Dog's Eating Human Food

[billybeau]

Does your dog eat human food? How much does he/she get? How far would you go to make sure he/she ate human food?

Boyfriends families dog gets not just left overs, but the family will cook extras so the dog gets.

When they've gone out to eat at a reasurant, they bring home food for the dog

When they've gone to a party with a buffet, they bring home food the dog. This included 17 chicken legs at a recent party.

It is not perfectly fine to give kibble and normal food close together. Kibble is designed to be digested slowly and "normal food" is digested at a different rate.

Not only does it mess up the balance of nutrients but it can cause major discomfort to the dog.

i'd be interested to see proof of that. my dog has been really well on raw food & 'complete' mixer.

and really sick on other foods! (including kibble on its own)

Working dogs ('mushing dogs') like Huskys, Mals, Newfies etc generally get fed a mix of kibble and raw with a warm gravy poured over.

I've never had a problem with MuttDogs digestion and she's always been mix fed, and always with lots of water mixed in. I think it depends on the dog. Each one is an individual

Snoopy, I don't think it matters at all. Human beings eat foods with different digestive time in the same meal (e.g., rice and meat) and it poses no particular problem to us.

Dogs are scavengers by nature and can digest different kinds of food with few issues. Honestly, I have never seen any any dog in discomfort after eating kibble and normal food together.

Mixer is not the same as kibble but you can all poison your dogs if you like

Disagree with the scientific evidence again if you like Flatbread as is your way

Ok Snoopy, where is the scientific evidence?

erm... so what is the difference using say, james well beloved (for eg) as a mixer, and on its own? does it become a different food?

posed no problem so far to the Hound of Poe by being used as mixer.

Ahh, now is there a difference between kibble / mixer / complete?

I must admit, I've never heard the word kibble used in UK before.

Is it the biscuits you used to mix with canned dog food back in the day or is it the complete dry dog food sacks like James Well Beloved etc?

And what do you call the meaty chunks type food like the Bakers Complete Moist?

Very confusing

Ohh excellent x post!

I've been cooking for my dog for years - mostly because we've lived in some very remote places where decent dog kibble was not readily available. Now we live in the UK and she's allowed to lick our plates! [sucker emoticon]

FYI garlic is absolutely NOT poisonous to your dog...holistic practices recommend it as a natural flea and tic remedy.

As a RVN (vet nurse) who has worked in practice for years and done nutritional courses extra to my nursing qualification and seen many many dogs, I am very aware how protective some people are with what they feed their dogs. As a dog owner I am very keen, like most owners, to feed my dogs the best product which will protect my dogs- keep them well, look well, inside and outside.

I will not turn this thread into an argument about BARF feeding but I can tell you through years of personal first hand experience I have seen dogs die as a direct result of the BARF diet. No veterinary surgeon I work with promotes this diet. This is not as a cover up to sell our own kibble(as some barf fans claim) we don't even stock regular dog food at my practice, only prescription diet for specific health problems, it is because we have seen so many dogs suffer due to the barf trend. I urge you all to research the dangers. I am not saying no dog can have the barf diet, I am sure many do well on it. But for me a good nutritionally balanced kibble made from natural ingredients is the much safer way to ensure my dogs look fantastic and are most importantly healthy and safe.

One thing I will say to those still feeding garlic - it contains thiosulphate, it is the same family as onions, it is toxic, not as toxic as onions but still poison to dogs!! All dogs have different tolerance but to say it is under debate is just a very dangerous and inaccurate statement I am afraid.

I am not trying to cause arguing I just want to protect the health of dogs as best as I can and share the information I have been taught and experience I have gained.

A mixer is designed to be fed along side tinned food. A complete food is a diet that is to be fed exclusively as it contains all the nutrional requirements for a dog.
Kibble is just what we call dry dog food in general. I feed my dogs a complete kibble. :).

Toomuch, do you think you could answer my question then? I'm confused as to the different names/meanings.

And what do you think about mixing raw or cooked meats with something like JWB or Bakers etc?

Oh dear god another x post, thanks toomuch.

given my dog would either simply not eat dry foods, or was very sick on them, BARF really is not much short of her lifesaver.

just how, pray tell has BARF killed a dog? Unless by the feeding of inappropriate bones which is daft anyway?

If i persisted in giving her some of the completes death from dehydration and chronic diahorreah would have quickly ensued, mark my words

and Vets are paid to promote completes (eg Science diet..).

My dogs eat raw chicken wings every day, raw meaty lamb and beef bones, oxtail, raw tripe, and I cook them chicken thighs (I take the bones out when they are cooked) liver, gizzards, hearts etc, and mix it with their kibble every day.

If we go out for a steak or a hamburger and there is any left I wrap it in a napkin and bring it home for them.

I think some of this discussion is OTT. No evidence that mixing kibble (e.g., James beloved) with, say, sardines is in any way poisonous to a dog. Snoopy, afraid you are talking rubbish here.

Toomuchtoyoung, it is a question of degree, as you note yourself. Garlic is fine in moderation, as is everything else. Too much fat and too much grain or too much protein could also cause issues. Dogs in Italy, almost by default get garlic in their food if they are fed table scraps. Don't hear of any dog dying because of that.

In fact, am curious, in your career, how many dog poisoning cases have you come across where they have been fed too much garlic?

Oh, and whenever I cook a roast dinner I always give the dogs any non-reuseable leftovers (not the potatoes, just meat, veg and gravy.) They love it. It is the highlight of their week.

My dog would have died if I'd continued feeding a vet-prescribed prescription diet - she has severe grain allergies/intolerances and was passing brown water, mucus and blood for weeks, obviously losing a great deal of weight as a result, literally dying of diarrhoea.

I also don't want to start a raw/kibble debate but just wanted to present the other side of the argument. Dogs die from bloat caused by kibble every day and the presence of things like BHA and BHT in some of the most popular dog foods on the market makes me wonder about cancer implications. Nothing will convince me that the raw diet isn't better for teeth and gum health if nothing else.

Oh yes, I give them tinned sardines and mackerel as well. I've been doing this for years mixed with kibble. They are perfectly healthy.

to be fair, bloat is as much about the shape of the dog as the food... 'pony' shaped dogs much more vulnerable..

most deaths i have heard of relating to mineral deficiency have been of pregnant dogs (where the breeder should have known) or of dogs with diseases which the deficiency is a symptom of.

Some 'kibbles' are just cereal based fillers to mix with tinned food (not really sure why they are necessary.)

Other 'kibbles' are complete and included dehydrated meat and protein products. They can be used completely on their own although my dogs would never dream of touching dry kibble. They'd probably rather starve.

I have always mixed a complete kibble with what purports to be complete wt food, so complete with complete seems like no problem to me, whereas adding mixer to a complete wet food seems like adding to many bulking carbs.

I have no idea tehcnically speaking what the balance is like when I mix their complete kibble with my home made or raw meats diet, but they seem vry happy and healthy on it, so I don't worry.

when I first moved to the middle east I couldn't get their usual JW kibble, and what I could get was stupidly expensive and only available from the vet (Royal Canin, Hill's) so I tried to do without it, or at least without so much of it, and I was substituting some/all of their kibble with rice. I soon stopped though - they were getting really fat.

Well no vet I have ever worked with has been paid by any food company, again not saying no vet has, I speak only in my experience. I think I predicted and answered that response in my previous post though!! We don't sell dog food! We are professionals with years of training and experience dedicated to getting and maintaining healthy animals!!

Again I didn't say barf wouldn't work for any dog, I just urge people to carefully research it!

What was the diagnosis in your dogs case? I have yet to ever see a healthy dog refuse food to the point of starvation! Did she have a food intolerence to an ingredient in dry food? Did she eat a wet tinned food at all? I am pleased your dog is doing well now.

I have seen bowel perforations, severe nutrional deficiencies, anorexia and weigh loss, and impactions in dogs fed BARF.

I find your overly defensive post quite upsetting when I am just trying to share my experiences and knowledge!

Hilly, MuttDog has her own Sunday lunch every week - and at Xmas I even decorated her bowls!