Dog that loves dry cat food, and cats that love his wet food!

kaazebrabeads · 06-07-2008, 03:28 PM

Our new dog Sam (He's an adopted 3.5 year old poodle) has developed a liking for our cats dry food as well as gobbling down their wet food...

He does not like his dry particularly much, although he will eat it after hes finished the recommended amount of wet food he's supposed to get for a day....

We live in Germany, He is on Pedigree Adult, and a local brand wet food. We are changing him (Slowly so no upsets) to a premium brand dog food made for small dogs....

Will the cat food (He waits for us to be distracted to gobble down both wet or dry food of the cats) make him have diahreeha?

We have tried feeding them in seperate rooms, but the only thing that keeps our greedy hound away, when the cats have left the dish or we have left the room, is to put it up on our one kitchen counter.....

Now the odd part...

Our 16 year old siamese ADORES his wet food.... And will eat his dry food.... The kitten will go after the dog dry food...

Any suggestions?

Criosphynx · 06-07-2008, 05:50 PM

feed the cats on a counter... The cat food is far far far too rich for your dog.

kaazebrabeads · 06-07-2008, 05:54 PM

Thanks, I did that tonight.... We were hoping to be able to feed the cats back in their normal space on the floor... And him in another.... We only have the one counter in our kitchen and our cats are used to free feeding dry food....

Nuts.... We'll have to try to set up a place for the cats..... Its going to take some work... But we can't have him or the cats sick from eating each others food....

alphadoginthehouse · 06-07-2008, 06:46 PM

My dogs love the cat food (and the "kitty truffles") so I bought a wooden baby gate; problem solved...seriously! After a little rigging with boxes on either side for awhile, the cat jumps right over it. I didn't need it for a couple of years but recently adopted a new dog...she found the cat food. The cat box is on an old coffee table and no one has touched it!

The baby gate can be purchased at any discount store for around $10. I don't know if you have an extra room or not, but it might work.

JustTess · 06-07-2008, 06:52 PM

I don't know if it is true today but I remember when I was a girl there was some news about dogs getting very ill from eating cat food instead of dog food. Personally, I would just make sure each animal is eating the right food by watching them and not leaving them out too long.

Twinney · 06-07-2008, 07:13 PM

I'll usually only use cat food for the occasional training treat when I'm out of the real ones, and even then the dogs have to work extra hard for them.

Shunka tries to be smart and sneak cat food when she doesn't think I'm looking, but I always know where she's going and give her a stern no. The other 2 will go for it anyways, so I pick it up...

You should try feeding them in different rooms, or at diffent times.

briteday · 06-07-2008, 09:43 PM

The baby gate works for us. The cat food is on top of the dryer and the litter box is behind the baby gate in the laundry room as well. The cat jumps over (sometimes just for privacy, not to eat or eliminate) and the dogs can't go there. And my dogs are fed twice per day and really don't want to share with the cat, so no problem there...it's gone before the cat even knows food has been put out for the dogs.

Criosphynx · 06-08-2008, 12:27 AM

My in laws use the top of the fridge. Which might work for you since you don't have the counter space... Its also helps to keep the cat fit since they have to jump to the counter and then up to the top of the fridge... Just put the gravity feeder up there.

Lorina · 06-08-2008, 07:27 AM

I'm lucky that my dog will not go up stairs in the house. He has no problem with steps on the back porch, but there's something about the interior steps that he will not cross. That makes feeding easier for me. The adult cats are fed in my studio upstairs (well, it was supposed to be my studio. I have no time to paint anymore, so it's the cats' room), and the kittens are fed on the bottom landing of the stairs.

Allydog · 06-14-2008, 09:49 PM

My dog is the same way...she sneaks the cat food, the cats sneak her food. Silly animals! I have a baby gate to keep them seperate

melgrj7 · 06-16-2008, 01:45 AM

We put a gate across our pantry doorway (it has no door) and feed the cats in there, they can jump over it easily, the dogs can't. Our dogs eat their food in meals, they have 10 minutes to eat it or it goes away, so no problems there. Our cats get fed twice a day in meals, but they usually take an hour or so to finish it up.