Fava flour for grain-free diet
Hello, does anyone here have any experience making grain-free dog treats? I've used Garbanzo Bean (Chickpea) flour, but I'm looking at Fava flour -- which is used in All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour. A quick internet search brought up some remarks about Fava *beans* being bad for dogs, but I can't find anything specific, *and* I don't know that a problem with beans would also mean a problem with bean flour. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Hmmm... that's an interesting question and not much literature is around about fava beans and dogs. I guess because they are relatively uncommon in the States. I remember though that when I visited Italy a few years back (they are common there), my cousin would peel them and give them the shell to play with and this made them salivate and nauseous so she stopped doing that. But that's the shell which is quite wooly inside and rough. In people, I know that there are some people who are allergic to them and get sick eating them. Curious to see what others have to say.
That rare sensitivity to fava beans ( aka broad beans) is known as "favism" which can induce hemolytic anemia in people. It's unclear though if dogs can get it. Naturally, fava beans are fresh, so to make the flour they must be dried first and then grinded. While I have seen it listed as toxic on some websites, it's unclear if this refers to fresh or dried beans, or the plant. One would assume it wouldn't be so harmful since there are many websites suggesting the use of fava flour for dog treats which means many have possibly made many treats so far, but it's always good to investigate. I will search a bit more and see what I can find!
Thanks so much for the feedback! Since my original post, I've found some dog treat business websites that list fava flour as one of their ingredients. I'm thinking it must be safe... but I appreciate and look forward to any additional thoughts.
One would assume it wouldn't be so harmful.
I guess its nor so harmful, Last time I visited to a Vet near my area she told me about grain free diet but I didn't remember, I can go there again and will give the solution what exactly is this.