Can Dogs Eat Potato Chips? When it is or isn’t an Emergency

Don’t let your dog eat potato chips, whether that’s store-bought or home-baked. Potato chips are bad for dogs because of the ingredients used to make them.

What happens if a dog eats potato chips

Most potato chips you will come across in the stores are heavily seasoned with salt. Dogs don’t do well with consuming a large amount of sodium and can eventually suffer from salt poisoning if they were to consume too much at once. This could happen if a dog, especially a smaller breed or puppy, was to go through a whole bag of potato chips. The salt would also lead to other concerning symptoms such as excessive thirst and dehydration.

There’s also the concern around the amount of fat and oil the potato chips contain. Dogs that are fed a diet that includes unhealthy fats will suffer from longer-term health problems like pancreatitis. Dogs with sensitive stomachs may also not do so well with handling the residue oil that comes with store-bought potato chips.

Can dogs eat one potato chip?

They could but that doesn’t mean they should. One potato chip is unlikely to be dangerous to dogs but the last thing you would want is for the dog to beg for some more. In addition to the highlighted health risks, potato chips have very little nutritional value. You don’t want to discourage your dog from eating his regular meals by giving him too much junk food.

If your dog loves eating potatoes, you could try baking your own potato chips at home and not use any salt seasoning and oil. Just make sure it’s an infrequent treat and only a small amount of home-made potato chips is given at any time.

Potato chips aren’t the only human foods that pet owners shouldn’t give to their dogs. Check out our full database to learn more about what is and isn’t appropriate to give to dogs.