I grew up with cats, and didn’t get my first dog until I was well into my 30’s. There was so much I didn’t know about dogs. One of those things was unusual foods they love, some of which I only related to cats eating, though some of those foods really aren’t healthy for them!
Some Dogs Love Butter
Many years ago, I was quite surprised when our golden retriever, Moses, stole a stick of butter off the kitchen counter and ate the whole thing! I certainly knew that cats love butter. We even used to “butter their paws” to help keep away hairballs. I never expected him to steal the butter, never mind eat the whole thing (wrapper and all). By the way, he was fine.
I had no idea dogs loved butter, and until Luke came along I wasn’t sure many dogs other than Moses did. Luke is often seen standing up on the kitchen counter licking the edge of the butter dish. All butter has to be kept out of his reach (as we had learned with Moses).
Luke is so in tune with butter, he can be sound asleep in the living room and all I do is take the lid off that dish, and he comes running. He even knows the sound of a stick of butter being taken out of the box! While butter in large quantities would not be good for him, I let him lick the wrapper when I open a new stick.
Large amounts of butter could cause stomach upset since most dogs are lactose intolerant, and large amounts of fat ingested by a dog could lead to pancreatitis. Since it’s high in fat, it would be especially worse for an overweight or unhealthy dog. Therefore, we indulge Luke a bit, but keep it in very small quantities.
Dogs Say: Tuna is Not Just for Cats
It always surprised me when I’d open a can of tuna and not only the cats would come running, but the dogs as well! I’d say every dog I’ve had would be happy to eat tuna, but I give the juice from the can to our cat Samantha. Some tuna is high in mercury, so all of us, human and pet alike, should not over-indulge. Again, I let the dogs lick the utensils and bowls when I mix some up, but I don’t feed them any tuna. White albacore tuna is the worst, and that is my preference for myself, so we don’t share very much. I eat it in moderation myself, and Sam only gets the juice at those times. If you want to feed your cat tuna, you are better off getting them cat food made with it.
The dogs still get their fish fix though, the Omega 3’s in fish are very healthy for them! We prefer to feed sardines and salmon. Also, when buying sardines or salmon for the dogs, I look for “no salt added” varieties. That is especially important for Cricket with her heart condition.
The Last Thing Our High-Energy Dogs Need is Coffee
When we adopted Luke, we met a rescue transport truck in Vermont that had brought him up from Alabama. It was early morning and I had a cup of coffee in the console between our seats. Wasn’t I surprised when that little puppy went for that cup of coffee and started licking at it! The lid was on with just that small opening, so he didn’t really get more than a taste.
What is most surprising about this is the fact that I drink my coffee black. If there had been cream in it, I could maybe see the attraction more. There were other times he tried to get in my coffee, but caffeine is not good for dogs, so it is kept out of reach even though I’m not sure he would still be interested. That also reminds me of the time when Cricket was a puppy and was drinking my glass of wine! Obviously, alcohol is not good for dogs either, so that hasn’t been allowed to happen again.
Cats Can Surprise Us Too
On the flip side of the coin, having dogs helped me learn that there are also surprising things that cats will eat, that I would have thought of more for dogs. The one that comes immediately to mind is pumpkin! I give the dogs pumpkin puree every other morning in their breakfast (a spoonful or two only). It’s high in fiber, good for their digestion, and they love it. I read it was good for cats too, and while Sam wouldn’t eat it when I tried it once on it’s own, I tried again just adding a little bit to her breakfast. Sam likes her wet food VERY wet, she wants much more gravy than what’s in the food she likes best. Therefore, every so often I wet her food with pumpkin and she eats it all!
By the way, I buy only organic pure pumpkin puree, the brand seen in our Amazon affiliate link below is what I use. It’s my preference to make my own pumpkin puree, and every fall I do so. I cook all our pumpkins, and then puree the flesh in our food processor. I then freeze it in containers. Unfortunately, our pumpkin crop was pretty small last fall, so we ran out a while ago. I buy the Farmer’s Market brand by the case from Amazon (I use it in the dog cookies I bake for the farm as well). It’s made in the USA, is pure certified organic pumpkin, non-GMO verified, and packed in a can with a BPA free liner.
Have your dogs or cats ever eaten anything that really surprised you, and was it good or bad for them? Tell us about it in the comments section below!
My fur baby, Diggy… he always chokes on dog treats, bones as well as unfamiliar dog food (sometimes we switch from one dog food brand to another just because we ran out of the original one, because the grocery store we went to have a different brand available). #diggytalks
Wow! Gotta add pumpkin puree to my dog and cat’s meal. It’s surprised me when my cat like broccoli, he eats a lot although he is picky.
I would be really surprised if Samantha would eat broccoli! Maybe I’ll try a little, since I always cook it for Luke, who loves it.
My gang gets into the butter. Luckily they never get sick. Never thought about tuna like that. I don’t give it to mine but yes the juice goes to the cat.
Storm has always been attracted to coffee. We have to keep it out of her reach. Of course with retrievers, they would eat just about anything.
Luke is only our second retriever mix, but I don’t remember our first Lab mix eating a lot of odd things. He certainly will eat just about anything though, and it doesn’t even have to be food. That could be another whole post. LOL
As a lab owner, the list of things that they don’t like to eat would be shorter and the list of things that they do like to eat. And I had one that I’ve discovered with all of our labs is that they like plain yogurt but they don’t like flavored yogurt. Who knows why? None of our dogs have been lactose intolerant so we can give them treats of spoonfuls of plain yogurt whenever we eat it. I have absolutely no doubt that our dogs would eat a stick of butter if we left it within reach 🙂
Luke is only our second Lab (mix) so I sometimes forget that they are not picky. 🙂 I don’t think I’ve ever given them plain yogurt (I’ve made frozen treats with it), but let them lick our other yogurt containers. Have you ever tried cottage cheese? Both Luke and Cricket love it, and I add a little bit to their breakfast every day.
My sister used to give her dog butter – I never understood it, but she was adamant that this was good for him. Didn’t work out well.
Oh dear! Did he end up overweight?
Just goes to prove EVERYONE loves the taste of fat. 😊
I might like to eat a stick of butter myself sometime. LOL
Both my cat and dog eat butter and pumpkin. My dog likes oranges, but not bananas. Plus they like marshmallows, a very rare treat because they’re all sugar.
We’ve never tried marshmallows, but I bet Luke would like them! We also haven’t tried oranges (mostly because I don’t eat citrus myself because of migraines), but Luke loves bananas! I should have included that, since it’s also something I never expected a dog to like!
The grossest dog experience I’ve ever had was when Barley stole a stick of butter off the counter and ate the whole thing (including the wrapper, too!). I’m still thankful that we were at my parents’ house and my mom went into mom-mode for her adult daughter because I was having trouble dealing with that one 😉
I wish I could get Soth to eat pumpkin, but he always turns his nose up at it when I give the girls any!
Back when Moses did it, I didn’t know about pancreatitis and stuff, so I didn’t really worry too much. I would worry far more now.
My hairdresser was telling me yesterday about all the stuff her dog has gotten into, (even cooked chicken parts and chocolate candy) and how the worst he ever got was a little diarrhea. What surprised me was the fact that she kept leaving stuff like that out on the counter where he could get it!! 🙂
My sister Dolly loves butter but none of us ever liked pumpkin!
That really doesn’t surprise me, I’m really amazed that Sam will still eat it, and it wasn’t just a one-time thing.
We never have really had plain butter, but we know a lot of dogs who love it and steal it at first chance. Pumpkin is good too, all of us like that. Cat bro Bert is the one around here who eats anything he comes across.
Now a cat who eats anything is the most surprising to me! Though our cat Don Juan loved both popcorn and potato chips, which I thought was unusual!
phenny is a butter-dog too… he even grabbed the wrapping paper from the trash can … with leaving a giant mess behind…
We have to keep our trash can behind a cabinet door! That became habit back when we had Moses.