Are hamburgers okay?!

My mom is the proud owner of a nine month old tri-colored Cavalier named Lewis. I called her yesterady to check-up, and I was horrified to learn that she and Lewis had just returned from their weekly trip to McDonalds. She buys him his own Junior Mac every Sunday!!! Her response to my outrage was, "But he likes hamburgers." I said, "Mom, you cannot feed him hamburgers! Cavaliers are already prone to heart problems." Unfortunately, she is not a woman to be reasoned with.

Sadly, my mom lost her beloved labrador retriever after he escaped her yard and was hit by a car about two years ago. Lewis is the first dog to capture her heart again. I know she would never intentionally hurt him, but the McDonalds hamburgers just do NOT seem like a good idea. Am I overreacting?

I would try to talk her out of giving her dog the entire burger at least. my dog loves the hamburgers too. I admit to giving her a tiny bite or two, but an entire burger or even 1/2 would make me nervous. good luck it hard to tell moms anything!!

vikki said:

I would try to talk her out of giving her dog the entire burger at least. my dog loves the hamburgers too. I admit to giving her a tiny bite or two, but an entire burger or even 1/2 would make me nervous. good luck it hard to tell moms anything!!

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Agreed-- try reasoning that a whole hamburger is for a 40-60 pound human (kids meal size) and the poor dog doesn't need to be that big. Too much salt etc... etc.. but a bite or two would probably make his day without jeopardizing his health or giving him an upset stomach.

I think McDs are gross and don't eat them myself, but provided he only gets some on a rare occasion, and the volume is not too great, and he is not prone to pancreatitis (which can be triggered by fatty foods) it probably isn't such a shocking thing. I mean, people give their dogs ice cream, potato chips & stuff like that as a treat.

Back in the the old days, before we "knew better" our dogs often lived on table scraps, left over burgers etc and they lived as long as dogs do these days.

I think moderation is the key.

* These are my own thoughts, and not based upon any scientific evidence whatsoever.

Well, it seems like my boys have the most sensitive stomachs so they would probably get sick if I gave them anything but their dog food. I know that I let my pups stay with my mother-in-law and she didn't think I was telling the truth I guess..or she knew better than a 20 something year old..but anyway, they were sick and the vet took a sample of their poo and looked at it and said they had eaten something that made them sick and to never give them table food and to make sure they don't pick up anything outside..leaves, grass ect.

McDs puts minced cooked onions on their burgers, which is extremely toxic to dogs and causes hemolytic anemia.

I recently read in the October 2007 National Geographic magazine:

Onions - Their damage to canine hemoglobin is cumulative, so small tastes over time can be worse than wolfing down the whole bulb

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Cathy Moon said:

McDs puts minced cooked onions on their burgers, which is extremely toxic to dogs and causes hemolytic anemia.

I recently read in the March 2007 National Geographic magazine:

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I will give my mother this information right away! Thank you so much.

I agree that the whole burger is a bad idea - When I go to McDonalds, I generally do buy an extra burger, but I usually have 5-6 dogs with me, so they each get a small peice of it, and I only do that about once a month, I never give them the whole thing, and I always make sure they don't put any onions on them (actually, usually I just have them give it to me with out ANYTHING on it! Not only are the onions bad, but they're so high in salt, fat, and is just a disaster waiting to happen!!!!

Why not cook some hamburger at home, drain off the fat and give that to the dogs? I regularly make stews with ground beef or just lightly cook ground beef and feed that or mix it with their dry food. Much healthier, doesn't have all the other junk on it, gets rid of the fat (a single fatty meal -- and a McDonalds burger is LOADED with saturated fat -- can trigger lifelong pancreatitis). A McDonalds burger has 280 calories. That would easily be a small cavalier's entire daily caloric needs!!

PS I just added a new article on weight and feeding and treats here:

http://board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?p=245842

omg the whole burger... that's crazy! Maverick only gets the one or two fries that fall to the floor.

a whole jr. burger

i bet its hard...we human fed our own kid " happy meals" with burger and fries ..etc. karlin's idea is great. just suggest your mom to feed him homemade patty as treats. he will probably enjoy as much anyways!