What Foods are Bad for Pets?

@seag47 – How horrible! I've known about grapes being bad for animals for awhile now, and that is the reason I never planted a grapevine.

My neighbor has cats, and I have dogs, so a grapevine would be bad for both of them. I have to say that animals often eat things that they find on their own that are listed as bad for them, but they don't seem to suffer any ill effects.

My dogs love pecans. I have four pecan trees in my yard, and they will sniff the nuts out, shell them at least partially, and eat the meat.

I wouldn't voluntarily feed them nuts, though. I think they eat them more out of boredom than anything else.

Also, my dog sometimes goes next door and eats cat food. However, he doesn't eat it regularly, because I feed him plenty of dog food, so he isn't actually hungry.

It's kind of weird that blue cheese is bad for mice. They are notorious cheese eaters! Of course, most people put cheese on mouse traps, so in that case, all kinds of cheese are bad for them!

My husband's ex-wife had a Yorkie as a pet, and he had no idea that grapes were bad for dogs. He once sat down with a full bag of grapes and shared it with the little dog.

The dog developed horrible kidney problems that resulted in surgery and the permanent placement of a tube to help him urinate. My husband was clueless to the fact that the grapes caused this, and he never thought to mention it.

However, after we got together and I told him that grapes were bad for dogs, he suddenly came to the realization that he had caused the Yorkie's problems. He felt terrible about it.

The weight of the animal factors into how it reacts to certain foods, too. If you have a chihuahua as a pet, he will be much more vulnerable to the effects of several pieces of chocolate than a Doberman would.

Also, I've heard that dark chocolate is worse, because it contains more of the ingredient that harms dogs. So, your dog would fare better if he got into a bar of milk chocolate than a bar of bittersweet chocolate.

Still, all chocolate is bad for any dog, and you should never give it to them, no matter how much they beg. You should keep all of your chocolate stored up high in a cabinet where the pet can't possibly reach it. Also, don't throw it in the outside trash bin, because they can get pretty crafty when they want to reach food.

It's true that different pets are allowed to eat different kinds of foods. But these can be further limited if your pet has suffered from a disease, health issue or has undergone surgery.

I have a British Shorthair who is about 9 months now. We recently had her spayed and now she has dietary restrictions because of the surgery. Since she doesn't have hormones anymore, the veterinarian said that if she is not very active, she is likely to gain weight which can result in cardiovascular problems in the long term. We have started feeding her light cat food which has less fat content.

Even before surgery, my cat had some sensitivities to food. I generally feed her with small amounts of dry cat food in the morning and at night. At lunch time, I boil some chicken for her which is her favorite food. She is unable to tolerate ground beef or fish for some reason, so I cannot give her any canned cat foods either because they always have fish in them. I know that cats cannot have milk because they do not have the enzymes to digest it, so I give her plain yogurt instead as a snack.

Basically if I feed her something knew, I have to look at her sandbox and see if she tolerated it well. Whether you have a sensitive pet like I do or not, I suggest you do the same so that if there is a problem you can catch it early.

I've had different pets all my life. When I was a child, I grew up with a Maltese, who as pets are an excellent choice because they are such friendly and calm dogs. At that time, there weren't so many choices of dog foods and snacks and it was normal to feed your pet food that was cooked at home that day. My dog ate home cooked meals with meat and chicken everyday. She also loved milk and never showed any adverse reactions to it. Although I never gave her any sweets or alcohol, I'm sure I fed some things that I shouldn't have, now I know better.

Do not feed your pregnant female raw meat without freezing it first or rubbing it with eatable hydrogen peroxide. It may contain neospora caninum which will pass through the placenta and kill the puppy. By about eight weeks the puppy will have died.