Confess, do you feed your dog or cat people food

[kenny]

Okay I admit it - in moments of weakness.
They have those huge sad eye.

Don't tell my SO.

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

Haha Kenny, my mom did the same with her Chihuahua! But I refuse to feed the kittens human food - what they don't know, they won't miss, and my mom's subscribing to my philosophy for her new puppy.

ETA: I make it up to them with really good cat food

 

[jet2ks]

Nope. Neither the cat or the dog gets people food with one exception--if the dog ever has to take pill, it gets wrapped up in cheese.

 

[iheartscience]

Guilty! But only every now and then. My cat Ophelia doesn''t care about people food at all (except for tuna fish, of course!), but the other two love it. Charles loves tortilla chips, cheese, fage, yogurt and chicken and Olivia loves Crispix, Special K, lettuce (she goes bonkers over spring mix) and yogurt.

 

[lilyfoot]

Yes, I will occasionally (2 or 3 times a month?) give them a bite of whatever I'm eating. It's usually a protein (meat, cheese) or a starch (pasta, bread, rice). I didn't do it when they were puppies though.

I've known people who would order their dog their own food item(s) when they went through a drive-thru (i.e. an order of chicken nuggets just for the dog). Of course these are people with grossly overweight dogs ..

Edited for typo

 

[exoticisabella]

The longhair (siamese/himalayan mix) is Skye, however, I call him "Hoover". "Hoover" will eat anything! Recent items stolen while my back was turned include pizza, cheese, bread, cranberry sauce, any kind of meat, lettuce, corn chips, sprite, and popcorn. You name it and Hoover will eat it! What is funny is that Bells (the black cat) will only eat her cat food. I can''t get her to touch any kind of meat or cat treats.

 

[Kaleigh]

Timely topic since the culprits being Hubby and Son will be home soon.... My doggies are on a strict diet. Callie who is 11 develops bladder stones easily. If god forbid she was given anything but her dog food, the risk of her developing them is that much greater. Now the humans in my house know this. Funny thing, it's my DD who along with me has to watch out for the males trying to un do everything we have worked for... Ashley and I watch them like hawks, because behind our backs, they will give the dogs scraps.
Which isn't fun if you have to be the one cleaning up after it hits their system.

I will say this is a good reminder for me since the nuckleheads are coming home soon. Meaning DH and DS. Because they are the one's that do stuff behind our backs.

I will say one more thing.... THank god, I didn't go to FLA this weekend... With the terrible snow storm we are having, my dogs could have been SOL.... Meaning the pet sitter couldn't have gotten here to let them out or take care of them. I am so glad I stayed home, had a lot of extra holiday stuff to do, etc.....

So thanks Kenny. I need to remind DH and DS to stop giving them sraps and the like....

 

[Iowa Lizzy]

Oh yes. Guilty, guilty guilty. When FI and I are eating at the dining room table, our cat Pablo will stick his little paw up onto the table and feel around trying to grab a morsel. If I''m snacking on the couch, he will literally pull my hand away from my mouth to sniff what I''m eating to see if it''s worthy. I have recently discovered he likes cinnamon toast, jalapeño popcorn and blueberry muffins. He''s a nut.

 

[elrohwen]

As soon as the cheese came out of the fridge both dogs were staring at it, so we always gave them a little piece

Otherwise, no people food for them. Except at Thanksgiving, my mom always mixed the turkey neck with their regular food.

 

[purrfectpear]

Not really, with one exception...bananas. I would get to the last piece where it gets a little tough and I would let Trooper have that. He loved it. Eventually it got to the point where I could be in another part of the house and he would hear the ''snap'' that the peel makes when you first bend it down, and he would come running. I swear he has bionic hearing

 

[ericad]

We do. Our dogs eat raw meaty bones and we let them clean up leftovers (only healthy ones) rather than go to waste. Seems like a well rounded diet for them - mainly raw with some grains and veggies.

Cats get high quality store bought food and our older kitty, Phoebe, loves a dollop of yogurt or ice cream from time to time. We think she is close to the end (suspect cancer) so I''m indulging her more than usual.

 

[Mrs Mitchell]

No, at least not on purpose. The dog hoovers up the stuff that my small daughter hurls from her high chair. Probably not great for the dog though. The cat disdains leftovers, so he''s cat food only.

 

[Haven]

Only if the food is part of their regular diet, anyway.

We feed our dog and cats a raw meaty bones diet, so it would be dangerous to give them cooked meat.

The pup does eat apples and oranges, though, so we always share when I''m having a Jonagold, myself. One of our kitties, Vince, is obsessed with milk. He flies into the kitchen when he hears me take it out of the fridge, and then he torments me until I''m finished eating. I let him lick my cereal bowl every once in a while.

 

[Pandora II]

The cats eat whatever they want... or can steal...

We had one who loved bread and sausages, another who went crazy for frozen peas, one of the current ones is convinced that microwaves exist soley for defrosting HIS prawns.

My favourite cat of all time who died 10 years ago at 16 was mad for Kellogg''s Crunchy Nut Cornflakes, peanut butter and any sort of alcohol going - wine, beer, spirits, you name it - he would even eat fruit salad if it had Cointreau in it. Only ended up drunk once and that was the time we discovered his penchant for booze.

They are/were all siamese and very badly behaved.

 

[upgrade]

Guilty... my dog generally gets whatever my kids don''t finish and if we have something with a really big bone (like a ham bone or a prime rib bone) I let him have the bone. That being said, he is a small dog so he only gets bones big enough that he can''t splinter them and we watch him closely with it.

We''ve always fed our dogs table scraps and so far we''ve always had exceptionally healthy dogs. Knock on wood...

 

[Blackpaw]

Its funny I was having a conversation about this with a lady who runs an animal rescue charity last week.

Pets are still animals - do you think before people came along they ate pet food? Pet food has some horrible stuff in it - so horrible that it makes much more sense to feed them people food as its much better quality. But of course its expensive so pet food companies do a very good job of telling us its ''better'' for pets to eat ''specially formulated'' pet food.

One of the puppies she had rescued was quite happily chewing on a bit of broccoli the day we had this conversation. But she basically just feeds the dogs she rescues whatever people donate to her...

As for my housemate''s cat, we dont feed him people food because he wont eat it...not even chicken

he''s a strange cat....

 

[lilyfoot]

Date: 12/20/2009 12:55:51 PM
Author: Blackpaw
Its funny I was having a conversation about this with a lady who runs an animal rescue charity last week.

Pets are still animals - do you think before people came along they ate pet food? Pet food has some horrible stuff in it - so horrible that it makes much more sense to feed them people food as its much better quality. But of course its expensive so pet food companies do a very good job of telling us its ''better'' for pets to eat ''specially formulated'' pet food.

One of the puppies she had rescued was quite happily chewing on a bit of broccoli the day we had this conversation. But she basically just feeds the dogs she rescues whatever people donate to her...

As for my housemate''s cat, we dont feed him people food because he wont eat it...not even chicken

he''s a strange cat....

Yes, this is true of low-quality pet food. However, there are a lot of pet foods out there that are WAY better, and some that even have human-grade ingredients.

I''m so glad I did my research on dog food before I got my first puppy. I''ve always fed my dogs the "good stuff".

 

[CJ2008]

No, never...

 

[zoebartlett]

We have two cats, and our male is always trying to get into our food. If we leave food out, he'll be sure to find it and have a feast.

We've discovered that he loves yogurt, cereal, milk, cottage cheese, ice cream, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

When we have canned tuna, we'll occasionally give the kitties the empty can to finish off.

 

[that_someone_special]

Sometimes..... but just little bites. My one cat LOOOVESSS turkey meat.

I will admit, it annoys me SO MUCH when people come over and try to feed them human food. I would never go to a friends house and start giving their pets my food-- it''s not up to me to do that!

But really.. when you do see those sad eyes.. and my cats play that part really well.... what is just a little bit of food?

 

[ljmorgan]

"People" food is not bad for pets (well, unless it''s unhealthy food), it''s probably better than a life on dry kibble, that is for sure. Animals lived for a very long time on a variety of food before manufactured dog and cat food came along -- most of which is made from the bottom of the barrel of agricultural and meat industry waste. My dog frequently get bits of what I''m having -- they love apples, melon, pears, baby carrots, all types of meat, and small bits of cheese. When they are sick and refusing to eat, I''ll often mix lean chicken with steamed rice and carrots to help stimulate their appetite. We don''t have a problem with them begging because they don''t get anything until we''re done eating if it''s at mealtime, so they don''t bother begging during the meal. Although if I sit down on the couch with an apple... I have two best friends seated very close nearby

 

[April20]

Only occassionally and it''s always put into his bowl. He''s never fed from our plate or the table.

My MIL claims she doesn''t feed her dog from the table, but she does. He has horrible table manners- he''ll beg and if you''re not at the table, continually jump up on the couch/chair, wherever you''re eating. He''s even tried to jump into my lap for food when I was at the dining room table. It makes me nuts. She feeds him chicken or cheese with EVERY meal. It cannot be good for that dog.

 

[lyra]

Absolutely not. My chihuahua has a sensitive stomach, and my fox terrier has congestive heart failure.

I am happy to report that both are at ideal weight especially the fox terrier who has lost 7 lbs. over the last year. Good for her (and mostly us for watching her diet).

 

[Matata]

Only the stuff that won''t harm them. They love plain yogurt.

 

[Clio]

Date: 12/20/2009 12:36:33 PM
Author: Pandora II

They are/were all siamese and very badly behaved.

Pandora, you just described my cat perfectly!

Francesca isn''t actually interested in too much people food, but, like Haven''s cat, she likes to like the milk out of my cereal bowl every now and then. She also gets the occasional bit of meat at supper time, but not too often.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

Yes, guilty as charged

 

[Tacori E-ring]

nope.

 

[vip0802]

yes, both BF and i are so guilty of this! both our cats sometimes have opposite tastes - the boy only likes his cat food and a few select people food while the girl will eat anything. both share a love affair with anything dairy though...especially cheese. BF is originally from Wisconsin so our cheese drawer is always stocked, and the cats always know when we're opening it. we only treat them ever once in a while though. i recently found out that they both go bonkers over corn! i had spilled some on the kitchen floor the other week, and within the time it took me to put the bowl down and grab a paper towel, they were both happily munching it up.

i totally agree with what *Lindsey* said about dry kibble and manufactured pet food. most of that stuff is literally garbage, and our cats haven't been fed any kind of dry food since they were 14 weeks old. our cats are on a raw diet, so i will also treat them a piece of raw poultry if i'm preparing dinner. every once in a while when i'm too tired (lazy) to prepare their food, i will give them a high quality grain-free canned food though.

 

[princessplease]

Yes

. The kitten has also gotten into goldfish a few times.
Kitties love turkey, so I actually gave them each two little pieces of my turkey sandwich today.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Not really. Once a week, my fish all get a pea to eat and every once in a while, my cats get tuna.

I don''t like to encourage pets to jump up on the table or beg when I''m eating so it''s good to set boundries betweent their food and mine.