If you ever have eaten oatmeal in the morning for breakfast, you might notice your dachshund staring at you with their soulful eyes. You might be wondering…is oatmeal ok for dogs?
The short answer is yes because oatmeal can be healthy for your dog, but you should only give them oatmeal in moderation.
6 Healthy Benefits Of Giving Your Dog Oatmeal
1. Oatmeal contains fiber, which is good for digestive health. This helps if your dog has had an upset stomach, gas, diarrhoea, or constipation.
Oatmeal provides their stomach with a soothing effect as the fiber will aid in your dog’s digestive system.
One cup of oatmeal has 8 grams of dietary fiber Feeding your dog foods that contain fiber is important as it helps your dog’s stool so they don’t have constipation.
2. Oatmeal and help with your dog’s hair so it won’t become stiff and brittle.
3. Oatmeal helps with keeping a healthy cholesterol level, as the fiber contains beta-glucan.
There is one study that shows that dogs with a diet containing beta-glucan over a a 71 day period lowered their bad cholesterol levels.
4. Oatmeal also contains Omega 6 fatty acids and vitamin B, which are good for your dog’s skin health.
5. Oatmeal is also a great wheat source for dogs that are gluten intolerant,
6. Even though oatmeal is a carbohydrate, it is a healthy carb as it contains high fiber.
So if your dog is overweight the high giver and help by keeping your dog feel more full so they won’t eat as much.
Is Oatmeal OK For Dogs?
If you want to give your dog oatmeal, you need to be careful of both the type of oatmeal and the quantity.
Don’t give your dog raw oatmeal as it is too hard for your dog to digest. So make sure you only give cooked oatmeal and don’t give too much of it.
The recommended amount is one tablespoon of cooked oatmeal for every 20 pounds of your dog’s weight.
So if you own a miniature dachshund that weighs 10 pounds then you don’t want to give more than one-half tablespoon of cooked oatmeal. Any more than that and it may upset your dog’s stomach.
Even though oatmeal has healthy ingredients it also contains a lot of carbohydrates and calories. So too much oatmeal could start adding weight to your little doggy.
It is important not to use any packaged oatmeal as they contain either sugar or artificial sweeteners. One such sweetener called xylitol, which may be found in many products and is toxic to dogs.
So only use unflavored raw organic oats and not any prepackaged oatmeal. Also, use only water to cook oatmeal. Don’t use milk as lactose might cause your dog to get an upset stomach.
Like most other human foods, some dogs’ stomachs might not be used to it if they have never had it before.
So you want to just give a very small amount at first to get them acclimated to it.
Oatmeal Recipe For Your Dog
- Take 1 cup of oatmeal (don’t use the quick oatmeal), and instead just use the rolled oats that you have to boil in water.
- Take oatmeal and place it in a pan
- Then add 1 ¾ cup water.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat and stir. Then once it begins boiling turn the heat down and let simmer.
- Keep stirring and let oatmeal thicken where most of the water is absorbed
- The regular oats take about 5 or 6 minutes to cook.
- Then turn off the heat and let it cool. You can put this in an airtight bag in the refrigerator.
Remember, for your dachshund you only want to add maybe a tablespoon in with their dog food.
I wouldn’t give them oatmeal every day…just occasionally as an extra treat in their dog food.
Cinnamon is one item you can add to oatmeal for dogs as cinnamon can be beneficial.
Just a sprinkle of cinnamon can be added as it has been shown to help treat infections and arthritis in dogs.
The ASPCA has shown that cinnamon is not toxic to dogs and in fact beneficial.
So the bottom line when asking is oatmeal ok for dogs? The answer is yes, as long as you follow the guidelines listed above in this article.
Some dog foods also have oatmeal in their ingredients.
