Is it healthy or unhealthy to...

I have a beagle/basset and she is the cutest thing and she beggs so much tho for food whenever we have dinner and stuff. Is it unhealthy to give her leftover scraps from the table or would it side-benefit the nutrition she's getting? She is fed 2 times a day btw with regular dog food.

 

would depend on what kind of table scraps you are offering. How it is cooked, etc.

 

Lets say grilled or oven baked meats, cooked eggs, breads, veggies, chips, basically everyday foods.

 

no bones ever!! nothing with onion or garlic.
I wouldn't say it is healthier or unhealthier, bc I think normal kibble isn't so healthy either.
Go RAW!! check out the ink at the top of the forum about different foods.

 

Ocasional healthy table scraps in small amounts are okay for most dogs IMO. I would avoid giving fat trimmings, greasy or spicy foods or foods that are heavily saturated in sauces & gravies.

 

Skip the bread and chips, too. Dogs don't need carbohydrates.

 

Here is a good article for you.
I have to admit, I always feed my dogs scraps.
I don't feed chocolate, onions, or grapes or cooked bones.
Sue

http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/nbasics.html

 

Remember, if you feed your dog scraps or leftovers, make sure your feeding them real food, not stuff you wouldn't eat yourself. In other words, if you'd put it in the garbage, it's garbage. And when you feed table food, you're adding calories, so watch out for weight gain.

Foods to avoid; onions (cooked and raw), grapes and raisins, macadamia nuts, avacado, and chocolate. Limit broccoli, it can be toxic if it comprises more than 10% of the dog's diet. While not toxic, corn and wheat are major allergens for dogs. Avoid them unless you're 100% sure your dog isn't allergic.

 

Shineillusion- YIKES!, I have fed my dog corn and brocolli b4. She didn't seem to have any side-effects tho and she has eaten it mutliple times. One time i gave her a chicken drumleg and she ate the chicken then looked at the bone, and before I could grab it she swallowed it WHOLE, without chewing. I was so nervous she would fall over lol. Might I ask whats wrong with onions or grapes/raisins? Yes, I watch my dogs weight closely.

Thats intersting info everyone...

 

I think onions do something to the red blood cells and I think grapes may spike their insulin levels too high, same as in humans but maybe their pancreas cannot handle it.. But correct me if I'm wrong.

 

This is a great thread. :mrgreen:

I am learning more and more each time I research the subject and read other people's answers!

Here is another great website.

It pretty much answers all the above questions. I did not know about nuts or avacodo's either.
Glad I do now!! :y_the_best:

http://www.sensiblesoftware.com/article ... Avoid.html

 

Well, like I said, corn would be ok if the dog isn't allergic. Signs of corn allergy would probably be itching and ear infections. And brocolli is fine so long as you don't go overboard.

Onions and garlic cause hemolytic anemia. Onions cause more problems than garlic. A dog would have to consume a lot of garlic to cause a problem

The grape/raisin toxicity is well documented, but I believe the exact toxin hasn't yet been identified. Whatever it is, it can cause kidney damage and failure, and can lead to death.

The same is true for macadamia nuts and avacado. They haven't identified the toxin yet, but both can be lethal.

 

My comment would be to feed the scraps that meet the healthy criteria but not at the table while you are eating. While it may be cute to you it might be a real problem when you have guest for dinner.
I made that mistake with my old man Jake. As soon as we would sit down to eat he would start to drool. Labs have the ability to drool in slow motion and soon you have two long drool ropes going from the mouth to the floor.
:mrgreen:
We never fed Duke or Freckles from the table and now when we sit down to eat they both wonder off to find other amusements.

 

Since you are obviously concerned about a healthy diet for your dog, you may also want to check into the "regular dog food" that you are using. If you buy it in a grocery store, it is not good at all for your dog. If you buy it at a pet store, chances are that it's also not very good, although better than the grocery store brands.

The Innova website has some good info about the ingredients you find in dog food. Click on the link and then look in the sidebar on the lower right side of the page. They have a food comparison tool and an ingredient tool that can give you a lot of info: http://www.naturapet.com/.

You can also learn a TON about dogs reading the Whole Dog Journal (I swear, they should give me kickbacks for promoting their publication, LOL). You can get a free 14-day trial here: http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/.

 

Ill look into that Jamiya, lol, it is way too late now to teach her not to beg at the table Dukesdad, lol we always feed her there and she is 12 now.

 

Yikes! My dogs loves grapes!! They always beg for them so we give it to them because they are small and we thought since it was fruit it was okay. They like apples too. Oops. I will stop from here on out. Good to know. They have never wanted onions either. They hate them and spit them out. So, maybe that's why!

 

for my over 45 years raising and breeding dogs there has been one constant with "table scraps", nutrition in balance. If you are going to feed table scraps a mix of meat, vegetable should be done. I have never had issue with over weight and my dogs have all lived to be in their mid teens with excellent yearly updates from my vets. I have confirmed again with vets and they have agreed that a balance in the food is key in quantities based on dogs size. Approx 17 years ago my wife wanted to get a playmate for her shep/husky mix. She found an ad for a dog same age as hers. It was a malamute/wolf mix. We went to look and immediately I could tell it was greatly underweight. She wanted it so I explained she would need to get it to the vet for complete work up. The next afternoon home from work and I was met with meds and explanation that "I" needed to give the dog eye drops and meds. Turns out he was good 20lbs underweight, had eye infections, had flea dip and blood sugar level was off. She had given him a large bowl of food as the vet explained he needed to gain weight. He was 35 lbs at the time and should have been closer to 60. The shep/husky was a 1/3 smaller than him in height and length but weighed 50lbs. She told me he ate a little of the food than went to playing. She had no clue as to what would be needed to get him to gain weight. I exp that in Alaska we gave large breed dogs table scraps and in my time in Seattle with large mix's we still did. Needless to say he ate like a king for the next 7 months. When he went in for his check up he was 105lbs at 14 months old. The vet was very pleased and came out with perfect bill of health. By this time he had grown to approx 27 inches at the shoulders somewhat leaving the shep husky behind. At his full mature size he came in at 160lbs and was 31 inches at the shoulders. The vets were always pleased to see him and endorsed the table scraps but with always the same rule, it must be balanced. Our dogs were very good at eating vegetables, fruit, rice, potato. It never hurt them so long as the quantity was correct.

 

:y_the_best:
Good post Yogi!

 

thank you, just to mention. The big guy lasted til this past Dec. He was 16. This is approx 4 years beyonf average for a breed like this. Shep/Husky lived to be 14 1/2. She dealt with Cancer last 5 years of her life and 3 operations to remove 25 tumors yet still was healthy once out and back home. Oh, I should mention that she also was given table scraps. At her prime she was 85lbs and stood 25 inches at the shoulder and power was not lacking in her. If I had been back in Alaska she would have been a phenominal sled dog. The ex gave up taking her for a walk as she could never keep up with the dog's pace. Luckily the big guy could. lol

 

You beat me to it Sue, I was going to say that.

Heres a link with some info about some human food that is toxic to dogs.

http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/Sto ... edProducts

As for my own dogs, apart from one who had severe allergies....including to almost every kind of dog food available, and another that was diabetic, every dog Ive had has had table scraps. I remember and old vet, many years ago in UK who told me "If you only ever feed one specific type of food your dog is more likely to suffer from a major gastric problem if he does accidentally get into something else"....There are some foods that can be deadly to pets, like onions but when your dog gets a few table scraps accasionally its unlikely he/she is going to be eating a more than 100g of onion every day (obviously the size of the dog makes a difference) but I tend to think of it as a common sense thing, I give my dogs gravy, I dont give them onion gravy but they had the occasional hamburger that contains onion....I havent seen anything mentioned about mushrooms, every dog Ive had has had diarrhea after eating as little as one piece of mushroom from a pizza. Chocolate, I dont give my dogs chocolate generally but theres been a few that especially when my daughter was younger have 'sneaked off' with her bar of chocolate, I have never worried about it, not when its a small piece of milk chocolate, most cheaper milk chocolate doesnt have enough theobromine it to harm a mouse never mind a dog...some of the really cheap 'chocolate' doesnt even have any chocolate in. Of course cooking chocolate, unsweetened and dark chocoalte (and expensive chocolate) do have enough theobromine in to cause severe damage or death. My 20 something # Whippet got into a 5# box of chocolate (mixed milk and dark), ate the box as well, V & D for about 8 hours, increased HR to over 210, treated with a couple of anti-emetic shots, cage rest, bland diet for 24 hours and she was fine.Im not saying that advocate giving chocolate to a dog but I think this issue is very often blown out of proportion, of all the vets Ive worked with (about 30) almost every one of them will tell clients never feed your dog 'people food'....and then Ive watched the large majority of them go and give whats left of their Taco Bell Burrito or their leftover burger from Burger King to their own dog. Its just a matter of knowing what 'can' be harmful and keeping the extras in moderation.
That said there are some dogs that just cannot tolerate ANY change in diet, there are people that are no different, lactose intolerance for example, most cases of pancreatitis that Ive seen over the last few years (I started asking question about each dogs regular diet) and from what I was told by the clients themselves is that in most cases the dogs were on a strict 'no people food' diet and had accidentally got into something, many had just had a barbeque, party etc where other people where around and were giving scraps to their dogs....of all the dogs Ive had Ive never had a case of pancreatitis in any of them.

Just my opinion.