Real-Life Communication -- Solution
You might give Suzie some written information similar to what is
mentioned here:
Though home-made diets can sound like a good idea,
it's hard to know if they meet a dog's total dietary requirements.
The
problem with feeding a dog straight from your table is that most people don't
feed themselves well-balanced diets to begin with. Plus, dietary problems
will likely affect dogs faster than people due to the differences in metabolic
rate and aging.
Other problems with feeding a dog straight from your
table are:
- You may encourage your dog to make a pest of itself when you are eating.
- Feeding a dog table scraps is likely to result in an overweight dog.
- If your dog develops the habit of gulping down any food it can get, it
may seriously poison or distress itself one day.
Onions are commonly used in recipes, but for dogs, onions can be
toxic. Whether fresh, cooked or dehydrated, onions can cause the red blood
cells to become unable to function properly, then cause them to rupture, which
causes anemia.
As an occasional meal, there is not enough in the meatloaf
recipe to be harmful. But as a continuous diet or if it was fed to an already
sick dog, this could lead to anemia and even death. There are much better
products to feed your dog that are safer and more nutritionally balanced than
table food, such as well-balanced dry dog food.
Chocolate can also
be toxic and even fatal. It contains theobromine, a caffeine-like substance,
which acts like an upper. The problem arises when dogs get more concentrated
forms of theobromine, as found in baking chocolate, for example.
The
problem with feeding a dog milk chocolate as a treat is that the dog will
develop a liking for chocolate. Since dogs do not seem to be as sensitive
to bitter tastes as humans are, the dog may then eat the more concentrated,
and quite toxic, baker's chocolate if it gets a chance. Or the dog will
consume a toxic amount of milk or semi-sweet chocolate if it
has the chance to get into an improperly stored supply.
"Some people
hear from other breeders that a home diet for dogs is the best, but they're
actually causing more damage than good," says Beswick.
"You have to
tell them that they shouldn't be doing it, even if a breeder has been
doing it for years and her dogs are fine. Onions are poisonous for dogs and
cats. We recommend that our clients not feed them onions. Usually if we get
written information for them, they pay attention.
"Giving chocolate
to a dog in small quantities can cause diarrhea. In large quantities, depending
on the size of the dog, it can put them into shock and kill them. A lot of
the public knows about chocolate, but onions [as a problem] isn't that
well advertised."