Humans eating pet food

[snopes]

Comment: The recent pet food recall reminded me of a medical report
released many years ago that indicated pet food, specifically Alpo, is
consumed at a higher rate in the U.S. by humans than by dogs. It
purportedly is a staple for the homeless. Anything to it?

[We'veBeenHad]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: The recent pet food recall reminded me of a medical report
released many years ago that indicated pet food, specifically Alpo, is
consumed at a higher rate in the U.S. by humans than by dogs. It
purportedly is a staple for the homeless. Anything to it?

Sounds like an old episode of Good Times! Or, even earlier, "I've Got a Secret" where they made Kate whats-her-name eat dog food claiming it was Stroganoff.

(Haven't found a link but I just saw it.)

Heh. It happens. Never aw the big deal. Meat is meat.

[Silkenray]

Pet food is getting more expensive, but I suppose it is still marginally less expensive than "real" food.

In an almost unrelated note, I had some pet food yesterday. Well, I'd bought my cat a yoghurt and catnip easter egg. It had the ingredients written out, and none of them were things a person shouldn't eat, so I had a tiny tiny taste to see what it was like. It was good, in a weird sort of way... though why they added sugar to a treat designed for an animal with limited ability to taste sugars, I don't know.

[Eddylizard]

As a bet once I ate some dog biscuits in front of of my cousin. I can't remember the name of them, but it's a popular brand, they come in four shapes (circle, triangle, square and oval) and are pastel coloured.

They are bloody horrible! Bonio buscuits aren't that much better.

Good boy brand choc drops don't taste very nice either.

I pity dogs after that day.

[Richard W]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

As a bet once I ate some dog biscuits in front of of my cousin. I can't remember the name of them, but it's a popular brand, they come in four shapes (circle, triangle, square and oval) and are pastel coloured.

My mum used to feed me dog biscuits at the same time she fed the dog - the dry food sort that come in a big sack and that you mix with the meaty stuff. I think she didn't want me to feel left out. They weren't bad really - a bit bland and cardboardy perhaps, but they had a nice crunchy texture. And it never did me any harm.

They were much nicer than "cow cake", made from compressed sileage, anyway. A farmer once fed me some of that when I was 2, and too young to realise he was joking when he asked me if I wanted some cake...

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

They are bloody horrible! Bonio buscuits aren't that much better.

Good boy brand choc drops don't taste very nice either.

I pity dogs after that day.

Now you know why dogs lick their own balls, to take away the taste of the food.

[annabohly]

DD tried the dog's food. Shae said she wondered what it tasted like, she want's to be a vet so I didn't mind.

I bought some of the Frosty Paws ice cream treats for the dog because I had always seen them in the store and had always wanted to get them, but never had a dog before. They come in the little paper cups like regular single serve ice cream. DH went around telling the kids he bought them a treat. They didn't fall for it. The ingredients looked ok for human consumption.

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by Pikey Queen

Now you know why dogs lick their own balls, to take away the taste of the food.

Dave Lister, Red Dwarf. How many points?

[Graham2001]

Originally Posted by We'veBeenHad

Sounds like an old episode of Good Times! Or, even earlier, "I've Got a Secret" where they made Kate whats-her-name eat dog food claiming it was Stroganoff.

(Haven't found a link but I just saw it.)

Heh. It happens. Never aw the big deal. Meat is meat.

It may be older than that, a 70's British series 'Man about the House' had an episode in which one of the cast eats dog food by mistake, as I remember it they also thought it was either stroganoff or stew...

[Tantei Kid]

Originally Posted by Graham2001

It may be older than that, a 70's British series 'Man about the House' had an episode in which one of the cast eats dog food by mistake, as I remember it they also thought it was either stroganoff or stew...

Er, actually I've Got a Secret ran from '52 to '67, so it still would have been earlier . Though I'm not familiar with any Kate who was on it.


ETA: I ate a few cat "cookies" once or twice as a kid (what my husband's family calls the kibble). They were a bit tangy, but not terrible.

[Little Galaxy]

I've nibbled dry cat food out of curiosity - I was expecting something meaty and salty like a stock cube, but it was this vaguely salty, wheaty thing. Not much flavour at all. I've always wondered when they advertise pet food as having an "improved taste!" what they're comparing it against...

My inlaws keep a stockpile of tinned food for their dogs - they joke about eating it themselves once they reach retirement!

[llewtrah]

When Kattomeat was first introduced here, owners treated it the same as they treated canned meat such as corned beef or ham - they turned it out of the can as a loaf and put it on a saucer on the "cold slab" in the pantry. Unsuspecting family members may have helped themselves to slices of what they thought was meat loaf or pate.

On a first hand note, I've tried Hi Life tuna and just found it a bit dry and full of soft bones. Max Cat biscuits (chicken variety) were salty - a bit like the small salty crackers at parties. The Max Cat rep at the National Cat Club show in Olympia demosntrated their palatability by offering them to us on a saucer and eating some himself. I tried them. At the same show, but a different year, the Hills Science Diet rep scoffed a whole promotional sachet of dried cat food when her lunch break relief didn't turn up. I did something similar when doing a street collection. I think it was a supermarket own brand and they were just dry, fishy and salty.

Some of the gourmet varieties in small pots look appetising - shredded chicken, juicy tuna, chicken mousse, seafood cocktail, chicken in white sauce etc.

Cat and dog food manufactured in the UK is safe for us to eat as the PFMA code of practice requires it to come from animals passed fit for human consumption (no roadkill, no meat from condemned carcases, no equine, cetacean or kangaroo ingredients). Parts that could transmit BSE got removed from pet food products a lot quicker than from human meat products (burgers, pies) so, for a while, pet food was actually safer than meat products aimed at people! A few months back, one of our mags ("Cat World" or "Your Cat") ran an article on the human tasters working for a cat food company.

ETA: There's also a bit in the Emma & I (Emma being a guide dog) book about the hazards of canned dog food getting mixed up with canned beef stew. Emma's blind owner accidentally mixed up the 2 cans - Emma got the canned beef and the author didn't wish to contemplate what happened to the canned dog food.

[Floater]

A friend of mine once tried some cat food while taking cares of another friend's cat (he couldn't open the cans himself, having no thumbs). She claimed that with some red beets it didn't taste altogether bad.

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: The recent pet food recall reminded me of a medical report
released many years ago that indicated pet food, specifically Alpo, is
consumed at a higher rate in the U.S. by humans than by dogs. It
purportedly is a staple for the homeless. Anything to it?

If you were homeless you'd probably be better off finding food people have discarded, rather than buying pet food.

[Troberg]

If you were homeless you'd probably be better off finding food people have discarded, rather than buying pet food.

Well, there was a Swedish comedian who had his career take off by eating dog food, so it can't be all bad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svullo (Although that article don't mention the dog food and is wrong about the song "För fet för ett f*uck" (Too fat for a f*ck) not being played on the radio. It was played all the time, both on radio and TV.)