When taking care of a dog, their dietary needs come first. You have to monitor what type of food they’re eating, and what foods they shouldn’t eat. One common household food item that dogs may eat is flour. What do you do if your dog eats flour?
Flour isn’t toxic to dogs, so you don’t have to worry too much if your dog has some. However, even though it isn’t toxic, that doesn’t mean you should feed your dog flour. The composition of flour can still upset your dog’s stomach and cause vomiting. If your dog eats flour, monitor them for symptoms. If the symptoms get severe, call a vet.
The rest of this article will cover what to do if your dog ate flour, how to prevent them from eating flour, why you shouldn’t feed them flour, and how to take care of them after treatment.
Table of Contents
What To Do If Your Dog Ate Flour
The first step is not to panic. You’ll make matters worse if you panic. Flour isn’t a toxic substance to dogs. That means you don’t have to worry about any danger occuring. Your dog can get symptoms that will harm them, but otherwise, it’s not a life-threatening situation.
Next, you should assess the situation. Determine how much flour the dog ate, and also the size of your dog. Those two factors will influence how much treatment you have to give your dog. Start with how much flour they ate. Was it only a little, or was it half of the container?
After determining that, look at your dog’s breed size. If they’re a small breed, then they’re more vulnerable to small portions of flour. Since they have less body weight, the flour goes right to their digestive system and can overwhelm them. That leads to symptoms like vomiting.
However, if you have a medium or large breed dog, it’ll take a lot more flour for them to show symptoms. They’d have to eat half of the flour in order for them to show any symptoms. Watch out for the following signs: diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, and excessive drooling.
How To Prevent Them From Eating Flour
To prevent them from eating flour, you should put it in a container that’s large and sturdy. That would make the container hard to chew and claw on, so your pet can’t break in and eat the flour. However, containers have lids, so it’s possible the dog will knock it off.
In that case, you should think about where you store the container. Instead of keeping it on a low surface, you should elevate it as high as possible. On top of a fridge or on the highest shelf available. That way your dog won’t be tempted to go after something so high up.
If you’re worried your dog will go after it and break it in the process, then you still have more options to prevent that. You should move the container behind a closed area so the dog can’t see it. Even if they smell it, they won’t be able to get inside to scratch at the container.
You can put it inside a pantry, cupboard, cabinet, or any other area that has a door in front of it. Make sure the door, like the container, is sturdy so the dog can’t break inside that too.
Why You Shouldn’t Feed Dogs Flour
Flour in itself isn’t harmful to dogs. In fact, there are some dog treat brands that use flour to increase the flavor and texture of the treat. However, that doesn’t mean you should toss flour to your dog and let them eat it. Just because it isn’t life-threatening doesn’t mean it’s always safe.
There’s a few reasons why you shouldn’t feed your dog flour. For starters, there’s the risk that they have an allergy to it. It’s difficult to tell a dog’s allergy until after they’ve had the food. This is why you shouldn’t risk feeding them flour and putting them through that discomfort.
If your dog has an allergy to flour, you’ll be able to tell through the following symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, wheezing, red skin, irritated skin, sneezing, breathing difficulties, and runny discharge from their nose and or eyes.
However, there’s another reason why you shouldn’t feed your dog flour. It can cause them constipation and stomach problems. These problems take days to go away since the flour messes with their digestive system.
To give your dog a more comfortable environment, you shouldn’t feed them flour under any circumstance.
How To Take Care Of Your Dog After Treatment
After treating your dog for the symptoms they got during digestion, you should move the flour somewhere else. This will separate the food from the dog and throw them off if they go to look for it again. Monitor them to ensure they don’t try to find the flour.
Along with that, you should watch their behavior and see if they’re showing any more symptoms. If they continue to show symptoms, like vomiting and diarrhea, even after treatment, you should call your local vet and make them aware of the situation.
Conclusion
If your dog ate flour, there’s no reason to panic and call the vet right away. You can handle this situation on your own since flour isn’t toxic to dogs. It can be harmful in large amounts, especially for small breed dogs, but otherwise, you shouldn’t worry too much.
To prevent your dog from eating flour, you should keep it in a sturdy container that’s hard to chew on. You should also consider putting it on an elevated shelf so the dog can’t reach it. If that doesn’t work, keep it behind a closed off surface like a pantry, cabinet, or cupboard.
Lastly, you shouldn’t feed your dog flour under any circumstance. Although it’s not a deadly item that’ll severely injure your dog, you should be careful since it could upset their stomachs and make them uncomfortable. After treatment, monitor them for any more symptoms.
My name is Ken and I’m one of the staff writers at Petloverguy.com. I’ve cared for pets most of my life starting with hamsters, turtles, and snakes. Then moving up to parakeets, guinea pigs, and even ducks.
I currently live with two yorkies and a chihuahua mix.
