I made muffins for our parrot this morning.
I can’t believe I did that.
does anyone else cook for their animals? or have I completely lost it?
(in my defense, the bird only got one muffin. The people will eat the rest. but they were really for the bird.)
Not cook, exactly, but I do warm up their canned food in the microwave for a few seconds if it’s been in the refrigerator. My SO used to scoff at me, until I showed him the veterinary column in the newspaper that said cold food is hard on their stomachs and could cause vomiting, so it’s a good idea to warm it up. I was vindicated. 
On occasion when our dogs have had stomach upsets, the vet recommended cooked lean hamburger meat, well drained, mixed with white rice. That’s about it.
I know there are recipes for homemade dog biscuits and such out there, but ours are happy with the cheap ones from the grocery store, so why bother?
My Grandmom used to make dog food sandwiches for her mutt and I thought that was extreme. I wonder if they can recognize and appreciate all the extra effort.
Let me just add… even if they can’t, if it makes you fell better having gone to all that effort then it’s worthwhile from that perspective alone. Without a doubt, it’s an incredibly thoughtful gesture.
My dog gets table scraps, so in a way, I cook for her.
Also, she’s much more likely to eat something for humans than for dogs, so I could sit at the table with a big bowl of dog food and she’d be falling all over herself for it.
When I was growing up we had a poodle that lived for 16 years on people food. She had some sort of allergy to all the preservatives or something in regular dog food. When we didn’t have any scraps, she got scrambled eggs. She could go through a serving of beef stew and leave behind a small pile of perfectly polished potato chunks. She didn’t care for potatoes.
My kitties get a little bit of what we’re having if we’re having something they like. We tend to eat more stuff that they like now than we did before we got them.
My MIL used to boil chicken for her elderly dog. Everyday before noon, the house smelled like boiled chicken. After noon, it smelled like dog farts.
Sheezus! Was I the only one who thought the thread title read “Do you cook your pets?” at the first glance? 
Adam
:eek: I suppose “How to Serve Pets” would not be the best title for my first cookbook, then?
… and from Agent Foxtrot’s post we get “Do you cook your pets at the first chance?”
I too was reading a little too fast and was wondering how long this thread was going to last…
Gives a whole new meaning to Fluffy-Nutter sandwiches.
I read the thread title and thought “I’d never do that! How silly”…
and then remembered all the times I’d heated up popcorn for my little precious bird. So I guess I not only would, but would do it often. :smack:
My dog eats nothing except Alpo dog food… and spaghetti and meat sauce. We have to cook extra noodles because when she smells the sauce, she won’t stop barking until we share. Freaky dog.
I sometimes give my kitties little pieces of chicken or fish when I make it for me, but I don’t cook it specifically for them.
My grandmother used to give homemade cookies to our dog and our neighbor’s dog. We always thought it was a terrible waste of homemade cookies!
Well… just this morning , I was fixing myself some comfort food , missing my Fancy Girl , and fixed bacon and scrambled eggs . And as always , I scrambled enough eggs for me and the remaining dogs , and they each got a slice of bacon , too .
When I grill out , I toss a package of hot dogs on the grill for the dogs . If I fix chicken , I fix a little extra . They always get a little of what I cook , even if I don’r specifically cook FOR them , I cook EXTRA for them . Does that count ?
Anna
it counts (and I’m sorry to hear about your Fancy Girl 
)
I always set aside some dough to keep chocolate-free when I make chocolate chip cookies so that the birds can have some. I also keep a bit avocado-free when I make avocado tofu scramble because parrots can’t have avocado.
My sister makes her own dogfood: she browns lean ground beef and mixes it with boiled rice and frozen vegetables (peas, mostly. The dogs like peas). It’s more or less the same stuff that goes into making fancy dogfood, only without the preservatives and at less cost.
In discussions like this, I am reminded of something I read in Plutarch’s life of Pericles: