RAW POTATO CRAZY!

So... Einstein LOVES raw potatoes.

We were growing some kind of weird ones, and he dug em up and they were a fun toy for him for a long time lol. I donno it just seems like they are probably fine since he has such a strong urge to play with and eat them.

I just came home and he had eaten almost a whole gold potato. (Which are the smaller yellow ones.)

Upon doing some googling, there are people who say that you need to cut the eyes out because they can be poisonous, and that it's better to cook them first. But that takes the fun out of the hard potato.

Just curious, do you think these people are just paranoid? There are also people who say not to give your dogs raw eggs, but I have *also* heard that dogs can stomach salmonella way better than humans, and that raw eggs are good for their fur...

Thoughts? Discussion? Should I let my pooch play with potatoes? lol

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on July 26, 2012 at 5:30pm

Hi Stacey,

It is not paranoid, potatoes does contain solanine, even human can be affected in large amount. It all comes down to the weight of the animal and how much poison was ingested. (eg: big animal require big tranq darts)

As far as Salmonella goes, the egg itself is fine, the shell and its integrity is where the problem lies. You can only get salmonella by coming in contact with animal feces. Commercial farming = questionable sanitary condition. Most people don't wash their eggs before cracking them, they also don't check each egg before buying them in a carton. On the other hand, if an animal already has a weak immune system, a little salmonella in the system can cause havoc.

To sum it all, there's no simple answer, every animal is different, one size does not fit all.

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Permalink Reply by Marcie on July 26, 2012 at 6:18pm

I grew up surrounded by hundreds of acres of potato fields. My border collie was a little OCD and collected them during harvest. She would go get one, take one bite, leave it by the steps and go get another. In the course of the day I'm sure she ate a couple. She was always fine, of course this was before I knew any better about it. You do want to avoid any that are green from sunburn.

Would he play with an apple the same way? Liz collected them as well....It would be a safer play option.