Key Takeaways
- Plain, unseasoned turkey breast, sweet potato, green beans, pumpkin, carrots, and apple slices are safe for most dogs in small portions.
- Turkey bones, skin, gravy, stuffing, and anything cooked with onions or garlic stay off the dog's plate.
- Grapes, raisins, chocolate, sugar-free desserts made with xylitol, raw yeast dough, and alcohol are all on the ASPCA's list of foods to keep away from pets.
- Keep holiday extras to about 10% of your dog's daily food, and set them aside plain, before the seasoning goes on.
- A house full of guests is its own stressor. A quiet room, a lick mat, and a calming chew given before the doorbell starts can help your dog settle.
Thanksgiving lands on Thursday, November 26 this year, and somewhere around the second helping, a dog will be sitting very politely next to the table. Some of what's on that table is perfectly good dog food. Some of it shows up on every veterinary holiday safety list for a reason.
The rule that sorts it out is simple. Dogs do well with the plain ingredients that go into a Thanksgiving meal and poorly with what we add to make it taste like Thanksgiving. Butter, salt, drippings, onions, garlic, sugar, and spice are where the trouble lives, so the move is to set a little aside for your dog before the recipe takes over.
Can Dogs Eat Thanksgiving Dinner?
Partly. A dog can share a small, plain version of several Thanksgiving staples: unseasoned turkey breast, cooked sweet potato, steamed green beans, plain pumpkin, and a few raw vegetables. What a dog shouldn't have is the finished dish. Stuffing, gravy, casseroles, glazed sides, and pies combine fat, salt, sugar, and alliums (the onion and garlic family) in amounts a dog's digestion isn't built for.
Fatty table scraps, bones, onions, grapes, raisins, xylitol-sweetened baked goods, and raw dough are the specific foods the American Veterinary Medical Association flags for the holidays. Use that list as the hard stop and build your dog's plate from what's left.
Safe vs. Unsafe Thanksgiving Foods for Dogs
|
Food |
Safe for dogs? |
How to serve it |
|---|---|---|
|
Turkey breast |
Yes |
Plain, skinless, boneless, fully cooked |
|
Turkey skin, drippings, gravy |
No |
Too much fat and salt |
|
Cooked turkey bones |
No |
Splinter into sharp pieces |
|
Sweet potato |
Yes |
Baked or boiled, plain, no butter or marshmallows |
|
Sweet potato casserole |
No |
Sugar, butter, and toppings |
|
Green beans |
Yes |
Steamed or raw, plain |
|
Green bean casserole |
No |
Fried onions and cream soup |
|
Plain pumpkin |
Yes |
100% pumpkin purée, not pie filling |
|
Pumpkin pie |
No |
Sugar, spice, and possibly xylitol |
|
Carrots, peas, corn kernels |
Yes |
Plain, with corn cut off the cob |
|
Corn on the cob |
No |
Cobs don't break down once swallowed |
|
Apples |
Yes |
Sliced, no core or seeds |
|
Fresh cranberries |
In moderation |
A few plain berries, not sauce |
|
Cranberry sauce |
No |
Mostly sugar |
|
Mashed potatoes |
Skip |
Butter, milk, salt, and often garlic |
|
Stuffing |
No |
Onions, garlic, butter, and sometimes raisins |
|
Rolls and raw yeast dough |
No |
Raw dough keeps rising in the stomach |
|
Grapes, raisins, currants |
No |
On the ASPCA's list of foods to avoid |
|
Chocolate desserts |
No |
On the ASPCA's list of foods to avoid |
|
Ham |
Skip |
Very salty and fatty |
|
Wine, beer, cocktails |
No |
Alcohol is unsafe for dogs |
Thanksgiving Foods That Are Safe for Dogs
Turkey (Plain, Skinless, and Boneless)
Turkey is a lean protein that shows up in plenty of dog foods, so the meat itself isn't the issue. The preparation is. Pull a few pieces of white breast meat before the bird is brined, buttered, or rubbed with seasoning, and remove every bit of skin and bone. Dark meat is fine in small amounts but carries more fat, so breast is the better pick for dogs who don't eat rich food often.
Sweet Potatoes
Cooked sweet potato is one of the easiest Thanksgiving foods to share. It brings fiber, beta-carotene, and vitamin C, and most dogs like the taste. Bake or boil a plain piece and mash it with a fork. Leave out the brown sugar, butter, and marshmallows, which turn a good vegetable into a dessert.
Green Beans
Plain green beans are low in calories and crunchy enough to feel like a real snack. Steamed, boiled, or raw all work. The casserole version is a different food entirely: cream-of-mushroom soup, salt, and a layer of fried onions on top.
Pumpkin
Plain canned pumpkin (the can that lists only pumpkin on the label) is a fiber source a lot of dog owners already keep in the pantry. A spoonful on top of dinner is plenty. Pumpkin pie filling is a different product because it comes pre-sweetened and pre-spiced. Our guide to pumpkin for dogs covers how much to feed by size.
Carrots, Peas, and Corn Off the Cob
Raw or steamed carrots make a good chew for dogs who like to crunch. Plain peas and corn kernels are fine in small amounts. With corn, the cob is the problem: dogs tend to swallow chunks of it whole, and it doesn't break down on the way through.
Apples and Fresh Cranberries
Apple slices are a safe, sweet extra once the core and seeds come out. Our post on whether dogs can eat apples has portion sizes. Fresh or frozen cranberries are generally fine in small numbers, though plenty of dogs find them too tart. Cranberry sauce and sweetened dried cranberries are mostly sugar, and some dried fruit mixes include raisins.
Thanksgiving Foods Dogs Should Not Eat
Turkey Bones, Skin, and Drippings
Cooked bones turn brittle and can splinter into sharp pieces. Wishbones and drumsticks are the classic Thanksgiving-night problem, often pulled straight out of the kitchen trash. Bag the carcass and take it outside as soon as the meat is carved. Turkey skin and pan drippings are almost pure fat and salt, which is why fatty scraps sit near the top of every holiday safety list.
Stuffing, Gravy, and Anything With Onions
Onions, chives, leeks, and shallots all belong to the allium family. The ASPCA lists them among the foods to keep away from pets. Cooking doesn't make them safe, and powdered forms are more concentrated than fresh. That puts stuffing, gravy, green bean casserole, and most savory sides off limits, even when you can't see the onion.
Grapes, Raisins, and Currants
Grapes and their dried forms turn up in fruit salads, stuffing recipes, and holiday breads. Researchers still aren't fully sure why they're so hard on dogs, and sensitivity varies from one dog to the next, so no amount is considered safe. If your dog eats any, call your vet right away.
Pies, Desserts, and Sugar-Free Baked Goods
Chocolate is the familiar risk, and darker chocolate is the bigger concern. Less familiar is xylitol, a sugar substitute used in sugar-free pies, cookies, whipped toppings, and some peanut butters. The FDA warns that xylitol is dangerous for dogs even in small amounts. If anyone at the table bakes sugar-free, keep those desserts well out of reach.
Raw Yeast Dough and Alcohol
Raw bread dough keeps rising in a warm stomach, and the yeast produces alcohol as it ferments. Rolls left on the counter to proof are easy for a tall dog to reach. Drinks are the other hazard: a half-finished glass on a coffee table sits right at nose height.
How Much Turkey Can a Dog Eat?
A common guideline is to keep extras, holiday food included, to about 10% of your dog's daily calories. In practice, that's a few bite-sized pieces of white meat for a small dog and a small handful for a large dog. Add it to a slightly smaller portion of their regular food rather than piling it on top.
Go lighter if your dog rarely eats people food. A sudden switch to rich food is a common reason for an upset stomach the next morning. Our guide on what to give a dog with an upset stomach covers what to do if it happens.
How to Build a Dog-Safe Thanksgiving Plate
Set your dog's portion aside while you cook, before anything gets seasoned. A good plate is a few cubes of plain turkey breast, a spoonful of mashed sweet potato or plain pumpkin, and a few green beans or carrot coins. Serve it in their regular bowl at their regular mealtime.
To make it last, spread the pumpkin or sweet potato on a lick mat and freeze it for an hour. Licking is a naturally settling activity for dogs, and a frozen mat can keep one busy through most of dinner. Our lick mat guide has more food ideas.
Tell guests the plan before they sit down. One clear "please don't feed the dog" at the door saves a lot of sneaking under the table later, and it's the same advice the AVMA gives.
What to Do If Your Dog Eats Something They Shouldn't
Act quickly, and don't wait for signs to show up. Figure out what your dog ate, roughly how much, and when, then call your veterinarian or an emergency clinic. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center answers at (888) 426-4435 (a consultation fee may apply). Don't try to make your dog vomit unless a vet tells you to.
Call your vet the same day if you notice vomiting, loose stool, drooling, or restlessness. The same goes for a belly that looks swollen or tight, repeated attempts to vomit with nothing coming up, or a dog who suddenly won't eat. Swallowed bones are worth a call even if your dog seems fine.
Keeping Your Dog Calm When Guests Arrive
Food is only half of Thanksgiving for a dog. The other half is a doorbell that keeps ringing, new people, new smells, kids at eye level, and a routine that's off for the whole day. Some dogs love it. Plenty of others start pacing, panting, barking at every arrival, or disappearing under a bed.
A few things help. Give your dog a quiet room or crate away from the busiest part of the house, with their bed, water, and a long-lasting chew. Take a long walk before guests arrive so your dog starts the day tired rather than wound up. If the doorbell sets your dog off, our guide on why dogs bark at the doorbell walks through how to retrain that response. It also helps to know the early cues, like lip licking, yawning, a tucked tail, and the whites of the eyes showing. Our guide to stressed dog body language covers them, so you can step in before your dog reaches their limit.
For dogs who reliably get wound up around company, a calming chew given 30 to 60 minutes before guests are due gives it time to take effect. The Calming Chews for Dogs - Beef & Pumpkin - 10mg are a soft chew with real beef as the first ingredient and a short ingredient list. Each one carries 10mg of full spectrum CBD along with the other cannabinoids and terpenes from the whole plant. In Earth Buddy's Calming Study, the share of pet parents who said their dog coped better with stress rose from 62% on the first day of use to 92% by Day 25. The chews showed the most immediate response of any format tested. For the moments that come in waves, like a front door that won't stay shut, Quick Calm 250mg is a water-soluble spray that absorbs faster than an oil.
Meat-first Calming Chews with full spectrum CBD, Colostrum for upset tummies, plus a fast water-soluble CBD for doorbell moments.
Help Your Dog Settle When the Guests Arrive
Both are stocked at independent pet stores, and our store locator will show you the closest one. If you're unsure whether to use a calming chew for a one-day event or every day, our post on when to use calming chews for dogs breaks it down.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can dogs eat turkey on Thanksgiving?
Yes, if it's plain. Skinless, boneless white meat with no butter, brine, or seasoning is safe for most dogs in small amounts. Skip the skin, the drippings, and anything with onion or garlic on it.
Can dogs eat turkey skin?
No. Turkey skin is mostly fat and usually seasoned, and fatty scraps are one of the foods veterinary groups flag every holiday season. Remove the skin before sharing any meat.
Can dogs eat mashed potatoes?
It's best to skip them. Plain boiled potato is fine for most dogs, but Thanksgiving mashed potatoes usually include butter, milk, salt, and often garlic. Set a plain piece aside before mashing if you want to share.
Can dogs eat sweet potato casserole?
No. The sweet potato is fine, but the casserole adds brown sugar, butter, and a marshmallow or pecan topping. Offer a spoonful of plain baked sweet potato instead.
Can dogs eat cranberry sauce?
Not a good idea. Cranberry sauce is mostly sugar, and some recipes add raisins or alcohol. A few plain fresh cranberries are fine if your dog likes them.
Can dogs eat stuffing?
No. Stuffing nearly always contains onions, garlic, or both, plus butter and salt, and some recipes include raisins. There isn't a safe way to share it.
Can dogs eat pumpkin pie?
No. Pumpkin pie is sweetened and spiced, and sugar-free versions may contain xylitol, which the FDA warns is dangerous for dogs. Plain canned pumpkin is the dog-friendly version.
Can dogs eat ham?
It's best to skip it. Ham is very high in salt and fat, and glazed hams add sugar on top. Plain turkey breast is a far better choice for sharing.
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