I used to eat dog biscuits of various varieties; Bonio and Spiller’s Ovals mostly, I think. I’ve often wondered what dog food must be like - the cheap stuff smells vile, but the more expensive chunky tinned food looks and smells a lot like Campbell’s tinned meatballs in gravy; I expect there’s not a lot of difference in the taste, but as dogs aren’t as fussy eaters as humans, I imagine there’s more chewy gristle and stuff in dog food.
I like to cook. Most of my cooking involves tasting the food every time I stir with a stirring spoon. It’s become a habit to stir then taste.
I have a cat and a dog.
I feed both, every day at 4:47 pm.
When I feed them it involves putting the dog dried food into the dog dish and putting the dried cat food into the cat dish, adding my secret amount of water, then putting both dishes into the microwave and nuking for 53 seconds. While the nuking is going on I dash upstairs, change my clothes from work clothes to lounging-around-the-house clothes and have a pee. I turn on the cold water tap so the cat and the dog can hop up on the vanity and lap water from the tap. They always prefer the tap water from my ensuite than any other water. I induge them.
Back downstairs, I remove both animal dishes from the microwave and mash up the soaked and nuked dried food. (I use the same fork to mash both but I wash the fork between mashing.) Then I get the tupperware container containing the canned can food and the canned dog food from the fridge. I scoop out appropriate amounts (secret recipe!) of canned dog and cat food and mix it with the corresponding soaked and mashed dried cat and dog food. (Woe betide me if I stuff it up and mix the canned cat food in the soaked dried dog food and vv. Bedlam ensues if that happens.)
I stir the two bowls up, then always lick the fork. It’s like I am cooking my own food and tasting the product of my efforts.
Taste is kinda blah, fishy from the cat food, usually lamby from the dog dish. I don’t lick my lips following but I don’t spit it out in disgust either.
I wouldn’t make a dish from either cat or dog food. I think the meatworks who produce cat and dog food have taken the McDonalds approach - dumb down the taste to suit the bland taste buds of your target audience.
I can’t believe so many of you have tried dog food/biscuits!
When I was younger, and lived at home, I walked into the family room one time to find two of my younger sisters in a heated debate as to which tasted better: cat food or dog food. :eek:
They claimed, when pressed, to be making their arguments based on smell alone, but, having seen the youngest one eating dog food out of the bag, I was/am skeptical.
I have also been told by a friend that ran an animal grooming/boarding business that dog food should be edible to humans; that if it wasn’t good enough for humans, it wasn’t good enough for dogs. I took that with a grain of salt, having seen some of the things dogs will eat voluntarily.
Don’t know if this adds anything to the arguement, but we once had a pony that ate dog food. She never touched the cat food, but we had to be careful to put the dog bowls where she couldn’t get them.
Wouldn’t animal food be less sanitary? I can’t imagine that the same amount of quality would go into making animal food as people food. Oh, and don’t they make dog biscuits that are also made as people snacks? I thought I saw them at PetSmart.
When my kids were younger, I had a heck of a time keeping them out of the dry cat food! This must have been when they were 4 or 5. As soon as my back was turned, they’d grab a snack. A couple of times I found cat food under my son’s pillow where he’d hidden it for later. Fortunately, they grew out of it.
Nah, I had the same situation as Silver Serpentine did: big communal bowl for all the outdoor kitties. Heck, even the 'possums ate outta the same bowl…
When I was growing up I had a neighbor who gave her two daughters (5 and 8 years old) little brown paper bags full of dog food (Purina) for snacks. It was, pound for pound, cheaper than regular human snack food (or so she thought). I tasted it out of curiosity (I think I was about 10). It was good and not good all at the same time. Pretty sawdusty and flavorless but with just enough flavor to make you want to try it again so see if it got better.
Crap, I though I was browsing the SDMB, but apparently I’ve made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in the SunnyDay Retirement Home Cafeteria Review!