter ingestion in large amounts.
Similarly, if your dog is obese, they may develop acute pancreatitis more commonly than lean dogs. If they have severe pancreatitis, they may experience severe pain and need urgent medical attention to provide relief.
It may take almost three to four days to become free of symptoms, provided they had received prompt medical care.
Gastroenteritis
Most of the time, gastroenteritis happens because a bacteria or a virus enters the gut and causes inflammation. In the case of a dog who ate a lot of butter, gastroenteritis occurs because the dog ate many things they should not have eaten. After all, they can’t digest it.
When the gut can’t digest it, the lining becomes inflamed and causes diarrhea along with vomiting for a couple of days. Your dog shall be back to normal after this.
What Can You Do Now That Your Dog Has Eaten A Whole Stick Of Butter?
Here are a few actionable strategies you can do for your dog if he has eaten a stick of butter. However, you can only help your poodle when things don’t seem that bad. If your dog shows a few disturbing symptoms, you should consider taking them to a vet.
Skip Your Dog’s Next Meal
Now that your furry friend has already consumed many calories, it is wise for you to make them skip their next meal. You shouldn’t add more to their stomach, mainly because you will add to the load that goes into diarrhea and result in more abdominal cramps and bloating.
You can make them drink water more to make sure they remain dehydrated during episodes of diarrhea.
Prepare Him For Loose Diarrhea
Things are going to get very dirty and stinky. You either place newspapers, clothes, or potty-training pads on the ground and restrict them from moving from place to place. They must remain in an enclosure to prevent stinking the entire house.
Feed Your Dog Bland Diet To Cure Diarrhea
During diarrhea, feeding your dog, some kibble is not recommended. However, you can feed them a home diet without spices or flavors. This will ensure that the food your dog eats does not aggravate their symptoms or irritate the lining of the gut.
You can gradually switch back to kibble as diarrhea becomes better.
Final Word
Dogs will eat everything they find. On top of that, they will keep asking more. It is you who needs to regulate and monitor what goes in their tummies. Having a dog in a house means you need to become super cautious about everything, and not only with what food is left on the table.
Dogs are innocent creatures, but as a pet owner, you can always train them to learn how to move around the house.
