Question: I have two dogs. My husband often feeds them leftovers from our refrigerator. The dogs love the human food treats!
My smaller dog, Gizmo. seems to have a cast iron stomach and can eat anything, but the larger dog, Marley, often gets diarrhea and sometimes vomiting. I think it is from the leftover people food. My husband says that it isn?t and we should feed the leftovers to the dogs to keep from wasting food! Is this a good idea? ? Leslie
Answer: I generally don?t ever recommend feeding leftover human food to dogs for several reasons. The first reason is that they need a balanced diet and by giving them bits of things here and there, you generally unbalance the commercial dog food diet that they are on.
Second, feeding table food encourages dogs to beg for food. People often seek my advice on how to stop their dogs from begging for food every time they sit down to eat or go to the refrigerator. If you never start this behavior the dogs never learn to do it.
Third, food poisoning is one of the most frequent illnesses I see in dogs. Vomiting and diarrhea are the most common symptoms. It always amazes me that people will feed food to their dog that they would not eat themselves
If you must insist on giving your dog a treat, make sure to follow good food safety practices. Wash your hands frequently while cooking. Use separate cutting boards for meat. Always use a meat thermometer and cook meat to at the appropriate temperature. Store leftovers within two hours of preparation if eating inside.
If eating outdoors and the temperature is over 90 degrees, don?t leave food out of the refrigerator for longer than one hour. Bacteria can grow in the food and cause severe illness that may not cause symptoms for a day or two after eating the food. Some bacteria can also produce toxins that make you sick within hours of eating the food.
If you wish to feed dogs leftovers from the refrigerator, they must be reheated to a temperature of 165 degrees to kill any bacteria that may be present. Some dogs are more susceptible to food poisoning than others. Dogs that are young, pregnant, on chemotherapy, immunosuppressed, or older are more likely to get sick from even small amounts of bacteria or toxins. Many dogs cannot tolerate even a tiny change in their diet even if the food is good healthy food. For more on food safety for your pet go to www.veterinarypartners.com.
Dr. Baker
Baker Veterinary Clinic
1801 S. Congress Ave.
West Palm Beach, FL 33406
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