Feeding Pets From the Table

[SoDesuKa]

I'm completely in favor of keeping pets out of the dining room when the family is eating. There's too much temptation for someone to sneak a tidbit for the cat. My brother claims he won't feed an animal from the table, but his cats cruise the room in case anything should fall.

Me? I eat at my desk when I'm having an informal meal in front of the computer. The cats know just how to look pathetic so that I feel selfish if I don't share a tidbit with them.

But no dining room treats! A guy's got to draw the line somewhere. I don't want my guests creeped out by cruising animals.

[Inchworm]

1. Not WHILE eating

I spend most of my time with my dogs. They get to have a snack when I'm done eating. I growl at them when I'm eating, hehe,and they go just outside the kitchen/bedroom/whatever room I'm eating in door and sneak peeks to see when I'm finished.

It is kinda cute if I quickly turn and catch either of them eyeballing me. They jerk their heads and slyly look at me in their peripherals lol

Naturally, I save them each a bite or two of whatever I'm having and they come in like it's a party :D

:hi:

[femmocrat]

3. We put our dogs in the laundry room when we eat dinner.

They actually go in their on their own and wait politely. They are so sweet. They don't go "bonkers" until they hear their food hit the bowls.

The puppy, however, is not as cooperative! She will learn though. :)

[grasswire]

2. I had a moment of species enlightenment once

It creeped me out that we withhold food from our animals and make them wait in much the same manner that children were forced to stand behind the adults who were eating at table and wait for scraps, once upon a time.

I thought: why not just set a place at the table for kitties? Why do we do this? Dogs are another matter -- so unruly about food.

In our current tiny apartment we rarely eat at table. A coffee table serves to put the plates. And my best old cat is allowed tidbits. He needs to eat any time he can, and anything he wants.

[jobycom]

7. Huzzah for species enlightenment!

:) The older I get, the more convinced I am that animals are more like people than people are.

[Lucinda]

20. The pride all eats at the same time around here

No dogs here, and the cats stay off the table...but we all eat at the same time.

[Skittles]

4. you want I should kick some pathetic-looking feline ass, SoDesuKa?

LEMME AT 'EM

[frogmarch]

5. Our pets have always

dined with us. Our only rule has been No Livestock On the Table.

[applegrove]

6. My dad feeds my one cat at the dinning table. Even though Sam throws up alot and his

of medicine for fur balls he still feeds her. And when he doesn't she'll stick her claws right into his shin.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. My cats are relentless beggars.

Especially the big fluffy one. He once stole a whole pork chop right off my plate when I wasn't looking, and took off through the house with it. I had to let him have it because he'd gotten it all dusty and linty from dragging it across the floor, so of course now he continues to steal whenever he can. Ham sandwiches are among his favorite prey. I am thinking of going vegetarian just so the cats won't steal my food.

[Habibi]

9. lol

I love that image.

My Ramzi is a beggar-kitty, and my MIL indulges him. But he's a good boy and knows when to stop nomming from her hands. So far, he hasn't puked from the bounty.

[hedgehog]

17. We had cats that loved tomatoes, so going vegetarian is no defense!

[MiddleFingerMom]

19. The cat abides...

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[RandomThoughts]

10. That comes from pet doctrine.

And ideas of superiority of some people over other people.

However note that it was a correction to a wrong thought, a counter showing why superiority complexes are wrong. Most people don't think about what that conversation was about.

Most think it defends table scraps and animal representations of some people, I think it shows that concept wrong.

[MattBaggins]

18. Damn it iwas just skimming reponses and not paying atteintion to the names

I actually read your post. Something in my brain actually started twitching.

[gvstn]

11. My cat is a people person

I trained him early on if he got too interested in our dinner, off he went shut into his own little room until dinner was over. He didn't like being cut off from what was going on and learned not to look for an empty chair and hop up to table level and eye up our dinner. Took less than a month.

The other thing I do is feed him his wet food just before we sit down. (He gets dry food several times a day but a quarter can of wet food at dinner time) That satisfies him and he sleeps during our dinner now.

Once in a great while he begs for food (usually lamb chops), I am a softee and take a few pieces, let them cool down, and put them on a plate and carry them over to his normal feeding spot. (I'm a softee and it also saves me a few scratch marks on my leg as he gets more insistent)

[trackfan]

12. The dog is a regular at dinner.

He gets the spot right between us and begs, bumps, nudges, licks, for food during the whole meal. It seems like it is very important to him to be allowed to share in the meal, even if he only gets a few scraps. We let him lick the plates after we're done.

[astral]

13. Pets should be fed food in their bowls

and if they beg at the table it's because they're taught to beg. My family growing up did that with the dogs (cats I haven't seen be little beggars, they like routine and predictability but maybe if they only get dry cat food they're not satisfied) and I always hated it. I see nothing wrong with giving them human food in their bowl, and then they don't have to get locked up when you have dinner guests.

I don't think cat's feet should be on tables or counters where food is served, so even though cats like to jump up, they can be taught where it is / is not okay to do so.

[Arkansas Granny]

14. I don't feed pets from the table. However, when my kids were still small,

I had an old dog who would come and lie uder the table at every meal. She knew that begging at the table was not allowed and the kids knew that they were not to feed her from the table. She was a wise old dog, though, and she also knew that sooner or later, with 4 kids at the table, something would get spilled or fall on the floor and she was in a perfect place to take advantage of the situation.

[Mist]

15. I don't feed my cats while I'm eating, BUT they would watch politely and at a distance as I ate and

the minute I got up to take my plate to the kitchen, they'd follow me in at breakneck speed. They always got to lick the plate before it was rinsed and put in the dishwasher.

[cbdo2007]

16. My dog is so polite about it that I don't mind.

She knows she's just going to get something one out of 10 meals, and it won't be much, but she sits there right next to me or my wife so patiently and quiet that we don't mind. She's such a good girl!!! Yes she is!!! She's a good girl!!!! awwwww :)

[SoDesuKa]

21. delete

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[SoDesuKa]

22. delete

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[SoDesuKa]

23. You're a Candidate

You're definitely a candidate for dog lover of the month. I can just see you pursing your lips as you baby-talk to the dog. And what a good dog she is!! Good dog!!!

When I die I want to be reincarnated as a pet in a pet lover's house. Ahh, that's the life.