When it comes to peanut butter, our dogs are simply barking mad. This scrumptious spread has become a number 1 staple for dog treats across the globe and with this plethora of blissful benefits…it’s no wonder our dogs love this delicious snack.
Packed with pawfuls of powerful protein to help maintain muscles, joints and a healthy body, peanut butter really can be a top treat for your four-legged friend. Featured in our top-selling treat, here’s why we love peanut butter and your canine companion should too!
Benefits of Peanut Butter for Dogs
Here at Plant & Paws, we cannot get enough of the incredible ingredients mother nature has to offer. With our dogs needing natural nourishment to keep them in tip-top shape when we discovered just how beneficial peanut butter can be for our dogs - we simply couldn’t resist sticking it in our own selection of treats.
With benefits for skin, coat and muscle health to name a few - here’s why peanut butter is good for dogs and why you need to give your dog a pawful of peanut butter today.
Support Skin & Coat
Containing those amazing Omega acids responsible for healthy skin and coat, adding a little peanut butter to your dog’s diet can help maintain soft skin, and a shiny coat, keeping irritating itches at bay.
With the autumnal air accumulating across the UK, adding Omega 3 to your dog’s diet can help keep skin supple and avoid drying out due to cold and harsh winds - common during autumn and winter months.
Pawfulls of Protein
No matter whether you are human or furry, protein is a significant part of our daily diets. Responsible for immune health, cell repair and maintenance, hormone regulation and antibody production, ensuring a protein-rich diet is fundamental for our furry friends.
For dog owners opting for a meat-less or meat-free diet for their canine companions, peanut butter contains around 25% protein levels - making it one of the highest plant-based protein-rich foods. Adding a few teaspoons to your dog’s diet can help them gain the necessary protein amounts without the need of adding meat or poultry to their diets.
Great for the Gut
Like your dog’s favourite fruit and veggies, peanut butter is also high in fibre making it brilliant for managing delightful doggy digestion. Natural fibre helps to regulate your dog’s digestive tract minimising the likelihood of diarrhoea and constipation.
Giving your dog added fibre can help regulate their bowel movements meaning less time for carcinogens to stay within their digestive tract lessening the likelihood of issues such as colon cancer in the future.
Maintain Healthy Muscles
In addition, to support a healthy coat and digestion, Peanut Butter also contains pawfuls of Vitamin E - great for keeping muscles working exactly as they should. Using the majority of their muscle groups on a daily basis, managing your dog’s movements is vital to a happy and healthy life.
As dogs age, these muscles can become weaker and prone to problems so keeping them in the best shape pawsible means your dog stays more active and healthier in the years to come.
With a bucket load of benefits for both humans and their pets, having a jar of this scrumptious spread in your pantry can be a pawfect treat for both you and your pet. With supermarket shelves packed to the brim with peanut butter brands - follow our hints below on what peanut butter is the safest and best for your furry friend.
Is Peanut Butter Safe for Dogs?
Peanut butter is a fantastic treat for your dog when given in moderation. Shopping safely and nutritionally is fundamental to getting the best benefits from this scrumptious spread.
Despite its high-fat content, peanut butter can be both a safe and healthy snack for your furry friend. When fed in moderation and not as a daily staple with your dog’s food, peanut butter can have brilliant benefits to your dog’s health and well-being.
Avoid Over-Feeding
As we all know, nuts are high in fats, which is what makes them a great source of energy, however, too much of those good things can lead to problems like weight gain and high cholesterol in our dogs.
When feeding your dog peanut butter - avoid feeding daily as your pooch will soon come to expect this high-fat snack as part of their daily diet. Instead, opt for this nutty nourishment weekly and try and incorporate it into playtime rather than a delicious dinner topper.
However, when feeding your dog peanut butter, it is vital to ensure this scrumptious spread is free from artificial sweeteners such as Xylitol as it can be highly toxic to our canine companions.
What is Xylitol?
Xylitol is a common sugar substitute used across foods as a replacement for sugar. However, unlike saccharin and aspartame, Xylitol is extremely dangerous to dogs, even in the smallest quantities, therefore, it should be avoided completely.
How Does Xylitol Affect Dogs?
Xylitol can lead to significant drops in their blood sugar levels known as Hypoglycemia. This occurs as your dog’s pancreas believes the Xylitol is real sugar and begins to produce insulin. This insulin then causes the body to remove real sugar leading to a dangerous drop in blood sugar potentially resulting in liver failure.
Symptoms of Xylitol Toxicity:
- Vomiting
- Lethargy
- Disorientation
- Collapse
- Seizures/Coma
What if My Dog Eats Xylitol?
If you believe your dog has consumed products containing Xylitol, it is vital to seek veterinary advice right away. Whatever you believe your dog has consumed - even if it is peanut butter - take the packaging to the vets so they are aware of the quantities of Xylitol within the product.
Once your dog has been assessed, your dog’s vet will recommend the best course of treatment but as we always say - prevention is always better than cure so shop safely to avoid any costly and unwanted veterinary intervention.
Shop Xylitol Free Peanut-Butter
Some shop-sold peanut butters contain Xylitol so it’s best to always read the label when shopping for peanut butter to give to your dog. Xylitol-free peanut butter tastes exactly the same as its dangerous counterparts so you won’t be compromising on taste when you opt for the safest option. Famous brands like Skippy are completely Xylitol free and pawfectly safe for your furry friend.
How to Safely Feed Peanut Butter to your Dog
One of the best ways of incorporating treats into your dog’s diet is through play. Training treats, interactive treats and even treats on the go are a much healthier and wholesome way of rewarding your pet with something scrumptious. Here are just a few ways you can safely feed peanut butter to your dog:
Invest in Treat-based Toys:
Lickimats and fillable treat holders are pawfect ways to add peanut butter to your dog’s delicious diet. Simply add a few teaspoons (between 1-2) to your dog’s lickimat or inside a fillable treat (Kong chewable is one of the best) are watch your dog play way whilst they hunt for a taste of the scrumptious spread.
Opt for All-Natural:
As mentioned before, choose all-natural and xylitol-free brands to maximize the brilliant benefits peanut butter has for your dog.
Brands like Meridan and Nuts about Nature are supermarket brands that we love as they are 100% natural, completely xylitol-free and are absent of palm oil making them pawfect for your pooch and the planet too!
Combine with fruits and veggies
Incredibly versatile, peanut butter is a classic combination with fruits like berries, bananas so adding a teaspoon of this tasty treat as a topper to added fruits and veggies in your dog’s diet once a week is a great way to give them an added nutritional boost that is packed with pawfulls of peanutty power.
Treat your Dog to All Natural Peanut butter Treats
As one of our best-selling treats, our loyal customers come back time and time again for our Banana and Peanut Butter Healthy Bites and Dental Sticks. Suited for puppies, adults and even senior dogs, our selection of peanutty picks really do showcase the blissful benefits of this scrumptious spread.
Low fat, 100% natural and completely vegan, our tasty treats are the pawfect way to treat your dog to peanut butter without any hassle or worry. So, with all the great goodness of peanut butter combined with the brilliant benefits of bananas, our scrumptious snacks are the best peanut butter treats that your dog will adore time and time again.