🦃 Thanksgiving Safety for Dogs
What They Can & Cannot Eat
Thanksgiving is full of incredible food, cozy moments, and family chaos… which also means your dog will be staring at you like a furry garbage disposal begging for scraps. Before you cave to those puppy eyes, here’s what’s actually safe (and what can send you rushing to the emergency vet).
Keep this guide handy—you’ll thank yourself later.
🐾 Safe Thanksgiving Foods for Dogs (In Moderation)
✓ 🦃 Turkey (plain, boneless, skinless)
Turkey can be a great lean protein source for dogs—as long as it’s not seasoned and not on the bone.
Remove skin (the fat can trigger pancreatitis)
Remove all bones (they splinter internally)
Avoid drippings, butter, gravy, rubs, and spices
💡 Rule of thumb:
If you wouldn’t feed it to a newborn, don’t feed it to your dog.
✓ 🍠 Sweet Potatoes
They’re packed with fiber and vitamin A and extremely easy on the gut.
Serve baked, boiled, or mashed plain
No butter, marshmallows, brown sugar, syrups, or cinnamon toppings
✓ 🎃 Pure Pumpkin (not pie filling)
Pumpkin is digestion gold.
Plain pure pumpkin only
Pumpkin pie filling contains sugar + spices (no-go)
✓ 🫘 Green Beans
A crunchy, low-cal snack.
Fresh, frozen, or steamed
Avoid green bean casserole (cream + onion = danger)
✓ 🍏 Apples
Vitamin, fiber, hydration—great combo.
Just remove the core and seeds (they contain traces of cyanide).
🚫 Foods That Dogs Should NOT Eat on Thanksgiving
✗ 🍖 Turkey Bones & Skin
Bones splinter and can tear the stomach or intestines.
Skin is fatty → can trigger pancreatitis.
Symptoms to watch: vomiting, abdominal pain, hunched posture, lethargy.
✗ 🧄 Stuffing & Seasoned Foods
Most stuffing contains garlic and onions—both are toxic to dogs and can damage red blood cells.
Also: butter, salt, herbs, spices = tummy disaster.
✗ 🍇 Grapes & Raisins (the #1 holiday emergency)
It only takes one or two to send a dog into kidney failure.
If your dog ingests them:
Call your vet or pet poison hotline immediately.
✗ 🥧 Pumpkin Pie & Desserts
Nutmeg + sugar + dairy = no.
Even “just a bite” can trigger vomiting, diarrhea, or worse.
✗ 🍫 Chocolate & Sweets
The darker the chocolate, the more toxic.
Candy with xylitol (a sugar substitute) can be deadly within minutes.
⚠️ “Gray Area” Foods: It Depends on Preparation
These foods aren’t automatically bad—they’re only safe when plain.
➜ Mashed Potatoes
Plain potatoes are fine
Anything with butter, cream, chives, garlic, onions = no
➜ Ham
High salt + fat. Dogs don’t metabolize it well.
➜ Cranberries
Fresh cranberries = OK
Cranberry sauce = high sugar, preservatives, plus possible raisins
➜ Rolls & Bread
Small bites = usually fine
Raw dough = dangerous—yeast expands in the stomach
➜ Corn
Corn kernels = fine
Corn on the cob = choking/blockage nightmare
🐕 How Much Is “Too Much”? A Realistic Dog Plate
Thanksgiving food should be a treat, not a second dinner.
Think:
Protein: 1–2 oz of plain turkey
Veggie: handful of green beans or carrots
Starch: 1–2 tbsp of plain sweet potato or pumpkin
👉 That’s it. You’re not building a dog’s Thanksgiving buffet.
🚨 Emergency Signs You Shouldn’t Ignore
If you notice any of the following within hours or the next day:
Vomiting repeatedly (more than 2–3 times)
Extreme lethargy or collapse
Swollen or tight abdomen
Bloody diarrhea
Pale gums
Sudden refusal to eat or drink
Contact your veterinarian or an emergency clinic right away.
🧠 The Thanksgiving Safety Mindset
You don’t need to be the “no fun” dog parent at the table.
You just need to be the responsible one.
A few simple precautions:
Assign a “dog guardian” during dinner
Tell guests your dog isn’t allowed table scraps
Keep trash sealed and out of reach
Clear plates immediately—don’t leave leftovers on the counter
Because here’s the truth:
Dogs don’t get hospitalized because of turkey.
They get hospitalized because of bones, butter, stuffing, and guests who mean well.
🎁 Print This & Share
This guide isn’t just for you—it can save your friend or family’s dog from ending up in the ER on Thursday night.
Send it to the host, text it to your parents, or print it and put it on the fridge.
FAQ
1. Can dogs have gravy?
No. Gravy is full of salt, fat, onion, garlic, and butter—basically a digestive nightmare. Even a few spoonfuls can trigger vomiting or pancreatitis in sensitive dogs. If you want your dog to feel included, give them plain turkey instead.
2. Is turkey skin really that bad?
Yes. Turkey skin is extremely fatty, and dogs can’t process it the same way humans do. It can cause painful stomach upset or acute pancreatitis (which often requires an ER visit).
Remove the skin before offering any meat.
3. My dog ate something they shouldn’t. How long until symptoms show?
It varies. Some toxic foods (like grapes) can cause symptoms within a few hours, while others (like bones or fatty foods) may take 12–24 hours to show signs.
If you’re unsure what they ate, call a vet or poison hotline immediately—don’t wait for symptoms.