Feeding my dog "human Food"?

Question

We have always fed our dog our meat scraps, with the bone, is this okay? after christmas we gave her our left over ham, She tore it up..... My mom was telling me this can cause worms and make her sick, she has never gotten sick from it? she loves it!

I need some real advice, not just what you think or your opinion...I need to know if it is really BAD for her.

I should add, we do feed our dog
doggie food everyday, this is just what we might have left over.

Answer 1

My sister in law is a vet tech, she just always tells us- no chicken bones, grapes, raisins, or onions. She said its actually good to give ur animals fruits and veggies as a treat, just dont over feed them, so they get fat!

Answer 2

If it's good enough for you why isn't OK for the dog.

Would you like to live on what isn't much more than flavored
who knows what. What do you think is in canned dog food anyway? Its just the bad cuts of meat that humans don't choose to eat.

When I was a youngster we never bought special food for our pets.

The thing is that the dog should have a well balanced diet & with table scraps some times it may come up a little short.

Answer 3

Cooked human food is generally OK for dogs - all meat is OK, for instance. Chocolate is a big NO, obviously, as is onion and a few other things.

I wouldn't give the dogs bones simply because I know chicken bones splinter and shouldn't be given to dogs and I don't trust others to not splinter either.

Many dog owners feed their dogs real meat instead of the overly processed food made for them.

I wouldn't feed dogs raw meat for the same reasons outlined in my link - mostly the food-safety ones. Some people do, but you have to really know what you're doing.

Answer 4

I think when most people say that they're thinking of chips, candy, doughnuts, and junk food. Table scraps aren't great for a dog either, depending on what you had for dinner. I don't give my dog human food because I don't want him to beg for it. Drives me insane. If he knows he's not going to get it, he doesn't bother. But he'll practically do a back flip out of excitement when I'm preparing his dinner, he loves dog food. He's never had human food so he doesn't know what he's missing out on. On the other hand, my roommate's dog is spoiled rotten, my roommate's mom let him lick the lasagna pan after we'd eaten it. He is a TERRIBLE begger, he'll sit and stare at you intensely until you're done or give him a bite. I can't stand that. Yeah, they LIVE off of that stuff because it's some kind of nourishment, that doesn't say much about their quality of life or how long they live. In every picture you see of dogs in those countries they look sickly. I like my dog to be healthy so I feed him dog food. And when I want to treat him I give him dog treats. So there's simply no reason to give him human food, he's already well fed and content as it is.

Answer 5

As my dog's vet explained to me: about 20% of people feed thier dogs a diet of MEAT & Vegetables. This is what dogs in the wild eat! And also what dogs ate BEFORE there was any commercial dog food. In my own personal experience, my dog (a rottie) would not eat ANY commercial dog food when we got him. He went for days without eating, and i finally broke down and fed him meat - he was hungry! As per the vet - this diest is ok. Meat-which he gets one time per day.Veggies - i am lucky -he will eat just about anything. Rice or potato. And he also gets pet tabs - a vitamin, in case anything is lacking. Of course this food is unseasoned. And of course no onions or chocolate. He is in PERFECT health - no worms, a smooth and glossy coat, and a happy dog. He is now 4 yrs old. If I ever got another dog, I would do it the same way. Oh, and he has found a dry food that he does like,and it is available to him all the time.

Answer 6

The ham itself as long as it is fully cooked to wellness, or whatever the directions call for to kill all the bacteria, that is fine. It may give the dogs a upset stomach, and it could lead to worms if not fully cooked, b/c what is fully cooked for human consuption might not be fully cooked for pet consumption, since our bodies work in different ways. The bones to anything are very dangerous and should NEVER be fed to any animal under any circumstances b/c it can and probably will splinter and lead to digestive and throat and mouth problems that could be very expensive upon such a incident occurring. Hope this helps, and good luck!!

Answer 7

It's ok in small amounts, as long as her primary diet is dog food. Of course, pork is not very good for dogs. Beef and chicken are ok, though. I'd avoid giving bones of any kind. And as long as the meat is properly cooked, it should not make her sick, unless she has a sensitive stomach. Think about it, people don't usually get worms from eating meat (that's properly cooked).

Answer 8

As long as she's also getting a nutritious dog food, it's not going to kill her or give her worms (Not to mention that it's too late now - Once they get their paws on human food, it's all over with!).

I don't personally feed my dogs anything except dry dog food, but when I was growing up (Times were different then...) my dog ate whatever the family did and lived to the ripe old age of 17.

Answer 9

try asking your vet, they are the animal experts, but I do not believe in giving our beloved k-9 companions human food as it can really help lead to being overweight and heart disease. Give your pets only dog food. I had a dachshund that was given people food as well as dog food and he was too heavy for his size and breed and also suffered congested heart failure which is fluid getting trapped in the sack surrounding the heart and making it difficult for it to work effeciently. After he died of a heart attack and after I lost both of my parents I was given 1 dog and bought another and I gave them strictly dog food and they were the correct weight for their breeds.

Answer 10

Ham is one of the worse meats you can give your dog, it is far too salty and can cause problems in her liver...which could go undetected by you but felt by the dog. You should never give your dog a cooked bone, cooked bones do not digest and can kill your dog. Every now and then meat is ok but stick to a proper dog food diet, this includes dry food, a little canned food and RAW bones for your dog to devour. you have been lucky so far but know that the majority of human food is not suitable for your dogs digestion system and that you are slowly murdering her.