# Could a human being eat dog and cat food and be healthy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355 "2011-06-21T23:24:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/1 "2011-06-21T23:24:45Z")
For the purposes of this thread, let’s restrict it to dog and cat food only. No birdfeed or rabbit food or anything like that I’ve heard of really poor people buying pet food for the canned meat. I have tried it myself, out of curiosity, and found that while the meat smells nice, it has a total lack of salt, making it kind of bland. But supposed you got your meats from only pet food. Would it be harmful to you? Is there something in pet food that would be otherwise harmless to pets but harmful to a human? Or, inversely, would pet food be better for you than human canned meats? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/2 "2011-06-22T00:37:10Z")
No, it won’t hurt you. Canned pet foods in developed countries are prepared to human standards. It is worth noting that pet food isn’t just canned meat. It is meat with meal and pectin and all sorts of other stuff. So it would be considerably better for you than actual canned meat, though less so than canned human meals. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/3 "2011-06-22T00:51:22Z")
Doesn’t dog food contain bone meal? Good for dogs, bad for humans. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/4 "2011-06-22T01:04:50Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Doesn’t dog food contain bone meal? Good for dogs, bad for humans. They used to contain a lot of bone meal. That has mostly been replaced with cereal meal. Trivia of the day: this is also why dogshit no longer turns white. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/5 "2011-06-22T02:20:00Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Or, inversely, would pet food be better for you than human canned meats? Am I the only one to read this as “…canned human meats…” 😕:smack::eek: ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/6 "2011-06-22T02:49:48Z")
I think if I was going to exist on dog or cat food, I’d want to go with one of the premium brands. Some of the cut-rate or grocery store brands can contain things that I wouldn’t want to eat unless I was seriously desperate. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/7 "2011-06-22T03:13:24Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > Am I the only one to read this as “…canned human meats…” > > 😕:smack::eek: Now that you’ve pointed that out, no… ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/8 "2011-06-22T03:24:58Z")
Read the labels. The ingredients in dog food vary widely. So does the balance of amino acids. It is all formulated to meet the AAFCO standards, but what is actually in it varies. See [http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047120.htm](http://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047120.htm) I am sure the FDA has similar figures for human requirements. Note the minimums add up to far less than 100%. A 27% protein dog food may have no more of some amino acids than a 17% one. While there is no evidence any brands of dog food fail to provide the nutrition dogs need, some of them are going to be better for people than others. I really have no idea how to tell how much of any nutrient is in any dog food beyond the standards. The internet is full of people hyperventilating over ingredients in dog food. It is a matter of vast marketing hype. Just because certain ingredients are icky or require processing, doesn’t mean they aren’t a good source of nutrients. Dog forums are not filled with the straight dope. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/9 "2011-06-22T04:29:15Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > The internet is full of people hyperventilating over ingredients in dog food. Because an animal whose natural diet includes faeces, month old carrion, dead rats, crab grass and cockroaches has such exacting nutritional requirements. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/10 "2011-06-22T04:44:06Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > No, it won’t hurt you. Canned pet foods in developed countries are prepared to human standards. > > It is worth noting that pet food isn’t just canned meat. It is meat with meal and pectin and all sorts of other stuff. So it would be considerably better for you than actual canned meat, though less so than canned human meals. Well, there’s some that might turn a normal American’s stomach. But then again, there’s a lot of "human foods’ from other nations that might do that (I can’t bring myself to eat kim-chee, smells horrid) So yes, it’s edible. But the one “cat food” that people were eating was “tuna for cats” which is just that - tuna. Sometimes with a little extra b-vit since cats will develop a vitamin shortage eating pure tuna for too long. So, it’s just a cheaper, smellier grade of tuna. ---
**Author:** ![badlyburnttoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@badlyburnttoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badlyburnttoast)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/11 "2011-06-22T04:46:15Z")
If you just ate some pet food and otherwise ate mostly normal food you’d probably be fine… depending, of course, on what all the ‘other’ food was. If you JUST ate pet food only, you’d be fine for a while but eventually you’d get sick from vitamin deficiency (probably scurvy before anything else). But I don’t know why you would. The difference in price between pet food and (cheap, low end) human food is small enough that unless you are at the absolute rock bottom (in which case, you can probably get food stamps or visit a soup kitchen or SOMETHING) you can probably afford the people food. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/12 "2011-06-22T05:00:17Z")
Oh I’m not too worried about bone meal or anything gross. I’m Chinese 😃 I eat guts and eyeballs and feet so I’m perfectly fine with that stuff. I just don’t wanna get sick ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/13 "2011-06-22T07:38:50Z")
Doesn’t the FDA, or some other agency, require that cat food be human-edible and safe? A surprisingly large (and sad) number of Americans survive mainly on canned cat food. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/14 "2011-06-22T07:43:29Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > A surprisingly large (and sad) number of Americans survive mainly on canned cat food. :dubious: Cite, please? ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/15 "2011-06-22T12:14:22Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > A surprisingly large (and sad) number of Americans survive mainly on canned cat food. This urban myth was debunked years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/16 "2011-06-22T12:19:01Z")
Nothing wrong with dog and cat food for humans (unless it’s been contaminated with something like melamine, which made it bad for critters, too) but there is one thing dog and cat food lacks that is essential to human life: Vitamin C. Dogs and cats manufacture their own, just like every other animal aside from primates and guinea pigs. If you lived on just dog and cat food you’d eventually get scurvy. So drink some orange juice or something with it. Seriously, though - if you have a source of vitamin C you should, in theory, be able to live on dog and/or cat food indefinitely although it’s probably not the greatest diet in the world. It will sustain life, though, which seems to be the heart of your question. ---
**Author:** ![Lazlo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lazlo/32/9678_2.png) [@Lazlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lazlo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/17 "2011-06-22T12:25:06Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Now that you’ve pointed that out, no… I didn’t want to bring it up, but since you two already confessed… ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/18 "2011-06-22T13:34:34Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Doesn’t the FDA, or some other agency, require that cat food be human-edible and safe? A surprisingly large (and sad) number of Americans survive mainly on canned cat food. Pet food is required to be safe for pets, but not to meet human standards. A big marketing hype thing is all human grade ingredients. I suspect they can include human grade organ meats and tripe. Icky, but human grade. As for people eating canned pet food, I don’t recall any report of people sickened a few years ago when almost all the canned food was recalled do to melamine contamination. Let’s leave the urban myths to other sites. > [@Broomstick](#): > > Nothing wrong with dog and cat food for humans (unless it’s been contaminated with something like melamine, which made it bad for critters, too) but there is one thing dog and cat food lacks that is essential to human life: > > Vitamin C. > > Dogs and cats manufacture their own, just like every other animal aside from primates and guinea pigs. If you lived on just dog and cat food you’d eventually get scurvy. > > So drink some orange juice or something with it. Seriously, though - if you have a source of vitamin C you should, in theory, be able to live on dog and/or cat food indefinitely although it’s probably not the greatest diet in the world. It will sustain life, though, which seems to be the heart of your question. I just checked the label on my dry Pro Plan bag, minimum 70mg/kg of ascorbic acid. It may be more of a preservative. I don’t know what the human requirement is. The AAFCO doesn’t require it, but many dog foods include it. In choosing a pet food to eat, as I said, they vary, read the label. Note, the Pro Plan is for my Labs. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/19 "2011-06-22T14:42:35Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > (snip)I just checked the label on my dry Pro Plan bag, minimum 70mg/kg of ascorbic acid. It may be more of a preservative. I don’t know what the human requirement is. The AAFCO doesn’t require it, but many dog foods include it. In choosing a pet food to eat, as I said, they vary, read the label. > > Note, the Pro Plan is for my Labs. The RDA is 60 mg/day, so as long as you can eat 860 grams per day without exceeding your caloric requirement you should be fine. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355/20 "2011-06-22T20:59:59Z")
I’ve heard that dogs who eat too much cat food can suffer long-term problems like kidney stones from getting too much protein. If that happens to dogs, I’d expect it if anything to be even worse for humans. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-a-human-being-eat-dog-and-cat-food-and-be-healthy/586355.md?page=2)