Cats who eat dog food

[Pam]

Bella, my dog, usually nibbles at her dry food most of the day and my cats seemed to be totally not interested in it until today. I just saw Trevor having a bite or two of her Eukanuba. It seems that I read somewhere once that a cat should never eat a dog's food since their little systems are not able to handle it and are prone to develop UTIs. (Of course when Bella saw Trevor at her dish she ran over and polished off her food! )

That's what they told me too Pam ! It has something to do with the balance of the food , the proteines , and also with ingrediences which cats cannot diggest . So , let your doggies chase away the catties from their foodbowl !!!

http://community.webshots.com/user/sydneybilliepets

[sasvermont]

Pam,

My guess is that a nibble/kibble or seven from a dog's dish can't be any worse than eating, well, lets say, as mouse. I suspect a steady diet of dog food would land your kitty in the Vet's waiting room. I would discourage it, for sure, but wouldn't worry unless the kitty spends all of his time at the dog's food. The dog will probably wise up and eat all of her food at one sitting. I call that competitive eating - it happens often in multiple pet homes. My cats are good that way - the often leave food for later and don't chow down. This includes Gabe, by the way.

You may want to check with your Vet the next time you go for a visit. Free advice is nice, as you write out your check for the many dollars in maintenance fees/services/shots! I am sure I have paid for camp for at least three of my Vet's kids.

P. S. Gabe was a real sweetie this AM. We had some one on one since G & M were in their daily nap mode. All is quiet here. We have our moments, but in general, I give this change a very, very high mark.

[Heather Wallace]

Yes I would imagine that is true. We have a dog staying here at the moment and I caught Max eating her food. i chase him as Max has a delicate stomach as it is but eating dog food would make him much worse, I think!

[krazyaboutkatz]

I've heard of dogs eating cat food but not cats eating dog food. I only have cats so I don't have a problem. When I was a kid we had to feed our cat up on the counter so our dog wouldn't eat her food. By the way Sas, who is Gabe? Is he the gray cat in your picture signature section? How did I miss this? Was there a thread about him?

[Pam]

Gabe was my daughter's cat who now lives in Vermont with SAS. There are two threads about how he came to become a New Englander! They are here:
http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...threadid=10551

and here:
http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...threadid=11833

[krazyaboutkatz]

Thanks Pam. I just read the threads and I'm so glad that Gabe is doing so well. He really seems to be happy now.