To be a pet owner can be exhausting. You have to juggle between your regular chores while keeping an eye on your pet dog. It is understandable if you decide to open a can of Spam meat and feed it to your dog during one such day. You may be lazy and tired, but your conscious asks you – can dogs eat Spam?
Can dogs eat Spam?
No, Spam meat is not meant for dogs. It may look and smell like ordinary dog protein, but Spam’s ingredients are unsafe for dogs.
Spam is canned, processed pork that was launched in 1937. It became popular during World War II when getting a proper meal was a difficult task for soldiers. After the war, Spam quickly became a common household item due to its ease of use. It can be used in making sandwiches, meatloaves, and pies.
Dogs can eat pretty much everything you feed them. Despite the availability of commercially prepared dog food, you can provide a variety of human food to your furry friend. Canned foods like Spam may seem tempting for your dog, but after looking at the ingredients and their nutritional value, you’ll know why it is super unhealthy for your dog.
What’s in a can of Spam?
There are only 6 ingredients in Spam meat:
- Pork
- Salt
- Water
- Potato starch
- Sodium nitrate
- Sugar
Seems harmless enough, right? Let’s take a look at the nutritional value of 2 servings (56 grams) of Spam:
| Calories | 180 Kcal |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 40 mg |
| Sodium | 790 mg |
| Total carbs | 1 g |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Protein | 7 g |
Why is Spam terrible for your dog?
A glance at the nutritional value of Spam would tell you that the presence of two things is harmful to your dog – fats and sodium. Keep in mind that dogs need both of them but in controlled amounts. Anything more will result in health complications.
Sodium
A healthy adult dog only requires 200mg of sodium per day. Anything more can result in high blood pressure, dehydration, and even seizures. Keep in mind that a dog takes several meals throughout the day, and a balanced meal should have some amount of sodium.
You can easily calculate the amount of sodium in one serving would still be too high for your dog from the table above. Multiply it by the number of meals your dog takes per day, and you are inviting sodium poisoning for your dog.
Fat
The harms of excessive fat are no secret to anyone. Like humans, dogs can also get obese and end up with heart diseases and pancreatitis. Dogs require a small amount of fats in their diets. Even then, you should be careful about the type of fat you use in your dog’s food.
Preservatives
Most bagged, and canned food are meant to have a long shelf-life. Preservatives like nitrates are used to ensure that the food won’t get rotten. These chemicals are harmful to humans, let alone to our precious pets. They make their digestive system weak and weaken the immune system. As a general rule, anything with preservatives should be a NO for dog feed.
Hazards of Spam for dogs
Now that you have learned about the harmful ingredients of Spam pork, let’s take a look at what damage they can do to your dog’s health:
Sodium poisoning
If you keep feeding Spam to your dog, it will eventually cause salt poisoning. The severity of sodium/salt poisoning can vary depending on the amount of salt consumed. As mentioned earlier, a healthy dog only requires 200mg of sodium per day. Feeding Spam regularly certainly crosses a lot of boundaries.
Early symptoms of sodium poisoning include dehydration, excessive drooling, vomiting, and diarrhea. If left untreated, it can cause severe kidney damage, coma, tremors, and even death. If you have already fed something salty to your dog, make sure it drinks plenty of water to avoid dehydration.
Pancreatitis
The reason behind this deadly disease is the excessive consumption of fats. The extra fat blocks the enzymes in the pancreas, which results in damaging pancreatic tissues. In the end, the pancreas swells up, and your dog gets seriously sick.
Feeding Spam to your dog contributes to the fat levels in your dog’s body. If your dog is overweight, you should most certainly avoid feeding high-fat content to the dog. Obese dogs are at a much higher risk of being affected by pancreatitis.
Related FAQs to spam and dogs!
Can dogs eat low-sodium Spam?
The low-sodium version of Spam has chicken in it as an additional ingredient. While the amount of sodium is 25% less than the original version, the calories are higher. Spam Lite may seem healthy to you, but it’s not worth it for your dog.
Can dogs eat cooked Spam?
Spam, in any shape or form, is unhealthy for dogs. It contains nothing but dangerous amounts of salt and fats.
Final verdict on dogs eating spam!
As convenient as it sounds, canned food isn’t worth it for your dogs. Unless your vet approves of some canned food specifically for dogs, you should keep the cans away from your dog.
Spam gives the illusion of healthy protein (pork), but in reality, it has nothing but toxic amounts of salt and fats.
As a responsible pet owner, you should keep organic meat stored for your dog to avoid circumstances where canned meat is the only option left.
