Help! My cat keeps eating the dog food.

[Writer]

He seems to prefer it now over his own food. I don't understand... his food is very good, and he's been eating it for quite a while.

Ironically, my cat's food is up on the counter so that the dog won't eat it. x(

[Brickbat]

1. A good friend of mine had a dog and a cat.

The cat started eating the dog's food; the dog would not eat the cat's food. The cat would eat the dog's food and then its own.

One day the dog pissed on his own food, then wandered off. The cat came up to eat the dog's food, noted it had been pissed on, and went to eat its food.

The dog came back to eat its own food in triumph, and then, as my friend told it, looked up at him with an expression on his face that said, "Hey, who the hell pissed on my food?" :rofl:

[Kali]

2. try to prevent that

dog food doesn't have enough protein for cats, and the cheaper it is the worse it is for them (one of my cats has a corn addiction/allergy and she is always trying to sneak dog food - then hack it back up in inappropriate locations)

[david13]

3. Food is food. dc

[GoCubsGo]

4. Nope.

As Kali pointed out, cats need more protein than dogs. They are obligate carnivores, and need certain things in their diet that dogs can live without, like the amino acid taurine. Without it, they'd go blind.

[pokerfan]

5. Feed them separately

Yes, what you've heard is true. Cats need taurine, an amino-acid, to keep their hearts and eye sight healthy. Dog food doesn't have any taurine. If cats eat more dog food than cat food, they are at risk for irreversible hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (the heart hardens) and blindness.

I have dogs as well as cats, and the only thing that works for mine is to feed the dogs a controlled amount twice daily. The dogs finish their meals within 15 minutes. If anything is leftover at the end of that time, it's put away, and their bowls are left empty until the next meal.

And this actually is the preferred method of feeding for dogs according to nutritionists. Dogs who are free-fed almost always end up obese over time. Feeding them a controlled portion twice a day helps prevent that.

If it seems the cats really dislike their own food, I wouldn't be adverse to trying another brand.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Cats-1606/Cats-eating-dog-food.htm

[Gormy Cuss]

6. +1

Feed them separately and pick up the dog's bowl after feeding, and try giving the cat a different brand of food. If you're feeding the cat dry food now, try wet.

[zanana1]

7. We have a possum who keeps eating the cat food.

We keep cat food out on the back porch for the stray cats in the neighborhood. We found that possum, crows, Blue Jays and Starlings all love the stuff. (Our cats barely tolerate it).

[MISSDem]

8. The vet says that it is ok or the dog to eat cat food

but the cat should not eat dog food.

[old mark]

9. Funny, my dog keeps eating the cat food.....I can smell the fishy smell

on his breath when he does it, and he hangs his head as if in shame.

But he always does it again.

The cat has fits!!!!!

:rofl:

mark

[Quantess]

10. Watch out. You don't want a diabetic cat.

Dog food is usually a little lower in protein and higher in carbs than cat food.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. We have that issue here, too.

The cat eats the dog food and the dog eats the cat food. They both seem to be doing fine, so we let them work it out between them. (I should add that they each eat their own food sometimes, too, so I guess it's a sharing sort of thing that they're doing.)