Milk, Bones and Other Things People Get Wrong About Pet Food

Pet feeding attracts more confident advice than almost any other part of animal care, and most of it is offered kindly, by people who genuinely believe it. Some of that advice is harmless, some is merely wasteful, and a little of it kills animals.

This is a plain guide to which is which.

"Cats should be given milk"

Mostly wrong. Most adult cats are lactose intolerant. They usually like it, and it usually causes diarrhoea. Diarrhoea causes dehydration, and dehydration is a genuine problem in a species that already drinks too little.

If you want to give a treat that helps, give water in a better bowl or a little wet food.

"Dogs need bones"

Cooked bones: dangerous, no exceptions. Cooking makes bone brittle so it splinters, and splinters perforate or lodge in the gut. That includes the chicken and goat bones most likely to reach a dog from a kitchen.

Raw bones are a longer argument with real risks of their own: fractured teeth, which are painful and expensive, and bacterial contamination. Dogs do not require bones for nutrition. If you want to give something to chew, choose something that gives slightly under a thumbnail.

"Grain-free is healthier"

Mostly marketing. True grain allergy in dogs is uncommon; where food allergy exists it is usually to a protein, not a grain. Grains are a perfectly reasonable energy source for dogs.

Grain-free diets have also been examined in connection with heart disease in dogs, and the picture is not settled. What that means practically is that grain-free is not automatically the better choice it is sold as, and it is worth a conversation with a vet rather than an assumption.

"Raw eggs improve the coat"

Not the way people think. Egg is a decent protein, but raw egg white contains avidin, which binds biotin, so feeding raw whites regularly works against coat condition rather than for it. Raw egg also carries salmonella risk.

Cooked egg, occasionally, as part of a balanced diet, is fine and does nothing dramatic.

"Garlic keeps fleas away"

Wrong and harmful. Garlic is in the onion family and damages red blood cells in dogs and cats. It does not repel fleas.

The risk is cumulative, so small daily amounts are worse than a single accidental dose, which is exactly the pattern this belief produces.

"Grass eating means worms"

Usually not. Dogs eat grass routinely and most of the time it means nothing. It is not a reliable sign of worms, illness or nutritional deficiency.

What is worth noticing is a change: a dog that suddenly starts eating grass compulsively and vomiting is telling you something. Deworming should run on a schedule regardless, rather than being triggered by grass.

"Dry food cleans teeth"

Mostly wrong. Ordinary kibble shatters rather than scraping, and much of it is barely chewed. Specific dental diets, designed to resist shattering, do help. Standard dry food does not, and dogs and cats on dry food get significant dental disease.

Brushing is what works.

"A little pepper or seasoning is fine"

The seasoning is not the point; the onion is. Most stew, jollof and fried rice is built on an onion and garlic base, which damages red blood cells cumulatively.

If you want to share home food, take the animal's portion out before seasoning, not after.

"Puppies need extra calcium"

Wrong, and actively harmful in large breeds. Excess calcium during growth causes skeletal problems rather than preventing them. A complete puppy food already contains the right amount in the right ratio to phosphorus, and adding to it unbalances the thing you were trying to strengthen.

Supplement only when a vet instructs it.

"Cats can eat dog food if that is what is available"

Not for long. Cats require taurine, which dog food does not supply adequately. Prolonged feeding causes heart disease and blindness. An accidental bowl is not a crisis; a habit is.

"Free feeding is kinder"

It is easier, not kinder. Leaving food down all day makes weight control almost impossible and hides appetite loss, which is the earliest sign of nearly every illness. In multi-pet homes it also makes it impossible to know who is eating.

"Expensive food is always better"

Not reliably. Price tracks marketing as much as formulation. What matters is that the food is complete, appropriate for the animal's life stage, fed in the right amount, and that the animal does well on it: good weight, good coat, good stools, good energy.

A mid-priced complete food fed correctly beats a premium food fed carelessly.

The pattern worth noticing

Most of these persist because the harm is slow and invisible. Nobody connects a dog's anaemia to two years of stew, or a puppy's joint problem to a supplement given with the best intentions. The advice feels vindicated because nothing appeared to happen.

The cheapest correction available is a vet who can look at what you are actually feeding, weigh the animal and tell you whether it is working, rather than another opinion from someone with no way of checking.

Consultations are covered on Skeepy Pet HMO plans, which makes that a visit you can simply make rather than one you talk yourself out of.