On Christmas Eve, at my parents’ house, my 20-lb beagle ate the following:
A half-pound of chocolate covered almonds, including the plastic bag they were in. They were on the floor in a bedroom along with a pile of stocking stuffers. We figured any food left on the floor was fair game, and we laughed about it. (We worried about the chocolate, but she never got sick.)
A pound of fried chicken fingers from the deli that my mother had intended for the grandchildren to have for lunch. These were in a paper sack on the kitchen counter. The beagle jumped into a chair and onto the counter to get at them.
Most of a sweet potato pie that was on the counter next to the chicken fingers.
At this point we began to take precautions to guard Christmas dinner. We moved the food into safer locations and pushed in all the chairs so that she couldn’t use them to climb onto the counter.
While we were all in the dining room eating Christmas dinner, she ate part of a peanut butter pie that was left on the kitchen table.
That night she was so bloated she could hardly waddle around, but she never threw up or acted sick. She never gets into anything at our house (unless it’s something edible left on the floor) but my parents’ house is big and was full of people and I guess she took advantage of the general chaos and lack of supervision.
Last night I went to the store right after work and got a roasted chicken and some salad stuff for dinner, along with some other groceries. I came in and put the bags on the counter and then immediately went to pull off the wool skirt I’d worn to work because it had been driving me insane all day with the itchiness. (I’m giving it to Goodwill, maybe someone will less sensitive skin will appreciate it.) My hub followed me into the bedroom and we started talking about our days and after a few minutes, I just stopped in mid-sentence and said in alarm, “The cats are alone with the chicken!” We bolted into the kitchen to find both Charles T. Cat and Pierre on the counter trying their best to lick through the plastic packaging of the roast chicken, and the best part, young Scrappy the no-longer-foster no-longer-truly-a-kitten, who apparently realized something was up and wanted to join in was also up on the kitchen counters… but on the opposite one with no food on it, sniffing madly, trying to find the elusive food that the other bigger cats were on about.
20 pounds doesn’t sound overweight, it seems like every beagle I see is fat, if yours isn’t chubby now it sounds like she’s working her way up to it.
By the way, probably not enough chocolate to be toxic, you’re lucky. However, you should watch for signs of pancreatitis after that feast. If she stops eating, acts like her stomach hurts (walks kind of hunched up) and vomits and or has diarrhea, take her to your vet ASAP.
My pets didn’t get into anything except one cat found a small peanut butter cup, unwrapped it neatly and then batted it around the floor for quite some time until I realized it wasn’t a cat toy and took it away before my fat dog found it.
Because I knew he wouldn’t leave me alone unless I did, I gave Khan a sliver of my birthday cake. He licked all the buttercream off and ate most of the cake part before the other cats became interested. They sniffed for a minute, then turned their noses up at the cake. Khan likes baked goods, the other boys have their own favorites. Sirius managed to snag a potato skin from the snack table at my Christmas party. I found an empty potato shell with all the bacon and cheese licked off. I’m pretty sure he shared that with Chunk, but I could be wrong.
I think our dog got a little bit of turkey with her regular dinner, but nothing else. We made up for this terrible, terrible disappointment on Christmas Day by giving her salmon treats, beef jerky, and four new toys. :rolleyes:
My 22 and 32 pound beagles had a field day with a tin of cookies that my MIL (not yet wise in the ways of beagles) left accessible. Fortunately I became suspicious when things seemed quiet and went to investigate, so they only got a couple of cookies each.
The MIL was quite impressed with how they were able to bite clear through the cookie tin.
We have another hurdle this weekend, when we’ll have some friends over for tasties and drinks. Not only have the beagles been known to snatch chicken wings from the hands of inattentive guests, but they’re also hopeless drunks and will cruise the room slurping up unattended drinks.
Several years ago, one of my uncle’s dogs ate a roll of paper towels and chewed open a bottle of castor oil at my grandmother’s house. My aunt said they were taking the dog out of the car about every 15 minutes on the way home.
My high school boyfriend’s family had a dog that once ate a side of insulation out of the garage.
Dolly was good this year on Christmas. Except she decided to remove and un-wind the bow I’d put on my gift exchange gift when no one was paying attention to her. I guess she figures all the wrapping is for her because…well, it is Christmas morning she gets to shred every bit of wrapping paper there is.
On Thanksgiving she was doing an excellent job being off-leash at Grandpa’s farm. Until she found the compost pile, and the turkey carcass. She ate the entire carcass while I ran around like a nut trying to get her to stop. Somehow, she didn’t get sick!
I had two cats who once dragged a turkey carcass out of a pot in the kitchen, ate the last bits of meat off it, and then left it on my bed. To this day, I still wonder how the hell they got it up there.
Grandson (who cleans up after himself but doesn’t know we have a garbage disposer) scraped his plate into an open trash bin, which was much appreciated by Boomer the Dog.
That’s about it, unless I count the green bow that Mick the Cat fell in love with. He didn’t try to eat it, but he rubs his body over the damn thing, like it’s embedded with catnip.
The only thing my cats got into was the tree. One preferred to snuggle up under, amongst the presents. The other two perched somewhere in the middle of the tree itself.
It was a sad day for them when their new home was taken away.
About 2 dozen assorted cookies (chocolate chip, peppermint candy, peanut butter with chocolate kisses,etc.), a candy cane, a Tootsie Pop, and (most maddeningly) BOTH of the baby toys I bought for Spencer! Grr.
You’re lucky. Before I was born, my mother had a cat that she took with her when she went to visit her parents for Christmas. The cat climbed up the tree and knocked it over, with great breakage of ornaments and whatnot. Every year after that, until he died in 1996, whether or not there was going to be a pet or small child in the house while the tree was up, Grandpa always tied the Christmas tree to a hook he’d put in the corner of the room.
My cats looked at the menorahs, but we kept a pretty close eye on them (the cats, and the menorahs) while the candles were lit, so they didn’t get into them.
