# Cat Food VS Dog Food



## Mrs.J. (Nov 29, 2012)

Our Leila is 10 months old (I thought she was a year, but I got the paperwork out and did the math, turns out she's only 10 months) and 8 pounds.
I can't get her to eat dry dog food by itself, I have to mix it with wet food. She gets that in the morning and raw food at night.

I think it's odd that she refuses to eat plain dry dog food, but will attack the cat over her dry cat food. Is there something in the cat food she needs, that she's not getting from the dog food? What is the difference between dog and cat food, is it okay for her to eat the cat food?
Do your dogs do this?

Leila is on Wellness Puppy Food, and the cat is on Evolve Cat Food. 
I know it's not a big deal, just wondering


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## KrystalLeigh (Aug 17, 2011)

Odie would do this same thing if we didn't elevate the cat food. In our case, it's definitely not any kind of preference to the cat food. It's because it's the cat's food. I know some people with multiple dogs experience this, even if it's exactly the same food.

You can train her to not touch the cat food, but for us it was just easier to put the cat food on a little platform so they can eat in peace without me hovering around them.

Edit: I was also going to say that it's not the end of the world if she eats some cat food, but there are definitely differences in commercial dog and cat food, because both are balanced for the species it's meant for (ie. cat food has taurine, which is essential for cats but not for dogs).


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## MMS (Aug 2, 2012)

I would definitely watch. Cat food tends to have higher sodium, of which you definitely want to keep your pup's levels down.


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## lulu'smom (Jan 4, 2012)

Absolutely there is a difference in dog food and cat food, and I have always heard that it is not good for dogs to eat a lot of cat food because of that. I do know that Wellness is a good dog food, but I have heard from a lot of people that it is not the tastiest as far as dogs are concerned (they don't tend to like it--some do but a majority do not). We put our cat's food up high so the dogs can't get to it. Why not try another dog food and see if she likes the flavor enough that she's not obsessed with the cat's food.


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## Moonfall (Nov 16, 2012)

Douglas will raid the kitty food. He loves his food, (blue buffalo wilderness) but he'd get fat if he got to eat as much as he thinks he needs


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## BorderKelpie (Sep 9, 2012)

Cat food tends to be higher in fat, so it tastes better to them. Because my dogs like dry cat food, I tend to use small amounts of it as training treats. A complete diet of cat food for dogs will lead toward obesity and possibly digestive disorders as dogs aren't as good at digesting fats as cats are. 

Try soaking the dog food in warm water for about 15-20 minutes and see if that works - that's what I do for all of my dogs. 

(FWIW: taurine has shown favorable benefits for some dogs with heart failure)


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## intent2smile (Dec 4, 2011)

I have never had a dog that didn't love cat food. My golden retriever grew very overweight from him sneaking the cat food of course it didn't help that he was eating his food and the cat's food any chance he got.
We don't have a cat now but I did the entire time I was growing up.


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