# Human food and diarrhea.



## JohnO (Oct 25, 2013)

Can someone explain to me the phenomenon of dogs getting diarrhea when they eat human food or if the brand of their food is changed. Didn't dogs evolve for thousands of years as they were domesticated eating what amounted to human garbage?This garbage most likely consisted of all sorts of unwanted food products including bones, organs, fecal matter, spoiled food and vegetables. But now, in the year 2014, if I give my dog a couple of pieces of pizza crust or a small handful of pasta, he's out in the back yard at three in the morning depositing steaming piles of wet crap. Ive already checked with my vet and his answer was simply to not give Odi ANY human food EVER. And, arent there owners who feed there dogs nothing but human food? Does anyone do this? Why hasn't this trait been bred out of dogs? Thanks.


----------



## JohnO (Oct 25, 2013)

JohnO said:


> Can someone explain to me the phenomenon of dogs getting diarrhea when they eat human food or if the brand of their food is changed? Didn't dogs evolve for thousands of years as they were domesticated eating what amounted to human garbage?This garbage most likely consisted of all sorts of unwanted food products including bones, organs, fecal matter, spoiled food and vegetables. But now, in the year 2014, if I give my dog a couple of pieces of pizza crust or a small handful of pasta, he's out in the back yard at three in the morning depositing steaming piles of wet crap. Ive already checked with my vet and his answer was simply to not give Odi ANY human food EVER. And, arent there owners who feed their dogs nothing but human food? Does anyone do this? Why hasn't this trait been bred out of dogs? Thanks.


----------



## CatK (May 29, 2013)

I'm no expert, but my guess is that during the time they evolved as scavengers we were not throwing away pizza crusts and pasta, so they evolved able to digest raw and/or cooked meat/veg etc. We only started processing our own grains much more recently, and many humans don't even tolerate all of them. 

With the food change, if I only ate one item all the time and then switched to something completely different I think it would have the same effect.

Just my first thoughts. Someone can now disgrace me with their doctorate level knowledge in evolution of digestive enzymes


----------



## Bob Engelhardt (Feb 14, 2012)

I'd say that you have a "special" dog. The vast majority of dogs do tolerate human food, but are not fed on it.

Every dog has his/her idiosyncrasies - yours is not so bad in the big scheme of things.

Bob


----------



## riley455 (Aug 27, 2011)

Some dogs are born with sensitive stomach and can not tolerate certain food. You'll have to stick with what's working and not change at all his food diet.

Riley can eat anything in fact I change dog food brand every time. I even feed her raw sometimes and also give her human food whenever there's a holiday gathering at the house and she's fine.

The doberman (Piper) i had before Riley can not eat anything except one brand of dry dog food. Even treats were off limits, she would make a mess immediately.


----------



## JohnO (Oct 25, 2013)

I like the suggestion that its the processed flour in the bread and pasta. I have noticed vegetables don't bother him nearly as much. I wish my vet would have said this.


----------



## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

I think every dog is different and you just have to work with what you've got, JohnO. You'll figure it all out over time.

Willie is just like Riley. He can eat pretty much anything. 
I switch him around a lot, too. My theory is that the more variety they get, the better they can handle it.


----------



## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I've had one dog (when she was younger) that climbed on the kitchen table, and devour a whole pizza. It didn't bother her stomach one bit. When my daughters where still home I caught them numerous times letting the dogs clean off plates , before loading the dishwasher.

I agree with Bob, each dog can be different.


----------



## Bronson (Jun 25, 2013)

How old is your dog, and is his / her stomach settled down on kibble alone?

We tried giving Bronson little tastes of human food right off the bat, but he didn't take well to it. When he turned 6 months old or so, his digestive tract was completely used to just kibble and pretty rock solid. He started getting meat taster bites and apple / pear pieces, and has moved on to pretty much anything now without any stool quality consequences. But as everyone mentioned already, we try to stay away from the refined carbohydrates as much as possible.


----------



## solefald (May 16, 2013)

Yes, there are people who feed "human food", but that food is appropriate for a dog. Pizza crust and pasta do not fall into that category. Dogs did not evolve eating processed foods loaded with carbs.


----------

