If you love drinking beer and want to relax alongside your furry companion, you might have asked this question several times to yourself. Can your dog drink beer and have fun while doing it?
In this article, we will try to answer this question using key facts and opinions from professional vets. Also, I have included several lessons learned from my personal experience, so please enjoy!
1. Top Ingredients in Alcoholic Drinks
If you just look up the definition of beer, it is a liquid made by fermenting grain, which is a type of alcoholic drink, and we call drinks that contain alcohol as alcoholic beverages. After hearing this, you might be saying, “Duh… We already knew that!”
So what makes up alcohol? After searching up the definition of alcohol, I found out that the top ingredients in any alcoholic drink (including beer) contain mixed amounts of ethanol and water.
By common sense, we can eliminate water from the danger list since dogs drink it all the time without having any types of side effects. So how about ethanol?
2. Effects of Beer on Dogs
By drinking beer, your dog is basically drinking ethanol to some degree. If ethanol gets into your dog’s body whether it be through digestion or by direct contact, it can cause severe damage to your dog’s nervous system.
How severe? Ethanol can cause your dog’s nervous system to slow down (basically, his brain is slowing down), which can lead to a coma. In addition, ethanol can cause alcohol poisoning and possible kidney failures.
3. Can Dogs Really Drink Beer?
As you may have already known, drinking alcohol is not good for your health, and if your dog drinks it, the harmful effects multiply tenfold. In short, the answer to our question is dogs should not drink beer since the results can be fatal.
4. Be a Responsible Drinker
If you really like drinking beer and you also have a dog at home, what should you do in this situation? As a responsible dog owner, you should never give alcohol to your dog, and you need to place your alcoholic beverages in a safe location.
Please be aware that different types of cleaning solutions and cosmetics contain harmful ingredients for your dog, so make sure to keep those products away from your dog’s reach.
5. Preparing for the Worst
Let’s face it. Even though we all know that dogs should not drink beer, your dog might get the chance when you are distracted long enough. So what do you do when you find an empty can of beer that wasn’t empty the night before?
- Depression / Lethargy (Lack of Energy & Action)
- Signs of Confusion / Lack of Body Coordination
- Vomiting / Diarrhea / Drooling
- Sudden Collapse / Seizures / Panting
First, you need to check on your dog to see if your dog is displaying any signs of external behavior, and the symptoms listed above are primary indicators of alcohol poisoning so if you do see these symptoms, take your dog to a vet immediately!
6. Water is Best!
As you can see, alcohol should not be included in your dog’s drink, which leaves water as our only option. The best drink that your dog can have is water since it plays a vital role in bodily function and a healthy lifestyle.
It cleans out the bad stuff from your dog’s body and enables his digestive system to carry out its role. Water is the best liquid to keep your dog’s body hydrated and functioning at its maximum capacity.
7. Need a Plan?
We can’t predict what the future holds, but we can prepare for things ahead of time. If you have a pet under your care, you might be interested in Petplan, which is another name for insurance plans for pets.
If you are interested in signing up for pet insurance, click on the image down below for further details. In short, you can have all the health insurance coverage for your pet by paying a monthly fee in return.
I hope that this article regarding “Can Dogs Drink Beer?” was a helpful one, and if you have any questions or comments regarding this article, please post your opinion down below, and I’ll do my best to read through your case.
As always, thank you for visiting our website, and if you have liked this post, you will probably like all of our articles posted on our main homepage. Have a great rest of your day, and don’t forget to smile!
