Dogs Eating Cat Food

[vickim]

Whisper loves to eat the cat's food. She likes it better than her own food. If I watch her and tell her to leave it, she will, and sometimes she will leave it even if I am not watching her. However, it is far more likely if she thinks I am not watching she will try to sneak in and steal all the cat's food.

 

I've tried putting the cat's bowls in a high place where the dog can't get to them, and that worked well-however, the cat is getting old and can't jump real well anymore. If I concot a ramp for the cat to walk up to get her food from a high place, I know very well that it will take Whisper about ten seconds to figure that trick out and continue to steal the food.

 

Put that aside-how healthy is it for a dog to eat cat food? I always thought it was the same sort of food in different shapes, but I've been doing some reading and I've learned that it a big health issue. Now Whisper doesn't subsist entirely on cat food; she gets her dog food, too. Just how big a health issue is it really?

[nancy]

From the foods I've checked out when shopping, It seems that cat food has lots more protein than dog food. So it's not a good meal.

 

We don't have a ramp, but we have stuff Maggie jumps on to get up on the dryer for her food. Luckily, Fergie does not do anything remotely similar to counter surfing. Heck, she knows that the cat gets the fruit cups first after breakfast. And she won't even lick them after Maggie walks away until I say, "OK".

 

Our problem is that Maggie prefers Ferg's dog kibble to her cat kibble! And the only command Mag ever considers is, "Come and eat." So it Ferg we have to protect.

[Vickkers]

I've heard that some people use cat food as doggy treats...I don't know how healthy it is but I've heard of it.

 

An option you can try is locking your cat in a room to eat and taking the food up after 20 minutes (2x a day)... after a couple of days your cat should be hungry enough (if Fergie hasn't eaten enough food during that time) to eat her food quickly when it's feeding time.

 

We had a very food oriented cat a few years ago. We had to feed all the cats like that for the entire time we had him or he would eat everyone's food.

[Guest TheRuffMuttGang]

When I had cats, I fed them twice a day in crates. They learned to love their crates and also learned to eat their food within a few minutes so they could come back out. For me it was an issue of a more pushy cat eating the more submissive cat's food. As for keeping dogs out of cat stuff, try a baby gate raised 4-5" off of the ground so the cats can get under and the dogs can't. Stack two gates if you think the dogs may jump over.

[smileyzookie]

I wont feed Riven cat food. Not because I know a lot about it, but because every time she got in his cat food she'd barf. I dont like cleaning up pukey catfood from the cat, much less a mass of cat food goop from a dog...blach!

[Devi]

I've heard that cat food isn't good for dogs because it contains ash. I'm not sure how true that is, since I've seen ash used as ingredients in dog food as well. That being said, I occasionally use cat food for training-- maybe once every two months-- when I don't have anything else tastier than kibble around. My cats just eat in a room that the dogs aren't allowed in.

[Dixie_Girl]

I heard that cat food had higher levels of sodium and that is what was not good for the dogs.

[Dixie_Girl]

I heard that cat food had higher levels of sodium and that is what was not good for the dogs.

[border_collie_crazy]

I have heard everything from cat food beeing healthier for dogs then dog food, to cat food being horrable. I personally feed my dogs cat food all the time. its not all they eat as I feed raw, but when we are sick, or exhuased, or just out of raaw food, we keep a bin of CAT food for them. I havenmt had a problem, actually from observing the dogs on verious dog and cat foods, the cat food has WAAAAYYYY better effects then even the highest quality dog food we have tried(Origen)

[Ruger's Dad]

Ruger will finish any leftover cat food. I think its because our downstairs cat, aka puke face, eats his leftover food. I feed Ruger whenever he is hungry. Of course I won't get his bowl, he has to bring it to me. By the way, Ruger is a very solid 40lbs. The cat on the other hand, eats too much high performance dog food. Does dog food cause hair balls?

[OurBoys]

Does dog food cause hair balls?

 

No. Dog food does not cause hairballs.

 

You can buy OTC products that eliminates hairballs. We give Tobi Temptations treats for hairball control by Whiskas.

[Millie&MeBC]

I'm no expert, but I know dog and fat food are completely different types of food and have different levels of all ingredients and don't make a balanced diet for each to have the opposite species' food. Now I'm not sure, but I have a fague memory and impression of cat food being to high in something ( ) that in the long term is not great. I don't let my dogs eat the cat food, though I know they'd love it. I feed my cats in the bathroom and my dogs in the kitchen, that way there won't be any problems.

 

Here are the Felidae analysis:

Crude Protein

(min.)

32.00%

Crude Fat

(min.)

20.00%

Crude Fiber

(max.)

2.50%

Moisture

(max.)

9.00%

Lenoleic Acid (Omega 6)

(min.)

3.75%

Vitamin E

(min.)

200.00

IU/kg

Alpha Linolenic Acid (Omega 3)

(min.)

0.75%

Magnesium

(max.)

0.095%

Taurine

(min.)

0.20%

Ash

(max.)

5.50%

Calcium

(min.)

1.00%

Phosphorus(min.)

1.00%

Cellulase *(min.)

100

CMCU/kg

pH

5.5

And the Canidae analysis:

Crude Protein

(min.)

24.00%

Crude Fat

(min.)

14.50%

Crude Fiber

(max.)

4.00%

Moisture

(min.)

10.00%

Lenoleic Acid (Omega 6)

(min.)

3.70%

Vitamin E

(min.)

200.00

IU/kg

Calcium

(min.)

1.20%

Phosphorus

(min.)

.90%

Alpha Linolenic Acid (Omega 3)

(min.)

.60%

Ascorbic Acid

(min.)

50.00

mg/kg

Cellulase (a)

(min.)

100

CMCU/kg

Magnesium

(min.)

0.14%

pH

6.0

 

That's a huge jump in protien from cat food to dog food and there's more fat in it as well.

 

Someone mentioned ash in cat food- I see here there is 5.5% ash listed here and no ash in the dog food.

[iluvlucy]

somewhere i heard that cat food over time causes dogs to have kidney problems. don't remember where that came from.

[trailrider]

Cat food has more tasty attraction, since cats are sometimes hard toplease. That makes it attractive for the dogs, and a good helper in getting a dog with problems to eat. There is no danger in occasional cat meals for the dogs, just not 100% over a long period of time.

[Guest SweetJordan]

I'm not offering a suggestion one way or another, but wouldn't feed my dog a cat food. However, I know someone who fed thier dog cat food(I don't know why). Anyway their dog lived a long life.