Feeding Table Scraps

I am NOT criticizing people that follow their veterinarian's advice and feed their dogs only dog food, but for myself, I give my dog a little something of everything I eat (except spicy foods, then I give her a bite of something else) - even if I only let her lick a plate empty except for the juices. I do this because dog's LIVE by their NOSES and I think it's the right thing to do. If I had a child, I wouldn't fill the house with the smell of a roast cooking and refuse to give them some, and I won't do it to my dog.

I also LOVE to feed my dog food from a fork! Don't ask me why! LOL I suspect it has something to do with how delicate and lady-like she is eating from a fork vs. her frenzied scarfing from a plate.

Totally agreed, Chatter. ;)

If your pets are like family, you treat them like family. Of course you don't give chicken bones to a dog :rolleyes: but the same food YOU eat? Surely there is nothing wrong with that in moderation. My dogs happen to be the BEST vacuum cleaners. LOL When they are in the house, anything the kids drop on the floor doesn't get crunched to oblivion under feet... the dogs get it, lick it up or whatever and love it. Want clean plates? DOGS! Better than rinsing them in the sink.

Just nixie the chocolate.
~phos

All my pets get a little something off the table....

A story about my Mollie and Chocolates....


One easter I had set the kids baskets out on our dining table and also set out a plate of trouffles and other chocolates...had the table all decorated nicely for easter morning....

to wake up to Mollie ON TOP the table and all my trouffles gone and my nicely decorated table a mess... ;)

Now my other dog Socksie is a food thief....and she can smell leftovers anywhere and short of moving the furniture to get at it....if its not put away, shell nab it one way or another....

By the way, Mollie used to play "guard" the dog food from the other dogs....It was up to her when they could eat. My little dog Lucy has now taken over...its a laugh!

Anyway kinda on a side note, not sure if Im supposed to be happy or sad, Im going to get Mollies ashes from the vet in a few minutes. :(


Does anybodys cats like to lick the butter if you leave it out, so you get this huge lick dent in it?

Anyway kinda on a side note, not sure if Im supposed to be happy or sad, Im going to get Mollies ashes from the vet in a few minutes. :(

I won't tell you how you're supposed to feel, Michele, but I'm guessing that you probably feel a variety of things, including sad that Molly is dead but happy that you have her ashes to spread on the hills she used to run and play on. HUG

Does anybodys cats like to lick the butter if you leave it out, so you get this huge lick dent in it?

Yes, I have a naughty, naughty boy cat that licks the butter - wherever it is - including on our bread or mashed potatoes! LOL

I would be a little concerned about feeding a cat or dog canned pet food, seeing as a lot of them contain offal, which is prohibited for human food production in Britain, due to links with Mad Cow disease. I wouldn't feed it to a pet, and maybe dried food is the same.

Yes, I have a naughty, naughty boy cat that licks the butter - wherever it is - including on our bread or mashed potatoes!

hahaha....my cats dont do that but my dog socksie will steal what your eating out your hand if you dont pay attention....

Chow Hound...that one!

Does anybodys cats like to lick the butter if you leave it out, so you get this huge lick dent in it?
Actually my grandmother told me that if you want a stray/new cat to decide to live with you and not go away you have to smear the bottom of his feet with butter, they will lick it and link the smell of your house with the taste of butter.

My kitten is a food thief, well actually that is unfair to her as she does not steal food for herself......... If there is anything edible left out she will knock it to the floor where my food-a-holic Labrador is waiting open the package so they can
consume it......... This includes all kinds of stuff that the cat herself does not even like, so I conclude that she is doing it on the dogs instructions :D

My kitten is a food thief, well actually that is unfair to her as she does not steal food for herself......... If there is anything edible left out she will knock it to the floor where my food-a-holic Labrador is waiting open the package so they can
consume it......... This includes all kinds of stuff that the cat herself does not even like, so I conclude that she is doing it on the dogs instructions :D

Then she is Phil-canistic !!!

I'm with Chatter. I used to feed my dog (former doggie, now in doggie heaven) a little bit of everything. Most things in moderation, just enough to give her a good idea of how whatever I was eating tasted like. If it was healthy (leftover brown rice with chicken and veggies), she could pretty much have all she wanted.

The only time I ever fed her canned food on a regular basis was when I lived with a former boyfriend who fed his dogs a mixture of canned and dry food.

My kitties...one is a pig and the other is just picky. One gets a couple of bites of most meals (like a dog), and she'll eat anything . The other one won't touch anything but the kat food in her bowl. The funny part is that the second one has learned to imitate the first one, and has taken to meowing and begging for food when the other one does, but then she doesn't touch it when I put it in the bowl!

One thing that ALL of my pets learn is to NEVER eat off of my plate. I could leave a plate of food in front of my dog or my former kitty, and neither of them would dream of touching it. (Okay, former kitty would get overwhelmed every blue moon.) I'm teaching my newer kitties that they are only entitled to eat food out of their own bowls.

I never feed my kitties canned food. Pretty much all canned kat foods are way too rich for kitties. So much, in fact, that the guys at the pet store told me that many companies are trying to reformulate to reduce things like potassium and other 'rich' ingredients. (I don't know the details.) My last kitty (that I had for 12 years) died of kidney failure. Kidney problems are common in kitties and as I understand it, the richness of many kat foods exacerbate these problems.

Edit: Former kitty was a canned tuna fiend though. She could smell a can of tuna coming out of the cupboard. I did feed her tuna every once in a while because it made her SO darn happy.

I am NOT criticizing people that follow their veterinarian's advice and feed their dogs only dog food, but for myself, I give my dog a little something of everything I eat (except spicy foods, then I give her a bite of something else) - even if I only let her lick a plate empty except for the juices. I do this because dog's LIVE by their NOSES and I think it's the right thing to do. If I had a child, I wouldn't fill the house with the smell of a roast cooking and refuse to give them some, and I won't do it to my dog.

I also LOVE to feed my dog food from a fork! Don't ask me why! LOL I suspect it has something to do with how delicate and lady-like she is eating from a fork vs. her frenzied scarfing from a plate.

Your dog is living the life!

I have to say, my mom did what you do but to a threatening extent with her cat. The cat began to refuse to eat proper cat food and somehow all the fat in her system messed up her liver and she nearly died. After $3000 and a long couple of months, she seems to have a future ahead of her again.

Just be careful that what you feed your pet as scraps is more of a small treat than a staple and everything should be fine!

Now, for me, it's the encouraging to beg for food at the table that I'd be more concerned about :rolleyes:

Now, for me, it's the encouraging to beg for food at the table that I'd be more concerned about :rolleyes:

Yup. I never feed pets at the table, or anywhere but their normal eating area for that matter.

I love doggies and kitties (and lots of other four-legged critters) but I can't stand it when they beg for food!

I would be a little concerned about feeding a cat or dog canned pet food, seeing as a lot of them contain offal, which is prohibited for human food production in Britain, due to links with Mad Cow disease. I wouldn't feed it to a pet, and maybe dried food is the same.

My cat is 18 years old and has several missing teeth and if she eats dry cat food she just pukes it up....what would YOU feed a cat in my cat's health and age situation?

I feed her IAM's canned cat food and I have fed her that and previously the IAMS dry food for years and years and years.

She's 18 years old, I don't think it could be all that bad for her or she wouldn't have lived past 10.

When I had a dog I would feed him occasional table scraps, and if it was meat I would be sure to give only fully cooked meat to avoid tapeworms. He was very fond of eating my banana breads as they cooled on the counter :mad:

My cat gets a rare sip of pasturized cow's milk and sometimes a bit of catnip but besides that, I don't feed her scraps. She does, however, lick greasy pans when she has the chance (despite not being allowed on the stovetop!) and then goes to vomit someplace, usually on a carpet, of course.

I don't know how "healthy" canned cat food is but my cat's 18 and still going. The proof is in the pudding!

Actually my grandmother told me that if you want a stray/new cat to decide to live with you and not go away you have to smear the bottom of his feet with butter, they will lick it and link the smell of your house with the taste of butter.

I don't think mine would have in the past but now she gets into anything that smells remotely greasy to her. She's started to jump onto the stovetop to lick pans, she's toppled the garbage to get at chicken fat, she's been caught eating right off my son's plate while standing on his chair before I've had a chance to clear the table when he's left buttered rolls.

This wasn't regular behaviour for my cat until this past year.

My cat is 18 years old and has several missing teeth and if she eats dry cat food she just pukes it up....what would YOU feed a cat in my cat's health and age situation?

I feed her IAM's canned cat food and I have fed her that and previously the IAMS dry food for years and years and years.

She's 18 years old, I don't think it could be all that bad for her or she wouldn't have lived past 10.

When I had a dog I would feed him occasional table scraps, and if it was meat I would be sure to give only fully cooked meat to avoid tapeworms. He was very fond of eating my banana breads as they cooled on the counter :mad:

My cat gets a rare sip of pasturized cow's milk and sometimes a bit of catnip but besides that, I don't feed her scraps. She does, however, lick greasy pans when she has the chance (despite not being allowed on the stovetop!) and then goes to vomit someplace, usually on a carpet, of course.

I don't know how "healthy" canned cat food is but my cat's 18 and still going. The proof is in the pudding!

*laugh* Maybe your kitty's the equivalent of the 100 year old woman that smokes, drinks and eats red meat every day!

Maybe she is still around because you luvvv her so much!

When my kitty was wasting away from kidney disease, it was a catch-22. Potassium is hard on their little kidneys, and most canned brands are over-the-top in potassium. The only way to keep a few pounds on her poor skinny little body was to feed her canned food. I found a brand that made a version that was lower in potassium and other things so it was easier on her kidneys.

So this morning I made sausage for my kids for breakfast....

8 in fact!

Steven took 3 which he ate, but let the broiler door open (we broil and dont fry) and Socksie helped herself to 5 sausages..... :o


If she werent so darn cute...

SG...I DO wish my dog wouldnt steal food, thats about the only real bad habit she has (other then following me to work in the morning)

Any suggestions on training her?

SG...I DO wish my dog wouldnt steal food, thats about the only real bad habit she has (other then following me to work in the morning)

Any suggestions on training her?

*laugh* Sounds like it's too late, Michele! :p

I'm sure that the only way my doggy learned not to beg was consistency in scolding for begging or stealing, and not feeding her anywhere but one single place in the house.

Oh, well, a doggy could have worse habits!

My man ruined my dog :mad:
My dog was a well behaved, well adjusted one year old puppy...as well behaved as a puppy can be. She would still chew on stuff at that age, if I had to work late and she got bored or REALLY had to go. Once we moved in together, he started feeding her whatever, where ever she wanted. He let her jump in his lap, lay on the bed with him. She won't bother with me, doesn't even try. And now he's like...how come this stupid dog won't leave me alone?!?! I try to tell him its because every time she comes within 5 feet of him he gives her some food. The concept is lost on him though.
She gets out a lot, we try to go upstate every weekend where she can spend time in the yard and run in the woods when we go on walks. So she isn't fat, and she's nice and healthy. But she bothers him to no end at the table. His rationale is if I give her some, she'll go away! LOL!

Ug....this is a lab who when gets scolded can only look straight at me wagging her tail saying "come on, come on....when do I get to do it again" :confused:

She lives to be happy..............

Ug....this is a lab who when gets scolded can only look straight at me wagging her tail saying "come on, come on....when do I get to do it again" :confused:

She lives to be happy..............


*big laugh* Ah, well, like I said, she could have worse habits, hon.

*sigh* I miss having a dog! Maybe next spring, after the snowmelt.

Science Goddess, do you know why the cat food manufacturers add the things that are so hard on the cat's kidneys, like potassium?

Charlotte, I agree with you, dogs and cats are living FAR longer than they did 50 years ago and veterinarians believe it is the high quality of the pet food that we feed them.

I agree with not feeding dogs or cats while eating because I don't like the hot breath of a begging dog on my legs while I'm eating. My last three dogs were trained with the words "be nonchalant" which meant they couldn't even LOOK at us while we were eating. (No reason for that term other than, if they forgot, company would get a big kick out of a dog responding to such an unusual command. When I told Regis to be nonchalant, he'd lay down and look at me and I'd say, "More nonchalant" and he'd put his head on his paws and look at the floor! LOL) Dog Candy lays on her side and appears to be sound asleep while we are eating,but she has an uncanny sixth sense of when I'm down to the last few bites and she sits up and begins to rapidly lift one foot and then the other to make a noise with her toenails (I call it her tapdance) as if to say, "Don't forget me, Mummie, don't forget you have a dog! Save me a bite!"

Michelle, your story about a dog that just doesn't "GET" the whole "bad dog" thing reminded me of my previous dog, Regis. He was the naughtiest dog, but he didn't have a bad bone in his body - just enjoying life and all it had to offer and he NEVER understood why I was upset!!! My suggestion for food stealing would be "kiddie doors" to keep the dog out of the kitchen and dining room while food's around.

LOVED that story, Shewolf! Sounds like you have a $10,000.00 America's Funniest Videos winner there! I'd invest in a camcorder if I were you and set it up to catch them in the act!

My cat's been having foul smelling feces lately so I've started to put acidophilis in her food, and amazingly she seems to be digesting it better. Well, I assume she is due to the lack of completely foul stench in her excrement.

This is just something I'm trying on my own and I didn't consult a vet, so I'm not advocating this with professional opinion or anything. Just wanted to pass that tip along.