Can dogs eat jalapenos? Excellent question, and the answer is, they can eat the spicy pepper because it’s non-toxic, but they shouldn’t. Jalapenos are a popular ingredient that people love to add to their recipes. However, because we eat them and they even have some health benefits, it doesn’t follow they are a food that owners should feed their dogs.
If your dog has managed to get hold of a couple of jalapeno peppers, it’s doubtful they’ll do your dog any harm. Spicy peppers are not going to have many positive effects on your dog’s digestive system, even if there are no direct and immediate consequences such as stomach pain, vomiting, or diarrhea.
Dogs possess a much less developed sense of taste than us humans. For example, we have over 9000 taste buds compared to dogs, who possess on average 1700 taste buds. The extra taste buds give us up to a six-fold increase in our sense of taste, meaning we can tell the difference between thousands of different flavors. Dogs can tell the difference between salt, sour, bitter, and sweet.
Because of a dog’s muted sense of taste, the jalapeno is probably already hitting their stomach before the dog even realizes it’s spicy. If there is going to be a digestive problem, it’s already too late.
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Can Dogs Eat Jalapeno Peppers?
As I mentioned, there’s nothing toxic in jalapenos, so there’s no need to panic if your dog inadvertently gets hold of one or two. But, it’s rare to find a dog enjoying spicy foods; usually, dogs react in strange ways when they encounter something spicy. They might lick their lips, sneeze, and swallow constantly; I’ve even seen dogs dive for the water bowl, strange as that may seem.
Besides, it’s hard to imagine a dog searching for a spicy pepper themselves unless it’s food a human is eating, and the dog wants to share.
Large dog breeds would probably have to eat many jalapenos to get sick, but even small amounts of spicy pepper might be enough to cause a severe stomach upset for toy dogs.
Are Jalapenos Bad For Dogs?
Jalapenos, along with several spicy and even non-spicy peppers, have plenty of health benefits for humans. However, if you’ve heard from other dog owners or read it somewhere that spicy peppers are suitable for your dog and contain health benefits, I wouldn’t advise you to take any notice.
Any minor health benefit your dog will see from eating spicy jalapeno peppers doesn’t compare to the risk of a gastrointestinal problem your dog might subsequently suffer.
In addition, your dog’s metabolism is not the same as yours. Metabolism works by breaking down food and turning it into energy. A dog’s metabolism cannot break down food the same way as your body can.
There is plenty of information you can find online that lists foods that are toxic for dogs. However, as a responsible dog owner, you should never assume that because a particular type of food doesn’t appear on a list somewhere, it’s safe for your dog to eat.
Can Dogs Eat Jalapeno Chips?
As dog owners, we all love to treat our pets to a little bit of what we’re eating. It’s natural and understandable. Besides, how can you possibly pretend you can’t see your fur buddy sitting there, their eyes following your hand from the snack bag or plate to your mouth.
But because we’re responsible pet owners and want to ensure our dogs stay as fit and healthy as possible, we have to draw the line at some snacks.
Jalapeno chips are one of those snacks. There’s no nutritional value whatsoever in jalapeno chips. Forget jalapenos themselves do nothing for your dog’s digestive system, except maybe cause your dog to vomit or have diarrhea; look at what goes into typical chips. Potatoes, sunflower or canola oil, dextrose, salt, sugar, maltodextrin, onion powder, spices, yeast, garlic powder, and jalapeno powder. There are half a dozen ingredients on that list we should never feed to our dogs.
Can Dogs Eat Jalapeno Poppers?
For those readers unaware of what a jalapeno popper is, let me explain. Take a whole spicy jalapeno, hollow out the pepper and stuff it with a mixture of ground meat, cheese, and spices. Whoever is cooking them can dip them in breadcrumbs or not and deep fry them. Sometimes, the poppers can be wrapped in bacon and then deep-fried.
They might make a delicious snack for humans, but healthy they are not, for dogs or humans.
In addition, if your dog manages to steal one or a few before you get around to cooking them, there’s the added health hazard of raw bacon. There can be bacteria in the bacon that might give your dog food poisoning. Even if there are no bacteria in the meat, pork is very fatty and rich, and plenty of dogs can’t tolerate pork.
Can Dogs Eat Jalapeno Cheetos?
An excellent reason for not feeding your dog jalapeno Cheetos is they are eating empty calories. Everything your dog consumes adds up to calories that should come off his daily calorific allowance.
Cheetos have zero nutritional value. You’re probably not going to reduce his usual food by the number of empty Cheetos calories, so you’ll end up overfeeding your dog. The result is obesity, heart, lungs, bones, and joint problems for your beloved dog down the road.
In addition, there are several ingredients in Cheetos that are particularly bad for your dog’s health. For example, there’s high saturated fat and added salt, onion, and garlic powders. Plus, of course, the jalapeno spiciness, which, as we’ve mentioned, can lead to digestive issues.
If you feel guilty eating your Cheetos in front of your dog without offering him one or two, may I suggest for your health sake and your dog’s you find a healthier snack?
Conclusion
So, can dogs eat jalapenos? They can if you feed it to them. However, it’s a terrible idea. Any nutritional value to your dog is by far outweighed by the possible harm it will do to your dog’s digestive tract. In addition, you might make your dog feel particularly uncomfortable and miserable with vomiting and diarrhea in the short term.