Can Dogs Eat Tortillas? Harmful Tortilla Ingredients To Dogs

An old English proverb says that a dog is a man’s best friend. Although it is true, the dog shouldn’t eat the same food as you do. Suitable and proper nutrition for dogs excludes a lot of products and groceries that humans eat daily. Therefore, you should avoid feeding your furry friend with most of the food you consume to ensure it long and happy life.

Of course, your pet will beg you for a bite even when it is full, but it will help if you remain strict regarding particular sorts of food. Now, it is a moment to see the answer to the question can dogs eat tortillas.

Tortillas

This food type originally comes from Mexico. Initially, tortillas were made of corn flour, but you can also find white flour ones. They are similar to bread as the ingredients are almost the same. Nowadays, you can make several modern tortilla types.

1. Traditional Tortilla

The traditional tortilla is made of corn or white flour mixed with salt, baking soda or yeast, vegetable oil, and hot water to get a dough. Afterward, the tortilla is baked on a stove or in a pan.

Eating baked tortillas won’t harm your dog since they don’t contain ingredients harmful to this species, but you should avoid offering them too often. If your pet eats this particular food frequently, it will affect its welfare.

2. Tortilla Chips

Chips tortillas are a bit different, and their main components include corn flour, sunflower oil, salt, artificial colors, flavorings, and preservatives. After getting the smooth dough, you need to fry them in deep vegetable oil, which makes them harmful for dogs.

3. Tortilla Wraps

Unless tortilla wraps contain a high amount of salt, garlic, onion, or any other ingredients hazardous for dogs, you can offer some to your furry friend. Tortilla wraps with boiled turkey, chicken, and salmon are safe for feeding your buddy occasionally.

4. Multigrain And Full-Grain Tortillas

Unless your dog suffers from a gluten allergy, it is not harmful to eat both multigrain and full-grain tortillas from time to time. Keep in mind that its digestive system will probably react quickly to fibers in this food, and it will require a walk as soon as possible after a meal.

5. Flavored Tortilla

The fact is that any food containing artificial colors and flavors is not recommended for dogs. Those ingredients can be toxic to your pet. Therefore, such a food, including flavored tortillas, poses a threat even in small quantities.

Harmful Tortilla Ingredients To Dogs

Although dogs usually beg for food, you are the one to decide if a particular meal is safe or a potential cause of digesting difficulties. That is a reason why to offer your furry friend high-quality dog food instead of human dishes.

You probably wonder how stray dogs can eat everything they find, and your buddy needs to have restrictions. That is true, but the life span of one stray dog and your loving pet is not comparable. Unfortunately, stray dogs never live long because of unhealthy, irregular feeding and harsh living conditions.

Many things can be more or less harmful to the canine’s health. According to veterinarians and dog experts, your dog should avoid some primary tortilla ingredients, including:

1. Salt

Salt is on the list as risky food for dogs, and tortillas often contain huge amounts. The biggest problem is tortilla chips that are overloaded with salt.

2. Yeast Dough

Yeast is the common ingredient in almost all baked products, including tortillas. It can be harmful to your dog and may increase the risk of different kinds of disorders.

3. Corn

Both corn kernels and flour used in tortilla making won’t add much to your dog food’s nutritional value, and they can even cause an allergy.

4. Onion And Garlic

Onion, onion pow, and garlic are the risky food ingredients for canines, and you should avoid offering them to your dog. As tortilla chips often contain these ingredients, you should never feed your pet with this snack, especially if you have a puppy.

Processed Tortillas Ingredients

As tortillas mainly belong to processed food, they contain artificial colors, flavorings, emulsifiers, and preservatives to ensure long expiry dates. All these ingredients may cause digestives problems in your dog.

Preservatives – There are many kinds of preservatives such as Propionic Acid, Benzoic Acid, or Phosphoric Acid, which are toxic to dogs but fine for humans.

Amylase – Manufacturers frequently use it in both corn and wheat tortillas to extend their shelf life. An abnormal amylase level in the blood or urine may lead to a pancreas disorder or other severe medical condition.

Xylanase – This hydrolytic enzyme decomposes the xylan polysaccharide into xylose, leading to the breakage of hemicellulose, a plant cell wall component. Bakers take advantage of this Xylanase property and use it as a wheat flour additive to improve dough handling.

Gluten – It is a well-known ingredient that causes allergic reactions and upsets the canines’ sensitive digestive system. It is often found in both regular and chip tortillas.

Oxidoreductases, proteases, and transglutaminases – These compounds often found in processed tortillas are in charge of the wheat tortilla dough transformation and are potentially harmful to a dog’s health.

Risks Of Feeding Dogs With Tortillas

As I have already mentioned, tortillas are rich in salt and artificial flavors such as garlic and onion, which are on the list of harmful ingredients for dogs. As a result, this food may cause severe health issues you can prevent when reducing its intake on time.

1. Overweight

Both corn and white flour tortillas are not a good choice for your dog as they have a lot of calories without valuable nutrients. If you give your dog such food, you won’t do anything good for its health.

One regular tortilla has about 300 calories, which is a lot compared to regular nutrient and beneficial dog food. Consequently, a high calory level will lead to obesity and overweight, which may cause heart and joint problems.

2. Digestive Tract

The digestion begins in the mouth when the dog starts chewing, and the enzymes in saliva help break food that goes into the stomach after swallowing. After breaking down into simpler compounds, the food goes into the intestines for final essential nutrients absorption.

Unfortunately, not all human food is suitable and pleasant for dogs even though they have a similar digestive system. The probable reason is the smaller stomach size and different metabolism.

Therefore, yeast from tortilla dough often causes bloat, especially in senior dogs. Unfortunately, you can expect your furry friend to develop digestive disorders, including stomach and intestinal sensitivity, when fed with such food. The symptoms include:

3. Diabetes And Pancreatitis

Eating tortillas that contain grains, flour, salt, fat, and sugar can cause obesity and often result in diabetes and pancreatitis in dogs. Remember, canines can’t digest these ingredients like humans.

Tortilla chips are an even worse option. They are fried in deep fat, making it the food with a high calorie level without beneficial ingredients. Once your dog has a problem with pancreatitis, the disease will likely recur and lead to pancreas destruction over time.

With the pancreas not working correctly, your dog will start suffering from diabetes. Unfortunately, a high-calorie, fatty food like tortillas without beneficial ingredients will make the situation even worse.

Once diabetes shows up, it will cause severe damage to the whole body of your pet. It is a malicious illness, and dogs can’t live more than two to three years after being diagnosed. Therefore, pay particular attention to characteristic symptoms, such as:

4. Kidney Failure

As mentioned before, tortillas contain too much salt. Therefore, you should always check a label and this ingredient level to prevent excessive salt intake and consequential kidney failure. The most typical symptoms of this condition include:

5. Allergies

Unfortunately, it is not rare for canines to suffer from allergies. Therefore, you should check if your dog suffers from a gluten allergy. If it is the case, eating tortillas may trigger their gluten sensitivity followed by symptoms, such as:

6. Sleep Disorder

Apart from some inherited REM disorders, dogs can suffer from sleep disorders caused by eating risky food. The specialists suggest dogs should not eat food containing salt at all or at least three to four hours before going to sleep.

Conclusion

No matter how hard your dog begs for food, you should always keep in mind that several minutes of happiness can’t compare with its welfare in the long run.

Since your best friend doesn’t know what is good or bad for it, you need to be responsible and provide quality dog food for every meal. All your dog needs are healthy treats instead of unhealthy tortillas.