lifestyle

Pooches have their cake and eat it for Christmas

13 Comments
By Kimiteru Tsuruta

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© (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012.

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13 Comments
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Or you could let them sniff each others' butts, then give them some meat scraps. They'd be just as happy with that, and you could save 6000yen.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

agreed, 6,000 yen is over the top

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Maria, I've a right mind to charge you for the damage to my keyboard, this morning's coffee wasn't easy to clean up.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

“But if it’s just the humans eating cake, the dogs put on a really sad face. They want to have some themselves and get upset if you don’t give them cake too.”

Oh my aching heart. Dogs get sad if you tell them to stop eating their own poop, let's be real.

To make his creation canine-friendly, Nagatani leaves out chocolate and alcohol. He makes the sponge from spelt, a type of wheat that he says causes fewer allergies than regular flour.

No type of wheat is good for dogs. Dogs are carnivores, they function on meat diets. Yes, they can digest some non-meats (as opposed to cats) but meat is what they should be eating. This cake sounds irresponsible for a dog's health despite Nagatani's insistence, and not to mention teaching the dog bad habits (people food is for dogs, too).

If you want to spoil your dog, feed him some meat (no spices/sauces, totally plain), taking him for a walk and play Frisbee. Spend that 6000 yen to take off a day from work to spend time with your dog, or donate it to an animal shelter and help lots of dogs. Much more Christmas spirit than getting your dog diabetes.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

They want to have some themselves and get upset if you don’t give them cake too.

Maybe they want some, but a well-trained dog does not get upset if he does get cake, or anything else his owners eat. Dogs understand the pecking order way better than most humans do. Teach your dog that he's entitled to share your food, and you teach him to cause havoc at mealtimes. Teach him that when his people are eating he should be lying quietly on his bed, maybe chewing on a toy or sleeping, and you'll both be a lot happier.

Dogs are carnivores, they function on meat diets. Yes, they can digest some non-meats (as opposed to cats) but meat is what they should be eating.

No, dogs are omnivores, the same as people. As long as you keep the protein levels right, they can live totally meat-free and stay healthy, as can humans. (Too much meat is not good for dogs, and some dogs even have a meat allergy, did you know?) Cats are carnivores and need to have meat in their diet, but that doesn't mean they can't digest non-meat foods; commercial cat food contains grains of various kinds - even the tinned stuff that looks like it's all meat/fish.

The problem with dogs being given people-food is that really a lot of people food isn't healthy even for people, especially what we call 'treats' - way too much fat, sugar and salt. If it tastes good to people, it's likely got way too much of these ingredients for a dog. If these are cut out to make it healthy, it tastes bland and horrible to people - like baby food. Also dogs tend to be a lot smaller physically than their owners, so giving them the same amount of an unhealthy treat has a much stronger effect on the dog than it would on a human.

And finally, the price - who spends ¥6,000 on a small cake to give to the dog?? Your dog is happiest with his everyday nosh. If it pleases you to make it Christmassy, by all means make it into a cake/tree/Santa shape and put a Christmassy-shape dog biscuit (the pet shops are full of them at this time of year, around ¥200 for a bagful) on the top. And either bank the ¥6000, donate it to your local shelter, or spend it on a Christmas treat to share with your spouse.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

treat to share with your spouse.

The dog is her spouse, obviously.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

I've always wanted to ask: Why is the fork always upside down in Japan? Did Miss Manners never go to Japan? The weight of a fork is specifically designed to distribute it's weight and only be held in one way. As well, when sitting on the plate, should the plate be taken away, the fork for the same reason does not fall off.

Why thwart the design and make it look like there is no ability to understand how a fork works? It boogles

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Victoria MaudeDec. 07, 2012 - 01:48PM JST At my house, our dog always gets a big meaty bone from the pet store. She sits outside gnawing at it for the better part of Christmas day, so she's out of our hair while we're making Christmas dinner and unwrapping presents. Everyone wins, and nowhere near 6000 yen!

I'd recommend a big bone (uncooked!) for your dog at least every couple of months (more often if you plan to take it away to avoid the stench of old bone). It helps clean your dog's teeth and keep them healthy, and is also good for your dogs' jaw muscles.

cleoDec. 07, 2012 - 11:23AM JST No, dogs are omnivores, the same as people. As long as you keep the protein levels right, they can live totally meat-free and stay healthy, as can humans. (Too much meat is not good for dogs, and some dogs even have a meat allergy, did you know?)

Firstly, the term "meat allergy" is a complete misnomer and doesn't mean that one is allergic to all animal proteins. Depending on the precise allergy people and animals can normally still consume fish and other non-mammalian proteins, so even if your dog does have an allergy to some meats it doesn't mean that the knee-jerk reaction should be making the dog vegetarian.

Secondly, making an omnivore eat a non-meat diet is as stupid as making an omnivore eat only meat. For a natural diet dogs should be consuming meat and vegetables. Dogs (and humans) need vitamins like B12 that can't be found in vegetables, and a purely vegetarian diet (i.e. no milk, no eggs, only vegetable proteins) would kill a dog (or a human!).

Finally, you state that dogs can be vegetarians, but cats can't be. Cats, dogs and humans all need taurine, vitamin A, vitamin B12, etc. It's just that cats need more for their size than dogs do. So a cat could be vegetarian in the same way a dog could be... but it would probably kill them. The only difference between dogs and cats is that a dog can't just leap out the window and kill a bird, it would lie at home and suffer slow and progressive nerve damage until it died.

Don't ever own animals Cleo, you clearly understand very little about nutrition. Don't have children either.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Depending on the precise allergy people and animals can normally still consume fish and other non-mammalian proteins

Don't lecture me, lecture my much-missed lab who hadn't read about how he couldn't possibly be intolerant to all animal proteins and immediately either barfed up or turned into chocolate sauce any kind of meat, fish or other animal protein.

a purely vegetarian diet (i.e. no milk, no eggs, only vegetable proteins) would kill a dog

First, I'm not advocating a vegan diet for either dogs or people - meat-free doesn't mean no dairy or eggs. Secondly, I'm thankful my little mongrel bitch who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 9 and was put on a vegetarian diet didn't read any of your posts. She passed away at the ripe old age of 19, the doggy equivalent of 92, with the cancer in recession and no nerve damage save the ordinary ravages of extreme old age. Though she did enjoy the occasional spoonful of yoghurt as a treat, and a very occasional half of a boiled egg shared with her doggy sister.

Cats, dogs and humans all need taurine, vitamin A, vitamin B12, etc. It's just that cats need more for their size than dogs do.

No, it's that dogs and humans can synthesize taurine from other amino acids, while for cats it is an essential amino acid - they cannot make their own, and must have it in their diet. A taurine deficiency will first send a cat blind, at which point it isn't going to be jumping out of any windows after birds.

At my age I'm not likely to have any more children. The ones I have, have grown into fine, healthy adults, thank you for asking.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

My dog's "treat" (on his birthday) is his "normal" dry dog-food + a little chicken liver (he loves that) decorated with "niboshi" - "standing on their tails" (the "number" in accordance with his age). Last birthday, there were 11 "niboshi/candles" and he loved the whole thing !

2 ( +2 / -0 )

There are thousands of abandoned pets in the evacuation zone in Fukushima. The groups feeding and trying to rescue those animals could really use that 6,000 yen.

Our dog loves whipped cream, a spoonful is one thing, part of a cake, he would be doing the technicolor yawn all over the floor.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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