What’s in your dog’s mouth?
By Kim Campbell Thornton
July 27, 2007
All my dogs have been chowhounds, from Savanna the greyhound, who came running all the way from the back of the house at the scent of orange slices wafting from the kitchen to the current Cavaliers, who believe they are due a bite of anything we’re eating. They don’t beg, of course; that would be gauche. But if they don’t get a taste–because it’s chocolate or has onions in it or whatever–Twyla glares at me haughtily, as if to chastise me for my rudeness in not sharing. Bella just looks sad.
Even after years of living with dogs, I’m amazed at the variety of foods they’ll eat. The Cavaliers continued the citrus craze that Savanna started. Against my advice, my husband offered them grapefruit one morning. “They won’t like it,” I pronounced. They loved it. The only thing Bella won’t eat is banana. She wants it–she just won’t eat it.
I’ve heard of picky dogs, but I have trouble imagining having one. My baby brother, who has an even bigger neon sucker sign over his head than I do, came home recently with a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois. My sister-in-law e-mailed: Buffy won’t eat much. What should we do?
Heck if I knew. (Well, I did know that the very high quality food Buffy was getting was one of the only foods none of my dogs have ever cared for, so I considered that it might be a palatability issue.) But I looked around in my behavior books and suggested a Brian Kilcommons technique of making a big production of filling up the dish, presenting it to the dog, and then throwing it away at the last minute. You’re supposed to do this for three meals before actually letting the dog keep the food. Apparently it worked. Last I heard, Buffy had shown a lot more interest in her meals. I’m waiting for further updates.
So what led me to post this? Well, tonight we had Lebanese food. “Can dogs have turnips?” Jerry asked. “I guess,” I replied. “But aren’t they pickled? Do you think they’ll eat them?”
They will. But the funniest part was when they looked sideways at each other, with expressions that said “What was that?!”
Heather’s favorite un-doggy fare: Fresh dandelion greens!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 27, 2007 @ 8:37 pm
Thank you so much for the link to that article on onions. I lost the best dog in the history of the universe to immune mediated hemolytic anemia, and have been warning people for years that onions can cause potentially fatal, IMHA-like symptoms. I’ll add Dr. Yin’s article to my list o’ links.
Figs —- my dogs will stand on their hind legs and eat figs right off the tree. Just like everyone else on earth ;~)
Comment by Luisa — July 27, 2007 @ 10:10 pm
My friend Wayne used to have a huge mastiffy sort of mix who would eat avocados by the pound—Wayne grew them on his property. I’ve heard that avocados are toxic to dogs, but it certainly never seemed to do him any harm. And my dogs have had bites of them many times with no ill effects.
Comment by Kim Campbell Thornton — July 27, 2007 @ 10:38 pm
Kim, I’ve always had avocado trees in the yard, and I’ve seen what happens when a dog eats too many of them: he gets really, really fat. I suspect the worst danger from a dog eating avocados is that the owner can break her neck slipping on a pit.
THe ASPCA poison info page says, “Birds and rodents appear to be particularly sensitive” to the toxic thingy [Persin] in avocado bark, leaves, seeds and fruit. I’d be interested to see reports on dogs that have suffered symptoms other than transitory GI distress after eating one or two dozen avocados.
Comment by Luisa — July 27, 2007 @ 11:30 pm
Yes, he was very fat. I remember his name now, Rocky. It should have been Boulder.
Comment by Kim Campbell Thornton — July 27, 2007 @ 11:41 pm
I have had one dog(a lab) that loved a slice of watermelon. I would remove the seeds though before giving it to her. She would only eat the inside like people. One of my cats loves to eat corn on the cob.
Comment by Serijna — July 28, 2007 @ 1:28 pm
As for cats … I had to hide cinnamon raisin bagels (and similarly flavored foods) from one of my cats because he would literally chew, scratch, claw, etc., his way through bags and other containers to get to them! A little taste would usually satisfy him, but that was pretty wacky. :-)
Comment by sandy — July 28, 2007 @ 3:06 pm