Let’s admit it — whenever our dogs catch us eating a delicious snack or a sumptuous meal, our inner selves deliberately discern the efforts whether we feed them the food we are eating or not.
It pauses our fine moments as our guilt stops us from enjoying the food we consume. If you were in a situation where you’re eating Turkey Sausages, would you mind feeding it to your dog? Would you take the risk of feeding something you don’t know its effects?
Thankfully, you came across this article as we studied together with the nature of Turkey Sausages and the best, safe ways to feed them to your dogs.
What are Turkey Sausages?
Apart from Hungarian Sausages, a variant from Turke is Turkey Sausage, a top favorite among many people.
They are made from ground turkey meat combined with other spices and flavorings, salt, water to bind it together, or fillers such as soy protein concentrate or even bread crumbs which can help extend the product.
They are made from Turkey Meat, which is rich in protein and contains no additives or preservatives. They even contain vegetables that provide natural fibers to your furry friend’s diet.
Turkey Sausages are usually available during Thanksgiving, along with turkey meat dishes such as kibbeh nayeh, kibbeh bi sinniyeh, or even hummus.
The first two are Lebanese dishes, while the last one is a Syrian dish spread throughout Lebanon and other Arab countries such as Jordan and Palestine.
Food family of Turkey Sausages
Turkey sausages belong to the family food of “dry and semi-dry sausages” — a food category divided into two subgroups: dry and semi-dry sausages.
As for its family, it belongs to the “spicy meat products.” It is also known by different names depending on where you are in this world — such as bratwurst or knackwurst sausage (in Germany), weisswurstchen (white sausage) (in Austria), or simply bratwurst (in the United States).
Turkey Sausage can be served on its own or even in combination with other dishes. It is also possible to find Turkey Sausages in supermarkets made of either turkey or chicken meat without any additives.
The latter might be healthier for your furry friend than the former since they do not contain extra ingredients such as salt, flavorings, and colorants, which can pose certain risks when consumed over a long time.
Can dogs eat Turkey Sausages?
Yes, your dog can eat turkey sausages, but only those that do not contain other ingredients apart from ground meat and water (or fillers).
It is important to note that you should never feed your dog with uncooked, ready-to-eat sausages due to the presence of listeria bacteria in uncooked meat.
Instead, only heat them before feeding your furry friend.
Turkey sausages have a lot of health benefits for dogs. This is because they are a good source of protein and contain no additives.
However, you should take note that turkey sausages are fit for your dog’s regular meal. That’s why it’s best to feed them to your dogs moderately.
Nevertheless, we came across designing the best ways for you to prepare turkey sausages. Here are the following:
Best Ways to Feed your Dogs with Turkey Sausages
Serve them with cooked food.
Cooked food is the best choice you can prepare for your dog. It provides more nutrients than its raw form, having a higher caloric content, and contains fibers.
Here, cooking destroys harmful bacteria present in uncooked meats. Also, it enhances the digestibility of proteins by increasing their absorption process.
Dogs can better absorb essential amino acids from cooked foods than they do from raw foods.
Serve them with vegetables and rice.
Aside from turkey sausages, you can also serve your dog-cooked meat (turkey or chicken) combined with boiled veggies like carrots, peas, green beans, and brown rice to make it more nutritious for your pet.
A cup of diced potatoes combined with two cups of steamed broccoli is also a good alternative for your pet.
These foods contain high proteins, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibers necessary for keeping your furry friend healthy.
Serve them with cooked white rice or spaghetti noodles.
You can also prepare turkey sausages by boiling them in water until it becomes soft, usually around 30 minutes.
You can then mix it with cooked white rice or spaghetti noodles before serving. By mixing these ingredients, you provide your dog’s body more carbs, which will help them gain weight faster than usual.
Reasons Why Dogs Can Eat Turkey Sausages
Turkey sausages are a good source of protein. Alongside, the food also has potential benefits for you to consider:
Rich source of protein
Turkey sausages are a good source of protein which is one of the essential nutrients your pet needs.
Proteins play an essential role in building, maintaining, and repairing tissue components such as cells, cell organelles (e.g., mitochondria), muscle tissues, and blood proteins for transportation purposes.
Protein also helps promote a healthy immune system.
High in iron
Turkey sausages are also rich in iron, one of the most abundant minerals present in your pet’s body.
Iron plays a vital role in regulating cell growth, carrying oxygen to different tissues and organs inside the body while preventing fatigue through its ability to increase red blood cells production.
This makes Turkey Sausage an ideal food for dogs with anemia or other blood-related disorders.
High in zinc
Zinc is one of the nutrients essential to your dog’s immune system, organ development, and overall health.
It also helps maintain a healthy digestive tract by promoting good gut bacteria growth while regulating metabolism function inside their body.
Conversely, zinc deficiency in dogs is linked to skin lesions, loss of appetite, and weight loss.
Possible Concerns When Eating Turkey Sausages
Red flags appear when you feed turkey sausages to your dogs without proper management. If that occurs, here are some long-term effects and concerns when your dogs eat turkey sausages:
Cardiovascular diseases
When your dogs eat turkey sausages, it may cause cardiovascular diseases, the number one cause of death in humans.
It is characterized by high blood cholesterol levels that can block the arteries resulting in heart attacks or strokes.
This only occurs if they have a higher intake of calories and fats from turkey sausage than what their body should take.
Bloating and digestive problems
When your dogs eat turkey sausages, they may experience bloating or stomach cramps that can be a sign of food intolerance or gastrointestinal distress.
In addition, the high amount of fiber in these meat products causes digestion issues when consumed by pets without proper management (high-fiber diet for pets).
Urinary Tract Infection
Turkey sausages have a high amount of salt content which can lead to urinary tract infection. It is a common ailment in both dogs and cats.
It happens when their body has difficulty breaking down or eliminating toxic substances like salt that flows into the bladder, causing bacteria growth inside the urine tract, leading to pain, burning sensation, and urination problems.
Signs your dog is sick from eating Turkey Sausages
Your dog may overly react from eating Turkey Sausages. At first, it may appear pretty standard, but it’s been a sign of your dog’s sickness.
Do you have any idea how to spot it? Here are some signs:
Sudden increase of weight
When your dogs eat turkey sausages, they may appear to be gaining weight at an unnoticeable speed.
This occurs when their pet’s body is incapable of breaking down and digesting fat and carbohydrates from the meat products (turkey sausage) or any other food source you give them while not getting enough physical activities in return.
Lack of interest in physical activities
When your dogs eat turkey sausages, they may appear to be losing their interest in playing with other pets or engaging themselves in different kinds of physical activities.
The high amounts of proteins and fat content present inside these meat products can cause them to feel full faster than usual, which results in them losing interest in playing and other physical activities.
Foul odor coming from their mouth or body
When your dogs eat turkey sausages, they may begin having a bad breath with an unusually foul smell coming out of their skin.
This happens because the high amount of proteins and fats present inside these meat products cause them to become metabolically stressed and release different types of toxins through their body, resulting in bad breath and foul smell coming out from their skin.
What to do if your dog is sick from eating Turkey Sausages?
When your dog manifests sickness and symptoms from eating Turkey Sausage, you have to bring your dogs to your vet immediately.
The vet will give your dogs necessary treatments, medications, and therapies to make them feel better again.
More importantly, it is to stop giving your dog these kinds of meat products for a week or until their symptoms subside.
This gives sufficient time for their body systems to recover from food poisoning. After which, you can start introducing new kinds of foods one at a time until you find out which it is.
Avoid these similar foods from this family.
Cooked Chorizos
Cooked chorizos are inimical to your dogs. It is a type of sausage made from pork and seasoned with paprika, giving them that distinct, reddish-orange color.
Cooked chorizos also have high amounts of saturated fats and proteins, just like Turkey Sausages, making them more harmful to your pets if consumed regularly, especially when they are not given proper physical activities.
Tocino
Tocino is also inimical to your dogs because of its high amounts of proteins and saturated fats content, making them sick when consumed regularly without enough water or exercise.
Tocino is made from pork meat cured with sugar, salt, and preservatives before cooking it.
Burgers
Burgers are also inimical to your dogs because of their high amounts of proteins and saturated fats content.
In addition, burgers can be made from different kinds of meat like beef, chicken, or turkey, making it even more dangerous for consumption, especially when they do not get enough water intake or physical activities and their daily food source.
How to Make Turkey Sausages Safe To Eat?
A way to sustain your dog’s health is to ensure they get the right amount of nutrients through the food you feed and the best alternatives you can give to them.
So, we list three ways to make turkey sausages safe for your dogs:
Give them more fiber-rich food.
Make sure that you give your dogs high amounts of fiber content inside their diet to help them break down the excess fat, carbohydrates, or protein found in turkey sausages.
You can also provide high-fiber dog foods for additional support on breaking down these meat products.
Add apple and parsley to their meal.
Adding a slice of fresh apple and one tablespoon of chopped parsley can help reduce the bad breath coming from your pet’s mouth.
Parsley is rich in chlorophyll content that helps remove toxins present inside dogs’ bodies, resulting in them not having a foul smell or bad breath coming from their mouth or body.
Pair with fruit juices
Another way to make turkey sausages safe for your dogs is by pairing them with fruit juices or vegetable-based broths.
This can help reduce the amount of fat, carbohydrates, and proteins present inside these meat products, making them safer for consumption, especially when they are not given enough water or physical activities.
Key Takeaways
We couldn’t simply resist how our dogs would attract and catch our attention when taking our snacks or meals.
Most significantly, we find it hard to hold back when they drool in front of our eating moments.
To an extent, guilt stops us from enjoying the food we consume. But in this case, when you’re eating Turkey Sausages, you can feed them to your dogs safely.
To recap, YES, your dog can eat turkey sausages — but reassure that it has the right ingredients, is cooked, and fed moderately.
To have a safe feeding of turkey sausages, you may pair it with fruit juices, add apple or parsley, or give them more fiber-rich foods.
When worse times strike, your dog may experience cardiovascular diseases, bloating and digestive problems, and urinary tract infections. So, please don’t overlook the signs and bring them to your nearest vet.