my dogs ages ranging from 6 months to 5 years have been fed cat food for the past month by my neighbor who was taking care of them while I was away!!!!!!!!!!!
she has lots of cats and lots of cat food so instead of buying dog food she kept the money and fed them canned tuna/salmon flavored cat food!!!!!!!!!!
will they become sick and should i beat up my neighbor?????
2007-06-19 04:26:01 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Dogs
YOU might have trouble getting them to eat dry kibble again, but that is the only problem.
Dogs can eat cat food and thrive. Cats on the other hand can become malnourished on a diet of dog food.
Next time you ask your neighbor to tend your dogs, leave her some dog food.
Doc
2007-06-19 06:20:29 · answer #1 · answered by Doc Hudson 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your dog will be fine. The nutrients are mostly the same. It's not like the food is "only" for cats. The food is nearly the same, just marketed differently.
Granted if they usually eat dry kibble (which they probably should), then having them eat exclusively canned food-whether it's dog food or cat food- is a bad idea. The nutrition's not the same--it's like taking a kid off of a meat and pasta diet and putting them on a seafood and chocolate cake diet.
Your neighbor is another story. If the agreement was that she'd use the money to buy your dog his food, and you told her specifically what food to get, then she didn't hold up her end of the bargain and you should probably say something.
2007-06-19 04:33:09 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't know about dog nutrition, but I do know about cat nutrition and your cat will not be healthy on dog food. It doesn't contain taurine which is essential to a cat. Aslo I'm sure it's full of grain, which is basically carbohydrates and your cat can develop diabetes and become fat. You need to be strict for their own sake and feed them high quality species appropriate diet. Feed them at the same time in different rooms. Take the food away after 30 minutes if they don't eat it and refrigerate it. Try again in a few hours. No animal will starve itself just out of being fussy about their food. The cat would be harder to adjust, but the dog will give in pretty fast. Pour some tuna juice over the cat's food, it should make it more appealing. You can try mixing it gradually, but you need to make a change or you are risking your pets' health in the long run. More about cat nutrition here:
2016-04-01 05:33:05 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'd leave the neighbor alone, just don't let your dogs be taken care of by her any more. Your dogs will be very sad for a while that they have to go back to dog food, but if it didn't make them sick right away, they'll probably be fine. My farm dog made a career out of eating the farm cat food. She got sausagelike, but was quite happy with life altogether.
2007-06-19 06:04:41 · answer #4 · answered by ibbibud 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I doubt they will become very sick. If they haven't thrown up yet then they will be fine. My dogs ate my cat's food for several years along with their dog food. We kept both dishes together and they would eat some cat food then eat some dog food but they prefered the cat food actually. We moved the dish because it is best to feed them dog food because it is specially made for them.
If your dog does get sick it is probably because it isn't used to eating that. Dogs will sometimes get sick even if you give them a different dog food because they just aren't used to it. So don't beat up your neighbor, your dogs will be fine :)
2007-06-19 04:33:47 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I had a dog once that was very sick and I ended up having to have him put down. During the 2 weeks he was in the hospital, the vet initally fed him canned cat food to get him to eat. She explained to me that they do that because it has a higher fat content that is appealing to dogs and she was trying to get mine to eat (he stopped eating). So, if my vet did it, i would think that it's ok for the short term. A month is another story though...
And yeah, beat your neighbor up for keeping money that was meant to be used on your dogs for herself.
2007-06-19 05:04:34 · answer #6 · answered by cardinalboy97 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you should definitely never let that neighbor watch your dogs again. I think that they will be fine, they haven't gotten sick yet so after that long they would be very ill and you would be able to notice a change in behaviors and they would be vomiting and have loose stool. Just make sure that you start feeding them their normal food. Wow your neighbor is a jerk i would totally get your money back.
2007-06-19 04:33:33 · answer #7 · answered by rdfew 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
poor babes. Will probably have upset tummies for a while, and lost out on a lot of nutrients. They should be okay, i defintely would have words with your neighbor and if you gave her money for food get it back. of course never let her watch them again.
2007-06-19 04:30:59 · answer #8 · answered by Cebsme 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it shouldn't be too much trouble but if there is a problem with your dogs then tell your neighbor what she did to them and then i'm sure she'll fix it.
2007-06-19 04:31:50 · answer #9 · answered by J.A.K. <3 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
cat food is ok because of the high protein.dogs need that stuff.
2007-06-19 04:40:02 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋