For many humans across the world, an energy drink (or two) is a bit of a daily ritual.
From office workers to hard labourers, many people love the taste and buzz they get from energy drinks.
But what about dogs?
Can dogs drink energy drinks? Or are they harmful to your precious pooch?
In this short article, we aim to find out!
Can Energy Drinks Kill Dogs?
Long story short, energy drinks are extremely dangerous for dogs.
As we established in our article on whether or not dogs can drink coffee, dogs are sensitive to caffeine.
Even a modest amount of caffeine (for a human) could be fatal for your dog, as it can cause rapid rises in heart rate, and a whole host of other unpleasant side effect.
Therefore, your dog should not be given energy drink under ANY circumstance.
Energy drinks often contain more caffeine than coffee, so are even more dangerous.
Furthermore, energy drinks are generally laden with sugar and sweeteners, which can also be harmful for your dog.
We hope you can see just how bad energy drinks are for your dog!
My Dog Has Accidentally Drunk Some Energy Drink – What Should I Do?
In writing this article, we figured that 99% of the people out there with dogs who might read it are probably already aware that they shouldn’t give any energy drink to their pooch.
But what about if your dog has accidentally drunk some energy drink?
For example, you might have had a half-finished can sitting on your table, and your dog has managed to knock it off and drink it from the floor.
What do you do in this scenario?
Basically, your response will depend on how much of the energy drink your dog has consumed.
For example, if your dog has only consumed a splash of Red Bull, then this is unlikely to cause harm (e.g. a few mLs fell out of the can, and they lapped it up). We would still advise monitoring your dog over the coming hours and days to see if there are any signs of illness or distress, e.g. vomiting. If so, a trip to the vet is on the cards.
However, anything over say 50 mL would probably be concerning in our opinion. Certainly, if your dog has managed to drink say a half can of Red Bull or Monster, then you need to make an emergency trip to the vet.
This could be a life or death situation!!!
To conclude, dogs cannot drink energy drink. It is dangerous due to the caffeine level and risk of caffeine toxicity (you can learn more about this on our article ‘can dogs drink coffee?’).
If your dog has consumed a noticeable quantity of energy drink, then we recommend you pay a visit to the vet – sooner, rather than later.