Animal Science

I fed my last dog raw eggs. It was recommended by the vet for extra protein. (She was getting thin in her old age.) That dog would eat just about anything but black olives.

I agree that most of the list won't hurt a dog - if fed in small quantities. My aunt's Yorkie ate a small bowl of Hershey's kisses once and was fine. My dog ate an entire bag of chocolates and was not fine.

This list is a compilation of just about everything I could find. I plan on examining some of the items, like eggs, more closely to read more about the good and the bad and what exactly happens when they are eaten. That's coming next.

I'm looking forward to it!

We always avoided feeding chocolate to the dogs (although I enjoyed eating doggy chocs!)

My cats usually don't like the smell of chocolate (remember I said they were nosy?!) but one of them practically attacked me to get to the last bit of Thortons white choc covered coffee truffle that my Mum had been feeding her. She's been fine, but I don't plan to repeat the treat!

Definitely a "good to be aware" blog.

Thanks SavvyExacta!

I don't know about you guys, but my dog thinks the cat litterbox is a buffet table.

Coprophagia

The litterbox spot is selected with this in mind, but she occasionally decides this is a treat she cannot resist and is able to knock the box down and the feast begins. The food and water bowls are supplied properly and regularly (there is almost always food available when she pulls this stunt) so that shouldn't be the problem.

Is cat poop really that yummy?

I think it must be. We have a plastic baby gate blocking off the area where the cat supplies are, but my beagle will break it down any chance she gets. They also like to go "digging" out in the yard and on walks.

Both dogs like the canine version too... I've tried this stuff (for dogs) but it doesn't seem to work.

Our retrievers preferred the vegetarian version (maybe that was all to which they had access?) Cow dung, rabbit and sheep pellets...

We had them dig up stuff spread on the garden and lie on the lawn chewing it; they would delight in rolling in fresh examples when out walking. I never spotted them going for cat or other dog faeces though. Thinking more, my cat owning overlapped with dogs at my parents and we never saw any evidence of litter tray snacking.

Ah, yes... I had forgotten the barnyard buffet table. Mmmm, fresh horse poop.

This isn't exclusive to domesticated animals. In the backwoods of Wyoming I came across a hand dug outhouse (used by a hunting camp in the fall of the year). A small brown bear had gotten inside and was in the pit, feeding.

This thread started off with feeding your pets, but we seem to be discussing what they will eat if given the opportunity. It seems that they (dogs in particular) will eat just about anything. Crayons, plastic toy soldiers, Barbie dolls, slippers... not a lot of available nutrition in these sorts of things, but most dogs will happily consume that stuff for the simple pleasure of, well, I don't know what the payoff is.

This is a good discussion, thanks to everyone for contributing. This is shaping up like a good blog series. Thank you SavvyExacta.

Yes it was horse manure on the garden. We figured there were salts or other minerals in it that they likes. My cats eat/suck earth, digging up grass to get to the tasty bits.

You've just reminded me of something: when our eldest dog was in her last year (so about 15 at the time), I put my hand over the back of the seat in the car to pet the dogs and could feel her chewing on something. When I looked she had the chain from her lead in her mouth. When I went to pull it out, I realised she'd swallowed the whole of the nearly 18" long chain and was getting to the clasp. I pulled it out steadily, but not too quickly, and took it away from her.

this is a very helpful list. I have tried to tell my better half that some of the foods on this list a harmful to dogs, specifically onion. I have also found that watermelon did not agree with my pup (got into some at a picnic last summer) but that could just be her.

Eating human stuff and begging are, or should be, two different behaviours. It all depends on when you feed them the human stuff.

All our dogs were taught that plates were a no go area, even if on the floor. When they were fed human stuff, it went in their bowls. They were not allowed in the room when we were eating (one would sneak in and lie by the door, but that was more about company than food).

I once took our third dog, when she was on holiday staying with me, to a group meal at a friend's house. I had intended leaving her in the car, but my friends had a labrador and insisted I brought her in. She spent most of the evening with her head on my lap, but when the food came in (we ate on trays as there were over a dozen of us), she sized up the situation and lay down to sleep. That amazed people.

Part way through the meal, someone needed to go out and asked me if "she'd be all right". I was puzzled until I realised they were going to leave their plate on the floor. I said she'd be fine. Well, she looked up as the person stepped over her (dogs don't like that), she looked towards the plate and sniffed, then turned her head and went back to sleep.

At that point, I realised everyone in the room had been holding their breath! I had watched her, but had gone on eating from the plate on my knee.

It's just a matter of boundaries. Had we put that contents of the plate in a dog bowl, she'd have wolfed it down!

This latest bunch of cats refuse to learn the lesson however much I beat them....

I think dogs (all other animals included) instinctively know what is safe to eat. All the dogs I've owned (or is it the other way around), have lived long lives; 12 and 13 years of age and they have eaten everything. What they wouldn't eat would be left for the flies to finish.

In his book "Watchers" Dean Koontz has one of the characters occasionally feeding his dog chocolate. In an updated edition, he has a preface saying that he has since learned that giving chocolate to dogs is a bad idea, and warns readers not to do that.

[It's a very well done book, by the way. Much better than the average novel of that genre. Better than anything by Stephen King, Imho, though that may not be saying much.]

What a timely subject, my new puppy (9 months) today got into a prescription drug that one of the cats knocked off the counter, had to get a couple of teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide into her to induce vomiting, she is not too energenic now but will recover so please add to your lists. She also has a fondness for treats from the litter box, I call them poopcicles. Seems all dogs like them.

Email Address Removed - Cr4 Admin

I swear by this book "Give Your Dog a Bone" see http://www.barfaustralia.com/the_books.php?pid=1

As can be seen, the contents below are pertinent to the discussion:

• Modern dog feeding myths
• The question of cooked or raw foods
• Your dog's enemy, commercial dog foods
• The common problems associated with home produced food
• Basic nutrition
• Food combining
• Bones as dog food
• Meat as dog food
• Offal as dog food
• Vegetables as dog food
• Fruit as dog food
• Grains and legumes as dog food
• Dairy products as dog food
• Eggs as dog food
• Table scraps as dog food
• Useful supplements
• Feeding puppies
• Feeding the adult dog
• How much food to feed
• Getting a dog started on this new diet
• Feeding your dog vegetarian style, and;
• Feeding your dog for a healthy old age.

I just remembered...our eldest dog used to love rooting around in the seaweed at the tideline for moulting crabs (when their shells were soft). Once we spotted what she was doing, we had to head her off as they went through her like the proverbial dose of salts. Didn't stop her heading for them though!

I'm surprised raw meat is on your list. Dogs are carnivores, and I'm sure they didn't cook their meals before they were domesticated.

Funny Avocado is on the list. I just switched to a very expensive high protein low fat food for my dogs to help them lose a little weight and that is one of the ingredients it boast about having in it.

And there are many vets & breeders out there that recommend raw meat diets. I even considered it for a while and may switch to it. If I can get my butcher to agree to sell me the cheaper cuts of meat at a decent price. Though at the cost of mass produced dog & cat food these days it might be cheaper to feed them steak.

I am surprised as if I remember correctly, Avocados are one of the fattiest plants on the planet......good fat I am sure......

It seems that people are on the fence about avocados. From the little research I conducted they are probably okay in small quantities. As scotchdrnkr mentioned there are now some pet foods formulated with this ingredient. It's also used (in limited quantities) in products to help canine arthritis.

The problem with avocados are that they contain persin - a toxin that can be harmful to dogs in large quantities. Too much can cause vomiting and diarrhea. Apparently most of the avocados in the U.S. come from Guatemala and these particular avocados contain an especially high level of persin. Here's some more reading.

MY 10 year old German Shepherd/wolf cross (not too sure on the german shepherd part!) will eat everything and anything from lentils to cucumber and fish to dead birds! In the ten years I have had her, she has never been off her food or ill in any way! I rescued her when she was about a year old from some barren land where she had been beaten and left for dead! She looked like a bag of bones and was very afraid of people! I slowly gained her confidence and every day would pass by to give her some clean water and some food. Then one day she found her way to my front door. She has personally raised all of my cats and thier kittens without eating any of them! I could go on but this is about what not to feed a dog! One thing she won't eat is kidney beans!

Our Jack Russel and her 4 pups used to sneak in and pick the tasty bits out of the horses feed bowls when they on the floor of the tack room being prepared. One day a powdered wormer had been added and they were all completely blind for a couple of days. They all recovered ok but it's definitely advisable to not let your dogs eat horse wormer.

I should add that it was remarkable how well they all coped with being blind after 30 minutes or so !

One thing that I can add to the list is to never feed a dog pork chop bones. Years ago my mother's beloved Hungarian Pulli choked to death because of one.....lodged squarely in her throat.

Our pack of Border Collies and a Pembrooke Welsh Corgi will eat almost anything we eat, usually small amount of leftovers that are placed in their bowls. Of course we don't give them anything that contains chocolate, but they will try to nab some if given the chance!

Even my wife's parrot will eat almost any type of human food. Actually he demands it! He's been eating table scraps his entire life, and he's 26 years old now.....an African Blue Front parrot. Most likely the dang critter will outlive us both as they usually have a lifespan (while in captivity) of around 75 years! Pretty and colorful bird, but nasty as can be with that sharp beak.....given the chance he would tear-off the fresh down to the bone. I don't trust him whatsoever after seeing the damage he's inflicted on my wife several times! AAAACKKKKKKK!

For any Dog that suffers from Struwit (alkaline urine with crystals) , a way round it is to feed them raw meat, so I am surprised that someone recommends it NOT to be fed.

I am sure that wild Dogs eat ANY meat they can get hold of.......it must be natural.

I give my dog special tablets with a blend of acids to keep her fit, otherwise she gets an inflamed bladder. Fresh meat would be too expensive.

Several people questioned why raw meat might be bad for a dog. Some meat is processed, contains hormones, or may contain harmful bacteria. This article lists some of the reasons for and against feeding raw meat to a dog. (It should be taken with a grain of salt - pet food advertisers of course want owners to buy processed pet food.)

I would think that high-quality, fresh, raw meat would be okay. Small chunks of bone (especially "splinter" type bones) could be dangerous as could contaminated meat. I give my dogs large bones but no chicken bones and usually no bones from our meals unless they are large and "single piece".

Yes, dogs were originally a wild animal in some form, but today they are domesticated and I would think their bodies have evolved based on the diets they've been fed for years. Yet today's "average" dog diet may not be the best with such a high presence of grains and fillers in processed foods. I'm thinking about writing a separate article on canine nutrition, which this whole comment seems to be leaning toward.

I have a general rule for bones, no bird bones, absolutely no cooked bones (that is also for "baked" ones!), as they are harder and more likely to make sharp splinters.....

My dog only gets raw beef bones, big ones. When she has disposed of all flesh/meat/fat, I crack the bone for the marrow. Once it is 2-3 days old, it gets thrown out in the compost box for collection.

Andy, I have to agree with you about what types of bones to give a dog. No way no how giving them any fowl, lamb, venison, or pork bones.....

Here, we only buy large beef leg bones from the butcher at our local supermarket. The ones that don't go into the soup pot are given to our dogs. The dogs love them, and will crack through to the marrow section after a day of crewing them. Besides, it cleans their teeth!

You are so right, keeping a Dog's teeth clean without the use of bones or similar would be hard. I completely forgot this very important point, thanks for reminding me.

My dog is also a wood stick "chewer" and supliments the bone teeth cleaning with this.....at 3.5 years old her teeth are still white.

Sadly some dogs have no interest in bone or branch chewing, how you keep their teeth clean is a problem.....mine for example hates the dog tooth brush, that I finally gave up on as she does love bones and wood!!

Butchers were banned from selling/giving away raw beef bones about 20 years ago here. Before that we always got them for our dogs. We used a Tupperware orange peeler to scrape out the deepest marrow for them (and the tortoises) before the bones were thrown away.

The local birds liked them too. I often saw the starlings with their heads inside pecking at the marrow.

Where was that?

I would guess that the law has more to do with mad cow disease than anything else, they could revoke the law now surely...? Or are there still Mad Cows in the UK????

(Not all Bovine? )

Sorry, just (trying to) making a Joke only, you know I love you really!!

LOL - you beat me to the joke, I was going to name some of the mad cows....

Going on the timescale involved with the lifting of the bad on mutton due to scrapie, I'd guess we may see some relaxation by, oooh, 2025. Maybe.

I think they've raised the limit of lifespan of beef cows...I think they can be up to 24 months old now. Anything over the magic age is not allowed in the food chain and I think has to be rendered. If anyone knows the UK law better, please feel free to correct me.

_{They haven't mentioned the numbers on The Archers recently, so I'm not sure....}

I don't agree with all the list of no-nos, but I do have a few of things to add to the list.

Any green part of tomato, eggplant, tomatillo, tobaco, petunias or potato plants are toxic. They are part of the Nightshade family along with deadly nightshade and mandrake.

Lima beans, sorghum and maize stalks, and the seeds of apples, peaches, and apricots all contain some level of cyanide. It is my understanding that cooking will neutralize the toxin, but raw they can be a problem, even for people, depending on dose.

Some of the things on the list are not a problem in small amounts. Just keep in mind that a small amount for a 300 pound man, may be toxic to his 15 pound dachshund. The smaller mass of our pets makes it easy to feed an excess.

On the positive side, I once had a wonderfull siberian husky that absolutely loved pecans. We had a tree in our back yard, and it was a race to see who would reach a newly fallen nut first (she almost always won).

Our dalmatian is 13 now, arthritic but still strong.

He has always loved avocados, mangos, kakis, bananas, preferrably straight from the trees. This means large quantities. Some grapes, too, and cat "poopsicles" of course (I used to worry about the aluminum contents in the litter box sand). He will not touch pears, guavas or starfruits.

Our other dogs just make believe they eat some fruit because of competition.

I have over the last 50 years always given my dogs fruit and vegetables, starting young, then its normal for them. If I eat an orange or similar citrus fruit, my Weimaraner Bitch sits in front of me and drools till I split it with her.....

If I am cleaning carrots, she eats 3 or 4 raw.....loves them.

She eats any cooked vegetable as when it was meat.

A wild dog, if it killed a animal that lived on fruits and vegetables, ate the stomach and its contents. A dog needs his veggies.....

Older dogs will not eat such stuff if they did not have it as a young dog.....