What Should You Do If Your Dog Ate A Jalapeño?

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Check For These Signs

Your dog’s digestive system is not really set up well to process extremely spicy foods. Dogs will usually avoid hot spicy peppers. In some cases, their sense of curiosity may get the better of them. If this occurs, you may have to take care of your dog so that they can recover in a quick and easy fashion from their mistake.

In most cases, eating a jalapeno won’t hurt your dog. However, they may show a few signs of discomfort. These may include vomiting or diarrhea. If you think that your dog ate a jalapeno, look out for these unpleasant side effects. The main thing to remember is that your dog’s system is not set up to process spicy peppers of any kind.

You may notice your dog dragging their rear end across the floor after eating a pepper. This is because they may be having trouble digesting and eliminating the results of their unfortunate meal. Their G.I. tract is very sensitive and will not tolerate food that is too spicy. Their reaction will be to try to get rid of it.

Potential Problems

The list of potential problems that could develop from your dog eating a jalapeno pepper can include the following:

  • Diarrhea
  • Vomiting
  • Extreme pain or discomfort
  • Ulcers
  • Bloody vomit
  • Bloody stool
  • Lack of appetite
  • Lack of energy
  • Stomach ulcers
  • Peritonitis caused by a ruptured ulcer

What To Do

If you think that your dog is in discomfort because of the ill effects of a jalapeno, don’t panic. There are a few things that you can do to make them feel better. The first thing to do will be to is to have them drink some milk. This should be goat rather than cow milk because it contains less sugar for their system to break down.

Along with the milk, you should also feed your dog boneless chicken, canned pumpkin, or plain white rice. These are foods that are nice and bland. They will also work to coat your dog’s stomach so that it can digest the rest of the jalapeno in a quick, efficient, and painless matter. Your dog should now begin to feel a lot better.

If you see that your dog has more harmful symptoms, such as vomiting blood or leaving blood in the stool, you should get them to a vet as soon as possible. This is because your dog may have suffered an ulcer in their digestive tract. If this is the case, it needs to be treated before it ruptures and your dog develops a case of peritonitis.

Do I Need To See The Vet Or Go To The Emergency Animal Hospital?

There are a number of problems that may come about as a result of your dog eating a spicy jalapeno pepper. The spiciness of the pepper may cause them some discomfort. This is because your dog’s digestive system prefers to handle meat rather than peppers. Your dog may become prone to a lot of vomiting or explosive diarrhea.

In most cases, these are symptoms that will pass as soon as the pepper has been digested. Your dog should feel a lot better after they have vomited once or twice or simply eliminated the jalapeno from their system. If any kind of discomfort or other symptoms persist, you may need to take your dog to a vet for an examination.

This will be all the more true if your dog seems to show the signs of developing an ulcer. If this should occur, you will need to get your dog to a vet as soon as possible. If left untreated, the ulcer could rupture and lead straight to peritonitis. The sooner you get your dog to the vet to begin treatment for an ulcer, the better.

Safe Alternatives To Eat

There are plenty of safe alternatives that you can give your dog to keep them from eating overly spicy peppers. You should definitely keep them away from jalapenos because you don’t know what effect it may have on them. Dogs are generally meat eaters but can eat a few kinds of vegetables. Let them sample anything that isn’t spicy.

For example, you may wish to let your dog snack on a bit of lettuce or broccoli here and there. Your dog will mostly be doing it to satisfy their curiosity about some of the foods that their humans eat. Once they have sampled it, they will generally not ask for it again. This will be the case with most foods that aren’t meaty in nature.

You can feed your dog a few healthy alternatives to peppers such as white rice, boiled chicken, and canned pumpkin. These are foods that are a bit on the bland side but will work to keep your dog’s stomach safely coated. They will make for a good follow up meal for your dog in case they do eat something spicy that disagrees with them.

Can Dogs Eat Jalapenos?

Eating a jalapeno pepper will usually not have life threatening effects for your dog. Most dogs will eat the pepper and experience regret in the form of a stomach upset and a bit of diarrhea. In most cases, the side effects will be no worse than these.

There are some serious health hazards, such as ulcers or peritonitis, to watch out for. If your dog seems to have trouble eliminating the pepper from their system, give them some bland foods to help. Watch them carefully for any further ill effects.

If it turns out that your dog takes the jalapeno worse than you expected, you should watch to make sure that they are doing all right. Check for blood in their vomit or stool. If you see any evidence of blood, get them to a vet as soon as possible.


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