Can Dogs Eat Hummus?

Hummus is a thick, delicious dip that is extremely popular in the Middle Eastern region. It is now slowly making its way to become an American favourite.

It is made of all healthy ingredients and is rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, which can help you maintain a healthy body and diet. In short, it is a healthy and delicious snack for humans. But, what about dogs? Is it good for them too? We will be answering all these questions in today’s post.

Is hummus safe for dogs?

As a healthy snack, you would think that hummus is safe for dogs. However, that is not the case. In reality, hummus can be toxic for your dog. Now let us explain why.

Hummus is a superfood made of chickpeas. Even though chickpeas are healthy for your dog, hummus is not. That’s because hummus contains more than just chickpeas. This includes lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and garlic. All these ingredients are used to enhance the flavour of the dip.

The ingredient that makes hummus toxic for dogs is garlic. In case, you didn’t know garlic is toxic and poisonous for dogs. Garlic blended with other ingredients in hummus can badly affect your dog’s health by damaging its red blood cells.

It is usually very difficult to determine the right amount of garlic that you would want in your hummus. That’s because some of us love the taste of garlic a bit too much.

Apart from garlic, lemon juice is yet another ingredient that is harmful to your dog’s health. Lemon juice contains citric acid which is known to cause stomach pain and other issues in pooches. If your pet has a sensitive stomach, you should refrain from giving it anything citrus or acidic. 

A dog’s tummy is more sensitive than a human’s. Therefore, you need to be very careful about what you feed your dog.

Harmful Ingredients in Hummus

Hummus is a delicious dip in Middle Eastern cuisine that is popular all around the world. It is made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, and garlic. It may also contain other ingredients depending on custom recipes.

Whilst hummus makes a great snack for humans, it is not healthy for dogs and you already know why. The ingredients contained in hummus are toxic to your dog’s health. That being said, now let’s talk about the ingredients separately and how it affects your dog.

1. Chickpeas

The key ingredient in hummus is chickpeas, which is a nutrient-rich food for both dogs and humans. Apart from hummus, it is used in several other dishes like soups, stews, and salads.

Chickpeas are rich in fibre and other nutrients. Feeding it to your dog can keep it full for a long time. However, you should feed chickpeas only in moderate amounts as too much of anything is not good.

Chickpeas are also a rich source of magnesium, potassium, folate, and protein. This makes it a good choice for weight control in the long run. The nutrients contained in chickpeas are beneficial for good health and cell recovery. 

Besides that, it also provides Vitamin A to support your dog’s eye health whereas Vitamins C and B help strengthen your dog’s immune system and regulate the blood sugar level.

Chickpeas when fed alone are a healthy snack for your pooch. You can also serve it with animal protein and vegetables to make it more healthy and delicious. If you are feeding just the chickpeas to your dog, it is fine. But when you blend it with seasonings like garlic and onion, it becomes toxic for your pet.

2. Tahini

For those who don’t know tahini is a type of condiment made from toasted ground sesame seeds. You can use it both as an ingredient or a dip in other dishes. It serves as a delicious snack for humans. As far as dogs are concerned, it is not toxic for them. 

If you are going to give tahini to your dog make sure the amount is not too much. Tahini in moderation can be good for your dog’s health as it is a rich source of fatty acids and protein. It also contains other nutrients like zinc, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, and manganese. All these ingredients promote better health in dogs.

Tahini also contains sesamolin and sesamin, which are beneficial in lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. But feeding it in excess can be a problem. It can cause digestion issues for canines as they find it difficult to digest seeds.

3. Lemon Juice

Lemons are rich in vitamin C which plays an important role in our immune system. It also contains other nutrients that are beneficial to our health. We humans take lemon juice for weight loss, improve digestion, and reduce cancer risks. In short, it helps us support our health.

Due to the distinctive sour taste of lemons, it is used in many popular snacks and drinks. Even though lemon juice is good for humans, they are a big no for dogs.

Lemon juice has no nutritional benefits to pups. It contains aromatic oils and psoralen compounds which are toxic to dogs and can lead to a severe stomach issue. For instance, it can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and weakness. Not just that but it can also disrupt the acid-base balance of your pet.

It may contain some beneficial phytonutrients, but it is not possible to deliver without dilution or sugar. This can cause other health issues and therefore, it is better to avoid lemon juice at all. 

4. Garlic

Finally comes the garlic which is the main villain of the story. Dog owners should know that garlic is extremely toxic for their pets.

Garlic belongs to the allium family with shallot, onion, and leek. Even though we have been using garlic for centuries as a food and medicine, it is not good for canines like dogs.

Garlic has a lot of benefits for us humans, but it does the opposite to dogs. It acts as a major toxic element for them and therefore, you should completely avoid feeding garlic to your dog. It will guarantee to make them sick, which is something you wouldn’t want.

Just so you know even tiny amounts of garlic can cause severe digestion issues in dogs. Besides that, it can also raise their blood pressure levels and negatively impact their health.

What happens when your dog eats hummus?

Dogs are mischievous animals and are not always possible to keep them in control. Let’s say you have made hummus and your dog eats it accidentally. What should you do then?

If your dog eats hummus with garlic, there is a high chance that he will fall sick or get an upset stomach. So you need to be prepared for the consequences.

Even though the harmful ingredients in hummus are dangerous for your pooch, they need to be consumed in large quantities. So unless your dog has eaten a good quantity of hummus, nothing should happen to him. But you should still keep him under check to see if he is showing any symptoms.

If your dog eats hummus in small quantities, it will not show any side effects. But that completely depends on how sensitive your dog’s stomach is. For instance, some dogs have sensitive stomachs. If your dog is one of them even a small amount of hummus with garlic can show side effects.

Garlic in large quantities is very bad for your dog’s health. It’s not just about hummus, but you shouldn’t give any garlicky food to your dog.

If your dog shows any warning signs like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, drooling, abdominal pain, and general fatigue, then you should take him to the vet immediately. Ignoring these problems or trying to treat them at home can only make the situation worse. So if you don’t want your pooch to suffer, you should take immediate action.

How much garlic is toxic to dogs?

Now the question is how much garlic is toxic for your furry friend? The reason why even a tiny amount of garlic is bad for your dog is that they metabolise the ingredient differently than us humans. In other words, it is difficult for them to digest garlic, which then results in an upset stomach or worse.

Garlic contains thiosulfate which is difficult for dogs to metabolise. But for us humans, we have absolutely no issues with thiosulfate working through our body with the help of red blood cells.

But for dogs, it damages their red blood cells. If that happens, your dog will suffer from hemolytic anemia, the symptoms of which are:

• Yellowing around eyes
• Dark or almost black colored urine
• No energy
• Extreme weakness 
• Rapid breathing
• Difficulty in moving

Your dog might also show signs of diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration. It will also have zero appetites. All this can result from a tiny amount of garlic.

Even 15 g – 30 g of garlic can trigger this kind of symptom. Just so you know a single clove of garlic is between 7 g and 10 g of weight. This should give you an idea of how much garlic is toxic to your dog.

The best thing to do is to completely avoid giving garlic to your dog. Whether it is hummus or any other food item, you must always check if it contains garlic or any other toxic ingredients. This is important for the health of your pooch.

Can dogs eat hummus without garlic and lemon juice?

By now you already know that garlic and lemon juice are the two reasons why hummus is bad for your dog’s health. But what if you remove these two ingredients? Does it make it safe for your dog to eat it? Let’s find it out.

The ideal taste of hummus comes from lemon juice and garlic. But the key ingredient is mashed chickpeas which are healthy for your dog to eat. So if you want to feed hummus to your pooch make sure it is free of garlic and lemon juice. To put it in simple words, a little bit of plain hummus is fine for dogs to eat. It shouldn’t affect their health or show any side effects. Make sure that you give chickpeas only in moderate quantities.

How to make hummus for dogs?

Now that you know that dogs can eat moderate quantities of hummus without lemon juice and garlic, it’s time to talk about the recipe.

Plain hummus without garlic, salt, and lemon juice are non-toxic for dogs. According to research, it is found that roasted beets serve as the perfect alternative to garlic. So you can include this ingredient to add some extra flavour to your dog’s hummus.

However, it should be noted that feeding it in excessive quantities can develop gas in your dog’s stomach. This in return can result in discomfort and bloating. So you need to keep all these things in mind before giving hummus to your dog.

If you are looking for the garlic-free hummus recipe for dogs, we have got you covered. Just follow the steps given below and you should be good to go.

Here is what you need to do:

Take one whole can of chickpeas and combine it with the following ingredients in a blender:

• 1 tablespoon of cumin powder
• 4 tablespoon of tahini
• ½ tablespoon of olive oil
• A pinch of paprika
• 2 tablespoons of cold water

Blend it to your desired consistency. Once you are done, your dog-friendly humus should be ready. It is very easy to make and also safe for your furry friend to eat. You can prepare and store it in the fridge for a week and not more.

Other Hummus Products

Now let’s talk about a few other hummus products and whether your dog can eat them.

1. Sabra Hummus

Let’s first start with Sabra hummus. This popular recipe is made of the following ingredients:

• Cooked chickpeas
• Tahini
• Water
• Non-GMO soybean oil
• Garlic
• Salt
• Non-GMO citric acid
• Potassium sorbate

From the above list of ingredients, we already know that it contains salt and garlic, which is a big no for dogs. This means Sabra hummus is not safe for your dog to eat.

2. Hummus chips

This is yet another hummus item that is quite popular on the market. It is often promoted as garlic-free. But they do contain onion which is also toxic for dogs.