Aggravation when dogs are eating the cat food

When my beloved dogs were old but still alive, we got our first cat. This was a new experience for the dogs, a miniature Schnauzer named Kiefer, and a tea cup Yorkie named Mikki. After a couple of weeks, the three of them became fast friends. The only problem was that our cat is a grazer, and he wouldn’t finish his food all at one sitting. Our K9’s soon figured that out, and they learned to wait patiently for the cat to leave his food bowl. Then it was a free-for-all rush to the food bowl to see which dog could scarf it down the fastest.

My vets told me that it is NOT ok for dogs to eat cat food. The nutrients needed by cats is very different than the nutrients needed by dogs. Dogs and cats have different physiology, and their digestive systems and bodies require different kinds of nutrition. Ultimately, feeding cat food to a dog can cause health problems like kidney, bladder and liver damage, and the same is true for feeding dog food to a cat. It’s just not safe or healthy.

Keeping the dogs away from the cat’s food was difficult. We really didn’t have a place to feed the cat that our dogs couldn’t get to, and we didn’t like feeding the cat on the counter. It wasn’t until both dogs passed over the Rainbow Bridge, and we got another cat, that we ended up inventing the MeowSpace®. How we wished we had thought of that sooner!

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