For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for March 18, 2019

think again

They change Farley’s dog food to one that he does not like. Elly seems to be under the impression that if Farley gets hungry enough he will eat that nasty new food and she will win the battle. I never had a dog that wouldn’t eat everything as fast as they could possibly get it in their mouths, not matter what it was.

However, I have had a cat that would refuse food and had no problem with going on a hunger strike for days. Elly’s trick would not work on her. We will see who wins this one.

that new dog food probably had some disgusting dye’s in it.

Dog’s have very sensitive taste buds, and the food has to be pretty awful for them not to eat it like they are starving to death. Cats, on the other hand, are overly fussy. My husband’s old cat would rather starve than eat a commercially prepared pet food. She was really spoiled. Fresh crab every Friday, and similar treats throughout her lifetime. When I met her, she was the fattest pussycat I’d ever seen.

This is why I don’t feed the dogs before or during dinner. Nor are they allowed near the table at dinnertime.

If I feed them afterwards when the dinner table has been cleaned up and everything put away, then their food is all they smell when I prepare it. Watch out, because even your dinner scraps in the kitchen wastebasket can smell better to them, so “put a lid on it.”

Oh, Farley’s hungry; he’s just not hungry enough for nasty slop!

My mother-in-law had several cats that ate table scraps. She kept their litter boxes in the kitchen, where we ate. The smell of cat pee while you’re trying to eat breakfast isn’t much fun. But watching two old tomcats fight over a bowl of mashed potatoes was.

“The Dog?”

When I was a kid we had “inherited” a miniature Spaniel, Daisy. Daisy was originally purchased as a puppy by my cousin’s uncle (on the other side) when his wife died; he fed Daisy at the table. When he died, my cousin got her, but they had a Great Dane & they didn’t get along, so my grandmother took Daisy. She ended up not being able to keep her, so we got her. She had so many bad eating habits by then. We would put dog food in her dish, but at dinner she was always begging at the table. It took us forever to teach her not to beg. (Side note: when my brother got married & got a small farm, he took Daisy. She loved running with the horses, playing “tag” with them…until my brother joined the army. He gave Daisy to strangers – he had put an ad in the paper – but Daisy ran away. She was found, and she came back to us…where she stayed until the end of her days.)

You are supposed to gradually add in the new food to the old. Cats know the sound of the can opener (tuna can) and mine run to the kitchen to the sound of a whipped cream bottle squirting to beg on their hind feet.

When you change pet foods it’s best to mix in a little of the new food with the old and then gradually work in the change over. Your successful switch will be easier for all and its easy. Don’t buy a large quantity of new pet food until you know they’ll like it. That’s asking for trouble, especially if the new food “doesn’t agree with them.”

My cats would solve the problem by going outside, killing a vole or chimpmunk, bring it in and leave the half eaten remains somewhere I would find them, so I would learn what food is supposed to be.

Serves you right for not hunting for yourself.

Poor Michael. He really wants to do the right thing by his friend but civilized behavior dictates the dog eat dog food and not people food. Unless, of course, the people are done with it.

I’ve read that cats can’t taste sweetness but we had a sweet old female cat that would jump up on the kitchen counter and dig a POP TART out of the toaster when she heard it pop up.

My dog is also fussy – she was a rescue and I have no idea what food she was used to – so I buy good quality hard and wet food, serve them up in separate bowls and add a little freshly cooked meat or chicken to the wet food. She gobbles the wet food up quickly, and goes back a bit later to do the hard food. After much experimentation this is what finally worked.

Also – forgot to mention – have been phasing out the processed wet food and increasing the chicken and beef. When you look at the economics of buying processed dog food vs. cooking it yourself, it turns out to be almost equal. I get chicken on sale, as well as the cheapest beef roast, putting both in the slow cooker with various herbs (no garlic, onion, leek) to make them palatable. Now when I get the slow cooker out she patrols the kitchen, hoping it’s for her. They’re so smart, and we don’t give them enough credit.

About a year ago on the advise of our vet we stopped the can food altogether, we now cook there food , we make enough for 4 or 5 days , a mixture of meat , grain , fruit and vegetables , the dogs love it and we can control their weight and health much better.

Bad idea feeding pets human food.

Since Michael eats dog food, how about he trade with Farley?