Do you let your pet eat off your plate

[Westie Woman]

What do you let your pet eat off your plate? I sometimes give my cat cream cheese and yougurt, but I don't let her literally eat off my plate. My dogs don't get any people food, even though they beg at every meal.

[nsweezie]

Oh, I am ashamed to admit that both my animals will on occasion eat right off my plate!!
Of course I only let them when no one is arround.
Yes they are spoiled rotten :-)

[jackiesdaisy1935]

We do and we don't. After we have ice cream
I let them have a tiny bit off the spoon and scoop it out of the plate for them. They sit and each takes a turn. I don't want them to have very much, so they each get a couple of turns on the spoon for the taste and then the spoon goes into the dishwasher.

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[Pam]

I have to admit I have let Bella lick my bowl after ice cream and she also licks the insides of my yogurt cup (if Trevor isn't around... He has ALWAYS had first lick of the inside of the yogurt cup!). If hubby saw Bella licking my bowl he wouldn't be happy, but I figure that's what dishwashers are for!

[Daisy's Mom]

Okay, I confess. And I know it's bad for them... but you have no idea how tough it is to say no to big droopy Basset eyes! Daisy licks my plates clean, despite the disgusted glances my family throws me. But she's such a big help when I don't like the food and don't want to hurt my mom's feelings I just slip it under the table (where she always waits... that's a bad habit I have started: begging) and then compliment my mom on her fine cooking, showing off my clean plate! And I will confess that I occasionally share my fork/spoon with her too. I know, I know! I'm a bad Mommy! I can't help it, honestly! YOU sit with those eyes staring up at you and try to say no



P.S. This is my first attempt at putting a picture on here from my webshots album... please tell me if it worked


[This message has been edited by Daisy's Mom (edited May 29, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Daisy's Mom (edited May 29, 2001).]

[Daisy's Mom]

I did it!!! Thanks Spencer!!!

[aly]

My babies never eat off my plates. Being diabetic, they are never interested in my fruits and veggies. When I do eat something they like, after I'm done I'll let them have a little off my fingers.

I never let them lick directly off my dishes because as much as I hate it, my mother's voice is always ringing through my head! I can't get it out. I need an exorcist.

[ilovehounds]

Oh My Gosh Daisy you are soooo adorable, I have been waiting to see a pic of you ! It was well worth the wait What a sweet face.

I to can't resist the hound dog please can I have some look, Hannah gets to lick my plates and bowls after Im done eating and she always gets bites of my crackers and veggies.

Copper gets all my scraps, I know they aren't suppose to eat them but he is an outside dog and he doesn't get to like my plate so I give him scraps (NO BONES )

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~~ My House Is Not A Home Without A Hound ~~

[Freckles]

I have no problem with Freckles (the cat) licking up the milk left in my cereal bowl when I'm finished with it, because I wash the dish afterwards.

What turns me off is seeing pets licking faces. It's too late to wash the face after!

[RachelJ]

The operative word here is "let". Hannah, as small as she is, can be a real contortionist when it comes to reaching the table. I occasionally have my breakfast cereal on a table in the bedroom. As I go about morning duties I hear the clang of the spoon against the dish as she licks out any remaining milk.

[thelmalu99]

I love my Charlie to pieces; he's my little bit of sunshine, but no, we don't eat out of the same dish.

[aly]

Hehe Freckles, I'm the opposite. I let any and every animal lick my face but not eat out of the same dishes!

[Sophies Daddy]

Sophie eats whatever I eat and she gets her own plate! Is she spoiled? Sure she is. I do, however, have good reason to not feed her "dog food."

The first of these is that there are ingredients in even the most premium of dog foods that are not approved by the FDA for human consumption. Why is this the case? Because it is not healthy for us to eat. If it is not healthy enough for us to eat, it certainly is not healthy enough for my dog to eat!

The second reason for my shunning of dog food is the old-age thing. The longest lived dogs I have met have nearly always subsisted mostly or entirely on people food. There have been exceptions to this, of course, but the trend seems to be that dogs who eat dog food generally live shorter lives. I have made it a point when I meet older dogs to ask the parents what the dogs eat and when I hear about "young" deaths, I do the same. Here is be the breakdown of what I have found:

• Longest life: People food or primarily people food
• Medium life: Premium dog food
• Shortest life: Super premium dog food, "special blend" dog food from private companies, cheap dog food.

*NOTE*:Longest life means the dog consistently lives more than two years past expected life for the breed, medium life means expected life span, shortest life means less than expected life span for the breed.


The final reason I don't feed dog food is because of evolution. We created the dog from wolves etc. and the relationship is one that goes back some fifteen thousand years. Up until the creation of dog food around seventy years ago, dogs ate our table scraps. We had been cooking our food long before the advent of the dog, so I am a bit skeptical about raw food diets as well. The solution?: I feed my dog what I eat to keep the natural balance of things.

Food for thought?

[aly]

The topic of dog food seems to be a never ending debate among dog lovers. I think we can all agree that grocery store brands are YUCK. Beyond that, there is much controversy. I know people that feed the BARF diet with much success and I know people who strongly oppose the BARF diet. I think there are several good brands of premium dog food that dogs can live long lives on. I personally would not feed Reece everything I eat because I'd be afraid of giving him something thats bad (like onions) without realizing it. I am not opposed to a strictly human food diet as long as it is researched extensively. I personally see the same success with BARF diets and premium dog foods as I do with stricly people food diets.

[Karen]

I have to weigh in on what Sophie's Daddy said - when I was growing up, my family had a 3/4 Great DAne, 1/4 Lab mix. Basically, she was a Great Dane, size and build-wise with a Lab-ish face. Sweet as can be, I have often told Gracie stories here on Pet Talk. Gracie lived on dry dog food (kibble) of what brand I cannot remember, but not any "specialty" brand, and it was always supplemented with a little bit of canned food stirred in to make it "tasty." She also got table scraps, dog treats, etc. Great Danes have an average life-span of Great Danes is usually 7-9 years from what we were told, so we were a little sad when she started to grow grey at 5 or so. She lived to be an amazing (to the vet, his staff, etc.) 14 1/2 years old. To what did the vet attribute this? She's spoiled rotten and loved too much!