Fat and furry We're killing our pets with junk food

[n2doc]

Kelly Ryan From: Herald Sun October 28, 2010 4:28PM

FAST food, roast chicken and cream cheese are turning our beloved pets into over-fed, fatso furballs.

Treating cats and dogs as family members by heaping human helpings on them at meal times is taking a heavy toll, vets warn.

Not only are we dooming them to symptoms synonymous with human obesity, including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, breathing difficulties and pancreatitis, we are killing them by feeding them food that fails to meet their different dietary needs.

Animal Aid vet nurse Rebecca Taylor is seeing more pets bordering on obese because of the foods they eat.

"We've got one dog who shared bacon on toast and a cup of tea for breakfast every morning and others who get a cooked porterhouse steak for dinner each night," she said.


more
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/fat-and-furry-were-killing-our-pets-with-junk-food/story-fn3g9azp-1225944802970

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Until recently, my father fed his dog anything but commercial dog food.

He couldn't see the connection between his choice of diet and her digestive issues.

The vet finally got him to use a recommended diet that was designed specifically for dogs.

[GoCubsGo]

15. Commercial foods are part of the problem, however.

When I first got my cats, I fed them according to the recommendations on the side of the bag. They ballooned into furry, little balls--even on the "light food". My vet told me those recommendations way are too much. They do fine on half of what is suggested on the bag, especially as they get older. And, provided I don't overdo the treats.

BTW, anyone who is going to cut back rations or switch to a light food for their cats needs to do it slowly. Cats, especially overweight ones, are susceptible to liver issues when their food is reduced quickly.

[YOY]

2. Kind of tough to feed turtles junk food.

They just roll by it without a second glance.

Now an earthworm or a nice red strawberry...

[Codeine]

4. My tortoises would tear through a brick wall for a bright yellow dandelion.

Red and yellow seem to set off their "MUST EAT NOW!!" alarms. :)

[YOY]

10. It's definitely the color. They FLY across the room for that stuff.

The most interesting thing I ever fed them was a bunch of cicada grubs I dug up when rooting in my garden. They went NUTS.

Now gotta tell you what was on the inside of those grubs was not pretty, but the turtle's beaks were so covered in black bug guys I couldn't help laughing.

Looked like the stooges after a pie fight.

[KittyWampus]

43. can you post pix of your turtles? please?

[YOY]

72. Here they are in their cage...during a very special moment...please sing "Loving You" for this one.

I've since then gotten them a bigger cage and returned to using natural filler. The biodegradable stuff gets caught in their shells.

I've gotta find some pics of them close up and personal...

[KittyWampus]

79. I had no idea how turtles do it.

Cool.

[YOY]

81. That's just how boxies do it.

Female normal male has legs locked in female and tail touching.

Kinky I know.

Other turtles have other methods I have heard.

[KittyWampus]

82. Did your turtles yield eggs?

[YOY]

83. Yes, so far infertile. Bummer, I know.

We have tried to incubate.

[Roon]

28. I love tortises.

They are so cute and smart!

[Codeine]

68. One of nature's most wonderful animals. nt

[Brickbat]

21. Have you seen this site?

http://www.turtleseatingthings.com/

[YOY]

22. My wife will thank you in advance for me ruining her weekend by staring at that website!

n/t

[Brickbat]

62. Enjoy!

Be aware, however, that the cute level can reach high levels and you may need protective eyewear.

[InvisibleTouch]

31. There are, however, commercial turtle pellets...

...which are advertised as also being food for aquatic frogs and newts. Yeah, they will eat those, but when I look at the ingredients list I question the wisdom. Adult amphibians are pure carnivores, and those processed food sticks include plant material as well as protein. Can't imagine it's the ideal diet. For an omnivorous turtle they might be okay, but still not as good as the real thing.

There are canned iquana diets you can get, and even "snake sausages", essentially fake and processed reptile food for those who don't have the stomach to feed their pets what they really need to thrive. I try to feed all my animals a diet as close to fresh and natural as possible. I do use some commercially processed foods (fish flakes, rodent pellets), but I try to minimize that.

[YOY]

32. Yeah tried them. They don't like them.

Easy enough to give them a fresh strawberry, leaf of spinach, or even a banana from my own plate or to get the shovel and find a few nightcrawlers or crickets.

[Codeine]

66. When I had snakes people used to freak out

about me feeding them rabbits.

"Dude! you're vegan!"

"Yeah, but the snake isn't."

[InvisibleTouch]

70. Right!

There really isn't any other alternative for a snake than a meat source of some kind.

[Hekate]

85. My mom had two rescued desert tortoises in her back yard who were mad for strawberries and roses

They liked lettuce too, so I don't know how "pure" their carnivorousness was. They ate whatever bugs they could find; and she had to fence off the strawberries and rose bushes from them. Mom shared, though: any berries not nice enough for the bowl went to them, as well as the dead-headed roses.

[InvisibleTouch]

86. Tortoises are much more vegetarian than water turtles...

...so I can see how they would have loved strawberries and your mom's roses. :)

[JCMach1]

39. My red earred sliders are pigs and eat almost anything!

[Skidmore]

3. Well when I see advertisements for gourmet pet food with

filled with veggies that some people can't afford to eat, I would say I am not surprised. Since when did dogs harvest rice or carrots or peas to eat? On their own, dogs are carnivores primarily. The only time I've ever seen a dog eat greens was when it was sick.

[The Straight Story]

5. Now see, there is a good grant idea for a study: Did dogs harvest rice?

I will need to do extensive travel, stay in exotic places, and interview a lot of people. Ole uncle Sam might just cough up (or print) some money for me to get to the bottom of it all.

[GoCubsGo]

13. I see dogs eat veggies all the time. Cats, too.

I have a cat that goes ape over melon, while the other adores peas, beans, squash and pumpkin. They both love spaghetti sauce, as well. Most likely those veggies and grains in pet food are the blemished leftovers that people are not going to eat in the first place.

Dogs are omnivores, not carnivores, BTW. They eat plant materials just as they would meat. I've seen many a coyote scat with persimmon seeds in them. My old boss has beagles that will eat blackberries right off the bushes. They gobble up the veggies in the table scraps they're fed without thinking twice. And, I can't tell you how many parties I have been to where the dogs begged for crackers and chips. They had no problem gobbling down the baby carrots from the veggie plate. And, they begged for more of them.

[Arkansas Granny]

25. My dog has several plants that she likes to eat. When we go for a walk,

she looks for her favorites and knows where they grow. There are certain grasses that she likes, a little weedy vine with kind of star shaped leaves and the leaves of young elm seedlings to name a few. When we come across those plants she grazes for a little while before we move on. I've seen my cat munching on greens, also.

[TicketyBoo]

77. Our dogs

like sweet pea blossoms. They like carrots, too, and if your dog has a weight problem, green beans are a good choice. Lots of fiber and very few calories.



Our vet told me not to give them cooked bones because they can splinter and cause intestinal problems. He said if you want to give the dog a bone to chew on, go to the butcher and ask him to cut a leg bone into a manageable size.

[tpsbmam]

74. I knew a woman who was a vegetarian to the extent that her dog was also a vegetarian --

she refused to feed her meat. I'll be damned if that dog didn't live to be a pretty damn healthy 18 or 19 (I've forgotten which -- it was a long time ago). The only time I got pissed at her is when she brought her dog to my office (we could bring our dogs to work!) and my dog had a bone. Her dog was, of course, intrigued. She got all pissy about me having a bone there....in MY office. Oy, holier-than-thou persons of any persuasion make me nuts. The dog was healthy and active well into her dotage.

[Hekate]

84. Our vet recommends carrot and apple slices for doggy snacks, and our little old girl gobbles them up

She's tiny, so I have to be careful what goes in the mouth or I end up washing the other end at midnight. Bits of carrot and apple make her so happy and never cause a problem.

Our previous dogs, much bigger, not only got those but leftovers like baked yam skins. They thought those were wonderful beyond words.

[LynneSin]

6. My cats rarely get human food and when they do it's a tiny tiny piece

They like their pet food and are happy with it. Evita is healthy as can be and Abbott is a big cat but he's also very large boned. Vet says he could probably stand to lose a half pound to pound. But at 17lbs he doesn't look fat, I suspect he has some Maine Coon in him with his build.

But rarely do I give them food that I eat and I hardly ever see them begging unless it's chicken or fish I'm eating. And even then I'll give them a tiny tiny bite or two. Usually Evita will taste it and walk away, Abbott will finish his and be done. BTW this happens perhaps 2-3 times a month TOPS.

[marmar]

7. My aunt's Great Pyrenees is addicted to White Castle hamburgers.....

He turns his nose up at dog food.

[Codeine]

11. My first cat occasionally begged for food, then quickly remembered

that he did not care for veggies or soy products. :evilgrin:

[csziggy]

44. My calico used to practically mug me for potato chips

Anytime she heard the rustling of a bag that sounded like a potato chip bag, she went nuts if I did not share. Hubby's old cat loved bread - he'd chew through a bread bag and eat half a loaf at a time. A college roommate had a cat who loved mushrooms - preferably off pizza. The roommate liked pizza with mushrooms and Canadian bacon - the cat would eat the mushrooms and leave the bacon!

My current kitty will not eat people food. I can put a small piece of chicken or fish on his dish and he won't touch it. He mostly eats kitty cruchies, though he will get all excited about canned kitty food he won't eat more than a small spoonful per day. He's e;f regulating, too. I leave crunchies out all the time and he only eats what he wants. He is a very trim kitty and while he's now got a little middle age spread (he'll be ten next spring) he is no where near fat.

It's kind of nice having a kitty that does not want to steal our food!

[MH1]

73. My cats show no interest in my food except fish

They will pester me unrelentingly for salmon or tilapia. Of course that probably still happens because I usually give in and give them a little bit.

They mostly eat dry food of the Purina varieties. At night a little wet food where I give them any of the few brands they'll eat. Every night a small portion of treats.


They are both fit, active, and not an ounce overweight. :)

[moriah]

8. My grandmother made gravy to put on our poodle's kibble.

This was a woman who swore she hated animals until we moved in with her to help take care of her after my grandfather died and brought the 14-year-old poodle with us. He didn't gain weight and didn't die from it (he was attacked on our front porch by a loose aggressive dog a neighbor was petsitting and didn't secure properly.... while my grandmother was holding his leash).

Granny refused to bond with any other animal after that so I don't know if gravy for a decade would hurt a dog. But it didn't seem to hurt him much for the two years we lived there.

[elocs]

9. My vet loves to see my cat because he says it reminds him

of what a normal-sized cat should look like. She has gotten the same dry cat food for 17 years now and she loves it. No magic food bowl--she knows that I am the source of her food and that she needs to be nice to me. Human food? Yeah, lick the bowl, maybe, but that's it.

[Arkansas Granny]

27. I feed my dog and my cat dry food almost exclusively. It's a good quality

food, they have shiny coats, good energy and their weight is perfect at 11 and 9 years respectively. I've had pets who lived to a ripe old age in relatively good health on this diet. The dog gets a treat twice a day, and they both get a nibble of people food now and then when it is a high protein item like meat, eggs or cheese. They don't get table scraps.

[Dappleganger]

55. That's probably why our kitties do so well...

they get a high-quality dry food auto-dispensed a couple times throughout the day, and 1-2 times a week get a little can of their favorite ocean selection. The Maine coon kitty has never been overweight (if anything he looks lean), and the calico kitty is just fluff (part hair, part saggy middle-aged belly but no fat).

Two of our dogs are weight-challenged, however. Doxies tend to struggle with weight anyway, and one of ours really has since she was fixed. We have to be very strict with her portion-control. The best way they stay fit is regular walks and sprinting at least once a week at the dog park. They do get fed ground turkey/beef/brown rice/natural yogurt/shredded carrots once a week and eggs from time to time. Sometimes I'll bake them pumpkin doggie treats as well.

[Cirque du So-What]

12. I knew an elderly bachelor

who boiled an entire chicken for his dachschund every day of the world. That breed is prone to back trouble anyway, and the extra weight exacerbated those problems. The poor dog's belly actually dragged the ground, but Ed wouldn't stop 'taking care of' his little buddy. He was heartbroken when the dog finally died, of course, but he hastened the death of his companion by killing it with kindness.

[hobbit709]

14. My dogs get bits and pieces now and then.

All of mine are within the normal weight ranges for their breeds and towards the lower end of those ranges.
They get human food as occasional treats, not as a steady diet. And the leftover beef rib bones they get to gnaw on do wonders for their teeth.

[pintobean]

16. I clicked on this thinking it was about something else.

[eShirl]

17. I clicked, looking for a comment such as this.

:rofl:

[pintobean]

20. Actually, so did I.

But it wasn't here yet.

[tuvor]

18. After feeding our dogs raw for the past several years, I'd never go back.

Nice coats, they don't have that dog-smell, raw bones mean no teeth cleaning necessary, far fewer vet bills, and for "senior" dogs, they're spunky as hell.

[InvisibleTouch]

30. Yup, same here.

Not just "human foods" but junk kibble is a big part of the problem. And even "premium" kibble can't beat the real thing: a raw, fresh, natural diet.

My journey with dog food has evolved from junk kibble (having been told by a misinformed vet that all brands were "pretty much the same" and I would just be wasting money on the more expensive ones - when any glance at the ingredients list would prove otherwise) ... to "premium" kibble, to a mix of cooked carbs and veggies plus raw meat and calcium supplements, to now a nearly complete raw meat-based diet (including bones and organ meats). I would never go back.

[AngryOldDem]

19. My dog will never get people food/table scraps.

Not after seeing my mother kill two dogs by doing the same thing.

And, yes, I can relate to the porterhouse story because that's what one of the dogs got -- a little piece of it cut up just for him.

[Pathwalker]

23. Who is this we stuff? My cats eat cat food. I have one cat who loves yogurt,

so much so, I can't eat it in front of him without him trying to take it from me. When I'm done, I will occasionally scrape the last little bits and give him half a spoonful, but other than that, forget it. For what we pay for their cat food, they can damn well eat that. Yep, I'm mean - just ask them. Oh, and I pay them in cat treats when they present me with dead mice that they don't eat.

[Jennicut]

24. My kitty could gain weight if she wanted to, she is tiny.

She can only finish half a can at a time.

[DainBramaged]

26. My beautiful Buddha lived over 13 years and a few times a week

he went with me to the deli for a roll with butter and he shared my Oreo cookies.




I miss him every day.

:cry:


Murray and the Cash ONLY get puppin food.

[Lucy Goosey]

29. The only human food I give my kitty is plain fish...

...a mouthful of canned tuna or poached salmon once in a while. I hope that's not harming her. She is kind of chunky, but she has managed to lose weight since I put her on senior cat food.

[AnArmyVeteran]

33. Not sure how valid it is, but I heard too much tuna is bad for cats.

[petronius]

80. If I recall correctly, canned tuna for humans lacks some nutrients (taurine?)

that cats require, so it shouldn't be a major part of the diet. We feed ours (as a treat) some cat-specific tuna from Trader Joe's - it's nothing like the tuna we eat, which was a huge shock when we opened the first can - but they love it...

[AnArmyVeteran]

34. Not sure how valid it is, but I heard too much tuna is bad for cats.

[rae_ann-catlady]

35. I have 11 cats

I leave dry food out and I also feed canned food each morning and evening. I also have several strays that come to visit.......or maybe just to eat. I only have one cat that my veterinarian is concerned with regarding diet. She is the eldest of the family and gets almost no excercise, very sleepy. I have been giving her space of her own during the day (a unused bedroom) to moderate her diet. She hasn't complained yet.

[DainBramaged]

36. We MUST have pictures

Welcome to DU, the cat-friendliest place on the interwebs....


:hi:

[rae_ann-catlady]

45. Pictures......

Okay, let me get them off my phone and figure out how to post them. You don't ask for much do you? LOL

[AngryOldDem]

42. I think it's too rich for them.

As a rare treat it's probably fine but not as a daily staple.

I used to work at a place that attracted a lot of stray/feral cats. (It was near a river.) People there were always bringing out BIG cans of tuna and feeding a single cat the entire can. A couple of us then started buying wet and dry cat food to wean them off Chicken of the Sea before it became a bigger problem.

[kestrel91316]

46. Fish is universally inappropriate in cats. They are desert animals, direct

descendants of Felis libyca, the desert wildcat of North Africa, the Negev, and Arabian Peninsula. This probably accounts for the large numbers of GI, urinary, and skin problems we cat vets see in cats fed fish or food with fish as an ingredient.

And there is a clear, unequivocal correlation between tuna consumption and the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma in cats. I just euthanized one of these a couple of weeks ago.

[Lucy Goosey]

49. Thanks for this...

...good to know. So even cat food with fish is bad, eh?

[kestrel91316]

54. yep; poultry is the best, most biologically appropriate animal protein

source for cats, so pick a cat food that has chicken or turkey. Beef is ok, not fabulous.

[Codeine]

67. Thank you so much for posting that.

I've tried to convince my cat-owning friends not to do this, but sadly even their vets often recommend tuna. Uphill battle.

[nadinbrzezinski]

37. Ironically the vet recommended human food

Over seed diet for conures. Then again I cook tasty, well balanced and lean food.

[pitohui]

59. a seed diet is not a natural diet for conures, so your vet is correct

i think a seed diet is ok for some of the australian parrots, like the cockatiels, but they come from a completely different environment

if you have watched wild conures (called parakeets also in the wild, although not related to australian parakeets) you have seen them going after fruit, flower, insects, etc as well as nuts/seeds -- a varied lean diet

so you have it just about right! i like to cook mixed veggies and sprinkle w. home grown greens a lot, although i do stir in vitamin A from time to time

[nadinbrzezinski]

61. Our cockatiel, who lived to 23

Was more of a seed eater but he still loved his corn, and yes chicken...and carrots.

[spanone]

38. not this 'we'

[TrogL]

40. My cats and dog are perfectly happy and healthy with their kibble

The dog gets apple slices as a treat.

The cats get leftover juice from a can of tuna.

[laundry_queen]

41. And yet, when I fed my pup the brand recommended by my vet

He died at age almost-13 with a splenic tumor. My parent's dog died soon after, at age 11 of heart failure. Both were small sized mutts, with poodle and maltese in them (both breeds known to live quite long)who were fed very little in table scraps and were normal weight. My aunt feeds her fat dog nothing but table scraps and junk and she's going on 18. And she's not a little poodle either, she's about the size of a border collie, but rounder.
My grandparents fed all their dogs table scraps and those that weren't hit by cars or shot by hunters (they lived in the boonies) lived to ripe old ages.
Commercial pet food, even the stuff recommended by vets, is just as bad, imo as feeding dogs too much steak or bacon.

[ChiciB1]

51. I Think I Agree With You... After Reading The Contents On The Labels I

sometimes wonder if I WANT to feed them the commercial food. Could just be me, but I've fed my animals a bit of both since I've had them. The only thing I worry about is too much salt. I buy soup bones and bake them in the oven with garlic powder and they love them. And it keeps their teeth clean and strong.

[GreenPartyVoter]

47. My kittehs did get heavy for a while, but on kibble not people noms. We've sorted out their

portions and feedings and at 16 years old they are both looking great. (Much better than their Mom! LOL)

[ChiciB1]

48. O Have Two Chocolate Labs & My Vet Told Us It's Fine To Add Human Food

with the dry food. Neither one of our dogs is overweight and other than some ear problems have never gotten sick.

Besides, what did they feed dogs and cats way back when? They didn't have all the commercial food and additives that is in what we buy now. While I don't recall exactly what it was my parents fed our animals, I don't think they bought canned or dry food for them. Many of their animals lived long healthy lives.

I've often wondered about this stuff, and I do add table food to the food we feed our dogs. And they LOVE veggies! I know some veggies are off limits, but carrots, asparagus, broccoli etc. they seem to like a lot. And I mix rice in with their food too. I don't want to shorten their life, but I've done this with every animal I've had. Our last dog, a german shepherd lived to be 16 and my cat lived to be 18. I don't know, I may have it all wrong.

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. Our poodle ate cooked meat and rice

Lived to 17

[ChiciB1]

53. Yeah, I'm Not Sure I Can Agree With NOT Feeding My Dogs Table Food.

They love it and they are healthy, so I guess it's up to each one what they want to do.

[flvegan]

52. My dogs get good vegetarian kibble, now and then a carrot to chomp.

Don't have a fat nor sickly one in the bunch (thankfully).

[Lucian]

56. Just like we're doing to ourselves.

I'm surprised a company hasn't made any motorized scooters for animals so they can ride around with their severely obese owners around walmart.

[TicketyBoo]

75. Motorized scooters, no…

…carts, yes.

http://www.k9-carts.com/products.php

[pitohui]

57. really i thought pets were living longer than ever?

i can't disprove this claim because i know some folks who have some rather obese dogs but everyone i know has pets who are living/did live far beyond their life expectancy of even a couple of decades ago

my pets are birds, all geriatric, but even dogs are getting up to age 17 now, and i mean dogs i've met, not just some dog on the news that could really be any age

birds are living for decades, mine are anyway, one of them is into his fifth decade...

i thought better diet (which for birds does include some "human" food), better vax, and better vet care plus better screening to keep poultry disease out of the usa were the main reason...of course the last item (better screening for poultry disease wouldn't affect dogs & cats!)

[cbc5g]

58. http://www.rawmeatybones.com/

Dogs/cats are carnivores, they eat meat and thrive on meat, especially raw. Just like metabolic syndrome that humans get for eating processed foods, pets can get them as well.


I see it all the time but veggie food for cats/dogs from veggie humans can make them suffer badly. Not all, but most.

But even worse than that are fast food, kibble food that people give their pets.

[Dr.Phool]

60. I only feed mine mailmen.

They learned from alligators, and drown them first

[KG]

63. as a single guy that doesn't really 'cook', there just aren't any table scraps left for my goggie.

maybe a nibble of something that i'm eating, from time to time.

a premium kibble, and plenty of walkies, he's in better shape than when showed up in my life.

[Lyric]

64. My cats eat cat food. Dry kibble. If I want to give them a treat,

they get eggs that have been pureed (WITH the shells) in the food processor and then scrambled. I don't do this often, though--usually they get it on their birthdays and at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

My 5-year-old Golden Retriever gets dog kibble, plus occasional "human food" treats mixed into his dinner kibble--green beans, carrots, fresh meat scraps, salad, etc.--never pasta, potatoes, preserved meats, or sweets except for his annual homemade carrot-peanut butter birthday cupcake. He also gets a glucosamine chewable pill on a regular basis; even though he's showing no signs of developing hip dysplasia, it's a common problem in his breed, so we're extra-careful about it.

My pets are all normal weight and healthy. 7 cats, 1 dog.

[Doremus]

65. Junk food isn't good for pets any more than people, but commercial dog/cat food can be toxic too.

If the first ingredient in your commercial pet food has the word "byproduct" in it, you're feeding your precious pet toxic waste.

My boys get human-grade canned food for the doggie vitamins it supplies and that is supplemented in large doses with fresh vegetables like cucumber, green beans, tomatoes, etc. Dogs are omnivores yet many people wouldn't think of offering their dogs fresh fruits and veggies. Unfortunately, too much meat can cause liver and kidney problems, pancreatitis, etc.

[scheming daemons]

69. My last dog lived to be 17... my current dog is 15+

Feed them dog food, and NOTHING else... and they'll live longer than most dogs.

[Diclotican]

71. n2doc

n2doc

Wel, I have never given my pets, when I had them, anything "junkfood" mostly becouse it is not smart to do it, but also becouse they was proberly not liking it anyway.. And also maybe becouse I was grown up in a home, where we had dogs, and had learned the right way to treat animals... My cats was picy when it came too food, and junkfood, was something they just was not pleased about. In fact most of the time, they was eating the food that was best for them.. And sometimes some fish and other food i made for myself a saturday night, but never junkfood. And I doubt a cat can be wrong when given some fish?..

Diclotican

[TicketyBoo]

76. You evidently didn't read

Message #46 in this thread?

A veterinarian said feeding fish to a cat is not a good idea.

[Diclotican]

87. TicketyBoo

TicketyBoo

No I was not reading nr 46 in this tread, as I was not here when it was typed. Of course to mutch fish is not good for a cat, but a can can eat some fish withouth problems.. They eat fish in wild you know... In fact cats is known to eat allmoust everything if nessesary... And I have had a few cats over the years, they haver never been ill beouse of my given them fish... Rather the opposite at the fish I have made them, is cocks, and made as delicate as human posible.. And even then got a "cranky" look from the dam cat, when she was not happy about what she got... For the most part my cats got what they was adviced by my vetrinarian, and seldom was given fish and ofther foods, who was not part of their regular stable food. But sometimes I did give them some treats, they eat it, they was happy, I was happy, everyone was happy, and the cats lived to old age...

On the other hand I am little suspectious about the case that fish are not a good idea to give fish, as cats have been given fish for as long as human kind have known cats. And most cats like fish, raw or cocks.. I cock the fish when I had cats, becouse the cats I had, never was found of the raw fish.. But nicely doon cock fish, they eat all of them, with pleasure..

My last cat I had to give away, becouse of allergy, it was sad, but nessesary.. After that I have not have anymore cats.. But my asma is far better than before, so I guess it was time.. Even tho I miss the little bastard:cry: They know how to be a part of you..

Diclotican

[auburngrad82]

78. Our dogs get plenty of treats but they all look great

We control their intake and we feed only high quality dog food. They're all very close to their ideal weights and our vets are impressed with the shape they're in. We have a 15-year old mixed breed who still runs and plays, a 10-year old who got a "5 out of 5" rating for body condition last week at her vet visit and three other dogs.

If you spend the time to exercise the animals, spend the money to feed them quality food, and practice portion control they'll live long, healthy lives. The same applies to people.

I think you'll find that the people who have very obese dogs probably have very obese kids and are probably on the heavy side as well. It's convenience more than "loving them to death". It's "easier" for someone to buy an extra hamburger at the drive thru and feed it to the dog than it is to open up a can of food or pour a cup of kibble in their bowl.

But how can you expect people to take responsibility for their animals' health when they don't even take responsibility for their own?

[KT2000]

88. No people food here

My vet says that is a no-no.
My cat eats rodents and cat food.
She is trim but I do have to worm her regularly.