# Peanut butter



## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

LBecause most people don’t know that one of the top selling dog treats of all time is really bad for dogs.

Like really bad.

Yet pet store shelves are stacked with peanut butter flavored products. Peanut butter cookies, peanut butter stuffing … and even those of us who choose to bypass commercial foods, have been fooled into thinking that the occasional Kong stuffed with organic, sugar-free peanut butter is an awesome treat for dogs.

So if you’ve been feeding your dog peanut butter as a treat, you might not like to hear what I’m about to say. But I think when I’m done, you might want to move peanut butter to the naughty – and downright dangerous – snack food list.

Here’s why peanut butter is toxic to your dog …

#1. Most Peanut Butter Contains Aflatoxins (Which Cause Cancer)

Don’t know what aflatoxins are? These are naturally occurring mycotoxins that are produced by a fungus called Aspergillus.

And peanuts have them in spades.

Mycotoxins are one of the most carcinogenic (cancer-causing) substances on the planet … and they’ve also been shown to be toxic to the liver. Aflatoxin is known to cause liver cancer in laboratory animals … and it would probably do the same in your dog.

And don’t think you can avoid aflatoxins by buying that fancy, fresh store-made peanut butter …

According to Dr. Andrew Weil,

A few years ago, Consumers Union looked into the question of aflatoxins in peanut butter and found that the amounts detectable varied from brand to brand. The lowest amounts were found in the big supermarket brands such as Peter Pan, Jif and Skippy. The highest levels were found in peanut butter ground fresh in health food stores.

But before you break out the Jif, you might first want to read more …

#2. Most Peanut Butter Often Contains Harmful Fats

Trans-fatty acids are one of the most toxic food substances today. Trans fats are the result of a highly toxic process that makes foods more stable, allowing them to sit on shelves for an extremely long time. Hydrogenation is the process of taking a plant oil, adding a nickel catalyst, heating it, and then removing the nickel catalyst.

The result is a highly toxic fat that causes diabetes, heart disease and chronic inflammation.

You’ll know if your dog’s peanut butter contains trans fats if it has hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils in the ingredients. If it does, then don’t buy it!

And as if trans fats weren’t bad enough, roasting nuts can also cause the fats in peanuts to go rancid. So if you must feed peanut butter, then at the very least, make sure it’s raw and doesn’t contain hydrogenated fats.

But of course, you’ll still have to deal with the aflatoxins …

#3. Most Peanut Butter Contains Sugar

Think of white sugar as food for all of the nasty things we take our dogs to the vet for …

… like yeast (candida), bacteria, parasites – and cancer! The more we eat, the more they feast!

Sugar can also cause diabetes, food allergies, premature aging and low level inflammation. And it feeds cancer cells.

Speaking of inflammation, that’s one more reason why peanut butter isn’t a great snack choice for your dog …

While peanuts are high in good monounsaturated fats, their omega 6 to 3 ratio is terrible! One cup of peanuts contains 35578 mg of omega-6 fatty acids and only 196 mg of omega-3 fats. Omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) can trigger inflammation, so too much is not good. And the most common inflammatory conditions in dogs include allergies and joint disease.


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## JasperBlack (Sep 1, 2012)

Mine is 99.5% peanut! I never knew any if this...I'm sure I can find something just as tasty to fill his kong. He only has this occasionally though and in small amounts. Thanks for sharing! Always good to be informed xxx


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Hmmm, this reads like the writer has a vested interest. What was the source please?


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Dogs naturally Magazine. It's an online magazine. Surely to have a vested interest you need to be promoting something else? 

It was news to me too, but thought I should share.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

I knew a lot of this. This is true of many foods actually - carcinogens, but you have to be eating a lot for it to do harm. I buy a peanut butter that's free from hydrogenated oil and sugar free, as I would bake with it and I try to steer away from processed, definitely no sugar for the dogs.

I do give peanut butter but not often and usually mixed with something else, I think in small quantities and not often it's okay. The article hasn't concerned me


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Good to know it was not written by the beef jerky distributors. We get a couple of wellness letters here about human health that are written like that. Mostly we follow them but every now and then you just have to break free and pork out! Rufus has never been nuts for peanut butter so no concerns with him.


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## sugerlump (Oct 6, 2012)

is it not true that laboratory animals that are test subjects are stuffed with the product they are testing ,to get top results fast,and that when you are to compare to the test you would have to eat like a ton of the stuff to get the same results ginger gets peanut butter but ,very little and only about once or twice a month.,,but i will check to see what in in it and try to get some thing better,,but thank you so much for the info.


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## wellerfeller (Jul 12, 2011)

Try marmite, you only need a little and dogs love it!!


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## sugerlump (Oct 6, 2012)

what is it sweety


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

It is wretched stuff that tastes somewhat like tar that Brits eat for unfathomable reasons.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

It's beef extract.. Thick and meaty paste type thing. I don't like it! Tastes like a vitamin pill to me.


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## Lynn<3 (Jul 4, 2011)

Yucky! I've been tricked into tasting that stuff!


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Hmmmm my two have never tried marmite  we will experiment today I think


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

RuthMill said:


> It's beef extract.. Thick and meaty paste type thing. I don't like it! Tastes like a vitamin pill to me.


It is Yeast extract, not beef I think - bovril was the beefy equivalent.
It is foul and disgusting in my opinion, but some people love it 

It is fantastic for dogs and I've never met a dog who did not love it - lots of B vitamins (I think) so good for coats and skin - just the tip of a teaspoon - but the taste is so strong a little goes a long long way. My dad used to use it when he couldn't get hold of Vetzyme conditioning tablets (also based on yeast) which he thought were fantastic.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Marzi said:


> It is Yeast extract, not beef I think - bovril was the beefy equivalent.
> It is foul and disgusting in my opinion, but some people love it
> 
> It is fantastic for dogs and I've never met a dog who did not love it - lots of B vitamins (I think) so good for coats and skin - just the tip of a teaspoon - but the taste is so strong a little goes a long long way. My dad used to use it when he couldn't get hold of Vetzyme conditioning tablets (also based on yeast) which he thought were fantastic.


Yuck, why would anyone want to eat yeast in this form... Eugh


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Much better to drink it?


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## wellerfeller (Jul 12, 2011)

I love it!!! But then they do say you either love it or hate it!!! 
Dogs I promise you love it!!!


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## wellerfeller (Jul 12, 2011)

I love it!!! But then they do say you either love it or hate it!!! 
Dogs I promise you,love it!!!
Also if you try it with your dogs watch them after and see if they start licking all down their front legs? Weird as it sounds, both my old greyhound and Weller do this after having marmite.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

Marzi said:


> Much better to drink it?


Yuck too!

It tastes just like the Forceval vitamin pills I was made to take as a child - I expect its a look the same ingredients 

It has its place... This excerpt from Wikipedia:

In the 1930s, Marmite was used by the English scientist Lucy Wills to successfully treat a form of anaemia in mill workers in Bombay. She later identified folic acid as the active ingredient.[10] Marmite was used to treat malnutrition in Suriya-Mal workers during the 1934–5 malaria epidemic in Sri Lanka.[11] Housewives were encouraged to spread Marmite thinly and to "use it sparingly just now" because of limited rations of the product.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

wellerfeller said:


> I love it!!! But then they do say you either love it or hate it!!!
> Dogs I promise you love it!!!


What way do you take it?


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## wellerfeller (Jul 12, 2011)

Toast and sandwiches. Peanut butter and marmite sandwiches are yum! Lol.


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

wellerfeller said:


> Toast and sandwiches. Peanut butter and marmite sandwiches are yum! Lol.


Aw Karen!


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

To paraphrase another thread, "thank God we don't all have the same taste or there would be a world wide shortage of porridge and marmite!"


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## RuthMill (Jun 30, 2012)

I like porridge.. I think it was milk in that thread.


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

Peanut butter and marmite on toast is my idea of heaven! As for the peanut butter scare I am quite surprised by it. My dogs have peanut butter chews and treats. I have even baked my own. If I ever have to give them a tablet I always hide it in a spoonful of peanut butter.


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Had a good chuckle at all the strong views about marmite.....think the producers of marmite and the ad agency could have great fun with this.


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## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

I'm not a love it or hate it person with Marmite, I like it but only when spread thinly. never tried it with peanut butter - I love that with honey. oh and I won't worry too much about a small bit of peanut butter occasionally for Dudley, I think there are many worse things - Pedigree Jumbones have been making quite a few dogs exceptionally sick, I tried to link to a page on facebook but couldn't get the link to work. Apparently Pedigree are now looking into it.


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## lady amanda (Nov 26, 2010)

Hey the first plus to me being allergic to nuts. my dogs have never had any peanut butter because of my allergy


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## sugerlump (Oct 6, 2012)

poor puppys ,,never had peanut butter,,ohh the horror of it Haaa haaaa


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