The Dangers of Feeding Your Dog Table Scraps

As little as 20 years ago it was still common to feed a dog on only table scraps. Because of modern veterinary knowledge and production methods this is no longer seen as healthy for your dog. In fact, meat sold in supermarkets has already been trimmed and de-boned and is ready to be cooked right out of the package with no additional preparation. The advent of frozen food has put an end to vegetable trimmings, and all of our dairy and poultry comes from cartons and cardboard, not directly from the animals themselves. We live in a world where all of our food is pre-prepared and pre-packaged for our convenience, table scraps are nearly unheard of.

The only scraps typically leftover for dogs with these modern diets are typically trimmed of fat, loaded with batter or butter, cooked and drained of nutrients, and are such a low amount that they won’t fill the dog dish. This does not make for a balanced or healthy diet for your dog.

Before a dog owner feeds his dog scraps off the kitchen table he should ask himself a question. What would he do with that additional food if he didn’t have a dog to feed it to? Would he put those leftovers in the refrigerator and save them for his next meal? If so, then it’s absolutely fine to give the scraps to his dog. On the other hand, if he knows that he would never eat those scraps and would probably throw them out, then he is simply using his dog as a trash can.

And this is not the only reason that table scraps are unhealthy for dogs. Despite the fact that a dog will gain no nutrition from table scraps he will certainly enjoy the taste. Sometimes table scraps are used to make a nutritionally balanced, commercial dog food more appealing to the dog. Unless these scraps have been chopped into very tiny pieces and are well blended with the the dog food the dog will only ignore the dog food and pick out the scraps.

The table scraps left over from modern meals are mostly carbohydrates and fats, they offer nothing but a lot of calories. Because the dog will gain so many calories from the scraps he’ll lose his appetite and thus be unable to take in the nutrition he really needs. Some dog owners may feel they’re forcing their dog to eat food he doesn’t like by eliminating table scraps from their pet’s dog food. However the dog will eventually eat when he is hungry, and it is better to make him go hungry for a little while than to let him eat all the nutritionally bankrupt scraps he’d like.

If you have an older dog or one with arthritis, you should consider getting them an Orthopedic Dog Bed. Jaden is also into crafts and has a Quilting Sewing Machine review site.