One of life’s little pleasures is a night on the couch watching a movie and eating popcorn made extra special with your families and friends. Popcorn always finds its way to the floor or the couch where our dogs feel happy to have them. You can’t even resist yourself offering some to them, especially when they give you that pleading face. But is it good for them? Let’s unravel all the queries regarding eating popcorn by the dogs. 

Is it safe for dogs to eat popcorn?

Popcorn is neither a good nor a bad snack for dogs, not exactly having a clear answer. It is not good because it can incorporate digestion issues in dogs and salt on it, is also harmful to the dogs, and not bad if you give them just one or two pieces or with some precautions that we will discuss below. 

Popcorn has nutritional values like fiber, protein, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, and Vitamin B. They are not sufficient to make any improvement in the health of your dog but would not harm your dog either. 

How can I feed my dog popcorn?

If you want to share popcorn, which you can, obviously, but a plane and air-popped one. Simple air-popped popcorn is safer if you genuinely want to offer some snacks, but adding seasonings like salt, butter, oil, sugar, and other unhealthy flavors are harmful to your dog and need to be avoided. 

Salted popcorn is harmful to dogs with heart issues. They can lead to salt toxicity and gastrointestinal upset in dogs.

Butter and oil can make it oily and increase the fat and cholesterol level, which ultimately is not great for puppies. 

Plain, air-popped, and unseasoned popcorn is okay for dogs but, that too, in a small portion. Whenever you make popcorn, remove any unpopped kernels, they may be a choking hazard.

Side effects and hazards of popcorn to dogs:

If your dog has eaten popcorn with unhealthy seasonings or salt, or you feed them intentionally, it could be harmful to your canine companion.

Let us discuss some of the side effects in the dogs, having excessive salt, oil, and unhealthy seasonings on popcorn-

  • Dehydration from too much salt
  • Digestive tract issues that can lead to vomiting and diarrhea
  • Kidney or renal damage due to regular intake of salt
  • Obesity is due to the ingestion of high fat. 
  • Harm their teeth and gums due to popcorn stuck in their teeth
  • Lead to choking hazard for your dog.