You should seek the advice of your veterinarian if your pet is ill as only he or she can correctly advise on the diagnosis and recommend the treatment that is most appropriate for your pet.

Copper Toxicosis is a commonly recognised disorder, particularly in certain breeds of dog, such as the Bedlington Terrier.

Avoidance of high copper intake is one of the main methods of managing copper toxicosis in dogs which have problems due to accumulation of copper in the liver.

The following foods and ingredients are particularly high in copper content (contain over 1mg/100g) and should be avoided (the approximate copper content* is shown in brackets and those containing over 2g/100g are highlighted in red) :

• Aduki beans (1.09g/100g)
• Almonds (1.0g/100g)
• Brazil nuts (1.76g/100g)
• Build-up powder (4.9g/100g)
• Calf  liver (12g/100g)
• Cashew nuts (2.04g/100g)
• Chick peas (0.95g/100g)
• Cocoa powder (3.9g/100g)
• Crab (4.8g/100g)
• Drinking chocolate powder (1.1g/100g)
• Fruit gums (1.43g/100g)
• Garam masala - used in indian cooking (1.62g/100g)
• Hazelnuts (1.23g/100g)
• Lamb liver (9g/100g)
• Lentils (1.02g/100g)
• Lobster (1.7g/100g)
• Nutmeg (1.03g/100g)
• Ovaltine powder (1g/100g)
• Ox liver (2.5g/100g)
• Peanuts (1.02g/100g)
• Pecan nuts (1.07g/100g)
• Pepper (1.13g/100g)
• Pig liver (2.5g/100g)
• Pine nuts (1.32g/100g)
• Sesame seeds (1.46g/100g)
• Soya beans (1.55g/100g)
• Soya flour (3.0g/100g)
• Sunflower seeds (2.27g/100g)
• Tahini paste (1.48g/100g)
• Tarramasalata (5.8g/100g)
• Walnuts (2.9g/100g)
• Wheat bran (1.34g/100g)
• Whelks (1.1g/100g)
• Yeast - bakers (1.6-5g/100g)

(Values derived from "The Composition of Foods" 5th Edition by McCance and Widdowson)

Updated January 2016