I have two other cats that eat their cat food just fine. I just have one female cat that refuses to eat cat food. The other cats give her a weird look. Will dog food hurt her? She loves the stuff!
2006-11-04 16:16:47 · 15 answers · asked by Jay S 5 in Pets ➔ Cats
Dog food is specifically for dogs and cat food is specifically for cats. If your cat continues to only eat dog food and not cat food it can be detrimental to her health. There are nutrients and minerals in cat food such as Taurine which is not in dog food. Taurine is essential to your cats diet.
Taurine is indispensable to maintain the completeness of the retina of the eye ; (the retina is the membrane that covers the fundus of the eye, on which pictures are formed). In the retina, there is 100 to 400 times more taurine than in the blood. Since 1975, one knows that in the cat, a chronic deficiency of taurine induces a progressive degeneration of the retina, leading to a total blindness within 2 years. The correction of the diet allows to stop the evolution, but the lesions are not reversible.
Taurine represents 50 % of the free amino-acids in the cardiac muscle. Rather recently (1987), a relationship has been established between taurine deficiency in the diet and the occurence of specific cardiac troubles. The affected animals present an important dilatation of the left part of the heart. The addition of taurine in the diet is enough to restore a normal situation.
Please make sure that your cat eats cat food and if she refuses it is very important to supplement the diet with a vitamin for cats that contains the essential amino acides including taurine.
2006-11-04 16:22:56 · answer #1 · answered by MsDolittle 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Use Dry science diet dog food with a little can food mixture, but don't give her to much can food (about 4 ounces is what I did) or your dog will have runny poop. If she doesn't eat it, then either let it sit out until she does or put it up and give it back to her at noon or supper time (depending if your feeding her 2 or 3 times a day). Eventualy she will eat it when she gets hungry enough. My lab, like most labs, are very playful and high strung. So be prepared for her to get into everything until you teach her different.
2016-03-19 03:39:16 · answer #2 · answered by Shane 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Once in awhile eating the dog food is OK, but there are important ingredients added to cat food that cats need. I would just hold off feeding her the dog food, she will eventually get hungry enough and eat the cat food. Do you feed your cats canned cat food, dry cat food or both. Maybe feed her the same brand of dry cat food as the dog food. The ingredients might be similar enough to make her happy.
2006-11-04 16:46:49 · answer #3 · answered by ? 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hahaha awww. That is definately cute. No the dog food shouldn't hurt her, it just might not have some of the nutrients or vitamins the cat food would provide her. Eating the dog food is fine as long as she doesn't start barking. Other than that try giving her wet cat food every now and then that is mixed in with her dry cat food and see if you can slowly wean her off of the dog's chow.
2006-11-04 16:26:00 · answer #4 · answered by Jo 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Cats should not eat dog food. It doesn't supply their nutrient needs.
What food brand are you buying your cat? Perhaps you simply need a switch. Try a good brand like Eukanuba, Felidae, or Natural Balance. If all else fails and she still refuses to eat kibble, try wet food or perhaps do some research and take up a RAW diet.
2006-11-04 23:14:21 · answer #5 · answered by Kitty 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i had the same problem. i would mix a little cat food in dog food. as time went by i would have 1/2 dog food and 1/2 cat food. after a while, my cat started eating reg. cat food. but i dont think the dog food will hurt her.
2006-11-04 16:20:20 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dog food is not suitable for cats. Cats have special nutrient requirements that are not catered for in dog foods. If cats miss out on these nutrients then yes it will be detrimental to their health. Get a good quality cat food and leave it down - you are making your cat fussy by giving her the dog food not to mention jeopardising her health.
2006-11-06 15:07:22 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dog food does not contain the proper nutrients she needs. It can cause health issues if she doesn't eat right for a long time. I have a cat I got from a neighbor and they only fed her dog food. She ate small animals to get the extra nutrients she needed but it stunted her growth. SHe's small for her age.
2006-11-04 16:20:30 · answer #8 · answered by beweird22 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My vet said thats ok,but try not to let the dog eat the cat food..
All animals digest food differently..
2006-11-04 16:23:25 · answer #9 · answered by brbrhlm 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
have you tried giving her fish or moist cat food because I don't think dog food would hurt her but try giving her moist food...never give her human food besides fish because she'll jump on the table and counter trying to get human food
2006-11-04 16:22:35 · answer #10 · answered by gatonaonao 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋