Is Feeding Table Scraps Okay?
March 7, 2012 in Dog Nutrition
Few dogs in this world have gone through their entire lives without ever once sampling a piece of “people food.” It’s really tempting to give in to the soulful eyes of your best friend as he presses up to you, but are table scraps okay for your dog?
Like most of the bigger questions in the dog world, the answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no. It all depends on what those scraps consist of, how much, and when.
Onions, grapes (and their dried version raisins), and chocolate should never be fed to your dog. These foods are highly toxic and can cause symptoms ranging from discomfort to death, depending on how much is ingested.
Feeding table scraps can also cause both begging and obesity. Never feed your dog at the table, especially if he begins nuisance behaviors such as crowding or trying to snatch at your plate. Dogs should also not be fed foods that are plainly unhealthy. Don’t feed him pizza, big macs, or huge bowls of ice cream. If it’s not good for you, it’s probably not good for your dog.
There are a lot of unhealthy side effects to feeding table scraps, so if they’re so unhealthy, why feed them?
When handled correctly, they aren’t unhealthy. In fact, studies have shown that lactating bitches given table scraps have puppies with fewer skin allergies than dogs who were fed only commercial dog foods. If your diet is healthy, offering your dog a sample of what’s on the table won’t hurt it. Particularly good choices include lean meats, steamed vegetables, and plain potatoes or rice.
What do you think of feeding dogs table scraps? Why?
Elka gets a decent amount of people food; not enough in her book, I’m sure, but sometimes too much in mine!
I didn’t know about those studies pertaining to lactating bitches, that’s really very interesting. “Whole Foods” for dogs is almost certainly better than a lot of what they normally get!
I couldn’t find a link to a website, that book was the closest I could get! Another interesting point brought up by a dog book is from “Inside of a dog” or something like that. Their point for those who model their dogs after a wolves diet, is that for 33,000 years (or roughly 7,000 doggie generations) dogs have been evolving to eat scraps.
It also pointed out that while its true dogs DNA is similar to wolves in all but 1% of it…the same can be said of humans and chimpanzees. We share a lot of the same DNA, but we’re waaaaaay different.
Both Fred and Gloria get the odd table scrap but mostly raw veggies when I’m chopping them up for dinner. I think using common sense and knowing what is toxic to them is key.
I agree with you. I let them clean up what ever I drop, as long as they don’t break stay before I tell them to get it.
we do occasionally give Georgia a little of what we’re eating, just so she experiences a different flavour. the worst greasy thing she’s ever had is probably a bit of our ritual Saturday chorizo roll! more usually, it’s a piece of fruit.
we never give her the scrap WHILE we’re eating. only after we’re finished, and only if she’s been good and not begged for it
Oh my, did that upset her tummy?
The chorizo? No
We feed carrots, sweet potatoes and dehydrated chicken that I make on a regular basis. They also get raw green beans, broccoli and celery as treats when available.
Does broccoli give them gas, or no? I’ve never dared try it with mine.
Daisy has a VERY sensitive stomach – even chicken gives her problems, so we’ve never been tempted to give her table scraps. But we do give her small amounts of apple, rice, potato, and peanut butter as treats occasionally. Cooked carrots will be next on our list.
I’m starting to think I’ve got the only dogs on earth who don’t like peanut butter!
Roxy and Torrey get a few cheerios in the morning when Al gets his. They like fresh fruit and vegs too.
I wonder if that would work as a training treat? It’d be nice if there was something dry Rocco loved to eat.
We very seldom feed table scraps, mostly because we are both food junkies and clean our plates. Sometimes though on the weekend we will save them a bit of breakfast and let them lick the plates.
They do eat some of the food that we do, such as yogurt, pumpkin, carrots etc…but not usually from our plates.
I wonder if there’s a connection to how clean you get your plate and whether you feed table scraps. My husband is a vacuum cleaner…I seldom manage half a plate. I like slipping my dogs the odd bit, he doesn’t. Interesting eh?
Sometimes I get some….but they are very selective on what is given to me….
Probably to keep you healthy. No cheeseburgers for you!
Food Scraps are not the norm at our house but they do get a little taste of steak or pork chop, chicken after we are done with our supper. They do get yogurt on their food and we make homemade treats for them. Our male basset loves raw green beans fresh from the garden. He will whine and drool over these green beans for hours. Have a great day. Sniffs, The HoundDogs
Green beans are a favorite of our house as well.
Shiloh’n Shasta here
Thank u fer stoppin’by our blog – we loves makin’nu friends. Our mom is at work rite now BUTT we will make shur she knows u stopped by cuz we know she will want tu come by – we will probably follow u cuz u got a lotta good info she will really like.
We don’t git hardly any table scraps mainly b-cuz mom don’t hardly ever eat at the table butt even when she duz, it always goes in our bowls. she duz like given us little extras in our kibble – grated carrots, cottage cheese (abouts a spoonful, a little brown rice. Sumtimes she will give us a WHOLE fresh carrot tu chew on. Sumtimes she will put a little p-nut butter on a doggy bisuit. BUTT we are BEAGLES – we eat almost anything – sumthing nu we like are snow peas – fresh not cooked. An’of course, who can pass up a little boiled chicken now and then. Yep, we like fresh broccoli tu.
Gotta go take our early afternoon nap now. Mom will b by later.
Shiloh’n Shasta
I’ve heard yogurt is really good for doggie digestion. Wish I could get my dogs to eat it!
From the mom – a little cottage cheese can help too but I feed it anytime. I sometimes wonder if my dogs eat healthier than I do. They share my morning banana with me too. They love a little cooked oatmeal mixed with their kibble – no sugar or milk just plain oatmeal; fresh apples NO oranges. They have also recently discovered boiled brussel sprouts are good. Blueberries are really good for dogs and mine love them but like they said – they are BEAGLES so not much they don’t like.
Kim
I’ll try the cottage cheese
I rarely give Zoe table scraps because she has the most sensitive stomach ever. But sometimes I just can’t resist those puppy eyes and I’ll give her a small piece of turkey or ham when I’m eating lunch.
Aww, poor Zoe. Good thing you look our for her though!
When MOM rescued me at 6 months she was told that the 2 previous people that had me “slopped me like a pig.” My MOM now gives me a few table food. But is’t almost always good for me. I love peas. I even go out to the garden and pick my own, which cracks up my MOM.
Blessings,
Goose
That’s so cute! We’re green bean dogs all the way over here. We even helped plant a garden today!
This is slightly off topic but I was shocked to find onion powder as an ingrediant of a dog treat today. I was browsing through the store for a good training treat and was glad I had read through the ingrediant list.
That’s not off topic at all. Oh my gosh! Do you remember the brand?
I should have took note of it. I’ll have to check when I go back there.
I havn’t gone back to that store yet, but I just remembered where it was and confirmed the onion powder on the ingredients list online. I was looking at the Bravo! Training Treats Trail Mix because it has variety. I’m so glad I flipped the bag over to look at the ingredients because I found onion powder in it.
I think since most of the dogs here in the Philippines do eat human food, they are less prone to skin allergies and upset stomach. ^_^.
This said, since most dogs here have different treatment than the ones in the US, they can withstand more issues… Unfortunately, this is also means that most of them hardly have social skills because people here use them to protect and guard homes and rarely take them out for walks or play with them.
My dogs used to eat human food and even though I switched their dog food twice, not one of them had upset stomach.
Huggies and Cheese,
Haopee
That’s really interesting. You don’t see a lot of hot spots or anything then?
I don’t give table scrap to my dogs but I do give them some raw vegetables while I am preparing for meal. On an off, some raw chicken thigh bones will be given.