Can Dogs Eat Egg Salad?

No, dogs should not eat Egg Salad as it includes a few ingredients that are harmful to dogs, namely minced onion, mustard, and salt. Avoid feeding your dog Egg Salad and instead, opt for canine-friendly Egg Salad to feed your pooch. Keep in mind that mayonnaise has a high-fat content and some of the seasonings used can cause dehydration and food poisoning in dogs.

Many human foods like Lasagna are made with ingredients that are toxic to our canines. It’s important that we are mindful of the ingredients in our food before we serve them to our four-legged friends. Even when a particular food is safe for dogs, moderation is key. Too much of anything can be harmful to dogs.   

What is Egg Salad?

Egg Salad is a classic dish that has been enjoyed around the world for centuries. Its main ingredients include chopped hard-boiled eggs mixed with mayonnaise, mustard, minced onion and celery, black pepper, salt, and a bit of paprika. Sometimes, the chopped hard-boiled eggs are mixed with dairy products like melted butter. 

Although it can be served individually as a dish or a topping for a tasty green salad, many use Egg Salad as a filling for egg sandwiches. 

The fluidity of Egg Salad is why it is very popular. You can also add a variety of cold foods on top of the Egg Salad such as bell peppers, cheese, capers, bacon, cucumbers, pickles, pickle relish, lettuce, and the classic ketchup. 

In Jewish cuisine, the Egg Salad is usually made with onions, schmaltz, and gribenes. Served with either challah or matzo, Egg Salad is usually part of the first course of the Shabbat dinner on Friday night.  

Egg Salad is a popular lunch meal and usually comes in the form of egg sandwiches. It is popular due to its affordability. With its protein content, it can be comparable to ham salad, tuna salad, chicken salad, or salmon salads. Today, many egg sandwiches include tomato slices and lettuce leaves. 

What is in Egg Salad?

Let’s discuss the specific ingredients in Egg Salad and whether each one is safe or potentially harmful for our canine friends.

Hard-boiled eggs (Safe)

Eggs are great for dogs since they are packed with protein. Additionally, when dogs eat eggs, they will have healthy haircoat and skin since eggs are a wonderful source of linoleic acid. Linoleic acid is an omega-6 fatty acid that is essential for dogs. Hard-boiled eggs also contain vitamin A, a fat-soluble vitamin. 

Dogs that do not have enough or sufficient linoleic acid can develop several health problems including: 

• Poor coat.
• Poor skin.
• Weak immune systems.
• Abnormal growth. 

Make sure to boil the eggs before giving them to your pup. Any undercooked or raw eggs are dangerous for dogs. Raw eggs may have Salmonella and can negatively affect your pooch’s health. 

While some food loses its nutrients when cooked, cooked eggs are completely the opposite. The protein in cooked or boiled eggs remains. 

You may worry about cholesterol and your pup. Fortunately, cholesterol doesn’t affect dogs the way it does to humans so eating eggs with the yolk included should be fine. 

Keep in mind that it is still important to feed your pup eggs in moderation, otherwise, you may see weight gain. 

Mayonnaise (Mostly safe)

Mayonnaise is not toxic and mostly safe for dogs but there aren’t many nutritional benefits in it for dogs. Too much mayonnaise can also cause several health problems, including weight gain in your pup. 

It depends on how much mayonnaise you used for your Egg Salad. If you use a lot of mayonnaise, then it’s best not to give your Egg Salad to your pup. Instead, make a dog-friendly Egg Salad without mayonnaise and other ingredients that are toxic to dogs. 

Since eggs are a key ingredient in mayonnaise, there is a possible risk of getting salmonella. There is a higher chance of contracting salmonella if you’re making the mayonnaise from scratch at home than if you were to buy the mayonnaise in the store. 

If you’re using store-bought mayonnaise, check the ingredients and see if there are any artificial ingredients or soy products that can cause allergies in dogs. 

Food that contains mayonnaise should not be fed to your pooch every day as doing so can cause weight gain. Mayonnaise has a high-fat content and like many other processed food or condiments, it has very few nutritional ingredients with plenty of empty calories. 

Believe it or not, some mayonnaises are made from soybeans and dogs are generally allergic to soy, no matter their breed or age. 

If your pooch is allergic to mayonnaise or the ingredients in mayonnaise, you’ll see the following symptoms: 

• Itchy skin.
• Vomiting.
• Diarrhea.
• Nausea.
• Lethargy.
• Fever.

Mustard (Harmful) 

Do not feed your dog Egg Salad if it has mustard in it. Egg Salad with even a tiny bit of mustard is toxic to dogs. 

Mustard is very harmful to dogs because it is made with mustard seeds. Here is what will happen if your dog consumes mustard seeds:

• Upset stomach.
• Abdominal pain.
• Inflammed stomach.
• Diarrhea.
• Vomiting.
• Inflammed intestinal tract.
• Gastroenteritis. 

Keep the mustard out of your dog’s reach. Fortunately, licking off a little bit of mustard from your plate should be fine. It becomes harmful if your dog consumes a large amount of your mustard. 

If your canine accidentally consumes a lot of mustard, contact your veterinarian immediately. 

Minced onion (Harmful)

Avoid giving your dog your Egg Salad if it has onion in it. Onion, no matter if it is fried, minced, powdered, cooked, or raw is very harmful to dogs. If your 44-pound dog consumes a 100-gram medium-sized onion, he will experience onion toxicity and anemia. 

Onions have a toxic chemical that can damage your dog’s red blood cells if consumed. Oxidative damage will occur in which the red blood cells are destroyed and your pooch will have hemolytic anemia. 

Keep onions away from your canine companions.

Minced celery (Safe)

Minced celery in Egg Salad is generally safe for dogs because celery is a safe vegetable for dogs to eat. Many veterinary professionals recommend celery as a weight-loss treat for dogs. In fact, celery could also help to freshen your dog’s breath. 

Celery when minced is safe for your pup as it doesn’t pose a choking hazard. Whether you have small or large dogs, make sure the celery is minced or bite-size. 

However, you should not feed celery to your pooch every day. You can give your dog celery as an occasional treat and definitely not a replacement for their regular meal. Dogs should get their nutritional needs from their regular well-balanced dog food and not from celery. 

Remember, treats should only make up about 10 percent of your dog’s daily diet and no more than that.

Salt (Harmful)

If you added a lot of salt into your Egg Salad, avoid feeding this dish to your dog. A healthy dog that weighs 33 pounds should not consume more than 100 milligrams of sodium daily. Consuming more than this amount of salt can cause sodium ion poisoning or salt poisoning in dogs. 

Depending on your dog’s existing health, be careful with how much salt your pup is consuming. For instance, dogs with heart disease require very little sodium so you should avoid giving them food with a high amount of salt. 

Note that compared to humans, dogs do not require that much salt in their diet. They also have lower salt tolerance than humans.    

Here are symptoms of salt poisoning: 

• Dehydrated and very thirsty.
• Disoriented.
• Limping around.
• Scratching more than normal.
• Lethargic or weak.
• Potential of coma or seizures.
• Decrease in appetite.

If you suspect your dog has salt poisoning, contact your vet right away, and in the meantime, keep your dog hydrated by providing him plenty of fresh water so the symptoms don’t get worse.

Black Pepper (Mostly safe in moderation)

Egg Salad usually uses seasonings like black pepper. If your dog consumes a tiny amount of black pepper, it is generally fine. If your Egg Salad contains a lot of black pepper, keep it away from your pup. 

Dogs that consume a large quantity of Black pepper can have an upset stomach and too much black pepper is spicy for dogs, a flavor they are not fond of.

Paprika (Mostly safe in moderation)

While paprika is not toxic to dogs, it doesn’t provide any nutritional benefits either. Since paprika has a hot or spicy taste, your canine companion may experience the following if they consume even a little bit of it: 

• Nervous system becomes impaired.
• Difficulty in breathing.
• Drowsiness.
• Foaming at the mouth or drooling.
• Coughing.
• Watery eyes.
• Eyesight problem. 
• Dry heave or gagging.
• Scratching their face with their paw because they are in pain. 
• Breathing difficulty.
• Nasal irritations.
• Burning lips. 

If you added a lot of paprika in your Egg Salad, avoid giving your Egg Salad to your pup to be on the safe side.

Canine-friendly alternatives to Egg Salad

Instead of giving your pup Egg Salad, there are several dog treats that are more suitable for dogs. For instance, we give our furry pooch these treats whenever she is eyeing our Egg Salad.

Food poisoning in dogs

Eating any egg products puts your dog’s health at risk of getting salmonella. Food poisoning is not fun. Symptoms of food poisoning in dogs include the following:

• Fever.
• Diarrhea.
• Vomiting.
• Lethargy or tired.
• Dehydration.
• Loose stool.
• Swollen lymph nodes.
• Increase in heart rate. 
• Weight loss.

If you suspect your pooch has food poisoning, get in touch with your veterinarian as soon as possible. Your vet will guide you on what to do next over the phone or ask you to bring your canine in for a physical examination.

So, can dogs eat Egg Salad?

It is best if your furry friend does not eat your Egg Salad if it includes ingredients that are toxic to dogs such as onion, mustard, and salt. Mayonnaise is fine but it does have a high-fat content. Thus, we recommend that you provide your furry friends with canine-friendly Egg Salad to avoid potential food poisoning, onion toxicity, and salt poisoning.

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The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional veterinary advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your veterinarian or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding dietary needs.

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_salad

https://vetnutrition.tufts.edu/2018/04/essential-fatty-acids-and-inflammation/