Can I give my dog grits?

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Eating grits is popular in parts of the United States. Millions of dog owners love this breakfast side dish so we’ll discuss it. After all, your canine has a powerful nose!

Weigh all the pros and cons before feeding any new food to the family dog. For recipes, such as hot grits, it’s important to look at ingredients to get a full picture.

Grits aren’t a health food, but there are a few positive aspects. Nevertheless, important factors lead us to our decision. This favorite dish isn’t toxic, yet its inappropriate for dogs.

Can I Give My Dog Grits? Answer: Not Recommended

This warm and delicious morning food is derived from corn, specifically the kernels, which makes it a poor choice.

A little bit of grits obviously won’t do your dog any harm. But it’s important not to feed certain foods too often. Doing so can be habit forming. Potential for negative health consequences is a separate issue. Grits aren’t the worst thing that Fido could be eating. We just don’t allow our dogs to enjoy grits for reasons we are outlining here.

A ‘Grits are Good’ Argument

As with most foods, you can find positives things to say about grits. For one, there’s plenty of vitamin B-6 in a bowl of cooked grits.

Grits also contain folate and amino acids which both offer health benefits, at least in theory. The pros, however, do not outweigh downsides for dogs. We’ll explain further…

Buttered, Salt and Others

Not many people eat grits without adding a little something extra. This food is almost always doctored up to enhance taste. Butter, and sometimes lots of it, is the number one indulgence as soon as a bowl of grits hits the table.

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Obviously being heavy on the butter makes the side dish in question less healthy for dog and their owners. Some other condiments common to grits are salt, pepper, cheese and even crispy bacon bits.

As you probably realize, these additives combined with what grits themselves are made from are enough to make any reasonable person realize something – that pet dogs should not be eating this!

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Closer Look at Ingredients

Do not focus on grits alone. Consider the ingredients that go into making this tasty morning meal. Look at it this way: would you feed your dog buttered up corn kernels? Probably not, so why start now?

Low quality dog foods contain worthless corn-based filler. They lack nutritional value. When you look at it that way, grits aren’t a good choice for dogs.

Whenever you deviate from regular food, provide healthy treats instead of just filling up their stomach.

Grits Compared to Oatmeal

If you are looking for a morning meal for your dog, maybe you would be interested in comparing grits to oatmeal. This comparison makes sense. They have similar consistencies and are porridge-like grains.

Both have healthy aspect but, hands down, oatmeal is a better alternative. In fact, we see no good reason to ever feed the family dog any grits.

Conclusion on Grits

Grits are corn-based and we don’t favor them for dogs. Don’t concern yourself with satisfying your buddy’s taste buds. Even if you withhold butter, salt and pepper we still say grits isn’t good for dogs. Nothing terrible will likely result, but find a better alternative. More grits for you!

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