garlic for dogs

[That_girl]

I am seeing mixed information on this. I am at my sister's and she was making homemade dog biscuits for her crew. Then I saw her adding garlic. I was like, "garlic, isn't that bad?" but that's what the recipe calls for - among chicken liver, oatmeal, corn mean (i know, bad).

So, what's the truth? I am seeing that too much is bad, but some is ok. Then I see people saying it's toxic. The dogs have been eating the treats since yesterday and they seem fine.

Thoughts?

[tiffers]

Garlic is in the same family as an onion. The way an onion is toxic is the compounds within the onion attach to the red blood cells and begin destroying them one by one. Chica has had the preliminaries of Onion Toxicity...it's not fun. It really depends on the dosing, to be exact. A little here and there generally is not going to hurt, large quantities or continued exposure can start to cause damage. But, like chocolate...it affects each and every dog differently.

[That_girl]

Interesting, thanks. I will tell her to either cut it down, or cut it out completely. I am also wondering if the corn mean is essential to the recipe also.

She feeds her dogs crap food. No matter what I do, I can't convince her to get them on something better. She claims her dogs are "picky". It's irritating for me.

[tiffers]

...well, if you're only feeding 'crap'...they're going to be picky and want the cheaper 'crap' because it tastes better. Get something higher up on the scale, and I bet they'll eat it. :D Chica's picky...but, through Trial and Error, we've found a happy medium. :)

[lindsayanng]

tell her that if humans were left to their own devices and ate only what they WANTED they all would be unhealthy and overweight.. Same for dogs.. you cant just give them whatt hey want..

thats like telling a child they can pick their dinners from here on out.

[tiffers]

thats like telling a child they can pick their dinners from here on out.

Awesome! I'll have Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with no Parsley EVERY NIGHT! :D

:eek:

...I would be ENORMOUS.

:(

[Julia423]

Homer's breath is bad enough - adding garlic would kill us :)

[theresa92841]

tell her that if humans were left to their own devices and ate only what they WANTED they all would be unhealthy and overweight.

You say that like it's a bad thing. :D Mmmm. Off to eat some m&m's.

[That_girl]

tell her that if humans were left to their own devices and ate only what they WANTED they all would be unhealthy and overweight.. Same for dogs.. you cant just give them whatt hey want..

thats like telling a child they can pick their dinners from here on out.

That's a great analogy, I'll have to try that with her.

I am hoping it'll get better with Jaki. She is feeding Jaki puppy food (Iams), but Jaki is a nibbler. Emmah is also kind of a nibbler, so Jaki is eating both her food and Emmah's. Emmah gets kibbles n' bits (GROSS!) and canned Alpo chunks (ICK). I want to scream at my sister, but I just hold my tongue now.

It was interesting, we got into an argument about free feeding. I first got to my sister's late Saturday afternoon. Both Emmah and Jaki had food in their bowls. First of all, Emmah has never been a breakfast dog, so I don't even know why she bothers offering her food in the morning. Generally, she feeds morning and night, Malcolm eats right away and then sleeps all day since he's so old.

Anyway, I was like "oh, are you free feeding Jaki?" She's like, "no, that's her breakfast." I said, "well it's 4:30, isn't it a little late for breakfast?"

I tried explaining that it would be easier to housetrain Jaki if she only had food for a certain amount of time. They are having more problems with her pooping in the house than peeing. Of course my sister doesn't believe me that she'll poop less on better quality food and more regularily if she didn't have food available to her. Sisters, I tell ya.

[k4teacher]

OK...here's my 2 cents...yes, she is feeding her dog bad food...yes. the dog would poop less, etc...yes, it's just like a child....but here's the thing...you told her. You gave her the advice and you did what you could. she did not take your advice...that's a shame. BUT...is it worth "fighting" with your sister about? Is it worth causing damage to your relationship? Ultimately, it is just like someone and their children. You know, I've seen people that NEVER discipline their children...and then they are frustrated because their children run around and won't do what they say...I tell them what has worked for me with my kids, and how kids need boundaries...etc. They choose NOT to do that. Frustrating? yes abusive? no...so I have to step back, you know? I would just hate for you to drive a wedge between you and your sister over a can of Alpo.