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We all know this ‘food’ is highly processed, using the cheapest and lowest quality trimmings, available. The trimmings are chopped, mixed with water, corn syrup or sorbitol, salt, food starch, spices and liquid smoke, then blended together.
To boost the colour of the hot dogs, and improve their shelf life, sodium nitrate and nitrite are added as a preservatives, these are two nitrosamine-forming compounds which can damage the pancreatic cells that make insulin. The type of saturated fat in hot dogs is believed contribute to insulin resistance in people and this will be no different for dogs also. Sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, and any number of other chemicals may also be added.
The World Health Organization has classified processed meats like hot dogs, as Group 1 carcinogens for people (a category of substances that have the strongest evidence of being cancer-causing in people) and this will be the same for our dogs, especially when large amounts are being used on a daily basis for training, and what is a large amount for a dog is much less than what is a large amount for us.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) conducted a review of over 800 studies from 10 different countries to look at the relationship between eating processed meats and cancer. The researchers found that eating 50 grams of processed meat daily (1 single hot dog) can increase the risk of a number of cancers significantly - so many dogs are getting cancer these days, and what you give as food and treats plays a massive role in this.
Hot dogs are massively high in saturated fat and sodium with just one hot dog containing over a quarter of a day’s sodium allowance for a person and over 14 grams of fat, there is no set allowance for sodium for dogs but that doesn’t mean there’s not a limit where their body will be affected and their organs stressed trying to deal with it. Feeding hotdogs as treats can massively impact on diet also for a few reasons; the flavour of raw can be quite bland in comparison to cooked food and this can mean some will start to refuse their raw in the hopes of getting more hotdogs instead, as the dog is going to be consuming such a high number of calories, those who self regulate will lose interest in their food and start rejecting their ‘normal’ healthy raw food due to the calorie intake from the hotdogs, others who will eat for England will be more likely to end up with weight issues.
Treats don't have to cost the earth, but please don't undo the good you are doing by caring about your dogs diet enough to feed raw by then feeding such a poor quality, illness causing treat as these.
