pets should stick to pet-food.

i'm at my mom's boyfriend's cottage right now until saturday. my mom's boyfriend has 2 dogs (a cockerspaniel and a german sheppherd), and my mom and i brought our tabby cat.

these pets are REALLY, really sneaky. they always find a way to steal my food :|

i read somewhere that popcorn can apparently tear up a dog's lungs. but is it alright for cats? because my cat ate some popcorn when i wasn't looking :|

also, out of curiosity. i know a dog can't eat milk and dark chocolate.. but what about white?

I don't think I'd risk giving a dog any type of chocolate.

White chocolate isn't actually chocolate, but you might not want to risk it anyway.

Where on earth did you hear that popcorn could tear up a dog's lungs? How were the kernels planning on getting there? Popcorn is fine for dogs (and cats) unless they have an allergy to corn.

White chocolate has the least amount of theobromine (the part that is bad for dogs) but it's still in there, so don't feed your dog chocolate period. If you are desperate to feed them something chocolatey, give them carob buttons.

Original Post by ritzy_krissy:

White chocolate isn't actually chocolate, but you might not want to risk it anyway.

 oh, no no! i'm not gonna give them any haha, i was just curious at to if it would hurt them at all.

my mom's boyfriend is kinda strict about his dogs staying healthy and fit, so they aren't allowed any people food. but sometimes they (especially the cockerspaniel) sneak some :|

omg when i was like 8, i was making rice crispy treats with m&m's (yummm) and i dropped half an m&m on the floor and my puppy pounced on it before i could do anything! i was so terrified for him because the way it had been described to me, chocolate=INSTANT DEATH.

but he's celebrating his fifteenth birthday next month, so it was okay :) just avoid letting them have it if possible.

My dogs love popcorn. I've also given them little bits of chocolate and they are in fine health. I also let them lick the bowls after my cereal and ice cream and other milk products. 

Milk chocolate in small or relatively moderate amounts won't kill a dog because of the low concentration of cocoa.  Our dog (when I was a kid) found an easter basket full of milk chocolate candies and ate a lot of it.  She barfed everywhere but after was fine. 

This reminds me of my step-father's husky, Merlin. For my 15th birthday my best friend made me a white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. We went out bowling for my 15th birthday party that same night, and when I got home, the cheesecake was gone!

The husky had nabbed it from off the counter, and had eaten it while we were out. We had even tried to stick it somewhere pretty high up, where we thought he couldn't reach it. Damn dog proved us otherwise.

He was fine. =) That dog could eat anything, though. Including 6 feet of a leash he ate so he could run free from our yard.

who says dogs can't eat milk??? When i was a kid our dogs ate cuban bread and milk everyday for breakfast for years.

A lot of mammals become lactose intolerant when they grow up.  Some may like the milk but they could get digestive problems from it such as diarrhea from it.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/482131

i am a certified veterinary technician (a.k.a., animal nurse).

as some have already said, the higher the concentration of cocoa in the chocolate, the more toxic it is to dogs. it is not good for them at all, but in this case the dog will be ok. in the future, PLEASE keep that kind of food out of the animals reach.

small amounts of milk are ok for animals. often we recommend adding a little bit to the animals water dish if they are not drinking and an owner needs to get their animal to drink more.

lastly, popcorn is ok too. the animals could choke on kernels though. or if you know your animal has allergies to it. but, generally speaking, if you know of any allergies that a pet has, it is a good idea not to let it have ANYTHING besides it's food and pet treats. usually when a pet has allergies, it can be allergic to alot more than you know of.

lol, i'm not talking about milk.. i'm talking about chocolate (milk, dark, white, etc).

We had a black lab/shepard mix when I was a kid who would steal food right off your plate if she got the chance. Once, during the holiday season, my mom and I had gone shopping for a bunch of baking materials for holiday cookies, etc. We set some of the shopping bags on the floor of the kitchen and went back out to the car to get the rest of the groceries.....we hadn't been gone even a few minutes, and when we walked back into the kitchen and our dog had ripped open and eaten an ENTIRE box of chocolate cake mix! She had some serious digestive issues for a few days, but was otherwise ok. 

Another time, I hosted a bridal shower at our house, and moments before the guests were supposed to arrive, I walked into the dining room to find the dog with her front feet up on the buffet table, chowing down on a bread bowl full of spinach dip! AArrgghh.

Pets really shouldn't eat anything but pet food, but, apparently, the occasional slip-up doesn't hurt them....our dog lived to be 16! 

My little 12lb Min Pin got into a GIANT stash of chocolate that my husband (grrr) left out in an open bag, on the floor. Side note, he got mad at her like a dog isn't going to eat a bunch of food laying on the floor.

Anyway it was the worst day of all of our lives. She barfed and left runny poo ALL OVER THE HOUSE.

Also, I wasn't hoping this thread wasn't about idiots who feed their dogs crap like vegan diets because, you know, dogs were designed to eat meat.

Also: People should stick to people food.

A coworker of mine fully admits to grabbing handfuls of dog food when he was a kid running out the door and eating it throughout the day as snack food....

My dog managed to eat an entire brand new container of Becel margerine. Needless to say we were out walking her at 1am, 3am, 4am, 5am etc and she still managed some accidents...

But the best is that my dog knows how to shell peanuts... so when the occasional one blows off the edge of the balcony (we feed the blue jays) it is the cutest thing ever to watch!

Our aging husky is also a counter-surfer food thief.  It's tough to control since we have children in our house most days leaving food on the kitchen table which Casey is more than willing to clean up for them.

He loves peanuts.  When my husband boils peanuts Casey will plant himself next to the stove in the hopes that one or two fall on the floor.

The sickest he ever got was when he ate a bowl full of raw sugar cookie dough.