So what did your pets have for their Christmas dinner, mine sat down to roast beef, roast potatoes and parsnips and carrots, brussel sprouts and cauliflower. Elsie had gravy with hers but Betty prefers drier food so no gravy for her. Then custard for pudding.

Not sure Elsie tasted hers she snaffled it down so fast (Labrador) but Betty savoured every bite and I can now say she likes her veggies first and saves her meat until last (Chihuahua).

We went to an Indian Taverna yesterday so our puppy & cats had nothing special.
Tonight its gammon so they MAY have some.

I gave my Persian cat Winston his favourite Tuna steak and a yoghurt.

My collie has to have a special diet on account of her liver health. So cod it was. Not just any old cod but fresh cod Plus fresh tagliatelle and the outer well cooked sprout leaves I'm having the remainder of the duck tonight. May just give her a teeny bit.

My 2 dogs always get a Christmas dinner and love every morsel but it is back on the Raw food diet today.

Yes it's a bit of a one off, mine have home cooked rice/chicken and mixed veg and arden grange normally.

Our cat hates human food. I tried turkey yesterday, beef recently (all roasted), not interested.

He will eat flies and bits of fluff though!

I never understand this human food/animal food idea unless you are feeding a bottom feeding fish or something surely food is food and all animals should really have human quality food?

Let's put it this way - I won't touch his dry food as it's cat food and he won't touch any meat that we eat.

Go figure

Understandable when many dog/cat foods are not human quality. Odd a cat doesn't enjoy other foods though, would worry me a bit what if commercial food was not available and you had to feed something else ? That's main reason we feed a wide range of foods have seen too many companies come and go over the years and then had to wean them onto something else. Keep them on a wide range you never have to worry about companies changing their ingredients or withdrawing their products.

Nothing cos I'm mean.

No not really, my beautiful collie girl is normally spoilt rotten at Christmas, but after an incident two weeks ago, she is recovering, and is quite frankly, extremly lucky she's even seen Christmas. She got a tiny bit of Turkey, but she's not allowed much at the moment, and as she has to stay quiet and peaceful for another five weeks, she couldn't have her present either. But at least she can have her prezzie when she's better, the main thing is I've still got her, which is far more important than anything else.

Hope everyone else and their pets had a fab Christmas.

Cat food is designed to replace a cat's 'natural' food and needs high levels of protein, in particular taurine. However, it must be well balanced. The proprietary complete cat foods are scientifically prepared to meet all the nutritional requirements of cats.

Cooked chicken, fish etc are fine as a supplement but would not provide the complete whole food that cats need.

I don't cook meat or fish for myself because I am vegetarian. I have tried giving my cats these foods (ready cooked from the supermarket) but they're not interested so it's a waste of money.

The dry food I also give them keeps their teeth in good condition as well as providing 'complete' nourishment. I suppose, in the wild, they would be crunching bones.

Anyway, I believe in letting humans enjoy the food they enjoy and I continue to give my cats the foods they enjoy - which is the more expensive proprietary cat food brands.

I had Christmas Dinner with my brother's family who are nearly all vegetarian. My cats stayed at home with their normal foods - but I don't think they knew it was Christmas.

I've given Simba the odd bit of tuna if I was making sandwiches or cooked meat when I make a roast but I can genuinely say he's not interested. He smells, sometimes licks but then walks off.

I believe he does love his dry food, he has 2 very good brands imo.

So if he's not moaning, I'm not moaning.

Hope 2015 is better for her, and hope the next 5 weeks remain peaceful. Horrid when they are not well.

I don't impose my vegetarianism on others so I cook meat for everyone who wants it including the dogs. My liver treats are particularly popular, think I could sell them because everyone's dog and cat seems to love them.

Where did I say I imposed my vegetarianism on others However, as a strict vegetarian I will not cook meat myself.

As I said in my post (which perhaps you didn't read clearly), I have tried giving my cats ready cooked meat - they don't like it. I know my cats are not unique as most of my friends and family own cats. It's better to give them the cat food (containing some meat) that the manufacturers have designed, which ensures a complete and well balanced diet - although cooked meat/fish is fine as an occasional treat for those cats who do like cooked meat.

Dogs and cats are very different. Our family dogs would eat anything and it probably did them no harm - although we were told never to feed them chocolate . Cats are far more discerning.

I give my cats what they like and what I know is proper nourishment for them.

Re the commercial pet food v human food debate I sometimes wonder whether we have been brainwashed by the pet food industry. It may well be 'balanced' but take a look at the ingredients.
Can't speak for cats but there is plenty of info on the net about balanced home diets for dogs.
Used to live in Uganda when commercial dog food was either not available or was impossibly expensive. All the expats had dogs - big bouncy healthy dogs which were part pet, part guard dog. We used to get what we called 'green frilly bits' from the market - so offal etc. (btw over there that's considered 'human food'). We used to cook up batches with veg peelings, scraps and posho - a type of flour. It solidified a bit when cool and I used to serve it up in great chunks. The dogs went nuts for it. And they thrived.

I never said you did, I was talking about my own views on food. And I know dogs and cats are different I have had enough of both to realise that. However one day once a year it doesn't do either of them any harm to have a less balanced diet - no one would suffer for it unless they have special dietary needs, Elsie is gluten intolerant so no Yorkshire pudding for them. I often think cats and Chihuahuas are similar - much picking of what they will or won't eat.


I agree dog food was very rare when we got our first dogs, scraps and home cooking was common. Healthiest dogs we ever had too.

Are you expecting the end of western civilisation? I don't think feeding the cat would be a priority if this happens.

No LOL but we have had times when companies have stopped supplying various brands or have been holidaying where there are no stockists of what we have been using at home, so important they can eat what given rather than rely on one brand IMO

My dog got both Christmas and Boxing day dinner She loved it so much.

Christmas - Turkey, roasties, gravy, bread sauce, yorkshire pudding, pigs in blankets and 5 different veg, which surprisingly she ate lol

Boxing Day - Basically the same but gammon and mash instead of turkey and roasties :P

Lucky girl !

Would have done the exact same if we still had our dog.

Great ! It's all part of the fun of sharing our lives with animals I remember our rabbits, cats, mice and dogs all had special Christmas dinners - obviously ones that suited each species we weren't feeding meat to rabbits

We took the Beast with us to my parents, and when we got in and opened his box he made a beeline for the oven where he could smell tasty smells.

The parents have a high level oven so he did a thing of stretching up to it purring madly.

After that there was no way he wasn't going to get his rightful share

Dad carves the Turkey away from the table and places it so people can help themselves to what they want. Throughout this process the Beast was the worlds worst 'house guest' mewing and padding around.

So there was a platter laid with turkey for us and a little bowl for him. Mum is funny about the Beast; she treats him like a child (they had a couple of cats, which were older when they moved to their present house, but sadly, won't have any more because the road outside, although a distance from the house, is straight and there are lunatics who think it is a motorway)

So she was chastising dad who was giving him scraps, which the Beast would have loved and snarfed whatever.

"Don't give him the crap" she moaned at him "you don't want that do you?" (to Beast)

He's just mewing and hopping about like a child that needs the loo.

We all sit to the table and mum takes his bowl to the hallway. and he piles in slobbering. Then sits on dads chair sleeping.

Come evening time, we have supper; cold cuts, pickles, salads, cheeses, you get the idea. He emerges again, I decide he can have a sachet from the box we brought, but was overridden by mum (do not cross her, in her own home) so he started sorting out more turkey and some ham.

I told her he likes Stilton cheese, she didn't believe, but I put a crumb on the floor and it vanished, so then that a bit of that was added to the bowl. Emptied in moments

Back to his new favourite place in the world (dads chair) to sleep it off. Mum then insisted on leaving little bit down when we all went to bed "in case he is hungry in the night, because he can't go outside (!???!)

Boxing day, my brother and my nephews came, I was a bit concerned because the Beast isn't normally around noisy people. Mum puts puts out some pepperoni pizzas for the boys, as they are young , so they have something they will definitely eat.

The Beast is keeping a distance, not sure about the boys, and moves away when they come near.

The youngest whose 6, and a real sweetie want's to be friends. So I tell him that the beast likes pepperoni, and if he is quite and offers him some he might be friends to.

The little lad takes a bit and gently calls him and the beast, who thinks with his stomach, comes out and takes it from him.

This had the unfortunate side effect of.

a) Jed wanting all the pepperoni of all the pizzas to feed him, and

b) Max the older one also wanting to get in the act, causing a brother row.

This was calmed by, me telling them that they can give him a few bits each, in turn, but then leave him for a while to sleep because he is only little like they were.

Come supper time, Jed wanted mum to cook more pizza for the Beast (Max had lost interest in him). So I told him that pizza is just a treat, like sweets, and he has to have a proper dinner, but that he can give him a sachet.

Come stupid o'clock in the morning, and the boys are up, and The OH and me are woken up by Jed talking through the door that he wants to feed the Beast.

Bleary eyed, I call back, "when granny gets up she'll make pizza" hoping to get rid of him.

"No, he can't have pizza, that's not proper cat food"

Damn, hoisted by my own petard

So the beast, thinking it's Christmas (see what I did there) gets an early breakfast and I get an early morning with coffee and the DM puzzle pages.

So, after another of my epic waffles, what have we learned;

That the Beast had a turkey crimble dinner, got spoiled with non cat based, but nevertheless tasty treats, but still ate a sensible diet, and that a small boy learned that animals need to be treated and fed properly.

Quality crimble all round