I was reading dog answers-tablescraps pro and con. Someone wrote that?

Question

tablescraps gave a dog worms. I've heard this before but never from anyone with opinions that I consider valid. Are they saying they feed their families food infested with worms or the people with worms pass them on to the dogs when they partially eat the food? These are the only way I can figure that tablescraps give dogs worms.Any comments? I don't have enough scraps to give all my dogs but I do cook for them sometimes.Would this be considered high risk for worm infestation?

Answer 1

It's sadly amazing how many ignorant people keep spreading ignorant legends.

So far as a dog is concerned it gets roundworms while drinking from its mother, it gets tapeworms from being flea-bitten, it gets hookworm through the skin of its feet, it gets hydatids worms or sheep measles worms from eating uncooked offals & ovine-meats, it gets heartworms from being mosquito-bitten.
But nothing & no-one gets worms from table foods for humans unless they use one of the spiced-&-vinegared but-not-cooked meat or fish recipes from Europe, Scandinavia or Japan.

As for the other urban legends in various answers:

All dogs and wolves descend from proto-canids, and many branches of domestic dogs have been mated into a wolf line of canids at some stage in their development.
Which means that the canine digestive system works best on an animal-protein diet - carrion, fresh killed mammals, grasshoppers, reptiles, birds' eggs. The canine digestive system cannot digest cellulose, and ALL plant cells are encased in cellulose. When desperate for food, canids will eat grains and tubers, but get little benefit from so doing, apart from the taste plus a temporarily-full stomach. One b_itch I sold used to get skinny in autumn; the owner then realised that she was stealing plums from the branch that hung over the boundary fence - they tasted sweet, but went straight through and helped take her real food through with them.

Plant proteins need to be cooked in order to make the protein digestible by carnivores. Which is a pity, because plants extract MANY useful minerals from the soil. The special plant-diets needed to slow the progress of certain nerve diseases require that the cell walls be smashed by mechanical maceration, and then enzymes used to convert the material to a form that a canine digestion can make use of.

In the course of domestication dogs adapted to digest leftovers from the plates of their masters - which would mainly be cooked vegetables & bones, seeing as few people stop before they've eaten all the meat on their plate. Dogs are hyper-sensitive to many raw plants, including garlic and grapes, but I doubt anyone here puts those out as table scraps.
Anyone who puts enough salt & pepper on their food to harm their dog probably couldn't tolerate the taste themselves.
That interesting but almost forgotten word, "moderation", should apply in all things.

So base your pooch's diet on meat - either freeze-treated by nitrogen, or cooked, as either kills parasites - supplemented by cooked vegetables aka table scraps. Ideally, the meat should be on small bones such as ribs & the brisket (or all the bones from rabbit-sized animals), to improve the calcium-phosphorous balance by being chomped and digested, and to make the facial muscles work.

Those who consider kibble to be safe "dog food" should check out the extent of bloat BEFORE kibbles came on the market roughly 30-35 years ago and compare it with the bloat situation now in every country that has kibble as the commonest "dog food". And study the articles found at http://www.vet.purdue.edu/epi/bloat.htm
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/GSD_Friendly/, who got his first dog in 1949 and has had GSDs continuously as of 1967, being the breeder of most of them

Answer 2

When you cook meat properly, it should kill any worms, so feeding a dog undercooked or uncooked meat would be the only way I know of that they could get worms from it. But don't give them too many tablescraps--they need better nutrition than the tablescraps can provide, and they'll turn up their noses at dog food if they have human food. My aunt has an annoying little bichon that my parents are stuck with while she's in rehab. The aunt fed him tablescraps all the time, so he'd never eat his food. When Mom got him, he stopped getting tablescraps--only dog food. Not only does he eat his dog food, the groomer has commented that his skin looks better than it ever has.

Answer 3

No! Unfortunatly some answers given here are very wrong! Dogs cant get worms from table scraps at all. Nor do people get worms from their food either. If that were true everyone would be worm infested all the time. LOL

Table scraps just are not good for dogs because of the fact that we humans usually make our food much higher in spices and fat. dogs dont and cant tollerate all the fat and some things just are not good for them to eat in the first place.

If your cooking for your dogs it should no, salt, pepper or anything else and very bland. It's ok to cook for them from time to time as long as it is also mixed in with their kibble too.

Answer 4

I don't know where this person got their information but they are soooooo wrong. Feeding your dog table scraps does not give them worms. I feed my dog table scraps and he doesn't have any worms. My dog is like Mikey on the Life cereal commercials, he'll eat anything. Cooking for your dogs is not considered high risk for worm infestation. If that is the case then what you cook for yourself would give you worms. Boy!!! Where do people come up with these things from?

Answer 5

I would think the only way that tablescraps gave their dog worms was if they were giving them the food that they found in the back of the fridge that had already gone bad or something.

Our dog refused to eat regular dog food and would only eat tablescraps. The food went straight from the table into his bowl. He never got worms and lived to be 15 (people) years old.

I would have to say that it isn't a high risk unless you're giving him something that is already old. I would also avoid fruit just because it gives dogs the runs.... and chicken & pork bones just because they splinter.

Answer 6

The only way those table scraps would give your dog worms is if they were infested in worms and their eggs and larvae. Of course, you yourself having eaten the food and having consumed more of it would therefore have ingested more worms. However, most people wash and cook their food, which would kill these ecto parasites should there have been any. Besides, most worms and their larvae and eggs (providing we are not talking about garden worms here) are passed out of the dog's butt, and I don't know anyone who would serve food contaminated by dog faeces to their family.

So no, I think your dogs- and you and your table scraps- are safe from worm infestations.

Answer 7

No feeding table scraps will not give your dog worms unless you're feeding them scraps out of the garbage can infested with bottfly maggots - which I seriously doubt!! These little buggers live under the skin of animals and can infect humans too. A b*tch can pass worms onto her pups, dogs can get worms from eating animals feces which contain worms, and there's heart worm which is passed on by mosquito's.

Answer 8

tablescraps do not give a dog worms.
None the less, ...certain foods are not good for them.
Such as onions,mushrooms and grapes....as well as those rawhide products. They are all worse than chocolate.
I've been rescuing and assisting with training dogs for 25 years and i've never heard that.
IF anything could make a dog sick it would be all the crap food out there , the ones in walmart and grocery stores.
People dont realize what is in them, ....
...My treats for all of my dogs are raw, washed fruits....and veggies, such as carrots , apples....potatoes....stringbeans,....
They get some each morning......
good luck and keep your pooch nice and warm this winter!

Answer 9

No, table scraps do not give dogs worms, I am guessing this is one of those old wives tales. I never heard that one before, but I have had more than one person tell me that milk gives dogs worms....unless you are feeding your dog rotten food that you find in the trash bin, or eating worm infested food yourself, there is no risk of worms from table scraps. It is not recommended just because some dogs will turn away from their food and wait for yours, and scraps of your leftovers will generally not create a balanced canine diet. That being said, I will sometimes toss some scraps of meat, leftover brown rice, or things like that into my dogs kibble. One of my dogs LOVES raw asparagus (she is really strange), but they primarily eat dog food.

Answer 10

As previous poster stated, your dog is unlikely to get worms from table scraps. The biggest danger is in that dogs do not metabolize food as people do and their nutritional needs aren't the same. They can develop pancreatitis as well as lesser digestive ills - and it depends on the dog as to how severe a reaction they have. Some will become violently ill on one feeding. Best to keep on the safe side and avoid giving them table scraps.

Answer 11

Pets and humans can get parasites as well as disease from raw or undercooked meats.

Table scraps are ok in moderation....make sure any meat you feed is boiled not fried, baked etc....boiled chicken breast is a good treat. You can cook some up ahead of time and store it in the fridge.

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/protect_your_pet_from_common_household_dangers/foods_potentially_poisonous_to_pets.html

The link is a list from the Humane Society of foods that can be toxic to pets.