Who feeds table scraps to their dog?

[Ellen Forradalom]

Recently I've been feeding some leftovers to my dog, Corbu, in order to vary his diet and avoid wasting food. I feed him only nutritious food like leftover undressed salad, cut-up meats (spices and sauces rinsed off), potato skins, and so forth. He tolerates it very well.

Is this a reasonable practice? It occurs to me that all-kibble-all-the-time can't be good, and there's no reason to toss or let rot in the fridge leftovers which could augment our dog's diet. Anyone else feed leftovers to the dog?

[RadicalMom]

1. My vets have always said that a little people food is okay, but that

it should be less than 10% of their diet. You do have to be careful about certain foods. The dog foods, if from a high quality source, provide a diet that is balanced to their needs, depending on age. String beans are a no-no. Nearly killed my friend's St. Bernard, after about 7 string beans. Other foods are not well tolerated. All of my dogs over the years haven't been able to digest anything with chunks of potato. They always throw it up, but not if it's mashed or french fries, which are always a mushy product on the inside. Be very careful with salads and vegetables in general. No green peppers. I used to give them a lot more scraps, but have found if I stick to that never more than 10% rule, and frankly rarely give them that much, my gang is much healthier. I've never had problems with sauces that are not terribly spicy, like barbeque or creamy sauces. Nothing hot.

[Ellen Forradalom]

2. Thanks for the advice

I fed our dog some potato skins last night. Aside from some fartiness, he was all right.

[SW FL Dem]

7. Interesting. I have always fed my dogs green beans

I know that onions, chocolate and grapes can be poisonous but I never heard about string beans.

[RadicalMom]

13. Yeah, their vet put the fear of vegetables in us! He warned against

most green veggies for dogs - poor digestion problems, followed by bloat, I'm guessing, and death. I never heard grapes were a problem, and have always given to them, but they rarely eat any of them, and just play with them, tossing them in the air like tiny balls!

[Rhiannon12866]

3. I do, because my guys insist on it, LOL!

Actually, my vet has had me cook for my dogs. He had me saute liver for both of my cockers, when they were unwell and had poor appetites, since it has a strong smell and taste and he said it's very good for them.:9

And he had me cook chicken and rice, for one of my cockers and my little guy, because he said they needed a bland diet. They both had colitis. My cocker got it, and I was supposed to keep them apart, but that was impossible. He spent every moment with his best friend. They seemed to like it!:D

And he also said that vegetables are fine. The one that mine seem to go for is broccoli. I just steam the florets. I had a Cairn Terrier that went nuts for it. It took me awhile to figure out that this is what he wanted, but he really just loved broccoli, and the others have, as well.:shrug:

However, with my 9-lb. wonder, I'm afraid I overdid it. When I adopted him, he was 8 lbs., but he eventually got past 10 lbs. and the vet gave me hell, since that's way too much for such a small dog to gain. I told him that this dog loves chicken and cheese and he told me to lose the cheese. It's really tough, however, since he doesn't eat that much and it's one of the few things he does like. When I first got him, he was very skittish around men. He had belonged to an elderly lady, who died. But this dog would take cheese from Freddy Kruger!:D

Since my dogs are small, they get canned food, usually one prescribed by the vet, since they have been older. The only real problem I've had is with my terrier, Sara, since she appears to have allergies, so I have to be careful with her. I don't know yet if the allergies are to food, but we've talked about a special diet for her, as well. *sigh*:shrug:

[SW FL Dem]

8. My cairns love raw vegetables, especially baby carrots

They are good for their waistline too - much better than dog treats.

[Rhiannon12866]

10. I've heard of people who give their dogs raw carrots

And the dogs seem to love them. I did try giving my cocker carrot pieces a couple of times, but the last time he threw them up, a couple of days later, still completely intact, so that was the last time I tried that. When I adopted him, I was told his teeth weren't very good, so maybe carrots are best for younger dogs with sharp teeth. Barney was 17. But he managed just fine with the broccoli, though I did steam it.:-)

[retread]

20. Try this for your dog with allergies. They make great dog food.

http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/dogs/simple_food_overview.html

[auburngrad82]

4. Do not feed dogs onions or grapes

They are both toxic to dogs and can cause renal failure. Everyone knows not to feed chocolate but a lot of people don't know about other foods that are harmful to dogs.

[Ellen Forradalom]

5. Ooops, the dog got into the grapes while I was out

He dragged some onto the floor, but didn't eat more than one or two.

[sleepyhead]

9. Or macadamia nuts!

Or garlic.

[Rhiannon12866]

11. I didn't know about onions, but I did know about grapes AND RAISINS!

I read a scary article about how they can be toxic to dogs and gave copies to both of my vets.
:scared:

And NOT everyone knows about chocolate. My vet always has piles of handouts at holidays. And it's not just GIVING dogs chocolate. You have to be careful that they can't reach it. Just after Christmas, a couple of years ago, I came home to find the living room littered with papers. My MOTHER had put a gift basket of food UNDER THE TREE! My cocker had gotten into it and scarfed a chocolate bar. I spent the entire evening on the phone, with the Emergency Clinic, who had me call ASPCA Poison Control, who needed to know exactly what kind of bar it was, so I had to call the woman who had given it to my mother. It cost me in fear, $, and an entire night's sleep, because I was told I had to watch my dog, just because somebody wasn't thinking.:-(

[Ellen Forradalom]

22. Raisins == KILLA DOG FARTS

when they don't poison, of course. I once fed a little snack-size box of raisins to my husband's first dog. That night she farted so loudly that we both awoke and bolted upright in bed--twice!

[livetohike]

6. Just be careful not to overfeed

My dogs love homemade chicken or beef soup. They eat all kinds of vegetables (raw or cooked) and fruit, too. They love toast. They love cheese and peanut butter. I spoil them to death. Everything in moderation though.

The danger (no grapes, or onions) is in over feeding them.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. I forgot about soup. I used to give my little Sam some chicken broth

When I couldn't get anything else into her. And it was suggested by my vet's office that I try toast with a little peanut butter on it, when I was having trouble getting meds into my dog. And you're right, moderation is the key. My little guy would eat his weight (9 lbs.) in cheese, if I'd let him!:-)

[hobbit709]

14. I've got a

80 lb lab-chow moose that gets into my pepper garden and eats habaneros right off the bush. Doesn't even get thirsty. He also loves pickled herring in sour cream sauce.

[livetohike]

15. Definitely a Texas dog!

Wow! Habaneros.....

I'm sure the pickled herring are a great treat. I'll have to try that with my dogs. So far they like all people food.

[China_cat]

17. Sounds like he'd do well with

my 2 that love Szechuan Chinese and dill pickles.

(Not that they get more than an occasional...like twice a year maybe...taste)

[UrbScotty]

16. I feed Swifty a little every now and then

Probably not a good idea, since she is on a diet.

[lukasahero]

18. Wow, I'm not ashamed to admit this now :-)

I was afraid I'd get things thrown at me if I admitted my lab "cleans" our dinner plates (a practice started by my husband and impossible to break because of those big, sad Lab eyes if the plates are not forthcoming). Of course, the dishes then go in the dishwasher so don't think we're gross or anything.

It's usually just a bit of leftover chicken (which my husband thoroughly debones) and whatever sauce might be left behind (the moose loves buttermilk) so it's not much but I've felt like I'd be hung out to dry as a terrible mommy for doing such. Glad to hear that some vets say it's ok. :-)

[Ellen Forradalom]

19. You know, dogs had to eat something

before the days of commercial dog food. And dogs are omnivorous scavengers. So I can't imagine that a moderate amount of appropriate people-food is a bad thing.

[FuzzyDicePHL]

21. Plate-licking

Molly (mollydog.textamerica.com) gets to lick our plates every once in a while, if what we had wasn't too salty, fatty or spicy. My mom, the retired microbiologist hates that we do it but we use a dishwashing machine too so I don't worry about it.

One of Molly's fave things of all (besides the normal ones like cheez and pnut butter) is the tuna water from a can of tuna fish. I used to give this to my Lulu (www.lulu.net), and it makes me feel good to continue this with Molly.

Recently I got a bottle of that Iams Savory Sauce to try out (free w/ rebate!), and put a very teensy bit of that on her all-dry feed, and she reeeally likes it.

Molly also really loves veggies, esp. carrots and bits of herbs like parsley and cilantro. Occasionally I'll give her the non-iced and non-filled crusts off Pop-tarts, but not that often b/c the processed flour can't be any better for her than it is for me.

Thanks for starting this thread, Ellen. I knew about chocolate, onions and garlic, but had never heard of grapes (which Molly loves!) being poisonous (raisins are not an issue at my house b/c I dislike them). :)

[arikara]

23. We always fed our dogs on table scraps

anything and everything that we ate the dogs got (except desserts). They were always healthy with no health problems. They hated the dog food that they got when there wasn't enough scraps. When you find out what's in the dog food, you can hardly blame them. Even the vet recommended ones are full of unhealthy "byproducts" and too much filler and preservatives. And there wasn't any of the good organic ones available when we had dogs.