Bread is a staple food for humans and it’s eaten across different cultures and cuisines. Bread is a great and tasty source of carbohydrates. It is mainly made up of flour, water and yeast, so it doesn’t really have any harmful ingredients for dogs. Bread isn’t like chocolate, you can feed your dogs bread but it should be fed in moderation since excess carbohydrates in a dog’s diet can be harmful. Let’s find out more about the topic.

Bread for Dogs: Should You Feed It To Them?

Is it bad to give bread to dogs?

Pet dogs are omnivorous animals that can maintain a varied diet to benefit from the properties of different types of food. However, its nutritional requirements are based on the consumption of high-quality proteins, good fats, vitamins and minerals. The other components (such as carbohydrates) can be present in their diet, but always in a moderate way. Therefore, although your dog can eat bread, this food should not be the basis of his diet. Remember that the predominant nutrient in its nutrition should be proteins and not carbohydrates (just like for us).

Carbohydrates are fundamentally transformed into sugar at the end of the digestive process. Therefore, a high carbohydrate intake tends to raise blood glucose, making your dog more prone to a diagnosis of canine diabetes. In addition, if you incorporate many sources of carbohydrates in their diet, your dog can gain weight quickly and we must remember that being overweight in dogs is a risk factor for many diseases.

On the other hand, we must consider that bread, as well as pasta and rice, are sources of energy for the body. When consumed in moderation, they can help maintain a balanced metabolism and please our furry friends’ palate. However, we must be clear about some recommendations on how to introduce this food into the diet of our dogs. Therefore, in the next part of this article, we give you some tips to offer bread to your dog without hindering its digestion or representing any risk to its health.

Can dogs eat all kinds of bread?

If you wonder what type of bread is healthier for your dog, you should know that they are homemade breads, without preservatives, colorings or other industrial additives. Commercial breads (both those that we buy fresh from the bakery and those that are industrialized) usually contain considerable percentages of salt and refined sugar, two ingredients that are harmful to the health of our dogs. In addition, some types of bread also contain dairy (milk, yogurt, butter) and eggs, foods that can cause allergic reactions in furry dogs.

If you want to prepare homemade bread for your dog, we recommend preferring whole grain or cereal flours, such as oats, rice, barley and flax, since they are easier to digest than traditional wheat flour. You should also avoid adding biological (common yeast) or chemical (baking powder) ferment to the dough. But if you want to try something different and healthy, you can use brewer’s yeast, which offers many health benefits for dogs.

You should not add salt or sugar to the bread that you prepare for your dog. If you want to make a sweet recipe, you can use pure honey to sweeten it, since this food brings many benefits for dogs. And if you are making a salty preparation, you can incorporate other spices instead of salt to add flavor. Turmeric, for example, has numerous properties and can be added to almost every type of recipe, always in moderate doses.

What are some homemade bread recipes that are great for your dog?

If you want to incorporate new homemade recipes into your dog’s diet and let him enjoy food as exquisite as bread, we suggest you make a loaf of homemade bread without preservatives, which combines the beneficial properties of 3 ingredients: oats, banana and cinnamon. As you will see, this recipe will not use eggs, milk or wheat flour, to facilitate digestion and prevent food allergies in your dog.

On the one hand, the vein offers a high fiber content, facilitating intestinal transit, improving digestion, relieving stomach pain and preventing constipation. Banana is among the recommended fruits for dogs because it is rich not only in fiber, but also in vitamins and minerals, which are essential to strengthen their immune system and improve their physical resistance. Finally, we highlight the digestive, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antifungal properties of cinnamon (and without forgetting its exquisite flavor!).

Here’s the recipe for a great type of bread for dogs.

How to make oatmeal and banana bread for dogs?

For this recipe, we will need the following ingredients :

• 3 ripe bananas;
• 1 cup of water;
• ½ cup of olive oil;
• 2 cups of fine organic oatmeal;
• 1 tablespoon of pure honey;
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

Next, we tell you the step by step to make your homemade oatmeal and banana bread for your dog:

• First, we peel the bananas and cut them into medium-thick slices;
• In a blender or food processor, add the banana slices, water, honey, cinnamon and oil. We grind all the ingredients until we obtain a homogeneous paste.
• Finally, we add the organic oats and the baking soda, mixing our dough with the help of a spatula or spoon.
• Then, we pour the preparation into a container and put it in the preheated oven at 180ºC.
• To confirm that our bread is well cooked, we can insert a knife in the center of the preparation to confirm that it is not damp.
• Let the bread cool down to room temperature and serve it to your dog.

This Banana Oatmeal Bread can be offered as an occasional treat for your beloved dog and provide a great mixture of taste and nutrition. Just remember, a balanced diet is crucial for your dog’s health (just like yours). Feed your dogs some tasty bread in moderation as excess carbs can have a negative impact on a dog’s health. Keep the diet centred around protein, while offering some bread for your dog in between.