I have always wondered but never have been brave enough to find out for myself if Dog Food and treats that claims it taste like bacon, chicken, turkey, etc actually taste like the food the dog food companies say. Once a friend and I ate some dog cookies and they were actually good I didn’t get sick my friend had mad diarhea for days though but I don’t know if the cookies did it…anyway some dog foods even look like human food especially the food that comes in the cans. I saw one with green peas in it. Any Dopers ate any dog food? If not I was thinking about giving it a try strictly out of curiosity unless there is a major health issue I should worry about.
I’ve eaten Milk Bones before. They’re not bad, except that they’re very hard. I’d have to look at the nutrition info…
I’ve never tried dog food (I stick to cat food; helps with hairballs 
) but in my senior year English class the teacher ate a dog biscuit.
She had been telling us a story of someone dog-sitting for a friend.
Supposedly the dog-sitter couldn’t find the dog biscuits in the pantry but did find some tasty “people crackers”. They were nibbling on them, hunting for the dog biscuits while the dog itself was going crazy every time the sitter ate one. Turns out that the “people crackers” were the dog biscuits. People crackers instead of Animal crackers. There were mail carriers and such instead of circus animals. I’ve since seen them in pet catalogues.
Anyways, this jerk in my class had dared her to try one, so she said she’d do it if he would. He brought a baggie of them to class the following week. She made him go first (to make sure they weren’t tainted by him, I think) and then kept her promise. They both claimed the biscuits weren’t too bad, a little dry but edible. I don’t think either of them got sick.
I’ve eaten hard dog food before. It’s not bad, really 
Of course! I used to chow down on my retriever’s box of SHAPES regularly. They were all different colours and shapes depending on what they were supposed to be good for, but the overall flavour, while a little faint, was basically a nice sort of wheaty biscuity sensation. Very nice, very satisfyingly stiff and hard to chew.
You mean this is unusual? I really enjoyed them. Am I too open with this stuff?
One saturday morning when I was a wee 'vark I ate a bowl of Meow Mix with milk in front of my weekly cartoon fix.
Mom was really impressed.
To this day I cannot reconstruct the logic by which I would have thought this was a good idea.
Oh, I ate Meow Mix all the time growing up. We always had 4 or 5 cats at a time with a big bowl we kept filled in the garage. I’d just grab a handful and snack away (I seem to recall it being quite tasty). Can’t remember how old I was when I stopped (maybe seven or eight?)…
I ate Milkbone dog biscuit once when I was a kid - the green ones, because I liked the color green; I had taken them from a neighbor’s puppy snack bin while she was babysitting me (hey, I was six-ish!). No real taste to them, and I never became a connoisseur.
Although I will admit to having a cousin who shared her Bazooka bubble gum with the family German Shepard: “Your turn, Mitzi. My turn, Mitzi. Your turn, Mitzi. My turn, Mitzi.” Gag.
I’ve tried small pieces of several types of dog treats, and was always surprised how bland they are.
I’d eat those dog biscuits that are tan and hard with a round slightly soft thing in the center. Not bad.
And I ate Alley Cat as a kid. My mom has a picture of meon all fours, eating cat food with the outdoor cats.
I’ll still eat hard food on a slight dare, and wouldn’t pause much on the soft stuff. I just think I’d have a problem with the texture.
I used to eat cheap dry dog food when I was a small child. I seem to remember finding it tasty. I only stopped because other people didn’t seem to think it was okay for me to eat it.
Gahhhhh!!! :eek:
I get eeky whenever a canine as much as touches me with the nose, the idea of sharing bubblegum with a toilet drinker is disturbing… shudders
No lasting effects, huh? 
Purrrrrfectly normal.
While I have no cite, I believe I’ve read somewhere that cat food is “tastier” than dog food. Maybe because cats are pickier eaters, who knows. I’ve seen dogs that fiend for cat food while ignoring their own.
Off topic, but my favorite weapon of terror against my hyperactive, scared of nothing brother was a big ol’ can of Alpo. He practically puked when he saw it. Much less when I chased him down, pinned him to the floor and dangled it, spoonful by spoonful, over his head…
Ah, memories.
It’s not exactly that cat food is “tastier”, though it is more “desireable”. Cat food has more calories than dog food. I know this because our family dog, (a small mixed breed) wouldn’t eat dog food, she wanted cat food, so that’s what we fed her for most of her life. While she was young, she was able to stay active enough to burn the calories, but as she got older, she began to get fat. The family veternarian told us it was because of her cat food diet, so we had to be “cruel” wean her off of cat food, and feed her exclusilvely dog food forumulated for elderly dogs. She was happier, and able to get around better after she lost the weight, she had arthritis, so it was an issue.
To those of you who ate their pet’s dog/cat food, did your pets get upset with you? Did you make sure not to eat out of their bowls?
That is really really strange. Eating dog food because you were curious? I can’t fathom that.
Obviously beer is the only thing that should be telling you to eat dogfood. I agree with the “bland but not really too bad.” reports.
Bonz! Yeah, I have vague recollections of gnawing on those as a kid. Never finished one, never came close.
My sister at a very early age (1 1/2 years) struck a killer deal with the family dog:
She, the possessor of thumbs, would fish the Milk Bones out of the box.
The dog, possessor of large teeth, would crunch them up and leave plenty of small chunky bits for my sister’s enjoyment.
Snack time!
Never tried cat food, but I ate the dog’s treats all the time as a kid; I can still vividly recall what they tasted like, which was “not bad but not spectacular and very crunchy.”
My dog passed away recently, but when she was still with us I wasn’t above tasting her treats, as I admitted recently in this thread .
All of you who’ve posted… your opinions, while interesting, are irrelevant. EVERYONE knows dry dog food is going to taste biscuity.
The truly hardcore among us, like me, microwaved canned dog food as a meaty alternative to ramen. Either that, or we were too drunk to dial out for pizza.
Pedigree Chum isn’t bad; however, true dog food connoisseurs know that Winalot Prime (I think you can only get it in the UK) is the true caviar of doggy delicacies. Chicken or beef flavors, of course. The rabbit is nasty.
No, I don’t do this anymore. I do occasionally steal a piece of rawhide off Alfie’s treats before I let him at them though.