Puppy eats cat food

[cruizer13]

I just reciently got a new girlfriend and she has a cat. When ever I visit with Misty (my puppy) she insists on eating the cats food. First is it bad for dogs to eat cat food? And second I don't want her eating the cat's food. She has her own and the cat won't touch it (which is good but poor hungry kitty has nothing to eat). How do you stop it?

Thanks,

Scott

[Dax]

Once in a while eating cat food won't harm your puppy although I believe cats & dogs requirements are different. The easiest solution is to put the cat food someplace the dog can't get to. You can always train your dog with a firm NO that only food you give him is his. It takes lots of time & patience but can be done.

As for a hungry kitty - they are quite capable of defending thier territory and food from a single dog.

[Moo]

Well, the cat food won't really harm your dog. When my dog came out of oral surgery, they prescribed him to cat food for a couple of days because it is more mild and soft on the teeth. On the otehr hand, you have to teach your dog the boundraries, supervision and "NO!" should work.

[HeartSong]

It can be dangerous for a dog to eat cat food in large quantities. Cat food is much richer in protein and other ingredients. There are some foods that can be fed to both dogs and cats so if a vet recommends a food it should be okay. The cat needs to eat cat food because it has taurine which dog food doesn't have. Without that, cats can go blind.

As for stopping Misty from eating the cat food, I think the best solution would be to find a place to keep the food where the cat can get to it but Misty can't. You can work with training her to not eat the cat food but it takes a lot of time and not all dogs get it. When I had a cat, we just fed her on a desk so she could jump up and eat but the dogs couldn't get to her food.