Is it OK to feed dogs table scraps?

Question

Examples: bites of chicken, steak, fish, etc..., dry cereal, carrots, basically anything except chocolate, grapes, and raisins. Is all of this OK?

Answer 1

Do not feed your dog fatty meats or onions. Cooked or boiled chicken without skin, fat and bones is okay. Some plain white rice okay.

Fatty foods are very bad for your dog.

Best to feed a good formula dog food - it has the nutrients your dog needs. There are websites for healthy homemade dog food also.

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Pancreatitis is a perplexing disease in dogs and cats for two reasons, no two cases are alike and we really do not know what causes the condition. Both the severity and the outcome of pancreatitis is quite variable. Some dogs and cats show only minimal discomfort and an elevation in pancreatic enzymes while in others pancreatitis is a life-threatening disease. When pancreatitis is severe, many organs of the body are affected and the prognosis (chance of recovery) is poor.

Cause:
The cause of pancreatitis in dogs and cats and humans remains unclear. However, there are certain things that we know that are associated with the disease. The first is diet. In both humans and dogs it appears that diets too rich in fat increases the risk of this disease.
http://www.2ndchance.info/pancreatitis.htm


Onion and garlic poisoning Top
Onions and garlic are other dangerous food ingredients that cause sickness in dogs, cats and also livestock. Onions and garlic contain the toxic ingredient thiosulphate. Onions are more of a danger.

Pets affected by onion toxicity will develop haemolytic anaemia, where the pet’s red blood cells burst while circulating in its body.

At first, pets affected by onion poisoning show gastroenteritis with vomiting and diarrhoea. They will show no interest in food and will be dull and weak. The red pigment from the burst blood cells appears in an affected animal’s urine and it becomes breathless. The breathlessness occurs because the red blood cells that carry oxygen through the body are reduced in number.

The poisoning occurs a few days after the pet has eaten the onion. All forms of onion can be a problem including dehydrated onions, raw onions, cooked onions and table scraps containing cooked onions and/or garlic. Left over pizza, Chinese dishes and commercial baby food containing onion, sometimes fed as a supplement to young pets, can cause illness.

Onion poisoning can occur with a single ingestion of large quantities or with repeated meals containing small amounts of onion. A single meal of 600 to 800 grams of raw onion can be dangerous whereas a ten-kilogram dog, fed 150 grams of onion for several days, is also likely to develop anaemia. The condition improves once the dog is prevented from eating any further onion

While garlic also contains the toxic ingredient thiosulphate, it seems that garlic is less toxic and large amounts would need to be eaten to cause illness.

Macadamia nuts are another concern. A recent paper written by Dr. Ross McKenzie, a Veterinary Pathologist with the Department of Primary Industries, points to the danger of raw and roasted macadamia nuts for pets.

The toxic compound is unknown but the affect of macadamia nuts is to cause locomotory difficulties. Dogs develop a tremor of the skeletal muscles, and weakness or paralysis of the hindquarters. Affected dogs are often unable to rise and are distressed, usually panting. Some affected dogs have swollen limbs and show pain when the limbs are manipulated.

Dogs have been affected by eating as few as six macadamia kernels (nuts without the shell) while others had eaten approximately forty kernels. Some dogs had also been given macadamia butter.

Other potential dangers Top
# Pear pips, the kernels of plums, peaches and apricots, apple core pips (contain cyanogenic glycosides resulting in cyanide posioning)
# Potato peelings and green looking potatoes
# Rhubarb leaves
# Mouldy/spoiled foods
# Alcohol
# Yeast dough
# Coffee grounds, beans & tea (caffeine)
# Hops (used in home brewing)
# Tomato leaves & stems (green parts)
# Broccoli (in large amounts)
# Raisins and grapes

http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/StoryTemplate_Process.cfm?specie=Dogs&story_no=257#ct-4

Answer 2

I have a 10 year old Dalmation that I feed table scraps to (in addition to his regular dog food). I treat the scraps like a treat that is given to him every once in a while. I personally feel that if I have ate the food then it can't be all that bad for him. I just make sure that he does not eat any chocolate because that is one food that is bad for dogs. My dog is just fine and not over weight.

Answer 3

Generally yes, the dog will love you for it, but you'll hate the messes his digestive system will produce in the middle of the night on your carpet. On top of that, your dog will become accustomed to eating like a human and beg for food, and won't leave the kitchen area. It's inadvisable for that primary reason. Dogs are natural hunters so many of "our" foods aren't natural for a dog to consume, though he might love you for giving in to this cute face, and indulging him.

Remember, whatever behavior you enable him to be a part of, it's harder to "untrain" him when he becomes annoying, and runs the likelihood of being punished, which just confuses the animal. Don't send mixed signals. Toss a nice rib eye bone their way once in a while if you feel inclined,, but don't indulge the rest, and if you do feed, make sure it's away from the table, outside in the yard, so the dog doesn't link food to you dining at the table, or the kitchen. A dog will just about eat anything you give him, (keep in mind he licks his butt, his genital area, and can even consume cat pooh). If you want a healthy companion maintain restraint, and provide the recommended food.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Veterinarians have proclaimed a number of times that table scraps from humans is NOT good for either cats or dogs.. It contains too much starches/fats/etc... Just look at the people.. would you want your dogs to look like them?

Answer 5

It is NEVER OK to feed table scraps to your dog. He should stick to food that is meant specifically for dogs. There are some things in human food that may be harmful to dogs.

Answer 6

Sure.....if you want to cause chronic gastritis, enteritis, HGE, acute and chronic pancreatitis, early-onset liver failure, early-onset kidney failure, etc., etc., etc.

Start saving up your $$$$ now to pay your veterinary bills as a result of feeding your dog table scraps. That's what keeps us in business....seriously. It's one of the most common problems we're forced to treat. (Often SEVERAL a day.) I'm not kidding. Steak and pork are the most common offenders.

Also....if you start out with something that is balanced and you add just one or two different ingredients to it, you end up with something that you've just UNbalanced. Why would you want to do that???

Christy....just FYI....baker's chocolate is NOT the only chocolate that is potentially fatal to dogs. It's just the MOST toxic. Wanna tell all the owners I know whose dogs ate other types of chocolate that the dog they buried in the back yard really didn't die before they called me?

NOTE: Dogs get heartworms from mosquito bites, not from food! That's just NOT even possible, no matter how poorly you feed your dog.

Re: The pancreatitis site that was posted....sorry, I don't recall the poster's name.....
The correlation between table scraps and pancreatitis in dogs has been shown to be quite clear according the the veterinary literature (volumes of textbooks and papers to which you have no access), as well as the experience of THOUSANDS of veterinarians. The rest of your post was very accurate, though! :-)

Answer 7

It's fattening and will give your dog very bad manners. If you're going to do it as a special treat every now and then, put the food in it's bowl. Otherwise you'll have an obnoxious begger. Also, the only chocolate that is fatal to your dog is bakers chocolate, but I still wouldn't recommend feeding it.

Answer 8

First, no cooked chicken bones. They are too brittle, and can cause your dog to choke.

Second, feeding table scraps at the table encourages begging. If you wish to feed the food to your dog, mix it in with their food in their own bowls. This encourages good food habits for the dog, who will associate his bowl with acceptable food, and any other food as unacceptable.

Answer 9

Yes it is ok to give table scraps to a dog as long as it is overly fatty, no spices, no chocolate, no grapes, no raisins not onions.
Chicken, steak (with fat removed), deboned fish,low sugar/low salt cereal such as Kix & Cheerios, carrots, green beans, watermelon, apple slices, pear slices are great low cal treats for dogs and dogs usually like them.
Many vets will recommend fruits & veggies and lowsugar/low salt ceral as treats instead of things like milk bones and other high calorie treats.

Answer 10

It's better not to give them and table scraps. If you really want to give it to your dog please make sure it have to be food that don't have any suger, salt or spice in it, otherwise its very bad for their body. If you want to give your dog chicken make sure you remove the chicken bone, because it might cause bleeding in doggie's intestines.