Most of the time, pet owners are cautioned to never feed their furry friends "people food." Veterinarians often remind pet owners that chocolate, grapes, and raisins can be poison to dogs and cats and that onions can cause a life-threatening form of anemia. And while broccoli, cauliflower, and other vegetables in the brassica family (cruciferous vegetables) can be healthy additions to diet, but can have a troublesome affect on thyroid function unless they're cooked before feeding.
But there are human foods that, when used as a supplement to a dog or cat's diet, can be quite beneficial to their health. Our pets have thrived on our leftovers for hundreds of years, but with increasingly unhealthy diet choices in human meals, we need to be careful what we offer our pets from our own plates.
Human foods such as meats, fish, cheeses, and other animal products can be used regularly in a healthy pet's diet. We just have to be sensible about what we feed, and, of course, how much.
My mother has always fed her dogs human food. She cooks them eggs and grilled cheese or hotdogs on a regular basis. They get a piece of cake at lunch time. And if she's eating chips or anything else (her dog now loves grapefruit) they get some. They always have a bowl of dry food available. The only shots she believes in is rabies. Her red female Doberman died a few years ago just shy of 18. She was somewhat gray but otherwise in good health. She stopped eating and seemed tired one day and crawled in her bed and died shortly after. Her black male is almost 13 and people are amazed at his age. We had a miniature schnauzer that lived to be 18 as well. She doesn't use Frontline either. She thinks it's not good for the dogs and amazingly they never have either ticks or fleas. We think because they are in a 10 acre fenced in area and no other animals can get in to spread ticks and fleas. They swim regularly in a fresh water pond as well. She does use heartworm preventative but uses the old original one. When I told her about the shot that came out a few years ago, she said "let's other people's dog's be a guinea pig."
My mother has always fed her dogs human food. She cooks them eggs and grilled cheese or hotdogs on a regular basis. They get a piece of cake at lunch time. And if she's eating chips or anything else (her dog now loves grapefruit) they get some. They always have a bowl of dry food available. The only shots she believes in is rabies. Her red female Doberman died a few years ago just shy of 18. She was somewhat gray but otherwise in good health. She stopped eating and seemed tired one day and crawled in her bed and died shortly after. Her black male is almost 13 and people are amazed at his age. We had a miniature schnauzer that lived to be 18 as well. She doesn't use Frontline either. She thinks it's not good for the dogs and amazingly they never have either ticks or fleas. We think because they are in a 10 acre fenced in area and no other animals can get in to spread ticks and fleas. They swim regularly in a fresh water pond as well. She does use heartworm preventative but uses the old original one. When I told her about the shot that came out a few years ago, she said "let's other people's dog's be a guinea pig."
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