Christmas Foods Dogs Can Eat, Plate by Plate

The Christmas foods dogs can eat are the plain ones: a few bites of unseasoned turkey meat, a plain carrot, a boiled potato with nothing on it. Everything with butter, gravy, sugar, chocolate or alcohol stays on your plate.

We make single ingredient freeze-dried treats in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Every December the same question comes up at our table, which is what the dog can have off the holiday table. This page walks the dinner plate and the dessert plate in the order they reach the table, with a one line verdict on each. Where we have a longer guide, we link it.

Christmas foods dogs can eat, plate by plate

Two verdicts do most of the work here. "Skip it" means it stays on your plate. "A small plain piece is fine" means exactly that, taken off before anything gets added.

The main plate

• Ham: skip it. A holiday ham is cured and salty, and the glaze is usually sugar with mustard or fruit. Our ham guide has the longer answer.
• Roast turkey or roast beef: a small plain piece is fine, cut from the inside before the seasoning or the pan sauce touches it. See our turkey guide.
• Skin and bones: skip both. The skin is where the butter, oil and salt end up, and the bones have been in the oven for hours. The turkey bones guide covers them.
• Gravy: skip it. It is pan drippings thickened with flour, usually well salted and often made with onion or garlic.
• Stuffing: skip it. It is bread, butter and onion, often with sausage, raisins or nuts mixed in.

The American Kennel Club writes: "The AKC avoid list reads: turkey bones, skin, and gravy; stuffing; casseroles; mashed potatoes; creamed peas; chocolate, cookies, pies, and sweets; alcoholic beverages; raisins and grapes; onions, scallions, and garlic; ham; yeast dough; fatty foods; foods containing spices."

That covers most of a Christmas table. It is also why the plain meat is nearly the whole list of yeses.

Sides and the roll basket

• Roast potatoes: skip them. They are roasted in oil or goose fat with salt. A plain boiled piece, set aside before the butter goes in, is fine.
• Mashed potatoes: skip them. Butter, cream and often garlic do the work. We wrote up mashed potatoes separately.
• Brussels sprouts: a small plain piece is fine, boiled or roasted with nothing on it. Sprouts finished with bacon, glaze or butter stay on your plate. Our brussels sprouts guide goes further.
• Carrots and green beans: a small plain piece is fine. Glazed carrots and green bean casserole are a different dish, so skip those.
• Cranberry sauce: skip it. It is cranberries cooked down with a lot of sugar.
• Dinner rolls: a plain nibble is fine, a buttered roll is not. Raw dough rising on the counter is not a snack at all.

The cheese board and the nut bowl

A holiday cheese board is cheese with crackers, grapes, dried fruit and jam, and most of that gets a skip. Grapes and raisins are both on the list above. Nuts are a skip too, whatever the coating.

The cheese itself is the one part that can work. A crumb of plain cheddar is fine for a dog that handles dairy, as long as it comes off the board before the crackers and jam do.

Cookies, candy and chocolate

• The cookie plate: skip it. Cookies are butter and sugar, and many carry chocolate chips, raisins or nuts.
• Gingerbread: skip it. It is molasses, sugar and spice. Our gingerbread guide has the details.
• Candy canes: skip them, wrapper included. They are sugar and peppermint. See the candy cane guide.
• Pie and fruitcake: skip them. Both lean on sugar, butter and dried fruit.
• Chocolate: skip it in every form, including the foil wrapped one under the tree. Our chocolate guide is the page to read.

Eggnog and the drinks

Eggnog is milk, cream, sugar and eggs, and plenty of it carries rum or bourbon. Skip it, and read our eggnog guide if you want the long version.

The same goes for wine, punch and spiked cider. Set glasses up high, and leave a bowl of fresh water on the floor for the dog.

ASPCA Animal Poison Control writes: "Alcoholic beverages and food products containing alcohol can cause vomiting, diarrhea, incoordination, depression, difficulty breathing, tremors, changes in blood pH, coma and even death."

How much, and the first time

A plain piece from the dinner table is a treat, not a meal. A common rule of thumb keeps all treats to about 10 percent of the day's calories, and a holiday is not an exception to the math. As a rough guide for plain meat or vegetables:

• Small dogs under 20 pounds: one or two bite sized pieces.
• Medium dogs, 20 to 50 pounds: a few pieces.
• Large dogs over 50 pounds: a few more, still small.

If a food is new to your dog, give one small plain piece on a day when nothing else is new, then wait a day before offering more. If your dog is on a special diet or has had trouble with a food before, ask your veterinarian first. Pick one person at the table to do the feeding, because six relatives each handing over one piece adds up fast.

What to hand the dog instead

The easiest answer is to have something ready that is made for the job. Our Freeze-Dried Beef Heart has one ingredient, beef heart, and we freeze-dry it in small batches in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The texture is firm and it snaps into small pieces, milder than liver, so one piece turns into a few rewards. It comes in 1.5 ounce, 3 ounce and 6 ounce bags. Keep the bag in a pocket, reseal it after opening and store it cool and dry.

Two others work the same way. Freeze-Dried Cheddar Cheese Dog Treats are cheddar and nothing else. Freezing and drying it makes it crunchy and non-greasy rather than soft, and it comes in one 8 ounce bag. It contains dairy, so it is not suited to dogs with dairy sensitivities. Freeze-Dried Beef Liver Dog Treats are beef liver and nothing else, in medium pieces that break easily. All three are single ingredient, freeze dried, with no added ingredients.

The rest of the holiday shelf is on our Christmas page.

Questions

Can dogs eat Christmas dinner leftovers?

Plain turkey or roast meat can, if you cut it off before any seasoning and keep it small. Leftovers that have gravy, stuffing, butter or sauce on them stay in the refrigerator for people.

Can dogs eat turkey skin or the fat trimmed off the roast?

Skip it. The skin and the trimmings carry most of the butter, oil and salt from the pan, and the plain meat underneath is the better thing to share.

Can a dog have a little cheese from the cheese board?

A crumb of plain cheddar is fine for a dog that handles dairy. Take it before it touches the crackers, jam or grapes, and leave the rest of the board alone.

Can dogs have eggnog or a sip of wine?

No. Eggnog is cream and sugar with a good chance of alcohol in it, and a sip of anything alcoholic is not a treat for a dog. Fresh water is the drink that works.

What if my dog already got into the cookies or the chocolate?

Take away what is left, write down what it was and about how much, and call an animal poison control line. They will want to know what, how much and when, so have the wrapper or the recipe nearby.

What do I give the dog while everyone else eats?

Something small and plain that gives the dog a job. A few pieces of freeze-dried heart, cheddar or liver, counted into the day's treats, keep a dog busy near the table without anything from the plates.