With the wonderful tea selection, you don’t need to be British to enjoy the tea. And as the winter is becoming colder – chances are you’ve had one particular thought in the back of your mind.
Can dogs drink tea? If it’s healthy for people, why wouldn’t it be healthy for dogs too, right?
Well, tea for dogs is a double-sided sword, and if you aren’t careful – it might do more bad than good. And if you’re wondering if your dog can drink tea – keep on reading to find out how to serve tea to your dog, but also what are the things you must avoid!
It would be selfish of us if we couldn’t let our dogs at least taste some of the finest tea, right?
Can Dogs Drink Tea?
If you’re really a big fan of tea and you often drink tea – giving your dog a sip would make sense. If you already did a bit of research, you could’ve seen that almost every source says drinking tea is a big no for the dogs.
That’s a reasonable reason for one big reason – caffeine. In case you didn’t know, tea has caffeine just like coffee.
But why is caffeine bad for dogs?
Consuming a bit of tea (that contains caffeine) isn’t going to do any harm to your dog (in smaller quantities).
However, considering that dogs weigh a lot less than people – caffeine is way too strong for their body.
So while it’s a big no for dogs to drink tea – once in a while, you can treat your dog with a sip or two of your favorite tea.
A small cup of warm tea after a long & cold walk seems like a good treat for a dog – and you shouldn’t stay away from tea. But you should limit the quantity and make sure you don’t treat your dog with tea too often.
Would Tea with Milk Help Your Dog?
Cats can drink milk, so you suppose dogs can too? Mixing tea with milk would help, perhaps?
Well, that’s not quite right. Dogs can’t handle milk well because they’re lactose intolerant. Therefore, mixing tea with milk wouldn’t help, yet it would just cause problems.
Milk can cause stomach aches, make dogs feel bloated, and even give them gas. Therefore, not even milk alone would be a smart choice as a drink for a dog.
Can Dogs Drink Tea With Honey?
We all know that honey is safe for dogs, in small quantities of course. So would mix tea with honey be a good idea?
We believe that mixing tea & honey wouldn’t really help so there would be no point in mixing these two together.
Even though honey is good in small quantities, it still features sugar that can cause issues for dogs such as tooth decay.
Now, if honey gets mixed with tea – it might not be the most ideal situation. For most dogs, it wouldn’t do any harm in smaller quantities.
However, it’s a big no for dogs with a compromised immune system.
Also, keep in mind that it’s always a good idea to brush your dog’s teeth after giving it honey – because of the sugar.
Sweeting the Tea, Can Dogs Drink Tea with Sugar?
Dogs react to sugar the same way people do, but it can also cause the same problems we occur when we consume too much sugar – such as teeth problems, diabetes, and even weight issues.
However, smaller amounts of naturally occurring sugar are healthy for dogs since it provides them with energy and helps them with bodily functions throughout their daily activities.
We believe mixing tea with sugar isn’t the best idea because you will have to be very careful to serve them sugar from natural sources.
And no matter how natural the sugar is – if dogs consume too much of it, it can do more harm than good. Keep in mind that dogs already consume a decent amount of natural sugar through their food – so we don’t encourage tea with sugar.
What Tea Can Dogs Drink?
If you’re still reading and you are definitely up to treat your dog with some tea – there’s one more thing to consider.
What tea to serve? The best tea for dogs would be either green tea or black tea. Other tea could be good as well, but you should make sure that the tea doesn’t contain high levels of antioxidants.
And if you’re making a choice between black tea & green tea – we highly recommend green tea.
Green tea is made from Camelia Sinensis’s leaves which means it’s a lot less processed than black tea. Also, black tea is known to have a lot higher levels of antioxidants – which is something you want to keep as low as possible.
Does Decaf Tea Make a Good Option Then?
Since dogs can’t consume caffeine, decaf tea would make an excellent choice, right?
Well, even though that’s not 100% correct – decaf tea would be a lot healthier for a dog. However, even decaf tea still has low levels of caffeine which might be harmful to a dog’s organism.
Also, decaf tea might have a metabolic precursor known as theobromine present and you need to make sure that the decaf tea you’re drinking is low in antioxidants too.
Therefore, it might make a healthier choice – but if you’re not careful enough, it could still be potentially harmful to your dog.
You should either do in-depth research or stick with either regular black or green tea.
Peppermint tea is also a good option since it’s full of digestive aids that are safe for dogs – but still, we highly recommend serving tea only in smaller amounts.
Conclusion – Is Tea Safe for Dogs to Drink?
This might be a long post but if you’re still not sure can dogs drink tea – here’s a quick recap.
If you’re a big fan of tea and you would like to treat your dog once in a while – that’s not a really bad idea. However, you have to be careful about the tea choice.
Even though tea can be harmful due to the caffeine – keeping it in small amounts won’t do any harm.
We don’t really encourage mixing tea with other ingredients – even though if both are healthy options for dogs. However, this could make two treats rather than one.
How do you treat your dog? Does your dog drink anything besides water?
Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below and I’ll help out the best I can! But one thing is for sure – don’t let your love for your dog do any harm!
