Cat dry food is different from dog food. Can a cat be given dog food? How to teach your pet to eat right

Happy owners who keep both a cat and a dog in the same apartment are often occupied with the question: is it possible to give cats dog food? In fact, there is nothing surprising in this - animals are often not averse to profiting from food from a neighboring bowl, and in pet markets, dog food usually costs less than cat food, and it is easier to get it. However, putting a cat on a dog ration is strongly discouraged.

It is possible that some owners will study the composition of dog and cat food from the same manufacturer and will not find significant differences in it. However, this is a false impression - dog food is not suitable for cats for a number of reasons.

Firstly, by their nature, cats are obligate predators, which means that they require mainly protein foods in their diet, namely meat. Dogs, like people, are omnivores - they successfully digest vegetables, cereals and other plant products that are not absorbed by the cat's body in large enough quantities. This is also evidenced by feline physiology: compared to omnivores, they have a shorter intestine and reduced activity of digestive enzymes.

Secondly, cat food contains vital substances in the correct proportion - among them arachidonic acid, vitamins A and B, and, most importantly, taurine. Despite its great importance, this substance is not produced by the cat's body, so manufacturers add it to food, and in nature, furry predators get the substance from rodent meat. In dogs, the situation is different: their body is able to synthesize taurine, which means that it is not and should not be in dog food. A lack of taurine in a cat can lead to serious problems - visual impairment (retinal atrophy), digestive disorders, heart failure, not to mention bad coat and teeth.

Therefore, the cat's diet is very different from the dog's, because manufacturers of high-quality feed take into account the needs of pets.

Consequences of malnutrition

Switching to dog food is dangerous for cats with the following problems and diseases:

• obesity - associated with a high content of carbohydrates in the dog's diet;
• anemia, lack of strength and energy - essential amino acids are missing in dog food;
• problems with vision, heart, - lack of taurine;
• digestive disorders.

How to wean a cat off dog food

But what to do if a fluffy pet got into the habit of stealing food from a dog bowl? Here it is already necessary to think not only about the dangers of malnutrition, but also the possibility of a fight with sad consequences for both. In order for the cat to forget about someone else's food as soon as possible, you should follow simple recommendations:

1. Feed your pets at different times. It is better to do this in such a way that the cat does not see that the dog is eating. She can be distracted or simply transferred to another room.
2. Don't leave dog food in the bowl. After eating, the container with the remnants of food should be immediately removed to a place inaccessible to animals. Pour food at night also should not be.
3. Change food. If the cat stubbornly refuses its food, while regularly looking into the dog's bowl, try to buy another food for it - perhaps the old pet is simply tired.

If the cat is still stubborn, you should simply leave the new food in an accessible place and do not give anything else. In a couple of days, the animal will not die of hunger and will most likely start eating.

In addition, you should not give the cat someone else's food as a treat - in small quantities there will be no harm from it, but in this case it is unlikely that you will be able to wean your pet.

1. Always buy food that is appropriate for the age and characteristics of the pet (for example, for pregnant, elderly, neutered cats and cats).
2. If the cat eats "drying", make sure that there is always fresh water in her bowl.
3. Keep an eye on the expiration date of the food and do not give it to the cat if the product is spoiled. Before buying a new package in the store, also check the date of manufacture: do not be tempted to buy an expired product or food with a near-expired shelf life on a promotion
4. With any diet, you need to carefully monitor the condition of your pet. If the cat has symptoms of allergies or indigestion, as well as a dull coat and bad teeth, the food should be changed urgently, after consulting with the veterinarian.

So, dog food has no place in the diet of a cat or a cat. Of course, nothing bad will happen from a few pellets eaten, but if the pet regularly climbs into someone else's bowl, then this behavior must be stopped. Moreover, it is impossible to intentionally feed a cat food for a dog, even for reasons of economy - after all, the amount that will then have to be spent on treatment and recovery will be much more tangible.

Having a cat and a dog in the house, some of their owners do not pay attention to the fact that the animals are happy to eat dry cat food from the same bowl. Today we will figure out whether it is possible to feed a dog with cat food.

When answering the question of whether a dog can eat dry or wet cat food, it should first be noted that cats and dogs occupy different natural niches. Despite the fact that both animal species are carnivorous predators, their way of life and metabolism in the body are significantly different.

Animals with different blood composition have different needs for useful and nutritious substances. If you give the dog cat food, then soon it will weaken and often get sick. A weak immune system is the first sign of a deficiency of vitamins and minerals necessary for normal life.

Let's figure out why you shouldn't give dog food designed for cats.

• Protein

In dog food, the protein content should be in the range of 15-25%. But in cat food, the amount of protein can range from 40 to 70%. Excess protein in the body leads to allergies and increases the risk of various liver diseases.

• Acidity

Increased acidity adversely affects the formation of the musculoskeletal system in puppies, and also negatively affects the functioning of the pancreas.

• Taurine

The dog's body synthesizes amino acids on its own and does not need an external supply of taurine. Additional taurine, constantly supplied to the dog's body along with cat food, is the cause of heart failure.

Lack of control and careless attitude of the owner to feeding pets can end very sadly. Dogs who are fond of eating food intended for cats often suffer from diseases such as gastritis, stomach ulcers, heartburn, indigestion, dermatitis, otitis externa and middle ear, conjunctivitis, seborrhea, alopecia, kidney failure, heart failure, urolithiasis, an allergic reaction of a food nature, etc.

How to wean

We have already found out whether it is harmful for a dog to eat cat food. Now you need to understand how to wean a pet to enjoy food from a neighbor's bowl.

Some dogs with a stubborn nature will be hard to retrain, but nothing is impossible. It is necessary to adhere to a well-thought-out feeding scheme and not be led by a pet.

Please note that many dog ​​owners make a common mistake when trying to wean a dog from eating food from a cat bowl in one day. The change in diet, according to experts in the field of veterinary medicine, should occur gradually, based on the principle of mixing. So, the optimal weaning scheme is as follows: every 4-5 days, remove 25% of cat food from the dog’s diet, offering a large portion of dog food instead.

At the same time, various treats and unhealthy foods should not be introduced into the pet's diet. Such a transition will be less noticeable, respectively, it will be possible to avoid the boycott of the dog, which manifests itself in the form of a complete refusal of food.

You can prevent attempts to steal someone else's food and keep your dog healthy by following simple rules:

1. Pets should be fed in separate rooms and at different times.
2. At the end of the meal, you need to thoroughly wash the feeding containers, leaving no food residues in them.
3. It is recommended to select industrial food for cats and dogs, taking into account the characteristics of the breed, age and preferences of each animal. Do not save on pets - choose quality products from trusted brands.

Today, pet stores offer customers a wide range of various products and accessories for pets, including feeding bowls. Some manufacturers, taking into account the wishes of dog breeders raising thieving dogs, have developed special "anti-dog" bowls. The food utensils are placed in a shelter box where the dog cannot enter and eat food intended for cats.

Can a cat eat dog food? There are two reasons why this question arises. The first reason is that dog food (especially dry food) is cheaper than cat food, and the second reason is that both the cat and the dog live in the house.

We have one big dog and many cats. We didn't create any of them on purpose. It so happened that the whole company now shares with us an already small apartment. For some reason, most people believe that more than one animal cannot be kept in an apartment. But when it comes to breeding animals for sale, this argument is not even mentioned. Well, okay, today we are not talking about that. Now we'll talk about

I will tell you our story, and you yourself will understand the dangers of feeding animals with specialized feed.

With us always lived, and cats, and dogs. True, not in such numbers as now, but we always had one dog and one cat. Basically, these are foundlings and pick-ups, which we literally pulled out of the next world. We call them gifts of fate or a test for lice, that is, a test of us for compassion and humanity.

Before, we didn’t even think about what to feed them. What they themselves ate, they were given. Sometimes they spoiled them with fresh fish or meat, although they themselves rarely ate meat, because of its high cost.

As you understand, there was no separation in dog or cat food. And everyone was full, happy, and healthy.

But as the years go by, everything changes. I am constantly at work, and my mother is already under 80 years old, and naturally the question arose of her having less trouble in the kitchen. We used to buy lungs, spleen and udders on the weekend. All this was cut into pieces and put in bags in the freezer.

Then every day, my mother took a bag of offal, boiled it, ground it through a meat grinder, and added it all to the pre-cooked barley porridge. We can't afford to feed such a crowd on meat alone.

Now, to make it easier, we decided to buy cat food in cans and add it to the porridge. Naturally, the dog was fed the same. The dog happily ate porridge with cat food, and was full and satisfied.

But my instincts told me that this should not be done. With such experiments, you can plant a liver or heart in a dog and ruin it completely. And there are no laboratories in our city to determine the disease of an animal. All treatments are carried out at random, and according to one scheme - by the method of exclusion.

As a result, when it was no longer possible to go outside with a dog, because of its terrible appearance, I finally found an article on the Internet describing a dog's illness, just like ours. It was all about taurine, which is added to cat food. This substance is contraindicated for dogs, because. it is already present in their body, and these supplements were already superfluous.

True, no treatment was offered on this site. Then I decided to do my own treatment. First, I trimmed my dog ​​to the very root, then smeared it completely with sulfuric ointment to remove gray smelly crusts and cause increased blood flow in the skin. I noticed a long time ago that from the sulfuric ointment, the hair of cats grows quickly and becomes shiny and thick.

Two days later, I washed Rick (my dog's name) with a tar soap brush. As a result, all the yellow-gray scales, which the dog had been covered with for almost a month, washed off. His skin became clear and no longer stinks.

The food, of course, has also changed. They began to give him only canned dog food with the same barley porridge. True, at first Rick refused to eat it, everything was eager for cat bowls.

It's been a month and a half. A couple more times I washed my dog ​​with a brush and tar soap. Now the dog grows a thick and shiny coat. Now cats strive to kiss the dog bowl, but this is also fraught with their health.

Cat food contains more proteins and acidity, because. cats need twice as much protein and B vitamins as dogs. Cats, unlike dogs, are unable to convert certain food ingredients into amino acids and water-soluble vitamins.

Also, taurine must be added to cat food. Taurine is naturally present in mice, so cats that do not hunt mice should definitely get it from another source, namely from specialized cat food. Otherwise, a lack of taurine in a cat can lead to the development of cardiomyopathy, a fatal heart disease.

Many people live with cats and dogs all their lives, and do not think at all that they are not fed properly. We, too, have been delusional about this for a long time. We first started to think about the fact that we feed our cats incorrectly only when they began to get sick, and the symptoms were very similar for all. That's when we became interested in the nutrition of cats and dogs. The big discovery for us was that the diet of cats is completely different from the diet of dogs. But we have had both of them all our lives. And the question of whether it is possible to feed a cat with dog food, we did not have. Although, looking at the prices of industrial feed, some doubt still crept in. It is strange that dog food is much cheaper than cat food.

How is a cat different from a dog and why do they eat differently

We drew all information on the nutrition of our pets from foreign literature, because. they contain all the information based on many years of scientific observations. It turned out that everything is well studied in terms of dog nutrition and industrial feeds are quite suitable for them if they are produced by trusted companies and all the rules for their storage are observed.

But with the industrial nutrition of cats, even abroad, there are still disputes.

Cats and dogs are completely different animals and their nutritional needs are also different. Dogs are omnivores and can get their nutrients from both plants and animals.

Unlike dogs, cats are pure carnivores, which means that they must only eat animal-based proteins. Vegetable proteins the cat cannot digest. More vegetable proteins are added to dog food, which is why they are cheaper.

Animal-based proteins, such as meat and meat by-products, are known to be composed of 23 types of amino acids. Without 11 of them, a cat simply cannot live, because her body cannot synthesize them.

One such essential amino acid is taurine, which dogs can synthesize themselves. Therefore, taurine is not added to dog food. A cat without this amino acid can go blind and develop heart failure.

Also, from animal fats, a cat receives arachidonic and linoleic acid, which they need to maintain hair and kidneys. Dogs only need linoleic acid and therefore arachidic acid is not added to dog food.

Dogs require much less folic acid, B vitamins, including niacin and thiamine. They are also much less in dog food than a cat needs.

What can dog food lead to when feeding it to a cat

If a cat eats dog food for a long time, it can lead to diseases such as: heart problems, deafness, blindness, seizures, hair loss, infertility, and even lethargy. At best, the cat will have constant diarrhea.

The only correct answer to the question “is it possible for a dog to eat cat food” is formulated categorically - it is impossible. The prohibition is due to the difference in their digestive systems.

Features of the diet of dogs and cats

Zoologists know that dogs are carnivores and cats are carnivores, despite their common carnivores. Differences are observed both in physiology and in the type of metabolism: a cat (due to the high proportion of glucose in the blood) eats little and often, and a dog eats twice a day (and even once a day).

In cat food, it must be present - an amino acid that helps digest fats in the small intestine. Taurine is found in beef and fish (a lot of it in cod), but not in plants. The dog's body itself synthesizes taurine from a pair of amino acids (cysteine ​​and methionine) found in animal protein.

Feeding behavior of a cat

The feline diet during evolution consisted mainly of animal fats and proteins. The cat (by the nature of nutrition and behavior) is an unconditional predator with some nutritional features:

• dependence on arginine- this amino acid is present exclusively in proteins of animal origin;
• need for taurine- lack of amino acids leads to visual impairment, malfunctions of the cardiovascular, reproductive and nervous systems;
• need for arachidonic acid- It is found only in animal fats.

The cat is able to enjoy the process of eating, as her ancestors killed game for themselves, dined, slowly and for a long time. That is why the cat is shown fractional nutrition - she herself will decide when to approach the cup. Cats (with the exception of neutered individuals) have “food brakes”: the food in the bowl should be freely available. A dog will get fat in this situation, a healthy cat will not.

Important! Cats, unlike dogs, disdain carrion. The cat will ignore food that has stood for several hours until the owner replaces it with fresh food.

A cat is more subtle than a dog, feels its body, and often arranges unloading days itself. If fasting continues for more than 2 days, this is a reason to contact the veterinarian.

Dog eating behavior

Dogs are irresistibly attracted to carrion, which cannot be considered an anomaly: in the wild, predators often return to carcasses that have had time to thoroughly rot. True, carrion picked up by a dog in the city often causes gastrointestinal ailments. Another strange eating habit of dogs is fecal eating, which is considered acceptable for animals up to a year old, as well as for lactating bitches, who eat feces (with the remnants of undigested food) after their puppies.

Industrial lines of cat and dog food differ both in the selection of the main nutritional ingredients and in the vitamin and mineral composition.

Nutrients

Quality pet products include the optimal amount of fat, carbohydrates and protein, taking into account the different needs of dogs and cats.

Important! The percentage of fats in dog and cat food is about the same, but for cats (mindful of their exceptional carnivory), manufacturers put more animal proteins.

Products for dogs contain approximately 15-25% animal proteins, while feline products contain at least 40-70%. Also, cat food is somewhat higher in calories (it has more carbohydrates), which is explained by the intensive metabolism of cats.

Vitamins and minerals

Taurine, iodine and phosphorus are certainly added to high-quality cat food, and a little more calcium and magnesium are added to dog food. Granules for dogs contain an increased percentage of vitamins A, D3 and C, while the finished diet of cats is enriched with vitamins PP and E.

Manufacturers make sure that cat food contains vitamin H, and dog food contains vitamin K. All commercial dog / cat food contains synthesized vitamins of groups A, B, C and E.

Why does a dog eat cat food?

There can be many reasons contributing to this deviation, but one of the main ones is the protein hunger that your dog is experiencing. Most likely, he does not receive animal proteins along with his food, which is why he tries to make up for their shortage by looking into the cat's bowl. A dog's interest in cat food is also due to the attractive smell of the latter. As a rule, the olfactory receptors of the animal are affected by economy-class granules, generously flavored with flavor enhancers and flavors.

Important! Remember that inexpensive cat food is addictive not only for cats but also for dogs. Animals require certain food and refuse other food.

It is impossible to exclude greed, often (if it is not stopped in time) turning into food aggression. The instinct of the invader is demonstrated by dogs deprived of maternal attention in childhood, or dominant animals. There are several other factors that explain a dog's desire to eat cat food:

• unplanned and harmful snacks;
• free food;
• poor quality dog ​​food
• Poorly cooked food (cold/hot, tasteless, tough or undercooked)
• change in food habits due to lack of necessary loads.

Puppies and young dogs occasionally steal cat food, simply because they are running out of their portions so quickly. Sometimes natural curiosity or the belief that the neighbor's food is tastier pushes you to explore someone else's bowl. For safety net, it is still recommended to visit a doctor who will clarify the motives of the dog's interest in cat food.

Is cat food bad for dogs?

Negative consequences for the body can arise both due to a lack and an overabundance of some nutritional elements arranged for the energy costs of cats. Industrial products for cats are more nutritious than dog food, which leads (with its systematic use) to a set of extra pounds. In addition, the dog's body (self-producing taurine) does not need to be supplied from outside.

Excess taurine ingested in cat food causes heart failure, such as cardiomyopathy.

Important! The danger lurks in the high acidity of cat food, which is good for cats, but harmful for dogs. Their pancreas goes out of rhythm, and pets develop heartburn, gastritis and even an ulcer.

Cat food is also contraindicated for puppies who are developing the musculoskeletal system: an unbalanced diet delays and distorts development. Perhaps the main threat lies in the increased concentration of protein, leading to a whole range of canine ailments, such as:

• conjunctivitis;
• otitis;
• dermatitis, including allergic;
• seborrhea;
• kidney failure;
• liver disease;
• urolithiasis (especially in small or sterilized animals).

In addition, many dogs, more often decorative breeds, are found on animal protein, often flowing into an extremely serious condition called allergic shock. But, unfortunately, not every owner is able to associate a pet's malaise (serious or not) with his passion for cat food.

How to wean a dog from eating cat food

Give up the idea of ​​having a conversation with a four-legged dog about the absolute dangers of cat food and the benefits of dog food. Looking after a disobedient while eating is also a failed undertaking, and too troublesome (believe me, the dog will seize a minute to treat himself from someone else's cup). A list of measures that will help eradicate an unwanted habit:

• feed the animals in different parts of the apartment (one in the corridor, the other in the kitchen);
• organize a meal twice a day, closing the doors so that the pets do not intersect;
• remove cat food from free access or put it so high that the dog cannot reach it;
• control the cleanliness of the cat's cup by removing food debris;
• let the animals know that the dinner is over - take away the empty bowls;
• if the dog still managed to steal cat food, punish him.

When instilling good manners in your dog, it is not at all necessary to resort to all of the above points - choose those that suit you best. The main thing is that they are effective. When developing proper eating behavior, do not forget about the simple rules for handling a dog.

Important! Don't feed your dog (especially large/giant breeds) for about an hour after vigorous exercise. They often have volvulus or acute dilatation of the stomach, requiring medical intervention.

Do not invade your pet's personal space when he eats - no need to stroke or call him to you. Like any predator, at this moment he guards his prey, which is why he grumbles at others, including the owner.

Grunting is a normal reaction of a beast (even a tamed one): just let him calmly finish his portion. In order for the food to be completely digested and assimilated, give the dog, especially a young one, a 1-2 hour afternoon rest. Feed your pet 1 hour before a regular walk and 2 hours before a walk with intense physical training.