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Dog and Cat

holden
December 14th, 2004, 10:17 PM
Hello, I wonder if you could help us
We have a 6 year old Lhasa Apso dog (12 pounds ) and a cat who one year old (weights 21 pounds ! ) The cat was brought home by our daughter at age 6 months.

We have several issues going on.
The dog eats the cat food and cat feces (can this hurt the dog )
the dog does not eat much of her own food (even though we try switching brands )
The dog has recently started urinating and pooping in the house - this was never a problem before
The cat has rapidly gained weight and is constantly hungry. We have switched her to a light cat food.
The cat will eat the dog food if we refuse to give her any more cat food. (Will this hurt her )
When we came home from work today and found "throw up" that had a combination of mucus and blood. (we think it came from the dog, not too sure ) The same thing happened about a month ago. Is this serious? What should we do?

Sneaky2006
December 14th, 2004, 10:23 PM
First off I would take both of them to the vet for check ups. Second, I would put the litterbox at a place the dog does not go and cannot go... I can't see eating litter being good for anything. Third, I would feed them in separate rooms and not leave their food out all the time. I'm pretty sure dogs need their dog food and cats need their cat food or there would be just pet food at the store.

Karin
December 14th, 2004, 10:34 PM
Cat food puts weight on dog.

Litter fritters put weight on dog.

Litter fritters are gross.

Dog food is for dogs, cat food is for cats.

Litter fritters are for scouping into a bag, they are gross and should never grace a dogs lips.


Btw, Hi!

Lucky Rescue
December 14th, 2004, 10:45 PM
Karin said it all quite succinctly. :p

Just want to add that if the dog is eating scoopable litter, it can die from this.

I have 3 cats and a dog, and none eats the other's food and the dog does not get into the cat litter because I keep it out of her reach.

Cat food is much too high in protein for dogs, and dog food is too low in protein for cats.

peppy85
December 14th, 2004, 11:09 PM
ive been told that if your dog eats cat poop or litter fritters(good one),they need minerals or potasium(sp)?im not sure if it is true,but we give horses bananas when they start eating their own poop or road apples,becuz they need potasium(sp),we mash them up in their feed and they usually eat it but not always.i have a 2yr old horse right now that will eat a banana right out of my hand he loves them.i hope i helped.i dont know if it is the same with dogs as with horses but i agree with sharing food its better for them to eat their own food,and not good for the puppy to eat litter.

Karin
December 14th, 2004, 11:24 PM
One must also remember where those kisses were just prior to the big lick you got on the lips from your dog.

I love my Ciara kisses...but I studied a bit too much....I watch with open eyes.


I only accepted kisses long after a butt wash and teething brushing.
She is known for the infamous butt breath.

I could write a book on dog etiquette...

shihtzulover
December 15th, 2004, 07:32 AM
We use baby gates to keep the dog out of the cats food and litter. The cats can jump the gate but the dog can't. Works perfect for us.

hddlstn02
December 15th, 2004, 01:03 PM
This is very interesting to me. I agree w/ the person that said that the dog is needing some kind of vitamin that he isn't getting in his food. They have bottles of vitamins @ any pet store or Wal-Mart for low cost that might help. I would maybe try that for a while. Also, I've read that dog's aren't finicky eaters, but they don't like to have their food changed a lot. They would rather have the same thing all the time.
You said something about dog food being good for cats... It is not! Dogs could survive on cat food & be relatively healthy IF they HAD to, but it's not a great idea. But cats CANNOT survive & be healthy on dog food! Cats need a vitamin/supplement called Taurine. Dog food doesn't have any/much of this. It is a vital part of a cats diet. If a cat doesn't get Taurine for a long period of time, it will eventually go blind.
I have a 2 yr. old cat, a 7 month old kitten & a 7-7 1/2 week old puppy & since I've had Bailey (puppy) my 7 month old Polly wants to nibble on his
food. I haven't stopped her since she can maybe only eat 2-3 pieces & did ask a vet about it & she said that as long as this was not the only food in her diet & she was still eating her cat food as well, she would be fine. She also said that if she started needing a certain vitamin, she would find it. She would quit eating the puppy food until she got the vitamin she was searching for, or she would find something else w/ that vitamin. I've heard that a lot of house cats that don't catch & eat mice will do this when they need a vitamin that mice give them... YUCK! So I would not worry about you cat as long as it's eating cat food too... If it's not, you need to start taking up the dog food or something.
As for the litter, something needs to be done about this! I have never seen a dog eat cat waste. Although, maybe I just haven't been watching closely enough! :p I would definitly try the idea of putting up a barrier that the cats can get over, but not the puppy.
I hope I've been of some assistance. I would definitly try the vitamins & see if that does any good w/ the litter situation. Hope they live long healthy lives! ;)