We know the buttery and crunchy allure of popcorn is hard to resist, both for man and their best friend – dogs. Maybe that’s why it often ends up being many people’s number one choice to be eaten on special occasions, whether it’s alone or with our loved ones, like movie nights, road trips or sometimes we just feel like munching on some popcorn. But for people with dogs, the question that often pops up is, ‘Can dogs have popcorn?’ Well, who can blame them when their dogs stare lovingly at them and their buttery bowl of popcorn with their traditional ‘puppy dog eyes’. So, getting back to the main question, can dogs have popcorn? If you want a one-word answer, it is a resounding yes, but with a few restrictions imposed upon them. If you want to learn more about these restrictions in detail, stick around and read the rest of this article.

Before proceeding any further in this article, we would like to remind every dog owner again that you can feed your canine friend popcorn, but on the condition that several restrictions be observed beforehand. Those restrictions are not to be ignored, or things can get dire for your dogs quickly.

To Keep It Brief: Yes, But Only Specific Ones

As we mentioned many times earlier, the fortunate news for you and for your dog is that the answer to the question, ‘Can dogs eat popcorn?’ is a resounding yes, as mentioned earlier. Now, moving on, let’s dive deeper into the issue and discuss those restrictions that we mentioned earlier that you need to observe before feeding your dogs these tasty treats. The thing that you need to keep in mind and never forget is that the only type of popcorn your dogs are allowed to eat is just simple and plain popcorn. This simply means your dogs can’t have their popcorn with anything added, whether it be something seemingly harmless like butter, caramel drizzle, cheese dust, or salt.

Plain popcorn alone serves no detriment to the health of your dog. You can even implement popcorn as a treat for your dogs. However, it is essential that you keep in mind that you should not feed them popcorn over the limit recommended by your vet. Plain popcorn is also a great snack option due to its ability to have extremely low calories. Trouble occurs when you decide to put in something extra to the popcorn and can even have you rush your dog to the vet.

Why Is Popcorn Considered Safe For Dogs?

Now that we have answered the question ‘Can dogs have popcorn?’. It is time to proceed further and pry deeper into this issue. Let’s find out what exactly makes popcorn a safe option for dogs as a treat. Plain popcorn, when fed to dogs in its natural state without adding anything on top that alters its taste, acts as nothing more than air-popped puffed corn. Corn itself as a grain is already present in many brands of dog foods and is generally considered safe for consumption by your dog unless your dog has a history of allergic reactions to the presence of corn in their diet.

Plain popcorn can also provide some nutritional benefits for your dogs due to corn having the presence of many helpful nutrients for your dog’s body. These include but are not limited to such things as Fibre, which helps your canine friend have no stomach issues and makes sure that their digestive systems are functioning as they should be; minimal calories; as mentioned earlier, plain popcorn has a low-calorie count, preventing your dog from getting overweight, and finally, popcorn also contains multiple nutrients that keep your dog healthy (like zinc, magnesium, and phosphorus).

Remember, we cannot stress this enough: feed only plain popcorn to your dogs, even things like microwaved buttered popcorn are prohibited for consumption by dogs.

Steer Clear of Buttered Or Any Flavored Popcorn For Your Dog

While us humans are fine with adding multiple things to top off our popcorn, the same can’t be said for your pet dogs. So, if you are still wondering ‘Can dogs have popcorn?’ . The answer still remains yes, but not the flavoured ones and here is why:

• Salt: We humans are also not free from the dangers of excessive salt. So, what does that mean for our dogs? Well, for starters, if they do consume salt in their diet they are more likely to leave them vulnerable to health issues like an imbalance of electrolytes and, in some extreme cases, can even cause dehydration.

• Oil and Butter: This diabolical duo, if included in your dog’s popcorn, can become the major cause of multiple health-related issues starting from something minuscule like upset stomachs and, if left untreated, can further evolve into much more complicated health issues like pancreatitis. What’s more, butter adds calories and fat to your dog’s diet.

• Chocolate or Caramel Coated Popcorn: Both of these things, caramel and chocolate, are chock full of sugar, which again targets your dog’s stomach. As many such past cases would indicate, chocolate, even by itself, is extremely toxic to dogs, so we highly recommend that you avoid feeding your dogs chocolate in any form.

• Toppings and Seasonings: Sometimes people feel quirky and top off their popcorn with unorthodox ingredients like garlic powder or onion. Again, just like chocolate, both of these things have been proven to be toxic to dogs. Some people even drizzle in artificial sweeteners like Xylitol, which are fatal to dogs.

Topping Things Off

The bottom line to the question ‘Can dogs have popcorn?’ is, again, yes, you can feed and indulge your trusted companions with some plain old-fashioned popcorn without the extra stuff that we humans like to add for our own taste buds. Obviously, our taste buds and digestive systems differ hugely from those of a dog, and they are not built to handle the stuff that we eat.