Anyone who has ever owned a dog for a pet knows their knack for devouring bits of food dropped during cooking or eating times (sometimes even flung from the table by small children)
“According to the food recovery hierarchy, if something can be fed to a pet, that’s a higher use than throwing it out or even composting it.”
Given their enthusiasm for everything from treats to rejected clumps of dinner pushed off of highchair trays, you might find yourself wondering if it’s okay to intentionally share food scraps with your pets.
While one should avoid feeding your cats and dogs items high in sugar, fat and spicy foods that might wreak havoc on their digestive tract. Others like grapes, raisins, and chocolate should be completely avoided, but there are others that you might not know pose a risk like avocado, bread dough, and macadamia nuts.
Human foods that are okay for cats and dogs :
- Cooked meat and eggs
- Fruits and vegetables other than the ones mentioned above and found on the aforementioned linked lists
- Peanut butter
- Oatmeal
- Rice
- Salmon and fish skins Note that cats shouldn’t be fed raw fish as it prevents them from absorbing other important nutrients.
- Yogurt: High in protein and calcium, plain yogurt is an ideal treat for dogs,
While feeding your pets scraps, Gunders reminds us: “The general rule is that no more than 5 percent of your pet’s diet should come from treats or people food, to make sure your pet gets the balanced diet he or she needs, which commercially sold pet foods are designed to provide.”
For those who seek the camaraderie of a pet beyond dogs and cats , say chicken ,for their safety, chickens shouldn’t be fed raw green potato peels, dried or undercooked beans, really salty foods, citrus, sugary foods, chocolate, or avocado skins and pits. For the sake of your continued supply of eggs, you shouldn’t feed them raw eggs or eggshells.
When in doubt, check with a reputable source, like these lists from the American Veterinary Medical Foundation and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals