Small amounts of cat food safe for dog?
Hopefully some of you food experts here can help me.
As I have mentioned in some blogs, my kitty cat has cancer and has now become very picky about what she eats (unfortunately). After a lifetime of eating mostly kibble, I have started buying her canned food to try to tempt her to eat more (liver seems to be the key ingredient to perk her up, though she's still dropping weight at an alarming rate).
Because of her understandable pickiness, I have several small cans of cat food that are of a type I know she won't eat.
Rather than make a trip to the humane society to drop off 2 or 3 small (2 oz) cans of cat food, I was wondering if it would be safe to mix a tablespoon or two in with my dogs food.
The primary ingredients of the food in question are tuna, crabmeat, and some sort of whitefish. I know large amounts of tuna can be a problem because of the mercury, but I'm talking of a once-and-done thing. Of course there are various vitamins, minerals, small amounts of oil, maybe some tapioca starch, etc in the food.
Are those things safe to mix in with the dogfood? I've looked online but had trouble finding much info about the crabmeat (probably because most people don't go out of their way to feed crab to their dogs).
Thanks.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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Beth,
I wouldn't worry at all with this little bit! They'll think they did something really wonderful for such a good treat. I think it's just like me stopping while I'm traveling and my dogs get 1/2 a small burger and a few fries . It's not this will be their diet for a long time!
Sorry to hear Alice is losing so much weight. Is she still getting Chemo? Best of luck Alice!
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Thanks Jane!
Actually she had her first chemo shot today, so we are all keeping fingers and paws crossed that it helps, or at least does not make things worse. She'd had two consecutive steroid shots before this.
She is not ill but her appetite is poor. If I had to guess, I'd say that the tumor might be pressing against her stomach and making her feel full, because she comes meowing excitedly for food but then only eats a small amount. If she felt sick I would think she would not get excited about the food to begin with. Or sometimes she'll stop eating and if I pick it up and move it somewhere else it's like she says "Oh look, food!" and starts again.
Ironically, the vet is worried that if the chemo works too well it could cause other problems because it would leave a large amount of dead tissue that her aging liver and kidneys might not deal very well with. It's an 8cm in diameter lump on the outside and who knows what on the inside. But she's old for surgery to reduce it's size, and with surgery honestly all I could think of is "What if she doesn't come out of the anesthesia and then her last moments on earth would have been alone in a cage at the vet's office?" I can't do that to her. So faced with three options (surgery, chemo, nothing) honestly none seem good.
So our best-case scenario is the chemo is modestly successful and slows the growth or slightly shrinks the lump without killing the cancer cells all at once. She's lost a pound in two months so if the chemo does not work, she's on a rapid downhill slope. She does not seem to be in pain or discomfort, though; she still meows for pettings and rubs her chin against corners of walls and doorways, moves to a sunny spot to lie in and comes to curl up by us at night, and sits next to me sometimes when I'm at the computer. As long as she does those things and continues using her litterbox, she is not ill enough for the last good-bye. But once she loses those simple pleasures we will call off the fight.
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Beth, You sound way too much like me when you talk about dying alone! I totally agree that if there is a way I will be by all my animals side as they pass! It's the last thing I can do for them and the thought of them being alone makes me shiver. I know it happens and we can't always be there but at least to try! It also gives us closure and the chance to see them at peace!
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Permalink Reply by Derek on
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My morgan would steal the cats wetfood and a few hours later the whole house would stink. He went from room to room farting and looking innocent. He never got sick, but he was gaseous!
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Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on
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I think they will be fine as long as it's a little amount. I certainly wouldn't recommend feeding them a whole can or making a habit of giving them cat food as it has different vitamins and minerals in it, but I doubt they would have any ill effects from a spoonful or two here and there. My dogs LOVE wet cat food and try to steal it at every chance they get.
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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Beth, I doubt it would hurt them but my vet will take unopened food which he passes on to customers in need but we live in a small community. Sorry Alice is losing weight you sound like you have the right attitude and will make sure she does not suffer.
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Thank you Kerry. I was thinking of trying baby food (that Stage 1 stuff that just has one ingredient per container, like chicken) before you mentioned it and now you've made up my mind for me. It seems she likes stuff she can just lap up, the mushier the better, and babyfood might fit the bill.
I also read that warming the food slightly can help with their appetite (as it smells more strongly) so I microwaved some cat food for a few seconds. It certainly does make it stink. Mixing in a bit of water to make it thinner helps a bit too, and once or twice I added a tiny blob of mayonnaise.
Compounding the issue is that cat's being cats, if they think we really want them to do something it makes them deeply suspicious and likely to walk away. So I think I have to act like I'm not really trying to get her to eat more. Just put it down and ignore it.
I gave the dogs a bit of a turkey and giblets one that she hadn't liked. It smelled like death but they had it swallowed before their dishes even hit the floor.
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remember these guys/gals love dead fish and other smelly stuff so I'm sure it was like me eating lobster.....mmmmmmmm good!
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