Salt is the most common seasoning in cooking, is one of the key substances of normal metabolism of animals, and is also a common additive in many foods. There is no taste of food, not to mention dogs, people do not like to eat, however, in life, there are many dog parents will talk about whether dogs can eat salt, so today we will focus on whether dogs can eat salt and what problems will appear when dogs drink too much salt.
1、 Why do many people say dogs can't eat salt
Some people think that the dog eating salt will have skin disease, the performance of continuous hair loss, in fact, this view is lack of science. If it's really the skin disease caused by salt, it's also because you eat too much. Excessive salt will increase sweating. You should know that the sweat glands of dogs have degenerated and will not sweat on the skin. Dogs mainly rely on the tongue and foot pads to dissipate heat. Therefore, excessive salt can easily lead to skin diseases. At the same time, excessive salt, especially insufficient water, will cause the dog salt poisoning. But because the dog's kidney has a very good excretion function, so there are few cases of dog salt poisoning, which will only increase the burden on the kidney.
2、 In fact, dogs can't eat salt
Let's first look at what salt means to life. We all know that if the human body lacks salt, it is easy to lead to physical fatigue. Dogs are the same. If dogs lack salt, they will not only be tired, but also cause various skin diseases and growth and development problems. Therefore, the dog is not unable to eat salt, only the intake of appropriate salt, the dog can live a healthy life.
However, in general, if you have been feeding dog food, you do not need to add additional salt, because the salt in the dog food can meet the needs of the dog, and the additional supplement may lead to urinary system diseases. For the owner of homemade dog food, you must remember to add the right amount of salt to the dog. Every kilogram of dog weight needs to take 20 mg of salt every day.
In order to avoid excessive salt intake, the owner must not give the dog food on the table. If the dog eats salty food, the owner should timely provide appropriate amount of water for the dog to drink. Once the dog eats too much salt, it will not appear any symptoms in the long-term.
3、 Pathogenesis of salt poisoning in dogs
Salt poisoning in dogs is mainly due to excessive intake of high salt content food, resulting in dehydration and even obvious neurological symptoms, and high salt content of food such as salted chicken, meat and so on. If the dog is only slightly salt poisoning, can be through the excretion of sodium diuresis, infusion and other methods of treatment, if it is severe salt poisoning, it will cause dog life danger.
The main cause of poisoning is eating salty salted food or adding fish meal. The occurrence of salt poisoning is closely related to the amount of drinking water of dogs. When animals take a large amount of salt products, if sufficient drinking water is provided, it is not easy to cause poisoning because it can promote the discharge of salt; if the body is short of water due to insufficient drinking water, intense exercise and hot weather, it is easy to induce poisoning.
4、 Treatment of salt poisoning in dogs
Because dogs are not sensitive to salt, it is seldom encountered in veterinary clinic, which is easy to be misdiagnosed and delay the disease. The main basis for diagnosis: the sick dog has a history of eating high salt food recently, or there are inducements such as strenuous exercise, vomiting and insufficient drinking water. The diagnosis can be made when obvious neurological symptoms such as restlessness, dyskinesia and muscle spasm occur during clinical examination.
1. When the dog is suspected of salt poisoning, it is necessary to supply fresh water in time and drink it several times, so as to ensure the necessary amount of drinking water and prevent the poisoning dog from aggravating brain edema by drinking a large amount of water in a short period of time. At the same time, oral administration of emetic to promote the gastrointestinal salt excretion as soon as possible. Mild poisoning cases can be cured without medication. In addition to vomiting, gastric lavage and drinking more water, 10% calcium gluconate should be used as soon as possible to replace sodium ions with calcium ions in order to restore the balance of ions in the body and alleviate poisoning symptoms.
2. In order to relieve the symptoms of brain edema and reduce intracranial pressure, 25% sorbitol or hypertonic glucose solution was used.
3. In order to prevent the dog from salt poisoning, the high salt content ingredients such as bacon, ham and fish meal should be reasonably added to the diet; high salt food should be avoided in hot summer or after strenuous exercise, or enough water should be given after feeding.
It can be imagined that the common and often eaten salt in daily life can also lead to dog poisoning. If your dog is poisoned by eating or drinking too much salt, he must be sent to a doctor in time. Adult dogs have strong resistance and can maintain life after symptoms appear. Puppies can not withstand severe intestinal injury and brain nerve symptoms. Once the disease occurs, most dogs will die.